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Words, pictures, blogging, the hats we wear and the stories we tell…


I’ve been thinking…

The_Thinker_Musee_Rodin smallHey it has to happen every once in a while!

Seriously, I’ve been having this kind of firestorm going on in the back of my head when I eat, watch TV, fiddle on the net, exercise, plan for my return to the world of dance, sleep, tinkle…

Uhmmm was that TMI?  It has been going on for about two or three weeks now and it came to a head (kinda sorta) in yesterday’s blog post.

There is lots of debris flying around in that thought typhoon: stress about my finances, the challenges that lie ahead, the reality that the road is going to be tough, that my life is about to change yet again, uncertainty, angst.  Now toss in a new found political awareness and activism, frustration that the system, the environment, and so many factors seems rigged against people trying to better themselves.

A huge chunk of that inner thought tornado is the difficulty in conveying why when “I went to the grocery store and to my storage unit today” should be received by the listener with the same respect as someone saying “I just ran a marathon in record time.”  — more on that in a later post. For now, please accept it as one tiny line of paint to be included in a much larger painting.  A thread in a larger tapestry.

However, there is a center.  A “core” to that whirling maelstrom inside my brain.

In every case, somehow it all comes back around to WORDS!.

And how inadequate they sometimes are.  How easily they can be misunderstood and the meaning behind the words lost when they come from me to another person.

Words and the inadequacy of “words.” How they can either soar and convey with perfect clarity emotions and thoughts or they can plumment horribly and thud into the ground, like bricks falling from a workman’s scaffold, creating the most awful mess!

Arrrrrrrgggghhhhh!!!!!!!

Here, on this blog, on any blog, the words are both the solution and the problem.  How to use them?  Which ones to use? Do I write about this or that?  Share this bit or that bit?  If writing about that bit then “how?” In what way? Get the idea?

Let’s break it down a little; use those words to illustrate:

Here I am in Dallas, sitting in my room (which needs desperately to be neatened, dusted, and cleaned up).  Over in one corner is a shirt and a pair of pants that need to be thrown into the laundry hamper which is itself overflowing. On my futon are my pillows from last night, and the sheets from last night which really should have been neatly folded and put into the closet for the day, but weren’t.  The futon is still in it’s “inclined” night-time sleeping position instead of being moved to it’s upright “day-time” couch position.

Right next to my desk I have a stack of three boxes and a stack of two boxes.  These boxes are detritus from my storage unit which I’m slowly working through: sorting, selling on CraigsList, tossing in the trash OR giving away the enclosed “junk” and “stuff” to the local resale shop which benefits the LGBT community called “Out of the Closet.”  Watch for the return of my “online garage sale” as I work my way through that pile and the much larger pile-o-clutter that I need to get OUT of my house!

I have a half finished diet soda on my desk (which I really swore I would not be drinking any more of… …I should be switching to green tea instead).  My desk is as cluttered as my mind.  Lots of stuff left in mid project, bits of this and bits of that.

Yer basic slice-o-Tony’s Life in fifty words or less…

About those words…

Read the rest of this entry

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Where Tony’s been hiding and Thank Heaven for the Affordable Care Act


I’ve been out of the loop…

I heard through the grapevine that people from the dance world have been asking “Where’s Tony?”  Hmmm…  Is that kinda like “Where’s Waldo but in cowboy boots?  Read on if you’re curious about what’s been going on and why I’ve not been around the dance scene lately

But first… let me share some good news!  On Jan 1st, I’m getting health insurance and…

I’m going to be able to see the Doctor!!!!!!

Handsome Doctor (CC)No, not the cutie to the right..  LOL  YummME!

First of all… some ground rules:

In this post I’m going to be voicing my opinion at great length on a “hot button topic,” the Affordable Care Act”, something which I’ve never really done on my blog before.

But this is important folks!  And, to answer the question of “Where has Tony been? well, it is sorta necessary.

Setting that aside though for the moment, it is important to let folks know that the the ACA not some remote political fight.  There are real people benefiting from this law.  People like me.  By sharing my story perhaps anyone who reads this can put a “real face” to the issue.

Having said that, I recognize that others may disagree and want to comment and/or voice a rebuttal to what I have to say, which is fine.

However… “No rude or mean comments!!!”  If anyone chooses to make a comment on this post, then awesome, but if you don’t like the ACA (I refuse to call it “Obamacare”) then also fine, you are welcome to post an intelligent politely worded comment and disagree with me.

I have absolutely no problems with people holding different opinions than I, nor with people voicing those opinions, BUT there is no need to be rude or mean or demeaning while doing it.   Any such posts will be deleted, not approved for posting,  and I’ll remove you from my “follow” list immediately.  So just don’t go there!

Say it nicely or don’t say it at all! There is too much of that kind of BS in Washington.  I don’t have to put up with it on my blog.

Now… where was I?   LOL  I do that a lot don’t I… start out with one idea then BAM “Squirrel” I’m off on another topic!  Woot!  I should make a tee-shirt…  Hmmmm… now there’s an idea!  Woot!

I have an awesome Doctor!

LOL kitty RXHer name is Karen King; she is caring and kind and sweet, and efficient and knows her stuff and well, she’s just AWESOME!  And for almost 2 years I haven’t been able to see her about stuff that I really do need to see her about.

Uh… you guys did catch that right?  LET ME REPEAT:

For ALMOST TWO YEARS  I have needed to go to the doctor and to the dentist for things and have not been able to do so because I can’t afford it.  We live in the richest nation on the planet and a citizen of that country like myself has to go without healthcare because of money?

It is just wrong, that a person, an individual, has to ignore health issues and scrabble and scramble to make ends meet while corporations are sitting on BILLIONS of dollars protected by loopholes in the tax law written by the guys they helped elect allow them to keep piling up the wealth while people in this country go homeless and hungry and without health care?

Almost EVERY other major industrialized Western nation on the planet has UNIVERSAL HEALTHCARE for its citizens.  And we don’t?  There is something wrong with this picture.

ACA is getting a bad rap and it should not!

A case study of 1 — “Moi” who thinks it is AMAZING!

ACA imageRather than jump immediately into this big huge philosophical discussion of the ACA and it’s relative merits, let’s talk about this in a “real world” kind of thing.

Bringing it down to a “real person” level

Putting a face on it…  My face to be precise.

And after I’m done…  Read the rest of this entry

Books and Songs from the “Rachel Maddow Show” (Current Season)


Books from the About the Books on the Rachel Maddow Show

The Rachel Maddow Show airs on MSNBC (9pm Eastern Time) Monday-Friday. The show, hosted by Rachel Maddow, is a daily news and opinion television program…

… The show usually features one or two guests during the 60 minute program and sometimes those guests are authors. Usually the author is there to provide commentary on the topic of the day, or to be interviewed because they are the topic of the day. Therefore, any plug of the author’s writings are secondary to the author’s pundit or news role.

Given that focus, it is understandable that there is no easy or concise way to find a list of the books mentioned or featured on the show. Trust me, I looked. I’m a librarian and I’m pretty good at finding information on the Internet, if it exists.

There just isn’t a list like that our there. Until now. So, here for your enjoyment are a list of the Rachel Maddow Show Guests who are authors and their books…

…if you watch the show regularly you’ll hear a song played as the show goes to commercial or during the credits roll at the end.  The name of the song, if one is going to be used in that night’s show is released on the MaddowBlog.  However, just as with the books, there is no single concise list of all the soundtracks.

Fear not, my fellow Maddow fans, I’m including them down below along with the books.   [ Read the Rest of the Article ]

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