The road ends, but the journey continues...

Tag: Quotes (Page 7 of 8)

3 Quotes, 3 Days – the second

Peace Be To This HousePeace be to this house – Luke 10:5

I’ve been nominated by Geralyn of Where My Feet Are to take part in the 3 days, 3 quotes challenge. This is my first ever nomination for anything ‘blog’ related, so I’m tickled pink to participate. Thank you Geralyn!
The above quote was the inspiration for a friendship/housewarming quilt I created in collaboration with friends and family to celebrate moving into our new (at the time) home just spitting distance from our previous home.  It now hangs on the wall beside our bed in our little rental house very far away from both homes as a warm reminder of those special times and people.
The rules of the challenge are:
1) Thank the person who nominated you.
2) Post a quote each day for 3 days.
3) Each day nominate 3 new bloggers to take part.
My nominees are:
Becky
Donna
Deborah
(Hope you can participate but no worries if you can’t)

3 Quotes, 3 Days – the first

Clementa Pinckney quote Huff Post

South Carolina state senator, the Rev. Clementa Pinckney, one of 9 slain at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, SC

“Could we not argue that America is about freedom…” South Carolina state senator, the Rev. Clementa Pinckney, one of 9 slain at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, SC.

I’ve been nominated by Geralyn of Where My Feet Are to take part in the 3 days, 3 quotes challenge. This is my first ever nomination for anything ‘blog’ related, so I’m tickled pink to participate. And also sobered by its timing. Thank you Geralyn.
The rules of the challenge are:
1) Thank the person who nominated you.
2) Post a quote each day for 3 days.
3) Each day nominate 3 new bloggers to take part.
My nominees are:
Anna
L.Marie
Jayne
(Hope you can participate but no worries if you can’t)

In Search of a Replacement Classical Guitar Case

In 1994 I purchased my first custom handmade classical guitar.  A Thomas Prisloe.  Crafted with an Englemann Spruce top, Indian Rosewood sides and back and customized features, it came housed in a Pro Tec International case.

My 1994 Prisloe nestled in its original Pro Tec International case, 2015

My 1994 Prisloe nestled in its original Pro Tec International case, 2015


Both have served me well these past 21 years of gigging, performing, recording, teaching and traveling.
The woods of this guitar have long since opened up, developing a tone quality shaped by the touch of my fingers and style of playing.  The case remains a stalwart protector of its charge.
Heavily padded, yet extremely lightweight and durable, this case kept the Prisloe at a consistent temperature and humidity level as well as safe and secure during transport.  It didn’t show signs of falling apart until we ended our between homes journey in July 2012. Continue reading

Giving Voice: Margaret Thatcher on Unemployment

I find it interesting that unemployment has been an issue of glaringly huge proportions for quite some time within the free market world.  That there have been sound ways of alleviating it during the course of these past decades, yet left untouched by those in power is disheartening, very telling and ultimately totally inexcusable.
Quote symbol

…Characteristically she covered her own weakest flank – unemployment – by counter-attacking Labour’s  record in the 1970’s. ‘In the end Labour always runs away,’ she jeered in her adoption speech at Finchley on 19 May:

            ‘They are running away from the need to defend their country…They are fleeing from the long overdue reform of the trade unions…They are running out on Europe…Above all, Labour is running away from the true challenge of unemployment.’

Promising to create millions of jobs, she insisted, was ‘no more than an evasion of the real problem’.  Real jobs could only be created by gradually building up a competitive economy with profitable industries that could hold their own in world markets.  ‘We Conservatives believe in working with the grain of human nature, in encouraging people by incentives, not in over-regulating them by too many controls.’ ‘A quick cure,’ she repeated several times in another favourite formulation, ‘is a quack cure.’

Margaret Thatcher circa 1983 (excerpt taken from The Iron Lady by John Campbell, pg 222)

Poverty and Beauty, Ugliness and Truth

a tree grows in brooklyn coverA short while ago, I reread this classic novel.  It’s one of the greats.  What surprised me this time around was that amidst the storyline and lyrical prose, its message speaks to the heart of what I’ve been presenting within my blog series, Giving Voice.
Very timely as the quotes I’ve pulled from within its pages read better than anything I could attempt to pen.
Meant to be read as a single ‘blog post’ the following quotes are from “A Tree Grows In Brooklyn” by Betty Smith.

Quote symbolSince her father’s death, Francie had stopped writing about birds and trees and My Impressions.  Because she missed him so, she had taken to writing little stories about him.  She tried to show that, in spite of his shortcomings, he had been a good father and a kindly man.  She had written three such stories which were marked ‘C’ instead of the usual ‘A.’  The fourth came back with a line telling her to remain after school… Continue reading

Homeless & Jobless Americans: Breaking the Stereotypes

Quote symbolSomeone once said that we all, each and every one of us are at most only two tragedies from homelessness.   It could be a family illness coupled with a job loss or any number of similar situations, including fire, earthquake, storm, abandonment, death of loved one, mental illness, service in war, or simply a landlord deciding to use his property in a different manner as the Beamans found out.   Also we all know that foreclosure is forcing hundreds of thousands out of their homes.   Couple that with another unfortunate event and many of these will be homeless.  Unexpectedly and unwillingly homeless through no fault of their own.
Combinations of these unexpected events can push almost anyone into homelessness at any time.   Not drugs, not alcohol, not laziness, not gambling, not any of those things.  Think about it.  Many of the homeless in the woods near your neighborhood are just plain people like yourself that have hit a couple of speed bumps in their life too many.

Homelessness, and by association Joblessness, has become the biggest non-discriminatory segment within the American population.  While this group has always encompassed fringe members of our population, its reach has expanded considerably to include veterans, families, all ethnic & racial groups, spanning multiple generations and social spheres and as many slices of diversity in mainstream society as one can imagine. To further complicate the stereotypical profile, a full 25% of the homeless are actually employed, and 44% have done some sort of paid work during the past month.
In short – this ever-growing community encompasses: Everyday Americans…living a Third World existence in the land of freedom, opportunity and great wealth. Continue reading

Odds&Ends

churchill quoteToday I learned a new skill.  Using a layout design I created for a favorite quote, I transferred it from WORD to PDF to JPEG in order for it to be viewed in a blog post.  Yes, it takes that long-line of a process to get it from there to here. With those faithful Dummy Books by my side, I googled more info on how to do this and voilá! What you see is the end result of what I learned today!  Pretty cool, this inner geek of mine.  And, oh yes, the quote itself is very worthy of contemplation.
Obviously, this post has nothing to do with my current Giving Voice series. While I have several articles neatly tucked away waiting their turn to be presented, there are those that are incomplete, unfinished or just not quite ripe for public viewing.  Such is the case for the one next in line; surrounded by other completed articles, that one just isn’t up to snuff yet.
Plus, I realized that for all my concern about presenting potentially controversial topics in a balanced manner, I’d all but forgotten to address the fact that stereotypes are often steeped in some form of truth.  There are reasons why the average guy on the streets is avoided, looked upon with caution or treated as if he were invisible. Continue reading

“After work on Friday, I gave some food to the homeless people who hang out by Civic Center Station.  With one sandwich and a croissant, I felt bad when I realized I didn’t have enough to feed everyone.  But a kind, older man told me that seeing me happy was enough to brighten his day.
As I ran down the stairs, he called after me.  I stopped midway and braced myself for the insult I was sure he’d spit out.  He’d changed his mind; I was inconsiderate, lazy, privileged – or worse, he’d call me something derogatory, sexual.
But instead he said, ‘Young lady, don’t let nobody take your joy.’
Meredith Jaeger, a San Francisco writer in love with women’s fiction, 9/1/13

3 Books to Consider for Gift Giving this Holiday Season

Note: Yes, I do have a connection to each of these recently published indie books.  In the spirit of artistic solidarity, I present this modest list of suggested titles. Representative of 3 different genres, content as well as individual style varies greatly among them. Let’s take a look. (click on book cover photo for more details)

  1. The Genesis Resolution by T.D. Freiberg
  2. The Quaker Café by Brenda Bevan Remmes
  3. Serving Up Memory: Stories, Poetry & Recipes by the Camden Writers Continue reading

My NaNoWriMo Signature Quotes

One of the fun things about doing NaNoWriMo (besides being a month devoted to writing and a great excuse to down gallons of coffee) is all the geeky stuff that’s available for use during the event.  There are word count widgets (yep, got that!), banners and badge buttons (done those, too) to install on one’s website/blog.  On-site, there’s even push-button access to upload images for use as one’s novel cover (pretty cool, but haven’t done that yet; maybe this year) … just to name a few techie toys.
Then there’s the personalization of one’s NaNo presence.  Along with the usual profile set up, there are numerous ways one can do this.  Over these three years of participating in this creative endeavor, I’ve pretty much kept my moniker (desertmountain) and gravatar (a photo of me and Leggy Lady on the compound, sized-down real teeny tiny) the same.  Mostly just to maintain a sense of continuity within and between each year’s NaNoWriMo.
However, each year’s signature quote has been different.
Interestingly, they reveal something about that year’s novel/project while not specifically chosen as such…a sort of foreshadowing of whatever wanted to be written/worked on during that year’s NaNo.
For NaNo 2012 I pulled a favorite quote from a snippet of Carl Sandburg’s poem, Lesson. peaches in tree 
“Come clean with a child heart.  Laugh as peaches in the summer wind.  Let rain on a house roof be a song.  Let the writing on your face be a smell of apple orchards in late June.”  – Carl Sandburg
Little did I realize my novel for that premier year would revolve around the lessons and seasons of life within The Peach Orchard Project or My Life as a Peach.
My second NaNoWriMo,  I found a quote revealing the effectiveness of fiction as a form of literary social commentary from a favorite author.

“A book, too, can be a star, ‘explosive material, capable of stirring up fresh life endlessly,’ a living fire to lighten the darkness, leading out into the expanding universe.” – Madeleine L’Engle

I plunged deep into the realm of my characters.  They cried out for justice in an unjust world while I grieved the passing of the ugliest and hardest of my street people characters who died a hero, defending The Woman Who Didn’t Belong.
This year’s signature quote jumped out at me while reading, When Women Were Birds by Terry Tempest Williams.  It gives me hope that the creation of (he)art as truth is an important endeavor; one which compels me to soldier-on in doing.

“To withhold words is power.  But to share our words with others openly and honestly is also power.” – Terry Tempest Williams

Me & Leggy Lady on the compound ~November 2010

Me & Leggy Lady on the compound ~November 2010


Honesty is an undeniable foil, it flashes whether bidden or not.  In order to be true to myself, I have to speak.  I must share my words, my music, my (he)art, my Musical Non-Fiction, regardless of whether or not it is seen, heard or read.
 

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