Lynn M. Dixon's Blog, page 5

Twenty Four Seven with Tina Turner!

It took me a while to get over losing Tina. I never saw her perform, but losing her was comparable to losing a family member. I listened to her as a child in Tennessee, so in a sense, I grew up with her and watched her evolve into an international powerhouse. She did so much for liberating women from bad situations through both her actions and songs.

That said, I recently purchased her studio album, Twenty Four Seven which she recorded overseas in 1999. Here it is twenty-five years later and as I listen to the lyrics, her songs are spunky, sassy and serve as an anthem. Her sultry voice reminds women and men alike, that they can definitely move on and land on their feet.

While reflecting as she sang, I clapped myself on the back for packing up and making mighty treks away from circumstances that were no longer good for me. Sometimes, things can be good and then they aren’t. We have to recognize when to hold ‘em, know when to fold ‘em. (Kenny Rogers’ The Gambler) And for me, on more than one occasion, I had to leave the state for true peace of mind. That alone entails a lot of thought, planning and the connecting of the dots.

Closing down one shelter and locating another place to ‘hang your hat,’ is no joke. And then, there was the dilemma of finding a new source of income. But it was done and I am here. On one occasion, I sent my furniture ahead of me. Other times, I put my things in storage and removed myself first and either sent for my items or went back to retrieve them. Needless to say, I lost a lot of precious things along the way.  Such is life!

Her song, When the Heartache is Over, reminds those with an achy-breaky heart that, “I can live without you.” It is just what is needed as one is making decisions and heading in a new direction. In Go Ahead, Tina Turner sings, “But never give up ‘cause every dog has its day.” I do not remember hearing these songs on the radio here in the States. It would have been great to have it blaring on the car radio/CD player while heading out on the Interstate with the car filled to the brim.

We only got a few of her hits here. I remember hearing What’s Love Got to Do With It, Private Dancer and Simply the Best; but, the people in Europe were privy to so much more of her ability to cross over into a variety of genres. In Without You, she belted, “So, I find another way to learn to live another day. Without you, yeah, yeah, yeah. yeah.”

I could go on and on, but I will continue to listen to what I missed such as her album, Break Every Rule. Thank goodness for recordings, CD’s, Spotify, YouTube and other forms of media to re-engage with this unique talent. We are no longer at the mercy of the radio dee-jays to share what they deem as hits. If so inclined, we can do our own digging and discover more gold down in the well!

Lynn M.
November 5, 2024

November Harvest!

We have come upon the harvest season as we enter this new month of November. It is time to tally our past to-do lists and check to see what we have actually accomplished in 2024.  First, we are still here and that alone is a huge victory in itself. “Breathe, you are alive!”

I took a look back over what went well in 2024, up to this point. I began the year working with infant/toddlers and their loving parents. I came out of my self-imposed isolation and found an endearing position amongst the local community for the first half of the year.

There were many rewards and I am still calculating some of them from those daily interactions. I felt the unconditional love from those around me and I learned quite a few new skills along the way. Very importantly, I added some extra dollars to my pockets. There were a host of rich conversations that ultimately inspired me to pick up my trusty pen and get busy.

I penned a new novella and it was long overdue. This one (Tyre’s Girls) is the 8th in a series about the Thomas family and I ventured into uncharted waters. I bravely dove in and took on the next generation. The main character is in college, so I had to go way back through many corridors to recall what life was like as a college student. That required a revisit back down memory lane.

As a self-published author, I write, type, edit and pay for all publishing services. I did this during my stint on the job and though it has flaws, I am still proud that I finally put pen to paper after such a long lull. I hadn’t written about that family since 2019. I could not have done it without the talks, laughter and observations from the community with whom I worked during those months. The interactions brought the voices of my waiting characters to life!

I have had time to regroup, catch up on much needed sleep and reflect on a number of issues after leaving the position. I was sometimes surprised at which memories and faces cropped up from the past. Sometimes, we move so quickly through life and we unconsciously push things from our pasts aside to be dealt with at a later date. Well, that later date became NOW. 

I went ahead and looked at some old issues squarely in the eye and made peace with what once was happening in my life. I knew that the continual weeding process was essential to getting ready for the future. Thich Nhat Hanh wrote, “You, my brother or sister, have wronged me in the past. I now understand that it was because you were suffering and did not see clearly. I no longer feel anger toward you.” (Living Buddha, Living Christ)

That cleansing took a lot of work though it was work of a different nature. I am not all the way there, but I am working. Thus, I have a sizable harvest this November and I am continually preparing for the new.  What about you?

Lynn M.
November 2, 2024

Autumn Leaves!

Oh, see the autumn leaves,
With their rich, colorful sheaves.

Freshly dotting the landscape,
Adorning our blue lake.

Signaling that it is fall,
As we note the birds’ soft call.

Them singing, “It’s harvest time.”
Cash in and claim, “It’s all mine!”

Lynn M.
October 26, 2024

The Elephant in the Room!

After re-watching the movie Having Our Say: The Delaney Sisters’ First 100 Years with the great actors Diahann Carroll and Ruby Dee , I thought about my experiences with Jim Crow. I later saw an interview with the actual sisters before they passed and hearing their personal testimonies further jogged my memories; though mine were less harsh. That interview and the reading of Ta’Nehisi Coates’ new book, The Message both brought those memorable scenes from the past to the forefront.

Our family moved to Memphis, Tennessee around 1956 when I was about five or six. I had already attended an integrated school in Detroit, Michigan-my birthplace. It was for a brief period of time, but I remember being in the classroom with blacks and whites. We had the old wooden desks that were attached to the floor with the lift tops and we placed our items inside. Fresh milk in small bottles were delivered daily. I couldn’t remember my teacher’s long name so my father teased me daily when I could not repeat her name. He started calling her Miss I-Forgot-It. Those were pleasant memories.

However, when we moved to Memphis, the schools were all-black. In fact, we lived on the black side of town, but we had everything we needed. We were self-contained; thus we rarely had a need to interact with those on the white side of town. Several neighbors ran small stores out of their kitchens which we called sundries. They had popsicles, penny candy, chips and just about anything that the neighborhood children could ever want. In the schools, there were all black teachers who loved us and we loved them back. They often ruled with an iron fist to hammer out model citizens and our self-esteem was basically solid and intact.

Though we were shielded from the darker sides of segregation, we were aware that it existed. If we took a rare trip downtown to Bry’s Department Store or if we went to one of my favorite places out on Airways Boulevard called Atlantic Mills, we were on high alert. Atlantic Mills was a store comparable to a Target or Walmart. I remember getting two dresses during one outing and I felt doubly rich. But we saw the four washrooms: one for White Men and one for Colored Men; one for White Women and one for Colored Women. We saw the water fountains for White and for Colored. Somehow, the Colored one was a little less clean. As children, we would sneak and drink water from the White fountain as a silent protest. We knew it was not right.

When taking road trips and certainly on our historic road trip to Chicago when we were saying goodbye to our crying friends and to Mr. Jim Crow, we really felt the pain of it all. We could not stop and use the washrooms along the way, so we had to take our station breaks on the side of the road under our mother’s careful guidance. We could never stop at a place called Stuckey’s which had numerous billboards along the highway. I finally made it inside of one many years later and thought, “Hmm. Much ado about nothing.” I did purchase some stale candy which had probably been sitting there since I was a dreaming child along with a lovely plaque of the poem, Desiderata. Another dragon slayed.

In spite of others’ brushes with Jim Crow, we were blessed in that we did not directly have any negative encounters, but we could see the effects it had on my father in the workplace. This was a huge catalyst for his going ahead of us and getting a job and an apartment on the South Side of Chicago. He came back to get us and we headed North. Yet, I must say that Jim Crow was always that hovering elephant in the room.

Lynn M.
October 19, 2024

Ain’t No Way!

“What happens to a dream deferred?
Does it dry up
Like a raisin in the sun?…
Or does it explode?” 

The above quote is from Langston Hughes’ poem, ‘A Dream Deferred’ and I thought about the recent passing of Cissy Houston, Whitney’s mom.  Perhaps like the poem, she had a dream or certain aspirations for her life, but though the seed was planted in her, it exploded and came to full fruition in her daughter, Whitney Houston. Thus, it did not dry up like a raisin in the sun.

She taught Whitney to make each song her own and to not try to replicate anyone else while using her ‘head, heart and gut.’ As a result of her teachings, we have a timeless and lengthy discography of Whitney Houston’s that many still enjoy each day.

But, Cissy Houston had gifts as well. I re-listened to her singing backup in Aretha Franklin’s rendition of  ‘Ain’t No Way.’ She had some serious chops herself which she displayed by hitting the high notes while singing along with Aretha’s sister Carolyn Franklin, the songwriter.

That took me to a YouTube clip with Carolyn in the recording studio showing Aretha how the song should go. Aretha let Carolyn and the musicians know that she had to make it her own and that she had to feel the words. And wow, did she ever? Looking at that scenario took me back to the recent movie, Respect which came out in 2021.  

From there, I segue into my memory of the movie which I viewed twice on the big screen. To me, the movie did not get its props, meaning that it did not receive the respect that it deserved. Aretha Franklin hand-picked Jennifer Hudson to play her in the bio-pick and she did an awesome job. Perhaps, some of its truths stepped on someone’s extended toes. Who knows?

Anyway, take a listen to the finished product with sister Carolyn Franklin’s prolific words, Aretha Franklin’s soulful feeling, the musicians minted unity and Cissy Houston’s operatic range. I am certain that the three of them are entertaining many in heaven and just maybe they will let Whitney join in!

Lynn M.
October 12, 2024

Poem to Song!

A poem can easily become a song.
Once the right moves and minds come along.

A singer, horn, drums- to name a few.
Stacking the deck for the perfect crew.

Someone may strum or pick a guitar,
With a music arranger- on par.

After the poet’s feelings fill the sheet,
A harmonious group can find the beat.

With rocking vibs on the radio wave,
Voila!  We have a profiting crave!

Lynn M.
October 5, 2024

Vlogs & Reading!

Sometimes I take travel tours on YouTube as I wonder about other lands. I recently visited Zurich and Interlaken, Switzerland on walking and scenic vlogs as I was in search of Tina’s garden quite like Alice Walker’s book, In Search of My Mother’s Garden. We miss Tina Turner, dearly.

But then I thought, huh. Why not go further and do better? I finished a three-book Wildflower Lock series by Hannah Lynn and in the third book, Blue Skies Over Wildflower Lock, Daisy May, who inherited a narrowboat from her grandfather, takes the boat out on a wild ride.  She ends up on the Thames River and she has a few near-misses. She even sees a boat dangling in one of the big locks with children on board!

I was doubly intrigued because one of my dear Twitter author-friends, Val Poore lives on a boat in The Netherlands. Her many books and blogs talk about her courageous voyages to places like France and Belgium where she and her partner navigate the canals. Thus, I have learned about terms like mooring, locks and towpaths and she pointedly adds fantastic photographs of her ventures to enhance the reader’s experience.

Saying all of that to say, I looked at vlogs on YouTube about traveling on the Thames to mirror Daisy’s ride on her new boat, September Rose. I watched a few videos of people steering their narrowboats on the Thames River and I came across this lovely British couple, Tony and Jan.  They have posted quite a few of their travels and sometimes they talk and at other times they allow the viewer to enjoy the scenery while soft music plays in the background. We see Jan opening manual locks as Tony steers through and we see them go through enormous locks which look scary. It is awesome to see the ingenuity and genius of the architects and engineers.

I am now reading An Italian Island Summer by Sue Moorcroft. I decided to follow suit and take vlogs and video tours of the places mentioned in the novel. Ursula is from Dublin and Alfino was living in Barcelona at the opening of the book. They are both headed to a place in Sicily. I went on YouTube and I took a walking tour of Dublin, Ireland and added one to Barcelona, Spain. Then I spent even more time enjoying the narrow streets and beauty of Sicily.

Taking these vlogs have not only enhanced my knowledge of new places, but it has added to my visualization as I read and follow these characters’ lives. I can better see Alfino and Ursula walking down the small streets of Sicily as they head to a pub to meet friends. I think that I will keep it up. It is a great additive and it makes me feel tres riche! 

Lynn M.
September 29, 2024

Nothing New!

When we are disheartened by the news and the situations that we see people experiencing, we may take it to heart, but we must remember that there is ‘nothing new under the sun..’ As a former educator of Early American Literature, many of the stories that I taught had universal themes filled with warnings about human nature. I see the same behaviors today as those portrayed in plays and short stories such The Crucible by Arthur Miller; Young Goodman Brown by Nathaniel Hawthorne; The Devil and Daniel Webster by Stephen Vincent Benet and The Devil and Tom Walker by Washington Irving. 

We laughed in the classroom when characters got their comeuppance, but when the stories play out over social media and the news headlines, it is not funny. People are still trying to get what they think they need to be happy but when payday arrives, they are never prepared to cash in the chips. Though none of us can escape life’s twists and turns, some of the debts and bad karma do not have to be as deep. Hopefully, we can climb up out of our pits and if we are lucky, there may even be a helping hand or two.

It is good to read. Sometimes, some of the warning signs are clear and we know that it is time to cross the street with the quickness. And, it is good to listen to our elders. They have been there and done that or at least they have seen a lot over the years. They can help us detect the red flags so we will know when to run from a situation.

I often like to read the comments when hot topics are being discussed on social media. It is quite apparent that some people have been well-raised and some simply don’t have a clue. Period. I wrote down a few snazzy sayings from commenters because I realize that I learn something new everyday. Here are a few:

Karma knows every address.A fool and his money soon depart.Karma can wait for every year, hour and minute to pass.The devil don’t play fair.Karma is a lawnmower.

I am sure there are more, but if more parents taught their children the laws of cause-effect, then we would not hear so many tragic stories each day. They should let their little ones know that slow and steady wins the race  and that it takes time to build a steady, sturdy crop. And, sometimes, less is more. How much does it really take to have a good life?  Because at the end, “You can’t take it with you!”

Lynn M.
September 21, 2024

Frankie Beverly

As the saying goes, “There is no time like the present.” So, during this week when we have lost two icons on back-to-back days, I will speak about our beloved singer and songwriter, Frankie Beverly who passed the day after James Earl Jones. The outpouring of love on social media has been astronomical because Frankie Beverly and Maze brought so much joy to many listeners, perhaps more so to the Southern black communities.

Family reunions, picnics, celebrations and many gatherings had his music blasting as people mingled and enjoyed one another’s company. People often sang along or danced to groovy cuts like Golden Time of Day. You, Happy Feelin’s, While I’m Alone, Lady of Magic, Joy and Pain, Look At California or Before I Let You Go, to name a few.

The more fortunate ones had the opportunity to see him live in concert and as the years pressed on, some of his concerts were sing-alongs and dance-a thons. His silky, smooth voice will forever remain with us. We thank goodness that our artists record on both audio and music videos so that when they leave this earth plane, their amazing art is left behind. Their digital footprints comfort us during our grief process and remind us that they will be forever close to our hearts.

Sometimes, we do not realize how much our artists mean to us until we wake up one day and hear of his or her passing. They have played such an integral part of our lives and quite like the aromas of perfume, a song or a movie can remind us of a particular chapter of our lives. We recall exactly what we were going through or experiencing at that point in our lives.

I had the pleasure of interviewing Frankie Beverly before his concert in Jackson, Mississippi in 1977. I was writing for a local newspaper and had a press pass which allowed me access to the performers. I will always remember when he told me that, “You either pay up in the front or in the end.” He said, “I paid up front.” Those words were shared over four decades ago and obviously he was right. The well- wishes, the love and the celebration of his life over these past few days have been amazing. His passing was even mentioned on our local and World News broadcasts.

There are no scandals nor are there any hush-hush stories about his life. There has just been wholesome good news about his life including the fact that he got his start by being in a back-up group for late great Marvin Gaye. Now that is saying something and we can all attest to the fact that he walked the walk and did indeed pay his dues on the front end. The end of his time here on earth is a testimony that Frankie Beverly embodied a life well-lived. Kudos!

Lynn M.
September 14, 2024

What Soothes Your Soul?

During these rambunctious times, I had to find ways to soothe my soul over the summer of 2024. When the newsreels became entirely too much, here are some ways I escaped the madness. I did the following:

Blended a morning fruity smoothie to comfort me.Wrote down my daily meditations to renew my spirit and prepare for the day.Listened to good music and music videos on YouTube to artists such as: Issac Hayes as he sang on his Black Moses album, Shaft and especially a long version of Do Your Thing.Enjoyed Bruno Mars and Lady Gaga’s new music video, Die With A SmileRead multiple books, usually on Kindle including Annabel French’s Chateau Series and Mariah Carey’s The Meaning of Mariah.Wrote in my gratitude journal when I was reminded that I was taking some of my daily blessings for granted.Listened to various Jazz Cafe channels on YouTube to clear my mind of the debris.Cooked creatively while watching cooking shows on television.Traveled with Rick Steves and others to vicariously go along with the crew to new places.Chatted and texted to a chosen few while basically muting the lips over the summer.Reading and writing while sitting close to Lake Michigan.Looking back down memory and facing some lost loves and deciding to focus on the good as Al Green reminded me to do in his version For the Good Times.Enjoying NPR’s Tiny Desk‘s mini concerts with certain musicians such as Maxwell. Chaka Khan, Smokey Robinson and Alicia Keys.Locating  a Cartoon Channel that truly helped me laugh at the simplicity of it all.Staying away from and blocking toxic people from my world. Period.

Those are some of the things that soothed me during the Summer of 2024.  What about you? What did you do that helped you find peace and poise during times like these?

Lynn M.
September 7, 2024