Susie Duncan Sexton's Blog, page 40

Latest "Old Type Writer" - "Headed Toward an iPADDED Cell?"

Headed toward an iPADDED cell --
Carly Simon’s VAIN fresh new HELL!
Intervention’s around the bend.
Let’s admit defeat, friend to friend.
Facing each other in real time,
Oh, abandon the “pantomime”!
Technology’s fun and quicker,
But we’re too drunk on THIS liquor?

All that I ever required of a clunky old manual typewriter and its keyboard? Non-sticking keys, occasional fresh ribbons wound tightly enough yet a tad loosey-goosey, the capability to shift/capitalize and italicize or employ quotation marks to highlight -- as per stage directions -- for perhaps later reading the finished result aloud, ease of indenting, and a smooth carriage return accompanied by a zinging sound effect, etc., etc. and so forth.

No computer geek, communication -- via “floating anxiety” language transformed into permanent print -- satisfies my psyche to the maximum. Computer equals typewriter in my limited world. I ask nothing more.

Wait! Googling’s magic. I concede that miracle of referencing the entire world, and its contents thereof, to be phenomenal. Wiki you! Wiki me! May bulky, dusty, gilded, out-dated encyclopedia volumes, A through Z, rest in peace or live on as collector items.

However, in spite of myself, I currently claim membership in imaginary humanity via Facebook’s Goodreads, Linked-In, Blocked-Out, Up Yours, Back Off, Network Me a Little Higher and More to the Left, Kindle Kuddling, Nook Nonsense, and Discounted or Buy One Get One Free Items No One Needs or Wants, as well as On-Line Obits ‘N Stuff (leave a message for the deceased).

You and I can access cyber-life through stationary, awkward, overly wired-up PCs (old hat by now), cell phones if top o’ the line, iPods, iPads, Blackberries, teensy tiny hand-held devices, or the entire surfaces of coffee-tables.

Probably, soon we only need to flail our hands through the air to conjure up atlases, strings of movies, any magazines still in existence, chess boards, bridge partners -- then simply scooch our motions up, down, right, left, to move onward and upward and into or outta there. Maybe, someday, we’ll wave our arms at our over-priced electric vehicles (Automobiles, the bane of mankind!) which will tool driverlessly all over the roads, then load their trunks with groceries (more swooshing of limbs), OR consume – simply by pointing -- virtual food photographs peering enticingly up as mouth-watering succulent delights hovering upon the kitchen table top. (Super diet plan!)

When a seasoned Linked-In, affectedly professional, Mr. Jolly aloofly demands that I justify my fresh existence on said site, I long to reply to the stuffy part-time comic book illustrator. ”Me? Are you joshing? I am over-qualified and wearing an American flag motif Jantzen bathing suit equipped with a cantilevered brassiere effect, am ‘spike-heel-booted’ up to my outrageously slender knees, and go nowhere without a huge star poised dead-center atop my tiara which itself perches upon a grandly bluish-raven, overly-teased coiffure. Now, sir, do you wish to ‘friend’ me – or not? Together, through teamwork, the two of us might go very far (out!)” An offer no grown man feverishly churning out literary masterpieces, for mass consumption by kids with more money than sense, ought to refuse.

Daily/nightly recommended “reads” crawl and often sprint onto my notifications. However repetitiously and seductively their cover-art advertises “BUY ME…DOWNLOAD NOW”, at my age … nude folks enjoying their water-color status, while wrapped tightly about one another, only inspire giggles or yawns. One exception – “What to Do with a Naked Leprechaun” very nearly earned a PayPal nod from this bookworm. “Deviant Devil! Hades Squad.” and “Knight of Passion” and “Zebra Wore Red Stockings” as well as “Victorian Erotic Romance Trilogy” or “Wicked Missions” may be other titles to consider. Having recently gloried in the publication of my first E-Book, I should investigate adjustment of both my writing style and choices of topics should I ever contribute a second “novel-approach” to this zany, one-note world. Salability at all costs – the bottom line! The VERY bottom.

Carly Simon’s infectious musical composition YOU’RE SO VAIN never fails to transport me into Henry Mancini’s “dreamy Dreamsville “-- her necessary message coordinated with that perkiest of finger-snapping beats. Were I ever fortunate enough to enjoy a steaming, aromatic cup of latte with the composer, relaxing at a Martha’s Vineyard sidewalk bistro, I’d lean pronouncedly forward to examine whether or not “clouds” float within … or maybe instead seriously clot … her java. “Clouds in (her) coffee…clouds in (her) coffee…” Until that day, her mystifying phrase continues to replay between my ears each time I re-visit those totally unrealistic, role-playing cyber-sites-links with a click of my mouse or whenever I devise my own inventive, directive phrase to stimulate my search engine in order to escape this world.

Five syllables now with suggested emphasis on each fourth syllable, almost waltzy-schmaltzy…altogether (Humming’s helpful to the tune of CLOUDS IN MY COFFEE)…”and uh-one and uh-two”! Get ready! Get set! Go!

Head-hunting’s silly! Net-working’s nutty! Hacking’s a booger! Bragging’s so pointless! “Act” like we DO care! Find songs on YouTube! Enter this contest! Send a donation! Praying for you now! No-ti-fi-ca-tions! Pills on our bureaus! Hide from maniacs! Posts in our daydreams! Blogs in our nightmares! Twiddle Blackberry! Obsessed with status(-es)! Wrinkles in his shirts! Forget the laundry! Boycott telephones! Notes on our dashboards! Cupboards seem quite bare! Clean sheets—what are those? Always, we’ll eat out! Aches in our back-sides! Admit addiction! Numbness in both feet! Typos all over! “You’ve reached your limit!” Stalkers on my page! Copy ‘n paste THAT! Buy more equipment! Facebook dominates! Shut off devices! Remember real life? Good-bye to all strife! New day is dawning! Sun’s in its Heaven!

“All’s right with the world!” (from “Pippa Passes” by Robert Browning, 1841)

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Read about movies and nostalgia, animal issues and sociopolitical concerns all discussed in my book Secrets of an Old Typewriter - print and ebook versions available. Also available in both formats at Amazon.com

Meet other like-minded souls at my facebook fan page

Visit my author website at www.susieduncansexton.com

Join a great group of animal advocates Squawk Back: Helping animals when others can't ... Or won't

no fiction allowed cuz "truth is stranger...!"

I wrote a book loaded with observations and several itemized challenged beliefs which I hold dear despite all odds. The result?

A story of a life, from "once upon a time...to happily ever after"...a few genuine scars earned along the way.

Starring family, classmates, friends, historical figures, rites of passage, heartaches, holiday festivities, animals, politicians, authors, movies, music, teachers, human nature, and the world of celebrities who touched my soul-- no fiction allowed cuz "truth is stranger...!" ;D

Click onto this site to kindle or nook me! And happy holidays! (Did I mention ANIMALS???? =^..^=)

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Read about movies and nostalgia, animal issues and sociopolitical concerns all discussed in my book Secrets of an Old Typewriter - print and ebook versions available. Also available in both formats at Amazon.com

Meet other like-minded souls at my facebook fan page

Visit my author website at www.susieduncansexton.com

Join a great group of animal advocates Squawk Back: Helping animals when others can't ... Or won't

Sharing a Fabulous Blog Entry from Facebook Pal Norman Buckley

My note to Norman:

"oh, so glad i read this...wondering how in the world i chatted with you
about animals a few minutes ago and employed the word 'surreal' without
having first read this beauty. 'the irrational juxtaposition of images' may
be more rational than we think? but 'irrational' a tad more fun than
'rational' probably...at my most rational those nearby (juxtaposed) have
insisted that i am the opposite. ;D well, damn them! thank whatever gods may
be for the invention of film...and maybe dreams also. hitchcock directs my
dreams so sometimes i fear falling asleep."

Here is the link to his fantastic blog entry/analysis of surrealism...

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Read about movies and nostalgia, animal issues and sociopolitical concerns all discussed in my book Secrets of an Old Typewriter - print and ebook versions available. Also available in both formats at Amazon.com

Meet other like-minded souls at my facebook fan page

Visit my author website at www.susieduncansexton.com

Join a great group of animal advocates Squawk Back: Helping animals when others can't ... Or won't

Animals R Us...

ah, so! the absolutely foolish stubborn nature of those who politicize these dangers, which are actually shouting to us every day to please face facts concerning our jeopardized environment, is shameful.

tis either apathy or downright denial...both of which doom us. horrid.

it is obvious to the naked eye of any who revere the animal kingdom...the rest of the duplicity is hidden from view. we are animals...ANIMALS R US!

we are the same...their atrocious treatment, at the hands of those duped into a feeling of superiority, equals depletion and destruction of our natural world.

wretchedness going unnoticed every second.

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Read about movies and nostalgia, animal issues and sociopolitical concerns all discussed in my book Secrets of an Old Typewriter - print and ebook versions available. Also available in both formats at Amazon.com

Meet other like-minded souls at my facebook fan page

Visit my author website at www.susieduncansexton.com

Join a great group of animal advocates Squawk Back: Helping animals when others can't ... Or won't

Follow-up to Indiana government officials on deer culling initiative

received a generated reply from Shelley Reeves and here is my reply...(and are you aware of the Albion Chain o' lakes fatality this past week....a buck defending itself from a gunshot, premature dressing and then stabbing may have gored the "hunter" who is now dead...can be read in HUFFINGTON POST here).

below is my response to Shelley and please reconsider the misguided wisdom of continuing the massacre via the second bout of this horror which does not reflect well upon our state: Please read on for my reply to the generated response from Shelley -- thanks for stopping this if at all possible...now for my reply to the lady:

Not sure if I can reply to this e-mail address, but here goes…three hunters arrested this past week for baiting deer with salt pellets…and another hunter at chain o’ lakes shot a buck and was dressing it and the deer was still alive and fought back and the guy stabbed the deer? And the dying buck retaliated by goring the hunter possibly through the liver…with his "natural weaponry"…became national news.

One armed “hunter” dead…one unarmed animal tortured and now dead. Just now read that these reduction efforts lead to further overpopulation as twins are being born as a natural adjustment to all the killing which when organized into these massive hunts flushes the animals into traffic. Much money to be made on licenses from governmental agencies who provide salaries to lots of employees and weaponry bought at Wal-mart…so over-population is encouraged!!!!!

Birth control is the answer…but not a money-maker for profiteers of slaughter. I do not sanction killing ever. Thanks for replying though. No rationalizations accepted by many many of us now as we evolve. Hunting increases deer populations which is probably the idea…sterilization is the answer…have the DNR research that.

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Read about movies and nostalgia, animal issues and sociopolitical concerns all discussed in my book Secrets of an Old Typewriter - print and ebook versions available. Also available in both formats at Amazon.com

Meet other like-minded souls at my facebook fan page

Visit my author website at www.susieduncansexton.com

Join a great group of animal advocates Squawk Back: Helping animals when others can't ... Or won't

Homeward Angle: THANKFUL … TO THINK OUTSIDE THE HOLIDAY BOX!

By Susie Duncan Sexton

Christmas arrives but once a year -- and years fly by too swiftly! We are manipulated and subliminally motivated by commercialism, expectations, obligations, traditions, and mounting hysteria—and then after an ulcer-producing build-up, the party’s over and next year zips forth toward a repeat performance.

Senator Al Franken often spoke at collegiate commencements, as an adored SNL comic, and repeatedly advocated that students abandon planning their future paths. “Nothing turns out to be what we expect,” he warned. Fantastic advice!

As I shuffle through past cheery greeting cards -- stuffed all about the house -- perplexed by what to do with mounds of them, I question how sensible that particular super-imposed mania might be considering currently obscene postage rates. Sending and receiving, once dear to my anticipatory heart, qualify as forced habitual correspondence losing its charm somewhere along each snaily-maily route.

Degenerated to ordering token gifts through catalogues, I have also discontinued…wrapping! Although formerly horrified by older folks who seemed addled by cumulative holiday seasons and stumbled into living rooms toting “Hefty” garbage bags brimming with bare-naked items to distribute perfunctorily, I’ve become less judgmental. I relate totally.

Recalling peer pressure to measure up somehow with inventive candies, cookies, casseroles, etc., and how extremely competitive those flurries of mindless domestic efforts became among us homemakers, no amount of praise ever matched the energy exerted. Our family quickly and quietly dines out instead.

Observing some who “ho ho ho” all about while far too many others sadly do without, year after year, places festivities imposed upon humanity within a bleak perspective. Rigorous planning weeks ahead, for only one atmospheric evening merging into that special once-a-year-day of December 25th, sheds its luster as Time marches onward and eventually off the page.

Santa Claus himself helped me to progress toward these admittedly cynical deductions. I recently unearthed a scolding letter our own Kris Kringle wrote urging that we remember how very many other children populated our Earth and whom he must visit and to be grateful for the meager gifts deposited under the tree for me and my sister. He shocked yet enlightened us with his message. It was addressed to both of us during a slump in the economy about which we kids were oblivious. Oranges, candy canes, nuts, berries, colored pencil sets, ball-point pens, and trinkets filled our over-sized, thumb-tacked, crocheted stockings, and we probably each received one stuffed animal apiece as well as a communal board game over which to bicker.

Our cozy home, the four of us being together, and our inclusion of the childless, elderly couple next door during Christmas Eve assured very special childhood memories. One year, our elderly neighbor Mrs. Elliott borrowed my rather worn Toni-Home-Perm doll – designing and creating the loveliest of ball gowns. Toni traveled across the gravel driveway for nearly a week and returned to our candle-lit living room, on December 24th, -- wearing a Victorian hat, silk-lined cape and a tiny acorn pendant on a delicate chain around her porcelain neck. She sat atop our upright piano until the spring, reminding us that Christmases need always not follow a pattern. Surprises can happen. Individuality leaves a meaningful mark.

So between Santa moralistically bashing materialism and the neighbor lady kidnapping my doll, early on I learned to scratch my head when childhood pals discussed mandatory, necessary Lionel Trains, Lincoln Logs, angora sweater sets, Betsy Wetsys, or Chatty Kathys. At our house, we shared the wealth as we drove throughout the snow-covered country-side to deliver adulatory tiny packages to our teachers Miss Friskney and Miss Smalley and later to celebrate Christmas Day at my oldest sister’s farmhouse while bearing gifts for my little nephew and nieces. Seldom were any of those parcels trendy nor on a par with merchandise heavily advertised or dictated by Madison Avenue moguls located in faraway New York City.

Truly, times have changed. Must we all march to the tune of the same little drummer boy and want, need, buy, shop, accumulate debt, attend strings of events, crowd evenings with social gatherings, and answer affirmatively to all those who question if we’re “ready for the big event”? Franken is correct. After all of this obligatory activity, much of which goes awry, we box up the decorations and the artificial pre-decorated tree and proceed to the next commercialized holiday all stressed out, usually neglecting to have counted our normal every day blessings. It’s often a period of “sound and fury signifying nothing” while bringing us not one step closer to empathy for others or to an understanding and tolerance for a variety of belief systems around the globe.

One joyous holiday season, I received three long playing soundtrack albums: “Here’s Love”, a musical version of “Miracle on 34th Street”; “Mr. President” starring the usually non-singing cowboy/gangster Robert Ryan, with its Big Apple premiere attended by John and Jacqueline Kennedy; and “She Loves Me” which was my favorite -- based upon the Jimmy Stewart movie “The Shop Around the Corner” – (and will feature our son Roy playing the lead role of “George” this coming year in Ann Arbor!) Plus, my sister Sarah bought me a three foot tall Jackie Kennedy paper doll from Murphy’s dime store in Ft. Wayne with this note attached, “A big doll for a big girl!” While my classmates dated, played basketball, led cheers, etc., I danced around this house as if I were Cyd Charisse, probably more aptly resembling Sid Caesar (and then scissored out Jackie’s outfits!) To quote song-writer Annie Lennox “…a legend in my living room…”

One to always do my own thing, I figure I’ll take a tip from Al and approach this coming frantic holiday season the way I choose, not plan ahead but simply enjoy each day, starting with a refusal to view Thanksgiving as simply a prelude to Christmas…or Christmas as a burden to be over-scheduled with busy-ness. Perry Como, of course, hosted numerous televised holiday specials in the glorious “living color” era of the 60s and 70s, warbling all of our favorite carols and standards one of which, “Christmas Dream”, also introduced a 1974 film entitled the “Odessa File”.

… Crazy things, said and done,
Every single day but one!
Every night should, I believe,
Be the same as Christmas Eve.
Nights should all be silent.
Days should all slow down.
An end to the hurry, the noise and the worry!
And I hope you believe that too!
It’s Christmas, remember?
Does no one remember?
The whole world needs, a Christmas dream …
(`~ lyrics by Tim Rice & music by Andrew Lloyd Webber)


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Read about movies and nostalgia, animal issues and sociopolitical concerns all discussed in my book Secrets of an Old Typewriter - print and ebook versions available. Also available in both formats at Amazon.com

Meet other like-minded souls at my facebook fan page

Visit my author website at www.susieduncansexton.com

Join a great group of animal advocates Squawk Back: Helping animals when others can't ... Or won't

Audio recording of "Jock Interrupted by Philo" from Secrets of an Old Typewriter

Hear Susie read "Jock Interrupted by Philo," an excerpt from her book Secrets of an Old Typewriter (www.susieduncansexton.com).

Here is a sample: "As a grammar school brat, I majored in…the 'golden age of television'. I missed not a trick! The boob tube became my motivation in life -- and the cherished status of 'couch potato' my destination. Barging inside and plopping down upon the floor directly in front of the screen, nose to nose with Buffalo Bob, Clark Kent, Pinky Lee, and Annette, I destroyed my eyesight within about a year. Near-sightedness began its hold on me thanks to my close proximity to those pixilated play-mates."

Listen at this link

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Read about movies and nostalgia, animal issues and sociopolitical concerns all discussed in my book Secrets of an Old Typewriter - print and ebook versions available. Also available in both formats at Amazon.com

Meet other like-minded souls at my facebook fan page

Visit my author website at www.susieduncansexton.com

Join a great group of animal advocates Squawk Back: Helping animals when others can't ... Or won't

Donald O'Donovan Reviews Secrets of an Old Typewriter

Donald O'Donovan, author of the novels Night Train, Tarantula Woman, & the upcoming Highway, reviews Secrets of an Old Typewriter. Spectacular review! Can be found at the book's page on Amazon.com here...

Here is the full text of the review:

Ride on the float in the homecoming parade. Be the homecoming queen. Order a chocolate shake at the corner drugstore. Own a black and white TV. Drink tap water straight from the garden hose. Dry your wash on a clothesline. Leave your front door unlocked at night. Seriously retro, Secrets of an Old Typewriter takes you back to small town America in the Forties and Fifties during what might be called the Age of Innocence--the period between World War II and Vietnam.

Columbia City Indiana is the iconic American small town in which author Susie Duncan Sexton was born, grew up, and has lived all her life as wife, mother, teacher and newspaper columnist.

Susie Duncan Sexton has a breezy journalistic style that is literate, witty and easy to read. She seems to be speaking to us rather than writing. You're right there with her, whether she's sitting in a rocking chair with Uncle Jim on Aunt Lellie's front porch smoking a pipe, or at the Columbia Theater munching purple Gummy Bears as she watches a film re-enactment of the fatal crash of fellow Hoosier James Dean's Porsche 550 Spyder. Secrets of an Old Typewriter will make you laugh and it will make you sad, and you'll smile at human foibles, including your own, as you dive into this nostalgic volume of a smart and sassy small town girl's memoirs.

"[My] fourth grade teacher Miss Demaris Smalley, all of four feet in height, attempting to pummel and simultaneously shove to the pea-gravelly ground a five footer classroom bully after blowing her "RECESS IS NOW SUDDENLY OVER" whistle..."

The history books skip over the interludes between wars, hurrying on to paint lavish portraits of the Alexanders, the Churchills and the Hitlers. But what about us? Ordinary citizens, mothers, fathers, children, teachers, friends? Why doesn't somebody write our history? Well, here it is, or at least a snippet of it. Susie Duncan Sexton gets up close and personal with her Columbia City Age of Innocence contemporaries, and her reportage is focused, detailed, often humorous, and refreshingly free of political or religious bias.

I'm going to confess that I didn't read Secrets from cover to cover, just like that. I picked an episode at random, then another, then another and another. I think the book is meant to be read that way, informally, as if you were gabbing with the author over the back fence. Secrets of an Old Typewriter is a scintillating pastiche of memories, anecdotes and portraits that the author has quilted together in a very agreeable way.

I think future generations of readers will be increasingly grateful for this book as the American Age of Innocence fades from living memory, because what we have here is the actual fabric of life as recorded by an active participant, more observant than most, wonderful with words and possessing an encyclopedic knowledge of popular culture. Secrets of an Old Typewriter is a treasure whose value can only appreciate as years go by.

Review by Donald O'Donovan

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Read about movies and nostalgia, animal issues and sociopolitical concerns all discussed in my book Secrets of an Old Typewriter - print and ebook versions available. Also available in both formats at Amazon.com

Meet other like-minded souls at my facebook fan page

Visit my author website at www.susieduncansexton.com

Join a great group of animal advocates Squawk Back: Helping animals when others can't ... Or won't

OH, DEAR!

Hosea 2:18 : “And in that day I will make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field, and with the fowls of heaven, and with the creeping things of the ground: And I will break the bow and the sword and the battle out of the earth, and will make them to lie down safely.”

Thanksgiving Day’s childhood memories -- of those once near and dear devouring turkey and stuffing and cranberry sauce, then napping, and finally heading out to murder deer -- haunt me every year since I have been old enough and wise enough to review formerly compromised festivities around home and hearth.

Sadly, 21 select Hoosier parks will close to the general public on certain approaching November days, the evenings before each of twofold attempts to perform “deer reductions” in order to spare “home” for “32 state-endangered plants”?

“Everything has its own voice. Thunder and lightning and stars and planets, flowers, birds, animals, trees – all these have voices, and they constitute a community of existence that is profoundly related.” ~ Thomas Berry

Be alert. Be wary while motoring about, as deer families may attempt to flee their doom if they hopefully escape this holiday entrapment. Dominoes! A prophet for modern times might ask, “Who may profit from such a massacre?” Several answers come to mind, for money talks.

I never plan to visit any of those targeted idyllic spots or pastoral settings ever, closed down or not. I am appalled that we have not evolved to civilization’s noble zenith where humane humanity refuses to solve over-population through mass slaughter.

"A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another." John 13:34

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Read about movies and nostalgia, animal issues and sociopolitical concerns all discussed in my book Secrets of an Old Typewriter - print and ebook versions available. Also available in both formats at Amazon.com

Meet other like-minded souls at my facebook fan page

Visit my author website at www.susieduncansexton.com

Join a great group of animal advocates Squawk Back: Helping animals when others can't ... Or won't

Susie Sexton rhymes again...

Susie Sexton rhymes yet again!

"People" news so enticing

But animals the icing!

Sorry to say they need us

To help them reap their justice.

Congrats, humans so happy!

ADOPT A PET THOUGH...AND MAKE IT
SNAPPY!!! (please, oh please?) ♥!!!


P.S.

i do not eat green eggs and ham,

and i do not care who is jennifer aniston's new boyfriend, damn!

(rhymed again....)

save lives of animals every day,

and do more good than watching "stars" play! (~ susie "nipsey" sexton)

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preferring the "new" facebook, much less manic

more leisurely style, less time spent in panic!

(eleven beats to each line you'll notice now--

i ain't your average, common-place house-frau!) ~susie Q.

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I AM NIPSEY RUSSELL...

and i really wish somebody would pay for my rhymin'!

AND indubitable, inscrutable sense of timin'!

An added bonus is my specialty in "internal"--

Ain't easy to do--the agony's always infernal!

(~copyRIGHT belongs to SUSIE Q. Don't nobody ever dare ask "WHO?")

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Read about movies and nostalgia, animal issues and sociopolitical concerns all discussed in my book Secrets of an Old Typewriter - print and ebook versions available. Also available in both formats at Amazon.com

Meet other like-minded souls at my facebook fan page

Visit my author website at www.susieduncansexton.com

Join a great group of animal advocates Squawk Back: Helping animals when others can't ... Or won't