Sherrie R. Cronin's Blog, page 31

A gesture of peace?

Every once in awhile you read something so bizarre that you do a sort of mental double take. This happened the other day when I read that the classic hippie peace symbol from the sixties had its origins in satanic worship. What?

… But, the misconception simply isn’t true.

Read the entire post on my x0 blog at A gesture of peace?

Filed under: x0: favorite posts, x0: peace Tagged: bombed buildings, charms, hippies, history, images, magic, pacifism, peace, peace signs, psychic powers, that's not right, war, world peace

Of baseball, tennis and predatory lending

He got me thinking. There are two ways to approach any competition. One is to take every advantage that you can. Soccer players writhing in imagined pain hoping to inflict a foul on the other team are an extreme example of this. In this world, the savvy player tries to play everyone, and get away with everything possible. The only goal is to win.

The other approach is cooperative only in the sense that one of the goals is to get the calls right. Players believe that points should be scored and games won with good rules that are fairly applied.

What do you think happens most often in a close competition between a team or person taking the first approach and one taking the second? Yes, you’re right. I believe we call it “nice guys finish last.”

Read the entire post on my d4 blog at “Of baseball, tennis and predatory lending.”

Filed under: d4: favorite posts, d4: honor Tagged: crime, economic policy, fairness, games, honor, money, poverty, reform, that's not right, unemployed, wealth

Four Reasons Why I Love It When “Love Wins”

Reason number one: Love makes us happy, and happiness is wonderful.

Several times now I’ve posted about a report on which countries have the happiest people. I’m intrigued that six attributes account for most of this variation, and I summed them up as health, wealth, freedom, love, fairness and kindness. I’ve already written about the first three and today I’m thinking about love.

Read the entire post on my y1 blog at Four Reasons I Love It When “Love Wins”.

Filed under: excerpts, music, y1: favorite posts Tagged: acceptance, best music, forgiveness, friendship, gay rights, happiest places, happiness, hate, love, music, music videos, universal concept

Antidote to current events: Truckers Against Trafficking

Mr. Kimmel is associated with a group called TAT (Truckers Against Trafficking) that is working to educate those affiliated with the trucking industry to notice and report signs of sex slavery. Using the slogan “Everyday heroes needed” this group is fighting domestic human trafficking and so far has identified 425 likely trafficking cases involving 744 victims and 249 minors.

This tears at my heartstrings in a particularly strong way. My research for c3, a science fiction book about sex trafficking, sent me researching dark corners of the internet into which I would never have ventured otherwise. I was appalled, and I would described myself as someone who does not shock easily.

Read the entire post on my c3 blog at Antidote to current events: Truckers Against Trafficking.

Filed under: c3: courage, c3: favorite posts Tagged: compassion, courage, crime, do something, heroes, hope, human trafficking, I know it when I see it, internet, kindness

Positive Waves

Nothing exists, at least not as solid matter. Push a theoretical physicist to describe what is and you are going to hear a lot about waves and particles.  If you push her further, she’s going to concede that at some very basic level the particles are really waves too. Yep, it looks like it’s all waves, man. Nothing but waves.

Read the entire post, along with reflections on Kelly’s Heroes, what makes for a good vocalist, and celebrating the 4th of July in U.S. on my z2 blog at Positive Waves for a Happy 4th

Filed under: music, z2: favorite posts Tagged: best music, energy, freedom, happy songs, I know it when I see it, just listen, light, matter, music, music videos, oddballs, physics, quantum mechanics, the universe, wave motion

More in Common

… Only the book ended up being about Nigeria instead. You see, in 2010, when I started to write it, Americans on the whole considered Nigerians scarier than Arabs. I had just taken a job with a Nigerian oil company where I often worked late in a common room and couldn’t help but overhear the phone calls of my young, male Nigerian co-workers as they called home.

Please read the entire post on my x0 blog at More in Common

Filed under: writing, x0: favorite posts, x0: peace Tagged: acceptance, connected, empathy, enemies talking, fiction, intolerance, just listen, kindness, lessons learned, Nigeria, novel, open mind, peace, perspective, stereotypes, strangers, Teaching Tolerance, tolerance, world peace

Words we need

You’ve noticed a lot of things we don’t have a word for. And, if you play word games like I do, you’ve also noticed a lot of reasonable letter combinations that don’t make a word. I mean, I get that wiqxm isn’t going to be in the dictionary. But what about lete? or dife? These would make excellent words. Why isn’t anyone working to pair these two needs together?

Well, it turns out that there are people who are.

Read the entire post on my d4 blog at Words we need.

Filed under: d4: favorite posts, writing Tagged: #amwriting, communication, creating, creativity, games, precognition, puzzles, seeing the future, writers, writing

None of us are normal, if we’re lucky

Well, yes, wanting your coffee in a mug that matches your clothes is probably not normal, but my friend should know by now that I never thought she was normal, and I honestly don’t know anyone else who is either.

Read the entire post on my y1 blog at None of us are normal, if we’re lucky.

Filed under: y1: favorite posts, y1: joy Tagged: be who you are, crazy, freedom, happiest places, happiness, joy, kinky, normal, not normal, original, personal freedom, unique

The Power of Three

We hold animated discussions about how telepathy works and how to write a phrase readers will want to quote and the other day we got started on ideas that are inherently powerful, even magic if you will. The best example we could find was the power of the number three.

Make three wishes. Blood, sweat and tears. ABC. The popularity of a trilogy. Star Wars’ brilliant three trilogies. Yes, I even wrote a whole fiction book called “C to the power of three.” The Huffington Post has a fun article on threes and marketing experts are happy to advise you on how to harness its power.

Read the full post on my c3 blog at The Power of Three.

Filed under: c3: favorite posts, excerpts, music, writing Tagged: #amwritingfantasy, charms, excerpts, family, just listen, magic, marketing, music, music videos, out of body, superpowers, teenagers with superpowers

Stand By Me: loyalty versus all kinds of other things

Does anyone doubt that a real friend is someone who will stand by you, no matter what?

Does anyone doubt that there are times to walk away from a friend?

We hold both statements as self-evident truths and seldom trouble our souls with the contradiction that is implied.

Read the entire post on my z2 blog at Stand By Me: loyalty versus all kinds of other things

Filed under: excerpts, music, z2: favorite posts Tagged: acceptance, dysfunctional friends, excerpts, family, forgiveness, friendship, grow up, letting go, music, music videos, politics, songs in your head, telepathy