Living Lively

Hey–I love that blue eyeshadow! A simple line that says it all.

I’m a 55-year old Generation X girl who bought the book shown above. Even though it caters to the Generation Z crowd.

Individuals of all ages and stages of life could benefit from reading this motivational guide.

The book was right up my alley with its 7 Points of Power:

Wellness

World perspective

Media and societal influences

Thoughts and mindset

Education

Relationships

Creativity and community

Haile Thomas has Jamaican immigrant parents who instilled in her that she was a person of worth that should have self-esteem.

Thomas earned her success through hard work, determination, an unflappable set of values, and the love of her family.

I found this book on Amazon and bought it from my local independent bookseller.

I’m all for self-improvement.

Anything that can give me a mood boost in a healthy way I’ll take right now.

As soon as this book arrives I plan to make one of the healthful snack recipes.

Keep the faith folks. Good people like Haile Thomas are helping make good things happen for the rest of us.

Having Hope

Hope is called for.

I bought this coaster with the mini-easel from a street vendor in

Manhattan.

I’m an optimist.

You must be an optimist, or you won’t survive what you’re going through.

I’ve been living indoors for five months. It has taken a toll as I’m a gregarious person.

Today I go outside to my job again. There I need to cover my face for 6 hours.

Yesterday’s outfit:

Beet-color tee shirt with magenta pants and black shoes. An orange bandanna covering my nose and mouth.

Out on the street I’m the only one wearing a bandanna. The colorful bandannas get washed once a week. I wear a different one every day.

It’s far better than clogging a landfill with single-use disposable masks.

As I venture outside again I’m not always confident that there’s anything to hope for.

Yet hope I have because it’s summer. The sun is shining. The heat is here.

It’s how I see things: I believe in humanity. Even still—I believe in humanity.

I would like to write in the blog about my insight and observations as this season moves along.

I would like to see change. For myself. For others. And for my country.

New Ad-Free Blog

At long last I’ve removed the advertisements from this blog that WordPress inserts into every free account.

I’ve paid to remove the ads and create a URL for the blog.

Years ago I read the Kim Gordon memoir Girl in a Band. She was the bassist and vocalist for Sonic Youth while the band performed.

They are my favorite band of all time. Dating from when I played them on the radio when I was a disc jockey in the 1980s.

To get readers to go out and buy Gordon’s memoir I want to quote from the book.

Kim Gordon wrote:

“I believe the radical is more interesting when it appears ordinary and benign on the outside.”

Reading that sentence and thinking about this for a long time I was inspired to want to publish a second memoir.

In keeping with the title Girl in a Band I thought about talking in the new book about what it’s like to be a Girl on the Left.

A person asked me if the title Left of the Dial referred to politics.

It refers to doing your own thing–my literary agent understood the theme was “Enjoy your quirkiness.”

In the last week I have been thinking about this some more. And thinking about it again: how I always wanted to live an artist’s life in the city.

It can be a challenge when as a woman you rebel the role you’re expected to play:

Suburban breeder with two kids two dogs a Land Rover and white picket fence house with a porch.

Though hey if you want to raise a family and bake brownies for your kids that’s okay too.

I’m fascinated by everyone’s personality.

There’s a reference in my memoir to where I’m riding the subway and wondering about the inner lives of my fellow straphangers–the other riders.

Those of us who are ordinary and benign–I say watch out for us!

Postcard from the Ledge

The postcard shown above I took off a ledge in a bookstore.

It’s a reminder to me and a warning to challenge the status quo.

Living through the pandemic [the outbreak hasn’t gone away] I find myself pulled away from conforming.

I resist conforming to societal rules and norms.

What changed?

In my Republican neighborhood most of the people walking down the street have open faces. They don’t cover their face with a mask or bandanna.

Seeing this brazen contempt for respecting the health of others got me thinking: Who should I want to or try to impress at this point in my life?

I go outside wearing a red or black bandanna like a gunslinger in the Old Wild West. I walk in the middle of the street to avoid the people who haven’t covered their faces.

Seeing open-faced yahoos put people’s health at risk–as if the COVID-19 outbreak is no real threat–was the catalyst for my resistance to accepting the status quo in society.

Over 100,000 people have died from the COVID-19 outbreak.

Wearing a mask is a sign of respect.

It eludes me what part of “I respect you and you respect me” the bare-faced folk don’t get.

I will end here by telling readers:

Resist living for self-interest and personal gain at the expense of others.

Resist following the trend of “everyone out for themselves.”

Dare to have compassion.

Having compassion might not be in fashion.

Yet I submit the alternative is no option.

Key of Life

Alicia Keys in her July 2020 InStyle interview echoes what I’ve always thought.

In Keys own words:

“You know, we do a really good job of judging each other and assuming who people are when we don’t even know them. To me, the most important thing we can do right now is take a second to see and appreciate each other as we are.”

Two years ago I titled a blog entry See Who We Are. I wrote then: see who I am not who you think I am.

It’s a fact: Alicia Keys skipped two grades and won a full scholarship to Columbia University.

“See Who We Are” is the title of an X rock band song from three decades ago. I played this song on my radio show back then.

What’s on the surface really has no ability to predict the content of a person’s character.

In the next blog entry I’m going to talk about what I’ve learned living through four months of the pandemic.

Dressing Your Truth

I want to talk about a system that I was skeptical about until I read about it in detail.

The personal stylist I talked with referred to the fact that I must be a Type 4 in the Dressing Your Truth system.

Would it be possible not to buy things on impulse that wind up shoved in the closet and unworn?

This I wondered about. How could a person’s facial features and body movement determine the clothes they should wear?

It seemed astounding and then I was astonished. So I bought the Style Kit for $59. There’s a private Facebook page for each of the four types. The women on the Facebook pages are encouraging and wonderful toward each other.

This might seem frivolous. Yet I’m all for anything that can give a person joy and hope in the time of the pandemic and beyond.

On the Style Kit envelope this message sums it up:

“The greatest thing you can do today is be your true self. When you are confident about who you are, opportunities open. When you live authentically, you inspire others to do the same.”

Optimism is called for. Change must happen if you ask me. I believe today is the day that change is possible.

In the next blog entry I’m going to quote Alicia Keys from her July 2020 InStyle interview.

She echoes what I’ve written in here before: see who a person is not who you think they are.

I find Dressing Your Truth and the corresponding book It’s Just My Nature! to be a fascinating study of what makes people tick.

Dressing Your Truth website.

Spring Cleaning in July

I was having an email conversation about the protests with another person. She understood that the root of injustice predates Floyd. She feels it’s a factor of the strictly capitalist American society.

I thought about this:

Buying a ton of stuff feeds into our capitalism-on-steroids where companies exist for pure profit on the backs of an underclass.

Going through a burst of spring cleaning got me thinking. This week I started tossing shoes sweaters and pocketbooks into a bag to donate to the Salvation Army.

It felt wasteful to have bought a tweed beret I wore only once and two sweaters that remained on a shelf unworn for 9 years.

For those of us who carry credit card debt because we buy too much stuff this is a different kind of burden.

Laboring hard at a job to pay The Man–the Billionaire who owns the company–depletes your life energy.

Going forward I’ve decided to set an upper dollar limit for each item I buy like a pocketbook. I won’t go over that limit.

In my burst of spring cleaning I got rid of the stuff that weighed me down. A trash bag lies on my bedroom floor ready to be taken out.

The idea that “Maybe I’ll wear this some day” is the biggest myth going.

These unused items didn’t “spark joy” like Marie Kondo attests things should in order to keep them.

Revelations flew into my head as I filled the trash bag. This was only the start of a great big clean-out.

De-cluttering I can vouch for is often the gateway to making new changes in your life:

Out with the old. In with new people, places, and experiences.

55 and Alive

The older I get I’m aware that “change or die” as I’ve written repeatedly in blog entries here is the only way to live today.

The government can’t help us.

We must carry our ideals with us wherever we go–in bedrooms and boardrooms; in private and public; on trains and planes–everywhere is where we have the chance to make a difference.

Living through menopause in the time of the pandemic and protests has set in me the desire to make a difference in new and improved ways.

I’ve decided to start with this blog. To continue to tell stories to illustrate themes about living and loving Left of the Dial.

The work we have to do is ongoing. We cannot expect those in power in this often troubled society to give up control or cede to the demands of the disenfranchised.

I make the case for not remaining silent on the things that matter to you.

I’m 55 and Alive in the World. What I’m going through could make readers think or light a fire in you to make positive changes.

In future blog entries I want to return to thoughts on how the pandemic has impacted me and what I’ve learned going through a bout of reinvention.

If now is not the time to express your Self when is the time?

For me it all began with spring cleaning in July.

I’ll talk about this next.

Celebrate Instead of Tolerate

On the radio last week a therapist talked about celebrating others in the culture instead of only tolerating or accepting them.

I didn’t ever like the word tolerance precisely because I thought merely tolerating someone’s difference didn’t go far enough.

I have been turned off interacting with a man who turned out to be homophobic.

In my future OKCupid profile I’m going to list open-mindedness as one of the 6 Things I Can’t Live Without.

As I referred to recently in a blog entry here I have been writing about the beauty of individuality for years now.

Friday, June 19 is Juneteenth–the day of Freedom for African Americans in our history.

For awhile now I haven’t liked to celebrate the Fourth of July.

No only do I detest sitting around a patio table at a barbecue.

It has always rubbed me the wrong way that we were celebrating a holiday that didn’t guarantee every American their freedom.

And I don’t eat hot dogs or burgers–yet that’s another story.

We need to celebrate each other every day.

We should take joy and pride in everyone’s true nature.

We should hold in high esteem the culture they come from.

I have a couple of fashion binders and a beauty binder.

In the beauty binder I insert pages with tips on makeup taken from magazines.

In the beauty binder I insert photos of women of all colors.

I like to look through the photos for inspiration.

Everyone being ourselves makes the world wonderful.

I think every person living on earth is beautiful.

That a lot of people don’t view others this way is sad.

In coming blog entries I’m going to talk about what I think in more detail.

I’ll talk soon about a remarkable discovery I made two weeks ago. And about one of my earliest experiences in life as a teenager.

By telling my stories I hope to give others permission to tell their stories.

See Who We Are

I don’t understand the hate in society–I don’t think I ever will.

My literary agent responded to me years ago with her take on privilege and arrogance:

“Americans love to be rich enough to abuse their freedoms.”

The President had the police force use tear gas and rubber bullets against peaceful protestors to get them off the street.

Why?

So he could walk to St. John’s Episcopal church to hold up a Bible for a photo op.

Using the Bible as a prop to win votes dishonors Christians who are opposed to racism.

People voted Mr. Toupee into office solely because he’s anti-abortion.

It’s funny how unborn babies are deemed to have rights.

Black Americans already living don’t have the right to breathe air according to those in power.

Mr. Toupee–who hasn’t condemned George Floyd’s death–is not fit for re-election.

People across America are outraged–and our President holds up a Bible.

President Obama had faults. Yet while in office he would have spoken out against George Floyd’s death. He did this today in a newspaper editorial.

It’s scary that people believe Mr. Toupee when he calls the news FAKE.

How curious that Mr. Toupee who endorsed Republican Dan Donovan for U.S. congress remained silent when Max Rose a Democrat won the race. Two years ago Max Rose toppled decades of Republican rule in that district.

I’m no fan of any political party in the U.S. I align with the Green Party because of their stance on legalizing marijuana.

In every presidential election New York State goes Democratic. So this is why I vote for Green Party candidates. Most of whom are People of Color.

Sadly as I’ve said before in this blog I don’t think the U.S. government can cure societal ills.

My contention is that “People Have the Power” to quote the Patti Smith song title.

One person doing the right thing to help another person is how change starts.

In coming blog entries I want to tell stories about my life. To illustrate themes about why I feel so strongly about injustice.

In this blog a couple of years ago I wrote:

“See who I am not who you think I am.”

That too many Americans can’t see beyond skin color to the person inside is a crying shame.