Letters to the Moon....

The year 2018 has been unique to say the least. Watching a recent year in review piece on the news was quite troubling. So many horrific things happened in the past year in the United States-gun massacres, massive wildfires, devastating hurricanes, terrorist attacks, to mention but a few. I began my first blog, the words of Hope, donning the pen name Esperanza Habla, which means “Hope Speaks” in Spanish. When I refer to myself as my pen name, I always say, “I’m Hope Speaks, and I have a lot to say.” The gift of writing, and of having an audience, is not something I take for granted. It is not something I take lightly either. I have not written as many pieces this year, in comparison to years gone by. I have not written the normal, the mundane, the banal. I wrote instead about things that I have been compelled to say-the substantial, the crucial, the moral imperative. The majority of things I have written and shared this year have taken me months to complete. To have an ou...

In my job at the library this past year, we created a new source for patrons to find material: a staff recommendations area. Each item in the recommendations area gets a bookmark with a written passage on it, to explain why we picked it to recommend to others. When the project was begun, I was put in charge of the project. It was a baptism of fire, as I do not keep up on new book releases. However, I soon learned that any library material could be put out to recommend to patrons-music CDs, movies, audio books on CD, etc. With that in mind, I began to research new book titles to display in the area, as well as books I’d read and would recommend. Here’s a picture of the recommendation area when we started the project: Books pictured are: “Killers of the Flower Moon” by David Grann, “Believe Me” by Eddie Izzard, and “The New Jim Crow” by Michelle Alexander. Over the past year, I found many new books, movies and CDs to recommend; I thought I would make a list of my f...

Hello everyone, Happy Christmas to you! Peace to one and all! I hope this Christmas missive finds you well.  I hope you’ve had a wonderful year. 2018 has been amazing year for me. This year I published my 6 th book: “The Dream State”, which was collaboration with my niece-in-law. She provided the cover photography, as well as a passage in the book. https://www.amazon.com/Dream-State-fourth-poetic-collection/dp/1732218803/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1544545300&sr=1-1 In library news, my library branch has been in its current location for 48 years. This year, it was chosen to receive a new building. The new library is being constructed from the ground up. Workers broke ground on the project in March of 2018; current projections of open date are spring 2019. My co-workers and I are excited about the transition to, and working in, a brand new library.  Also, the library system I work for just created an LGBTQ committee. They have partnered with ...

I finally have some time to myself. Four days off from work. In a row. Two days off in a row is a wonderful thing.  Four days off in a row is a miracle. I finally have time to be by myself, in my home, to do anything I want. Or nothing I want, as the case may be. I don’t have to be anywhere; I don’t have any errands to run. I am completely free. The first thing I should do is decorate my Christmas tree. I didn’t even decorate my tree last year. The tree is so beautiful, without ornaments, that I decided not to decorate it. Besides, I was away for Christmas last year. No sense in decorating a Christmas tree without being home to enjoy it. I put the Christmas tree up the weekend before Halloween this year. I always try to put the tree up on Halloween as  I detest Halloween. Last year I was a few days late. This year, why not be a few days early? Whenever I put up the Christmas tree, I usually put it up on a weekend I'm off work, so I can be home i...

I have had an anniversary of late. Not a wedding anniversary, no. Not a birthday. Still, a significant date, on the calendar, in my life. It was, of all things, a work anniversary. This past month I received an award for years of service to my library system: Twenty-five years of service. 25 years. A quarter of a century. Upon hearing the term “anniversary”, it is natural to think of wedding anniversaries. There are proper gifts to give couples once they are married. For a first year of marriage, an anniversary gift should be made of paper. A second anniversary, the gift would be cotton. For a twenty-fifth anniversary: silver. It is a rarity indeed, to achieve twenty-five years of service in one job for one company or organization. Back when I started my career, in the economy of the time, it was a normal happening. Long before the creation of the 24 hour online workplace, workers would start a job, work for that company for twenty, thirty, forty y...