Letters to the Moon....

In America February is Black History Month , a time to honor Black Americans, and their contributions to the country. It’s also a time to educate oneself on events in the past, and to learn about and engage in antiracism initiatives. To be clear, despite what many headlines and politicians tell you, Black history is American history. Now that the month is over, I thought I would share the things I’ve been doing, watching, and or reading this past month. These are wonderful resources, and can be used year-round: * Movement 10K -This is an anti-racism initiative created by the city of Indianapolis. Movement 10K is a class of sorts full of articles, podcast audio clips, and YouTube videos to watch. It’s a self-guided class; participants can go at their own pace. The content can make people feel uncomfortable. Therefore, it’s best to do at your own pace, to walk away from for a time, if the content is too intense. I’m on the first leg of the journey, about to complete my first kilometer....

  It’s a cold         wintry day. The skies are dark,          the clouds are grey.   I’ve just gotten groceries           at my local store. A common errand,                  evermore.   I sit in my car,     w aiting at                the light.   My car rocks         with the wind,             moving  to and fro.   The rain patters            on my car. It’s a cold            December rain.   Thank God          this rain isn’t snow. We’d be digging out          for hours. It almost       feels colder than snow. Thank God for       the De...

Hi there friend,   It’s the time of year when I look back on the year that has been, and the lessons learned from the year. So here then are my Lessons from the Year 2022:   -The country looks phenomenally different in the pandemic, even two years later. https://letrasalaluna.blogspot.com/2022/02/two-years-later.html   -I am still opposed to the war in Ukraine. I can’t believe that we're coming up on a year of war.  https://letrasalaluna.blogspot.com/2022/03/ukraine.html   -While I have many I have completed, I have several journals more to go. https://letrasalaluna.blogspot.com/2022/04/journals.html   -Triggers are still a factor for me. I am now very careful about what I will watch, and what I won’t. https://letrasalaluna.blogspot.com/2022/05/triggers.html   -There are too many mass shooting incidents in this country. One incident is too many. While gun legislation has passed, mass shootings continue to happen. Lord help us. https://letrasalaluna.bl...

I was at a corporate retreat two months ago with several hundred of my work colleagues. One of the ice breaker activities that day was asking questions of one another. The questions ranged from “mild”, “spicy”, and “hot” as if they were flavors of salsa or barbecue sauce. I guess the thought being, the more intense the heat, the more personal the question.   One of the questions asked was about traditions. The question was along the lines of, “Name a family tradition from your childhood that you now carry on in your own family during the holidays.” I thought about that question for a long time. In fact, I’m still pondering that question.   Merriam Webster defines tradition as “an inherited, established, or customary pattern of thought, action or behavior.” The word brings back memories of Topol singing the word at the top of his lungs. (Bonus points to anyone who got that reference from "Fiddler on the Roof.")   * Believe it or not, I don’t remember most of my childhood...

  Hello there friend,   How are you? How are things? I hope you’ve been well.   I’m writing with exciting news to share-I’ve published my latest book! The title is “A Part of History.” It’s live online and available to purchase via Amazon. https://a.co/d/6kTcFpS I even made a book trailer for it: This book proved to be more difficult than other titles in the past. One piece in the book, “A Part of History”, had several photographs when I first shared it online. I picked a few of those photos to put in the book. However, when I received my first proof, an advanced copy of the book, the photos weren’t a good representation of what I had written.   Photographs don’t always work in books. When you’re publishing a book in a fixed format, which for my books is 6 inches wide by 9 inches tall, photographs fit on the page, but are most often too small for the reader to see the item in the photograph. I toiled for weeks on the photographs for that piece, inserting different ...

  Honorifics -Or- "Mrs. Habla" You’ve probably never heard of the term “honorifics.” I hadn’t heard of the term until very recently. I was surprised to know that we use honorifics on a daily basis. Definitions of the word vary with every source. In practical terms, an honorific is a title one uses to refer to another person out of respect.   In Great Britain, titles of royalty are the most used honorifics. For example, “His royal highness”, and “His majesty.” The titles of Prince and Princess, Duke and Duchess, Lord and Lady, Sir and Dame, are all honorifics.   In America, we use honorifics daily as well. We use the titles of “Coach” for sports leaders, “Reverend” for members of clergy, “Professor” for teachers in college, “Your Honor” for judges, etc. We also use honorifics when addressing people we don’t know, using “sir” or “ma’am.”   I believe the most common honorifics in America are “mister” (Mr.) and “Miss”. This is where it gets complicated. For men an...

  Hello friend, How are you? How are things? How are things in your corner of the world? Things are fine in for me. I have been working a great deal on my next book, “A Part of History.” I have ordered an advance copy, and am scouring through it now. I hope to have it in the coming weeks. Also of note, I created a book trailer for the book! I’m so pleased with how it turned out. The other project I’m working on is archiving all my work. A few years ago, I began putting my writings in documents on my computer. To my surprise, the writings in my next book were the farthest I had done! I began saving my work. I needed to get busy! “A Part of History” contains all my writings from the year 2016. From here on out, each book will contain a calendar year of writing. I have now created documents for my 2017 and 2018 poetry and prose. It suddenly occurred to me, while working on this new project, what a massive undertaking this is. I’ve been a writer for 12 years! My upcoming book will ...