Monday, October 31, 2016

it's just a jump to the left...

yes, let's do the time warp today...halloween...one day crammed with so many memories...costumes...parties...and, oh yes, chocolate...but here i am...at a certain point of life...and in between it all...not dressing up or working on a costume for my daughter...in a community with no trick or treaters...and missing it all...well, maybe not cleaning the mailbox november 1st coated in shaving cream, toilet paper, and...ew, sometimes eggs...really missing the chance once a year to be someone else...to reinvent yourself for a fleeting and often hilarious moment...thinking back to my two favorite costumes....scarlett o'hara and morticia addams...yes, a hula hoop and curtains for the first...and even finding a long cigarette holder to complete the second...and also, wistfully remembering walking in the village parade 1981...before it was over-hyped and televised...i think of icy cold halloweens, my nose red at dusk...rainy ones with umbrellas and soaked sneakers trying not to slip on the drenched leaves...and glorious sunny ones, the sun blazing as it set over the last foliage...and i can still hear the sound of candy hitting the table as it was unceremoniously dumped for sorting...being young and wanting it all...being a parent and trying not to sneak it all later that night...but mostly i think of children...the youngest...not jaded...the wonderful costumes...and the pure joy and trepidation as they looked up at me, arms spread wide holding their goody bags...running with glee down my lawn into the darkness of werewolves and vampires and ghosts...and the sweet memory of youth...

Thursday, October 20, 2016

look back in anger

i close my eyes...and dream of november 9th...please let this nightmare be over already...make america great again...i'm with her...both slogans offend me...as a writer...really?...this is the best money can buy these days?...but seriously...last night the third and final debate...hallelujah...as i watched the great pumpkin vs. sisterhood of the traveling pantsuits...i began to boil...these are the days of uncivil discourse...style over substance...and the world is watching...and we are watching but not listening...because we are numb...and guilty...because this is not the worst of it...what passes for senators, congressmen, legislators, and yes, now in nassau, county executives is appalling...so few really grasping the meaning and intent of serving their constituents...so go ahead and read the facebook posts ad nauseum...line your wastebaskets with endless campaign mail...mute the tv commercials...as for me, i'm dreaming of peter finch...crazed and ranting..."i'm mad as hell and i'm not going to take this anymore"...i reach for the window latch and pause...cause really, who the hell would listen these days?...