you say you want a resolution...

the best way to keep a resolution is not to make one...cynical?...maybe, but in reality, not so much...let's face it...some old tradition...or bubbe meise...has us drafting lists the last week of December...as we stuff our faces and probably break that last New Year's list in one Netflix binge...and think about this...we make lists of the practical and ethereal...and then head into January...where, at least here in the northeast, we face cold bleak weather...little sunlight...when our only holiday weekend is Martin Luther King Day...where we pause and think about a wonderful man...murdered for most likely half of what you aspire to on that list...ouch...so what to do...remain the cynic?...sprinkle a list with platitudes?...here is what I think...as I sit here this last day of 2022...straddling the old and new...I resolve to do the small things...hold open a door...smile at a complete stranger, and savor the return smile if it happens...let the woman with the screaming toddler go ahead of me on line in the supermarket...she is one "maaaa" away from CPS...refrain from giving the middle finger to the first asshole who cuts me off in January...start with these small things...tackle what gives life meaning later...like maybe in spring...when it's daylight more than 30 minutes...but whatever you bring forward into 2023...and leave behind...however large, or small, your goals are...may 2023 be a healthy and blessed one...and remember, when it gets hard...and it often does...remember you are not George Santos...and smile

Don't You Look Back...

 2022 is taking the songstresses...the voices...the lyricists...the background of my youth...Loretta Lynn...I will admit it was Sissy Spacek in "Coal Miner's Daughter" that sparked interest in her life...her music...her spirit...a feminist in so many ways she would deny...but those lyrics...always reminds me of what writers hear...write what you know...and she did...her songs were funny, sassy and poignant...her voice, unmistakable...the Queen of Country...the new crop of bleached-blonde wannabees should take a lesson...Irene Cara...her voice armed with pain and promise...her career hit pinnacles early...there should have been more...much more...her former managers should hang their heads...and watch footage of her singing "Out Here On My Own"...and weep...Christine McVie...the sultry singer of Fleetwood Mac...much of her career playing second fiddle to Stevie Nicks...and not...her presence was commanding...and her absence glaring when she chose not to tour in later years...the pain in her back not helped by standing over the keyboards for years...the list of Fleetwood Mac's hits penned by her is astounding...people have said...well, she was 79...not much comfort to this 62-year-old...I will always remember her low purr in "Over My Head"...oh, yes, Ms. McVie...it sure felt nice...