Humanity
Thousandaire
There was a science prof at the college where I got my BA, whose name was Bill Miller, and some of the students who knew him (and he was a popular, well-liked guy for good reason) would refer to him as the "Billion Million" because Bill Miller knew a "million billion" things on all matter of subjects, and also it was funny to follow the bigger number with a smaller number. I don't know if Bill Miller actually knew a "billion million" things, I never took his classes because I was strictly humanities all the time except for when I was busy flunking Applied Mathematics (seriously, my undergrad institution was desperate to see me through a math class) which was basically "math for math dummies." And even Math For Math Dummies 101 was a struggle for me.
By Allison Gruber4 years ago in Confessions
Have You Had A Publishers Clearing House (PCH) Experience?
My husband calls my stacks of mail from the publisher’s clearinghouse ‘piles’. He says, “I don’t want your piles on my side of the table.” I decided to order Christmas presents from PCH to stay in the contest for the prize.
By Denise E Lindquist4 years ago in Confessions
Amelia Begins Again
Amelia. Yes, Amelia. That's my name. Though the sound of it gives me pause. Like it never really fit. The great Dale Carnegie said, "Names are the sweetest and most important sound in any language." My Hospitality Management professor once told us that hearing the sound of one's own name is the most precious sound to a person (which is why we require service agents to say a customer's name in their interactions). But I always had trouble with mine. Seriously. Always. I have vivid memories of lying to my classmates in kindergarten about my last name, for instance. It wasn't my father's, or my grandmother's (whom I lived with), or even my mother's at that point. It was my mother's maiden name. And I was the only one in my vicinity that carried that god-awful thing. Tunstall. Pronounced "tuhn-stuhl." Ugh. Worse, I'm not called by my first name. Hell, or even my middle name, really! Kaslynn Amelia Tunstall was called Milly. What in the 1984 hell was going on? Anyway, the fact was - and still is- my name was never a sweet or precious sound to me. Instead, a reminder that no one could quite figure out who I was supposed to be, which remains problematic some thirty+ years later.
By K.M. Lewis4 years ago in Confessions
Moment of Freedom
My moment of freedom only profoundly affected my life and happened on three different days…in three different years. The first moment of freedom- I was thirteen years old standing in a police station, the officer had just walked in and told me that my stepfather could never touch me again, he was just arrested on six counts of endangerment and molestation…I fell to my knees sobbing as the pressure on my chest both lifted and got heavier.
By Ashley 4 years ago in Confessions
FYI There's Still a Pandemic
2020-current The years we shall never forget, the years that we started homeschooling our kids, more working from home and spending more time with our families. When planning a vacation became impossible without jumping through loops to make sure you are cleared for air/boat travel.
By Karli Law4 years ago in Confessions
Passing pictures from captive Palestine
The lightning visit to occupied Palestine raises you many questions and pains, more than it provides you with answers. My arrival coincided with a severe cold wave that almost pierces the bones, the like of which the country had not seen in March for a hundred years. The homes here are not prepared for such cold, and the farmers these days are separated from the fire and the use of firewood, and what is added to it from the remnants of the olive yield after its pressing, and it is called locally “peat”, which was added to the wood and kept the fire for hours and spread warmth throughout the small houses. People have generally replaced it with electric or gas heaters, which are hardly enough for anyone who puts them directly in front of them. Try to scoop as much information as possible and meet as many stakeholders, activists and thinkers as possible, to understand the picture for what it is as possible.
By Zernouh.abdo4 years ago in Confessions
Europe and Ukrainian refugees
With the Russian war on Ukraine, Europe found itself facing an unprecedented challenge, not only in the strategic and military sense, but also in the humanitarian and societal sense, with this large and continuous influx of Ukrainian refugees towards its various countries.
By Zernouh.abdo4 years ago in Confessions
