• Who was Ching Shih? Mogu?

    Who was Ching Shih? Mogu?

    Have you ever considered what it would have been like to be a woman in the 1800’s? Especially in a world mostly dominated by men. Life’s primal challenges, food, shelter, etc would have been hard enough without the patriarchal societies most women lived (and often times still live) in. I’d like to think I…

  • Rant from a Privileged White Girl

    Rant from a Privileged White Girl

    Dear White Privileged Friends and Family, BLACK LIVES MATTER! The Fourth of July weekend left me feeling flat; not really finding anything in the U.S.A to celebrate. Besides the obvious ramifications COVID-19 will have on all of us long-term (whether we get sick or not) I’m disappointed in our current administration. It has been…

  • Harriet – My Review of the Movie

    Harriet – My Review of the Movie

    I cried the entire 125 minutes of the movie Harriet. It’s well done but it is the opposite of a “feel-good” movie. It is a feel horrible movie (because it is true). After more than a year of research for my book Trials & Tribulations of Modesty Greene, I felt emotionally vested. My book…

  • Humbled

    Humbled

    I was humbled by a 12-year old boy today. We have a housekeeper from Juarez that comes once a month to deep clean our house. Occasionally, she will bring a family member from Mexico to help and hang out. This week she brought her sister’s youngest son. A darling 12-year-old boy named Julio. He’s…

  • The Pitfalls of Self-Publishing

    The Pitfalls of Self-Publishing

    For as long as I can remember, I’ve wanted to be a published author. When I was in fourth grade I came up with my pen name. I’ve written something almost every day since I can remember… from journals and letters to short stories and novels. The idea of self-publishing didn’t really come until…

  • My Trip to Vietnam

    My Trip to Vietnam

    I recently spent around 3 weeks in Vietnam. We explored from far north, to down south. It seemed the north was more traditional, the south more touristy and modern. Let’s start where we started, up north, just south of the China border. Bac Son Valley was the way I pictured all of Vietnam. Quaint.…

  • Left vs. Right – Terrorism Edition

    Left vs. Right – Terrorism Edition

    The 2018 Mid-Term Mailbomb Extravaganza As we learn about the man who sent multiple bombs by mail to political figures in the Democratic Party it’s difficult not to comment on how stupid this move was. In today’s world with cameras and satellites everywhere you would have to be of extreme discipline to do these…

  • Billie Jean King and the Battle of the Sexes

    Billie Jean King and the Battle of the Sexes

    Sept 20th, 1973 at the Houston Astrodome was a literal game changer for women. On this day 45 years ago Billie Jean King defeated Bobby Riggs in the widely publicized “Battle of the Sexes.” There was a movie made a few years back with Emma Stone as King and Steve Carrell as Bobby Riggs,…

  • How Democrats Became Republicans – The Great US Party Flip

    How Democrats Became Republicans – The Great US Party Flip

    Does Anyone Know How Democrats Became Republicans? “I heard it was a myth! Those racist Democrats who elected Barack Obama as their nominee are secretly the party that opposed freeing the slaves – the Democrats are the party of the KKK!!”  ~ Your Republican Uncle & Friends Since today is 9/11 and everyone will…

  • Senegal; the trip that changed me

    Senegal; the trip that changed me

    Senegal changed me. Have you ever been on trip that was so humbling and somehow motivational? I place that left you in awe? Those ten days were spiritual. It has been impossible to describe the ways in which the trip affected me. The recent death of Anthony Bourdain has left me musing about my…