A Big Thank You.

Happy Veterans’ Day and thank you to all the service men and women, past and present, who have served our country with such devotion and distinction. Your sacrifice, the days and nights that stretched into months and years that you gave up to defend our country and to provide a more safe and secure night’s sleep for those of us at home, will never be taken for granted by most of us. But there is a way that those of us who are not serving can step up and show our support and gratitude.

I come from a family that takes its service seriously. My Great-great-Uncle, a recent immigrant from Hungary, served in the Army in WWI. He died on the fields of France. My great grand father was also an army man, serving in WWI. My grandfather was Navy. He was a tail gunner and a cook on board his ship. He also spent a terrifying period of time in a Japanese prison camp in the Pacific after serving in the Philippines. I’m told my father had a less than stellar, and very brief, career in the Army. My step-father was a member of the K9 Corps in the Air Force and served protecting bases in North Dakota among other things.

I’m asking you all to join me in saying thank you to our service men and women. An Atlanta radio station is orchestrating a way of expressing our gratitude for a second year in a row. Last year Q100 managed to collect over 350,000 hand written letters of thank you. That means every service man or woman serving overseas received a personal letter of thank you from someone they didn’t know on Thanksgiving 2007. This year the station and its morning show crew (The Bert Show) are undertaking an even larger task. This year they want to collect 1 million messages of thanks for our troops.

The how is simple. They have established a website where in only a few seconds (literally) you can enter your name and type a short message of thank you or good wishes to the troops. Imagine being a GI and being able to scroll through thousands of messages of support on those lonely holidays. To know that you are not forgotten.

After the New Year, the thank yous won’t stop. The site is set up to scroll one message every 30 seconds for a whole year. Any time of the day or night, a service man or woman can log in and see messages of support.

So consider going to www.bigthankyouproject.com and spending a few seconds to add your message of thanks. (You can leave as many as you like.) Share the site with your friends and family as well. One million signatures is a lot and it will take a lot of effort, but leaving a message takes only a moment.

Oh, and come back by tomorrow to see the pre-release contest that will kick off the one week count down to Soul Stone’s release.

Sunday

It's Sunday. We've spent the day cleanings, doing laundry and other fun things like making burp clothes and cutting and sewing hems on receiving blankets. We bought several types of flannel and I'm making them myself. I have a very disgruntled dachshund right now when he realized the warm fuzzies on Momma's lap were not for him.

The SO's work had a shower for us this past Friday and we'd like to say thanks. It was very sweet. Especially the little gift card drawn by my SO's boss. It showed a baby reading a copy of The Ranger's Apprentice (a YA book and incredibly popular series of books for those who don't know) and had a caption that read: The child of a teacher and a librarian. [Smudgie] at 9 months. It was adorable.

With Soul Stone coming out so soon, I'm going to be hosting a contest soon for a copy of book 2 in the series, Lovers' Stone, for those who haven't read it. Check back on November 12th for details. This will be followed by the contest for the rainbow opal pendant and earrings that will mark the release of Soul Stone.

Hop over and see what's up with Anny Cook, Kelly Marstad and Sandra Cox. And check out the links on left.

Chicago- Yesterday and Today

Last night as I watched election returns I got a chill that ran up my spine and gave me gooseflesh. It had nothing to do with the actual election itself. It had to do with the large gathering in Grant Park in Chicago.

Any large political gathering in Chicago can’t help but bring up memories of 1968. The Democratic National Convention was held in the city that year and the iconic and infamous Mayor Daley was not going to be made to look like he couldn’t control his city. The police response to the riots after the assassination of Dr. King had infuriated the Mayor. He was quoted:

"I said to him [the Chief of Police] very emphatically and very definitely that an order be issued by him immediately to shoot to kill any arsonist or anyone with a Molotov cocktail in his hand, because they're potential murderers, and to shoot to maim or cripple anyone looting."

Daley later backtracked on this saying it was taken out of context. However, it was a very "Daley" thing to say.

But 1968 was the year of severe disenfranchisement among large groups of Americans. Blacks were pushing hard at the chains of segregation and the drive for Civil Rights was reaching its boiling point. That April Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. had been assassinated. The young people of America were protesting the war in Vietnam in increasing numbers. A voice that harkened back to the days of the early sixties with the promise of change, of hope and of the dream of Camelot had also been silenced. Robert Kennedy had been assassinated. Both groups wanted their voices to be heard by the Democratic party and the merging of the two groups during the 1968 convention and the typical ball-breaker attitude of Mayor Daley placed a lot of kindling, a lot of accelerant and a lot of matches in one place.

And it exploded. Chicago became the site of a clash between protestors and police. It was violent on both sides and the amount of hatred that filled park was enough to poison everyone. The curfew imposed by Daley was ignored and when the police tried to enforce it, the crowd began to throw rocks. Tear gas and batons were used to subdue protestors. What ensued would later be characterized by the U.S. National Commission on the Causes and Prevention of Violence as a “police riot”.

The trials that followed for the protestors who became known as The Chicago 7 (it was originally the Chicago 8 but Bobby Seale, the only Black defendant, had his trial severed) brought a great deal of unwanted attention to Chicago and so did the arrests of eight police officers for their actions. In the end two were acquitted and five found guilty of crossing state lines to incite a riot. All convictions and most of the contempt charges were tossed out. The trial is remembered as much for the outrageous behavior of activist Abbie Hoffman as the content of the trial. He told the judge "you are a shande fur de Goyim [disgrace in front of the gentiles]. You would have served Hitler better." He later added that "your idea of justice is the only obscenity in the room.”

But last night I watched a different face of political Chicago. And I'm not so sure it had as much to do with who won, but with how invested we became as citizens in this last election. A massive crowd of people gathered. The group was as diverse as the face of America. As they stood clustered together to hear the speech of the President Elect, there was a sense of hope and a sense of peace that our country hasn’t seen since the days of Kennedy and his Camelot. And that gave me a proud sense of national self and hope for what we can accomplish as a people. Not what the politicians can accomplish, but what we the American people can bring to fruition.

Okay folks, now go check out Anny Cook, Kelly Marstad, Sandra Cox, Jenny Beans and others listed to the left who have lots to say.

Don't forget to make sure you come back by on November 12th. I will be launching the first of two Soul Stone contests to celebrate the release of the last book in the Jewels of Ursus Trilogy.

Election Day

First, for those who didn’t see the McCain/Obama contest in this Nostradamus quatrain:

At the war's end:

The Feeble Kept One will strike down the Night

And his Imbecile Queen will rise from the snow

Bedecked in finery and the pelt of a wolf.

The Feeble Kept One- John McCain is one of the oldest men to run for President and there have been concerns about his health. His wife, Cynthia McCain is a very wealthy woman, part of the Anheiser-Bush family.

Night- Barak Obama is the first African-American/Black nominee from one of the major parties. He has also been referred to as the Black Knight, he will bring justice to politics.

Imbecile Queen- Let’s face it, the biggest criticisms of Palin have involved her intelligence and her tendency to play “cute”

rise from the snow-She’s from Alaska

bedecked in finery and the pelt of a wolf- Palin has been criticized for her wardrobe expenses and she is known for her support of the law allowing the hunting of wolves from helicopter.

Some hope this is a bunch of bull. Some hope it’s true. Personally, I’m not as much concerned about McCain vs. Obama as I am about the possibility of Palin as VP. I think her selection showed a lack of judgment on McCain’s part. Yes, it was smart to pick a woman. Yes, it was time to pick a woman. But that woman?

But that’s not what I want to talk about...

What I want to talk about today is how exciting it is to be a part of this election. I was far too young to understand what was happening when the civil rights movement was going on, and being in the north it wasn’t front and center.

The women’s movement was one I remember growing up with. The women in my family were the strongest people I’ve ever known. They held us together and were the ones we could count on to be there, to take care of us. But that’s not what I wanted to talk about either.

Now at 42, my son soon to be part of this world, I am in the midst of a historic moment. The year 2008 will go down in history as either the year that our nation elected a woman to the executive branch of our government or the year that our nation elected a Black man President. One way or the other, there is no denying that it is a year that we will always remember.

American citizens are more excited and more involved in this election than any I’ve ever seen before. We are so committed, on both sides, to see our votes registered to have our voices heard. And honesty, to me it doesn’t matter why. I don’t care if you are casting your vote out of fear or out of conviction. What I care about is that American are finally taking part in the political process instead of sitting off to the side and feeling disenfranchised and hopeless. What disheartens me is that this wave of interest will pass.

One of my favorite movies is The American President. There are great quotes in that movie that sum up the duty of Americans. Characters says that America is Advanced Civics. You’ve gotta want it. In the United States it is not only our right to question our elected officials, it’s our responsibility. I know the same is true of other democratic republics, but it seems that we are the worst at carrying the banner we first raised in the world. We are the great experiment, and experiment that was failing until just recently.

Let’s just hope that this turn around is a 180 and not a 360.

Seeing the Future

Michel de Nostredame.

Most of us have heard of this historic prophet. His most famous book, Les Propheties (The Prophecies) first appeared in 1555. He has seemed to be incredibly accurate in the prediction of world events, the circumstances of which he could scarce have imagined during the 16th century.

Organized into quatrains, the prophecies range from highly specific to vague and so abstract they could be interpreted to mean almost anything. One of his most specific prophecies was not written down, but he is alleged to have predicted the date of his own death, telling his secretary they would not find him in the morning. Usually identified after the fact, it is said that Nostradamus predicted the Great Fire of London, by way of the rise of Napoleon I of France and Adolf Hitler, to the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, but only ever in hindsight.

Enthusiasts also claim he predicted both world wars, and the nuclear destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Believers also maintain that that he predicted the Apollo moon landings, the death of Diana, Princess of Wales in 1997, and the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster.

Well now, it seems that the French prophet has predicted the outcome of the coming election. The following article appeared on the internet today:

CAP NEWS - "Conventional wisdom picks Obama. Nostradamus, four and a half centuries ago, picked John McCain," said Dr. Hubert Evans, professor of Renaissance Studies at Yale University and author of the best-selling Nostradamus: Prophesize This!

Quatrain 78, Century X in particular seems to indicate that Obama had better not be measuring the White House windows for curtains quite yet, at least by my interpretation," said Dr. Evans.

The quatrain to which Dr. Evans refers - Quatrain 78 - is located in the grouping of stanzas known as Century X. Originally published in 1555 in Nostradamus' still-popular Les Prophecies, Quatrain 78 reads in full:

At the war's end:

The Feeble Kept One will strike down the Night

And his Imbecile Queen will rise from the snow

Bedecked in finery and the pelt of a wolf.

Well, who ever you are voting for tomorrow the important thing is that you vote. Democracy, even Democratic Republics like the US, work best when the voices of all of us are heard.

And since I included the McCain pics, here's one of Obama.

Count down.

We are officially in the end of days. In a short time, our lives will change forever and nothing will ever be simple any more. No, I’m not warning of Armageddon. We are exactly one month from the Smudgie due date. The last minute doubts and recriminations have begun.

SO: (as we pulled up the big area rugs and drug them outside to beat them) How are we supposed to take care of a kid? We have trouble keeping our house clean.

Me: It’s okay, precious. We don’t have to take the baby out into the backyard and beat it to clean it.

SO: But I mean, we’ll have to vacuum EVERY DAY.

Me: And your point is?

SO: Can we do this? I mean, can we really do this?

Me: Well you’re about eight months late on asking that question.

SO: What if we become our parent?

Me: It’s possible, but then neither of us came out a sociopath so I’m not so worried if our parents take over our brains from time to time.

I have to admit to one thing. It would really kill me to become my mother. Needless to say, my mom and I don’t have a great relationship. It’s very complicated but never acrimonious. You see my method of dealing with the situation is to avoid it. I live six hundred miles away. Since I moved to Georgia, the relationship between us is better than it has ever been. We don’t argue, we talk on the phone pleasantly. I think it has to do with neither of us knowing quite how to deal with the other. We are so very different.

My mom thrives on drama. The more excited and stirred up things are, the happier she is complaining about it. Me, I hate drama. I like calm, quiet and even boring. My family, a byproduct of generations of indoctrination are loud, impossible to ignore and in each other’s business. Ever see My Big Fat Greek Wedding? My maternal side is like that, only we’re not Greek. We’re Irish, German and Romani and boy does that make for an interesting mix of personalities. And I’m one of four in five generations of my family that didn’t live within 30 miles of everyone else. Myself, two cousins and my nephew all got out.

Now that Smudgie is close to coming, I do regret that he is going to grow up without cousins to run in and out of his life. I can’t imagine my young life without my cousins. But he’s going to have a better life than I had. He’s not going to have to worry about enough food to eat, clothes to wear and if there would be enough heat to keep him from getting frostbite at night. He won’t have to watch for roaches when he goes into the kitchen at night or rats in the bathroom. At least I hope he won’t. God willing, we’ll always be able to make his life better than either of ours was.

On a higher note:

Seventeen Days until the release of Soul Stone.

Soul Stone, the final book in the Jewels of Ursus trilogy that included Mating Stone and Lover's Stone, will be released on November 19th. I'm so very excited for everyone to see what's instore for Tarris, my little incubus. His story was so compelling to me that it ended up surpassing the novella requirements to be a part of Ellora's Cave's Jewels series and became a full blown novel. It can be read as a stand alone, but I have to admit there are little jokes and situations that you will find funnier if you have read Mark and Luke's stories first.

And as I have with the other Jewels of Ursus stories, I will be having a contest and giving away a semi-precious piece of jewelery. Tarris' story was intended to be an October Jewel and you will find that an opal plays an important part in his story. Because of that, the prize this time will be a rainbow opal pendant and matching earrings. These are delicate and since Tarris isn't sensitive to silver like his Were brothers, these are set in silver. To the left you can see a preview of the pendant.

I'll roll out the contest closer to the time of the release, so be sure to check back. Now run off and see what the other folks whose blogs are on the left have to say.

Good Reads and Long Waits

I just finished reading Cheryl Dragon’s book I’m Okay, You’re a Fake. I absolutely loved it. The characters are strong and well written. The secondary characters are complex and fascinating. I love when an author can develop a character that is so engaging that it evokes an emotional response from me. And this did. Without giving much away I seriously wanted to slip into Dragon’s world for a moment and smack Mary-Lou (the socialite next-door). She’s not a bad character, but seriously needs a good slap in the head. If you’ve not discovered this series by Dragon, the first was titled I’m Okay, You’re Dead, you need to make an effort to. The books are available in both trade paper and e-book formats. (Link)

Also, if you’re looking for something a bit racier that will definitely get your blood pounding and have you fidgeting in your chair take a look at Brynn Paulin’s print edition of Brotherly Bonds. This is the collected stories of the Cress brothers that were originally released as separate e-books. Why am I touting this if it’s not new? Because this is one of the best collections of erotica I think you could lay your hands on, especially with a well portrayed BD/SM subtext. I was so taken with these individual stories that I read my way through them quickly and was thrilled to find out that Ellora’s Cave was compiling them into one print volume. So if you’re someone who doesn’t rush out for e-books, now’s your chance to get them in print. (Link)

It’s the day after Halloween. Around here all that really means is another day, this one spent cleaning the living room. It’s amazing how much hair a dog can shed and not be bald yet. I swear my Cavalier sheds so much that we could start a business knitting her fur into clothing. And yes, we know it’s her because she’s the only one with dark hair.

I spent three hours this past week standing in line to vote. It was one of the most startling things I’ve experienced in a while. Usually early voting means small lines and little waiting. Not this year. This year I voted at the Cobb Galleria Mall. This is a small exclusive mall in my county that had the open space to set up a polling place. It was preferable to many of the other places where the lines meant standing outside. In this case the lines wrapped up and down the hallways of the indoor mall. The line moved fairly steadily but was so long it was still a three hour wait. I swear the line had to have been more than a mile long as it wound around and around down each passageway of the building.

The good points? I got to vote. I got to scope out some really cute handbags and the most adorable little bomber jacket in little kid size. There was a food court and everyone was pretty cool about allowing folks to zip out of line and grab a bite, especially when I was there from 5pm until after 8pm. I also had enough time to finish the above mentioned book while waiting.

The bad? The wait. After working I had to stand on my feet for 3 solid hours. Not the most comfortable thing when you’re still in your work clothes. Then there were the stupid comments from people who where also waiting in line. One young professional man was pontificating on how it was unfair for the ballot to be read to those who didn’t speak English and how this meant they got to go to the front of the line as being someone who “needed assistance to vote.” He repeatedly griped about how if you couldn’t read or couldn’t read English you shouldn’t be allowed to vote and should “go back where you came from.” I’m pretty sure the only thing that saved him from getting told off or worse was the presence of the police and the fact that after 3 hours in line no one wanted to jeopardize their chance to vote.

Jim Crowe anyone? How is it we’ve gotten to this point as a society and still have such stupid people amongst us? I agree that the United States is an English speaking country. Just like our ancestors, those who come here in this century should be encouraged to learn the language. You don’t go to France and expect people to accommodate your English. You wouldn’t move to Mexico and expect people to accommodate your English. Or maybe that’s the problem. We would. Have we become less of a melting pot and more of a sampler tray? What do you think?

Don’t forget Anny Cook, Kelly Marstad and Sandra Cox. Bronwyn Green also has good things to say.