Sharon Ball is being a gracious hostess, so click on over to A Break from the Norm, and find out how my writer brain sometimes (mal)functions!
See you there!
January 25, 2010
January 23, 2010
Finding My Mother: a story of one woman’s search
Over four years a
go, my multi-talented web designer friend Natalie Jost, wrote a blog post about her search to find her birth mother. She generously offered one of her books as a giveaway on my blog so that others could read of her challenges and gain hope.
Natalie is one of the most soul-baring, deeply honest, and truly humble women I know. She’s not afraid to rock the boat of complacency if it will move it closer to the shore where Jesus waits. Her book, Finding My Mother, offers hope and courage to other adopted children who are beginning or in the midst of their searches.
Half of all proceeds from the sale of her book and its companion journals will go to support CASA, an organization that uses volunteers to act as advocates for children caught between their birth parents and “the system” trying to help them, and similar organizations.
Please leave a comment to have a chance to be sent this book. Click HERE for information about PDF downloads and journals. And while you’re in her web neighborhood, check out her textiles and paper goods at her Olive Manna store online.
January 22, 2010
January 20, 2010
January 19, 2010
Who Dat? We dat!
There are variations of this floating
around the internet. I happened to find this one on one of my former student’s Facebook site [thanks to Stephanie!]. I added a few of my own…Feel free to share your hometown oddities!
We greet people with “Howzyamomma’an’dem?”
You know there’s such a thing as snowball season.
When giving directions you use words like “uptown,” “downtown,” “backatown,” “riverside,” “lakeside,” “on the bayou,” “‘cross da lake” or “on the Westbank” (which i
s on the eastside).
When you refer to a geographical location “way up North,” you are referring to places like Shreveport, Little Rock or Huntsville, “where it gets real cold.”
You remember making groceries at Schwegmann’s.
You’ll have Community Coffee, by yourself.
When you ask someone where they went to school, you mean high school.
You can pronounce Tchoupitoulas and maybe spell it.You don’t worry when you see ships riding higher in the river than the top of your house.
We like our sandwiches “dressed.”
We think a fried shrimp po-boy is healthier than a Caesar salad.
We judge a roast beef po-boy by the number of napkins used.
We can eat Popeye’s, Haydel’s and Zapp’s for lunch and wash it down with Barq’s and several Abitas.
The four seasons in your year are: King Cake, crawfish, duck, and deer.
We “wrench” your hands in the “zink” with an onion bar or crumbled crackers to get the crawfish smell off.
We didn’t learn that Mardi Gras is not a national holiday until high school.
We believe that purple, green and gold look fine together.
Having an axe in your attic is a give
n.
Your last name probably isn’t pronounced the way it’s spelled.
We know what a nutria rat is but still pick it to represent our baseball team.
You have spent a summer afternoon on the Lake Pontchartrain catching blue crabs.
We describe a certain hue as “K & B Purple.”
We pronounce the largest city in our state as “Nawlins.”
We know those big roaches can fly, but we’re able to sleep at night anyway.
We shake out our shoes before putting them on.
We assume everyone has mosquito swarms in their backyard.
We realize the rainforest is less humid than Louisiana.
Your sunglasses fog up when you step outside.
We can stop and ask someone where there is a drive-through Daiquiri Shop, and they will tell us where to find it.
We get on a bus marked “Cemeteries” and don’t think twice.
We have burial plots six feet over rather than six feet under.
Every so often, we have waterfront property.
We have flood insurance.
We worry about a deceased family member returning in spring floods.
We know that people will push little old ladies out of the way to catch Mardi Gras throws.
You can leave a parade with footprints on the top of your hands and not be odd.
There is a parade ladder in your shed.
You know what a parade ladder is.
You raise your hand in the air and yell loudly, “Throw me something mistah,” in public.
You have a monogrammed go-cup.
We think New Orleans the best place to live, even if it is rated number one in every category, good and bad.
No matter where else you go in the world, you are always disappointed in the food.
When it starts to rain, you cover your beer instead of your head.
The best thing to add to a pot of boiling water and salt is rice; it will go with anything else you’ll fix for dinner.
Tomato sauce is “red gravy.”
We ask, “How dey running?” and “Are dey fat?” when inquiring about seafood quality.
We say “Who Dat!?!?” without asking a question.
Your house payment is less than your air conditioning bill.
Your grandparents are called “MawMaw” and “PawPaw.”
January 18, 2010
What if Dr. King could have used social networks?
SCOTT WILLIAMS over at BigIsTheNewSmall posted a link to his site on Twitter. I’m passing it on because I love the idea of Twittering Dr. King on his day.
Just imagine if Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. had Twitter or other social networking applications at his disposal; his message would have been even more world changing. The exponential impact of his sound bites would have been extremely powerful with a tool like Twitter.
I believe we take for granted the fact that our message, story, voice, thoughts can literally be globally shared at our leisure and by the push of a button. As we set aside January 18th. to honor the life of a man who impacted the world in so many ways, I thought it would be great to share quotes with our social networks and use the hashtag #MLK.
Below are 20 Retweetable Martin Luther King Jr. #MLK Quotes. Retweetable meaning there is already enough characters left for others to retweet your post. Please re-tweet this blogpost and re-tweet some #MLK quotes throughout the day.
- Every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or darkness of destructive selfishness. #MLK
- A genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus but a molder of consensus. #MLK
- To be a Christian without prayer is no more possible than to be alive without breathing. #MLK
- Faith is taking the first step even when you don’t see the whole staircase. #MLK
- I look to a day when people will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character. #MLK
- Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. #MLK
- The hottest place in Hell is reserved for those who remain neutral in times of great moral conflict. #MLK
- We are not makers of history. We are made by history. #MLK
- We may have all come on different ships, but we’re in the same boat now. #MLK
- We must face the sad fact that Sunday morning when we stand 2 sing, we stand in the most segregated hour in America. #MLK
- In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends. #MLK
- We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools. #MLK
- Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, “What are you doing for others?” #MLK
- The measure of a man isn’t whr he stands in moments of comfort, but whr he stands @ times of challenge & controversy. #MLK
- If a man hasn’t discovered something that he will die for, he isn’t fit to live. #MLK
- Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity. #MLK
- We must use time creatively — and forever realize that the time is always hope to do great things. #MLK
- The question is not whether we will be extremists, but what kind of extremists we will be. #MLK
- The time is always right to do what is right. #MLK
- I have a dream my 4 little children will 1 day liv in a nation whr they will not B judged by the color of their skin. #MLK
There are so many more tremendous quotes by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. These are just 20 that stood out to me. Please share your favorites from the above list or any other #MLK quotes hat you like. If you can share them in 120 characters or less, please do so. This will allow them to be retweetable.
