View from the Couch

I live in Portland, Oregon, known as the City of Roses and home of Nike, Columbia Sportswear, Coffee People and Powell's Books. For April, Powell's sponsored a poetry contest seeking original poems about Portland. The following is my entry. City of Rose KC McAuley The sun slips behind the west hills The light shifts and everything is bathed in color City of Rose Amber and violet And deepest of blue. The sun rises over the hooded mountain. The light shifts and brings back the color City of Rose Amber and violet And deepest of blue. From my window I watch each day as the light shifts across this city. My city. City of Rose Amber and violet And deepest of blue. And here is a link to the winning poems. They are all lovely ones. http://www.powells.com/poetrycontest/winners.html?utm_source=oneoffs&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=poet_winners&utm_content=Read%20all%20the%20winning%20poems

I learned recently that when a kill is made, the females surround the kill and let the children eat before the males of the pack. The females mean business and they will attack any male that attempts to breach the kill. And I had to ask myself, are we humans smarter than a hyena? Every 3.6 seconds, someone in the world starves to death. 3/4 of those deaths are children under 5. 75%! That is unacceptable and should be unacceptable to any thinking person on our planet. What do you think would happen if all the women in the world surrounded our children and INSISTED that the children be fed and housed and educated before one more penny is spent on war. I think we might just stop war. And think what the impact might be on the world economy. Farmers would be paid to grow food, not to NOT grow food. Instead of building bombs, we'd build houses and schools. Teachers and growers and pickers and canners and all those job forces would have to be increased. And with such a demand fo...

I've written before about my daughter, Bridgete. I've said often how proud I am to be her mother, how brave I think she is for finding her path and sticking to it, how much stronger and better I am for having let myself follow her lead. But today of all days, I need to say it all again. She's 25 today. I still remember how I felt when after days of labor, no sleep, no food, no progress, I was being wheeled into the operating room where I would have a Caesarean section. My arms were strapped down so the anesthesiologist would be able to monitor my vitals and keep me numb. It's a very odd feeling to be awake and completely unable to move your body from the chest down. But while I was unable to feel pain, I was still able to feel pressure. My contractions were still happening, but it was as if there was someone pushing on my stomach. Then they hung a barrier up between my head and shoulders and the rest of my body. My husband could look over and see what was happe...

I got TAGGED! What Ifs : What if I could meet someone in the art world to chat with? This is just too easy for me…SHAKESPEARE. I know, I’d probably be disappointed and find out he really was a mediocre talent at best and someone else did the good stuff. But I love Shakespeare, so it has to be him. What if I could have one wish granted for the benefit of all mankind? I know it’s easy to say world peace. But it’s not easy to achieve. Peace is not simply the absence of war. It’s a state of mutual respect and acceptance whereby all beings are one. Pretty big wish. What if I could travel anywhere in the world? England. That blessed rock…so much there I want to see and touch and taste and smell. What if I could live in a period other than the present, for 24 hours? I want to be a player in Shakespeare’s company at THE GLOBE in Elizabethan England. What if I could make over three areas of my body? I have a very Germanic heritage… so…tummy tuck or liposuction, I’d lov...

The above date wasn't important in history, nothing of great note seems to have happened. Well, the 17th amendment to the US Constitution was made law. And if you know what that one was, good for you. But this date means a great deal in my personal history. This is my father's birth date. If you are calculating, then you would realize that means he would be 95 today if he were still alive. That would be a pretty amazing thing even in this day and age of longer life expectancy. But when you know that my father died 27 years ago, even you would have to say...he died too young...a mere 2 weeks short of his 68th birthday. I was only 21 when he died. I didn't know then what an impact that would have on me. In some ways, I still am not aware of how deeply it effects me. So far, this year has been one of loss. Dear friends have lost parents, which makes me aware of what I missed by not having my father all these years. My niece, who was only a year older than my own da...