Amid the 4 Ps confronting us Californians —pandemic, poverty, protests, and pyrotechnics* — comes a heartwarming story from Sydney Page at The Washington Post. Just what I needed, as a fellow cleft-affected person, to forget about the "plagues" which are depressing us in the San Francisco Bay Area. We've had to keep indoors (no outdoor masked activity) for twenty-something straight "unhealthy" Spare the Air days due to wildfires. Then a man who has a 2-year-old with a cleft … [Read more...]
Easier ‘n Where’s Waldo.Find CLEFT HEART readers in photos.
It's easy to find Waldo these days. He's the only one at the beach or out on a once-busy Manhattan street. So, check out the two photos in this blog and figure out who's reading Cleft Heart. Let me know. Unprecedented Times for us all. As the great political writer Thomas Paine wrote during a low point in the American Revolutionary War, "These are the times that try men's souls." But as another great writer, Charles Dickens, wrote at the same time, "It was the best of times, it was the … [Read more...]
The Psychopath and The Hare.
The Psychopath and the Hare lip is my way to addressing what's become an interesting debate among moviegoers. Even comic book aficionados have gotten into the act. And so may you and I as so many of us are at home without sports, political rallies, and other live TV as a distraction. We've got time to watch movies like Joker. The debate is whether Joaquin Phoenix, who won an Oscar for Best Actor, portrays the Joker as a psychopath or not? The Psychopath and The Hare … [Read more...]
Rory Gilmore and Janie Junebug love books and share ’em.
Many of you remember The Gilmore Girls popular show which aired 2000- 2007. It created a book club for people to read all of the 339 books referenced on the show, esp by Rory Gilmore who loved reading books. She also loved the smell of books. Rory Gilmore loves books. Rory taught us important things that are now a part of many people's everyday life. First - always take a book with you. This tip has saved countless of us from complete boredom. Whether we're meeting up with a friend … [Read more...]
Cleft Joaquin Phoenix strikes again – Joker.
Evil teaches us to livE: — this anadrome** comes to mind when I think of cleft Joaquin Phoenix — the fictional miserable life of Batman's Joker generates evil — the real "miserable life" of Phoenix generates great art about evil and good. What comes to mind re the movie Joker is less relevant: another star vehicle for Phoenix the biggest-grossing October launch ever, $90 million in first 2 days a "scary movie" with tons of violence that's forced many theaters to hire cops … [Read more...]
Discrimination, Blackface and the Bullying Connection.
Worries about discrimination and racism are at the heart of efforts to get Virginia Governor Ralph Northam to resign from office. But did you know there's a connection to bullying in all this? More on this later, but first the controversy. Northam's 1984 med school yearbook page shows a picture of a person in blackface and another wearing a Ku Klux Klan hood . . . next to different pictures of the then doctor-governor-to be. Discrimination and racism. Northam's many critics feel that 1) … [Read more...]
How to boost the CLEFT HEART book and reap rewards.
Thought some of you Cleft Heart book fans might get a kick out of seeing a photo (top right of the collage below) of politicians Pelosi and Schumer under an umbrella in D.C, back in the day. Actually, it's my sister Barbara and me in front of the U.S. Capitol after my dad mustered out of the military as a journalist in Washington, D.C. for the Navy's All Hands magazine. My loving sis wrote last year about growing up with a brother with clefts here and here. She wanted to add to the book I'd … [Read more...]