Eyebrows

A person’s eyebrows can say a lot about him or her. And they contribute more to a person’s overall appearance than you might think. Perhaps that is why some people become so obsessed with completely reconstructing them. I believe there are four basic elements that define a person’s brow; color, placement, and intensity. The fourth…

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Oblivious

I could write an essay titled “Oblivious” once a month. Its definition is, after all, “not aware of or not concerned about what is happening around one.” I could spend plenty of time castigating others who don’t seem to know what I know for being oblivious of current political, health, cultural, or other trends. Conversely,…

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Vacuums, Vortices, and Dead Cats

So much regrettable behavior is born of fear. Because we fear being judged for all kinds of reasons from all kinds of sources, we sometimes neglect to be “real,” to expose our personal “lack.” It can be lack of specific knowledge, experience, money, things, or “important” friends. Yes, and this fear of exposing our vulnerability…

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Beneath or Above the Surface – Struggles or Blessings

People refer to exploring what lies beneath the surface. A duck seems to glide across the water, but if you look beneath the calm surface his webbed feet are paddling like crazy. What lies beneath is often unseen effort or even struggle. He works harder than we think to move forward and to make it…

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Canebrakes and Other Magical Places

Today, I found a very old copy of “The Swamp Fox” which I decided I must read because Francis Marion came from the PeeDee region of South Carolina, where my parents’ people came from. Also, the name Marion (or Marian) recurs on both sides of my family, being my middle name as well. So, I…

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The Barbie Experience

My plan was to write about something much more serious today, but what the heck! The Barbie doll was introduced to America in 1959, when I was seven years old. Although I had a houseful of beautiful dolls of all sorts, I never owned a Barbie. Mother determined her to be “obscene.” Perhaps she knew…

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Lucretia Mott and Other Warped Histories

Lucretia Mott was a real person. I was surprised a couple of years ago to discover she was not quite the woman I had been taught. Apparently, when you are the youngest child in the brood and your older siblings are bright, impressionable, and anxious to impress with the incredible knowledge that they learned in…

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Crepe Myrtle and Forsythia

I used to fancy myself a super potential gardener. At one time I was dynamite with house plants. But I’ve discovered that I am not reliable with those, poor things. Nevertheless, I love nature and thank God every day for the trees and plants that surround me, especially the flowering ones. Unlike people who have…

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Neolithic Ages

I really know little about pre-history, but I know quite a bit about skewed perspectives. For example, as a very young adult, I considered Biblical times to be just this side of the stone age. Turns out, I was way off base there. Those folks were on the exact same cognitive level as we are…

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Being One

I never would have thought it to be true. In fact, for almost the first two decades of my life, I barely thought of it, and certainly didn’t understand it. But in every generation, there comes a time when there is nothing more important than being one. Were it not so, there probably would have…

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