Saturday 9: Jive Talkin'

Saturday 9: Jive Talkin' (1975)

Unfamiliar with this week's tune? Hear it here.

This month we're going to recall Summer Songs. These will all be records that topped the charts during August.

1) Number 1 on the charts in August 50 years ago, "Jive Talkin'" was originally called "Drive Talkin'," because it was inspired by the "chunka-chunka" sound the Bee Gees' car made as it rolled over the bridge from Biscayne Bay to Miami every morning. Tell us about a drive you make regularly. What do you love, or hate, about it?

A. I drive regularly to the grocery store. I don't love it or hate it; it is just the way to the grocery store. If I go left from the driveway, eventually I make another left, and I'm on a curvy road that has no middle line, and you wave at people as you pass them if you feel like it. If I go right, then another right, the road has been updated and has a line, and even turn lane lines, and eventually it turns right onto a major 4-lane highway. This way is 1 mile longer than the other, but if my husband and I leave at the same time, and one goes left at the end of the driveway and one goes right, we used to end up at the stoplight on Catawba Road at the same time. Now there are two stoplights between my house and Catawba Road if I go to the right, so I doubt we'd end up at Catawba at the same time.

2) Barry, Maurice and Robin Gibb always enjoyed singing together and as kids, practiced their harmonies in the bathroom because that's where the acoustics were best. Do you sing in the shower?

A. I do sing in the shower.

3) Early in their career, the brothers wrote and recorded a radio jingle for Coca Cola. If we were to peer into your refrigerator right now, would we find any carbonated beverages?

A. You would find my husband's Diet Dr. Pepper.

4) Though their sound depended on tight harmonies, all three Bee Gees were heavy smokers, which is bad for the throat. Do you smoke? Are there smokers/vapers in your life?

A. I do not smoke, nor does my husband. I do not know of any smokers/vapers in my life.

5) Robin Gibb agreed to perform on the CD Sesame Street Fever so his kids could meet Cookie Monster. Who is your favorite Muppet?

A. I do not have a favorite Muppet, but I will say Frog because he sang that lovely song about rainbows. "Why are there so many songs about rainbows, and what's on the other side? Rainbows are visions, but only illusions, and rainbows have nothing to hide."

6) In addition to younger brother Andy, who also scored hit records, the Bee Gees have a sister, Lesley. Unlike her siblings, she didn't go into show business. Instead, she became a dog breeder. Tell us about a dog who holds a special place in your heart.

A. When I was a child, we had many dogs. I think my favorite dog was Major, a white poodle. His mother was Heidi, a black poodle, and she gave birth to Major. I don't know if Major was the dog I saved from the water when it was a pup, but I have always thought he might have been. When I was 7, Heidi had her pups, and one night I heard a noise, and I got up and one of the pups had crawled into Heidi's water bowl, and it wasn't moving. I got it out and wrapped it in a towel and went to wake my mother. She and I massaged the pup and it came back to life. As an adult, I only had one dog. She was a pup I picked up at a flea market, a mix of an Eskimo Spitz and a terrier. She was not an affectionate dog but she was my dog. We kept her outside because of my allergies and honestly, she seemed to prefer being outside to being inside when I put her in the garage on very cold nights. She died in early 2001 at the age of 17, which is quite old for a dog. It took me a year to stop looking for her when I pulled into the driveway.

Let's look at the summer of 1975.

7) That summer, producer Lorne Michaels was auditioning talent for the Not Ready for Prime Time Players. This band of comedic performers would premiere that October in a new show called Saturday Night Live. In the days before DVRs and streaming, Saturday Night Live was considered "appointment television," a show you wanted to catch when it aired so you made sure you were in front of a TV to hear "Live from New York, it's Saturday Night!" Is there a show you go out of your way to watch when it airs? Or is most of your viewing either recorded or streamed?

A. We watch The Voice live, but we also record a lot of things these days, or stream.

8) The top movie at the box office that summer was Jaws. Have you seen it?

A. I don't think I have ever seen Jaws. Nor have I ever wished to.

9) In 1975, Jim Palmer of the Baltimore Orioles was having a career season and won the second of his three Cy Young Awards. In 2012 he put all three trophies up for auction. As proud as he was of the awards, he said, "My priorities have changed," and the money would help pay for college for his grandchildren. Think about your belongings. Is there anything you would never part with at any price?

A. Belongings are just things. I don't know of anything I hold that dear. There are people I hold that dear, but not things.

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I encourage you to visit the posts of other participants in Saturday 9 and leave a comment. Because there are no rules, it is your choice. Saturday 9 players hate rules. We love memes, however. 

August Happiness Challenge, Day 1

 It's time for the August Happiness Challenge. Here's a brief explanation of the Challenge: "Each day in August you are to post about something that makes *you* happy. Pretty simple. And, it doesn't even have to be every day if you don't want it to be. It's a great way to remind ourselves that there are positive things going on in our lives, our communities, and the world."

 You're invited to join me. Visit me with a link to your daily August happy, and I'll come read it. I've found that experiencing other peoples' everyday pleasures is a great mood lifter.

It helps if your August Happiness Challenge posts are marked with an icon. Just something that means "happy" to you. Thanks to the Gal Herself for reminding me of this.

Happiness for today: a loving husband who is willing to go pick up my antibiotic!

Thursday 13

What Writing Online Has Taught Me

1. Tone is a slippery beast. Even punctuation can steer a reader’s entire interpretation. It's not just about word choice; it’s the undercurrent of mood and intent. Online, it's shaped as much by what you leave unsaid as what you emphasize. White space matters, too.

2. People read with their own story in mind. When I write for this blog, I know I'm not just writing for myself. My words are filtered through however many eyes view it. Every reader brings a unique lens, colored by their past, their mood, their assumptions. What feels universal to me might land as deeply personal to someone else. Or they may not get it at all.

3. Silence is feedback too. A post that gets crickets might still echo in someone’s head. Lack of response doesn’t mean lack of impact. Sometimes quiet is how people process resonance. I know I have read blog posts that I haven't commented on but I have still thought about later.

4. Readers remember how you made them feel, not how clever you were. Cleverness may impress but feeling builds connection. That emotional trace is what lingers. However, I do like to be clever on occasion.

5. Most comments reflect more about the commenter than the content. Engagement is often projection. It can be affirmation, resistance, curiosity, or even loneliness disguised as critique. I comment sometimes just to say, "I was here."

6. “Delete” is underrated as a creative tool. Deletion isn’t failure—it’s refinement. It makes room for clarity, authenticity, and sometimes mercy. Occasionally, a post is just bad and needs to come down.

7. There’s power in a slow, quiet post that doesn’t try to trend. Slowness invites depth. And quiet writing resists the urgency of clickbait culture. Choose intimacy over impact, though I never know how that may land.

8. The internet doesn’t forget, but people do. I try to write about things worth remembering, even if I'm the only one who will remember. The idea of digital permanence can be misleading. Human memory is fallible, selective, and emotional.

9. A typo won’t kill you, but a dishonest tone might. Small errors are forgivable. What readers sense instinctively is whether you’re being real. I try to always be real, but I also know I hold back sometimes.

10. Nostalgia hits harder online. It turns writing into collective memory. When I evoke the past, I am inviting invite others to remember their own.

11. Posting is an act of hope. Every time. Hitting publish is a belief that someone is listening, that words still matter, that connection is possible. I still don't know if anyone will read my posts, but the stats count tells me people do. I am grateful that people find something in my words.

12. The algorithm is not your muse. It does, however, love drama and bullet points. Algorithms reward attention, not integrity. Hopefully my muse brings something deeper, such as truth, curiosity, or joy.

13. Writing for applause is a soul drain. Write for resonance. Resonance isn’t just agreement; it’s that hum beneath the words when someone reads and thinks, “I feel seen.” It’s an emotional echo, a shared vibration between writer and reader, even if they never meet or respond. It means someone else thinks the way I do.

_________________

Thursday Thirteen is played by lots of people; there is a list here if you want to read other Thursday Thirteens and/or play along. I've been playing for a while, and this is my 918th time to do a list of 13 on a Thursday. Or so sayth the Blogger counter, anyway.

Trust the Algorhythm. What Could Go Wrong?

In her July 26, 2025, Letter from an American, Heather Cox Richardson wrote: 

Hannah Natanson, Jeff Stein, Dan Diamond, and Rachel Siegel of the Washington Post reported today that staff associated with the “Department of Government Efficiency” are using artificial intelligence to eliminate half of the government’s regulations by next January. James Burnham, former chief attorney for DOGE, told the reporters: “Creative deployment of artificial intelligence to advance the president’s regulatory agenda is one logical strategy to make significant progress” during Trump’s term.

How do the technology billionaires go around with confidence that their AI is so great when it obviously is not?

I have been playing with ChatGPT and Microsoft's Copilot for months now. I have pushed ChatGPT with various questions. I have examined it about space, time, reality. I have asked it stupid questions, not stupid questions, and everything in between.

About 90 percent of the time, ChatGPT does a good job.

It's the other 10 percent of the time that is the concern. At least that much, maybe more, ChatGPT in particular simply hallucinates and makes up stuff. It fills in "facts" that aren't even there. It creates fiction out of thin air.

CoPilot, which is a lesser AI, doesn't generally do this, and for research or what-have-you, it works well. It's not as in-depth as ChatGPT, but I don't expect it to be because I know it's more for home and public use.

Regardless, these things are not cut out to reform the federal government.

AI models do not think. They parrot, repeat, and possibly anticipate, but they do not think. They cannot perceive that cutting air pollution controls, say, would make asthmatics out of a certain percentage of the population, and outright kill some of us who already walk around with an inhaler.

They are no better than the programmers who program them and the data they use to do that.

This is a marketing issue. The tech billionaires are so sure their product is great that they're trying desperately to sell it for what it is not: a "human" brain.

What they think it can do and what it actually can do are not the same thing, and this is not going to bode well for the population.

These billionaires and the companies they run have a huge financial stake in making AI seem like a revolutionary tool that can do everything from write poetry to manage economies. The more the public and governments believe that narrative, the more funding, stock value, and influence those companies gain. It's not about truth. It's about sales.

The public in general, and even some of the executives in these big companies, do not understand how large language models work. They think it’s intelligent in a human way, but it is really just advanced pattern matching and prediction based on training data. An AI model doesn't "know" anything. It doesn’t "understand" laws or ethics. Not the way I do. And not the way you do, either.

These same people also believe that every complex human or political problem, whether that is poverty, racism, bureaucracy, or inefficiency, can be "solved" with software. This is an incredibly flawed way of thinking, but these self-made "men" see themselves as the smart guys who should be in charge of everything.

And if you're a wanna-be authoritarian in charge of a dying democracy, and you want to rapidly dismantle regulations and other things that your guy pals dislike, then AI offers a convenient tool. 

It can also be the scapegoat. The leader can claim efficiency and modernization while gutting environmental, labor, and consumer protections. And if things go wrong, he can blame the AI model.

AI models have no accountability. No one has yet sued open.ai because ChatGPT told them they had cancer when they didn't, or vice versa, or whatever it might take to force such lawsuits to come into play. Even so, the AI model itself isn't going to go to jail, and most likely neither will the programmers. They'll just say, "oops" and that will be the end of it.

AI models are not accurate or nuanced enough to handle legal, regulatory, or ethical interpretation. I have experienced its flaws in a myriad of ways in the last several months. It can hallucinate facts, miss tone, misunderstand nuance, or completely misread human intent. Now imagine that happening with laws on toxic waste disposal, disability rights, or air travel safety.

AI is powerful, but it is not magic. Nor is it wise. It has no wisdom except, again, what the programmers give it. Using AI to "reform" the government is dangerous. Not because the technology itself is dangerous, but the hubris of those who wield it without humility or caution can cause great damage. 

When billionaires or government officials use AI as a hammer to smash through democratic safeguards, the public must push back and demand human oversight, transparency, and ethical guardrails.

Five Things

 

Last week, I:

1. had a mammogram. Do it, ladies!

2. saw the chiropractor.

3. watched the Board of Supervisors meeting.

4. went to the grocery store.

5. did the usual chores.

In solidarity with federal workers, I started listing 5 things I did last week every Monday. I don't know if they still have to do that, but I have kept it up since it's a quick way to get something on the blog for Monday. Since I don't have a regular job, it's a fairly mundane list.

Sunday Stealing

Living in the World, Not on It

1) You're on a trip taking a tour through the jungle. You have a backpack with some food, first aid supplies, a pocketknife, a flashlight and a couple bottles of water. Somehow, you get separated from your group. By night fall you haven't found your group and haven't heard them looking for you. How long do you think you would be able to survive on your own?

A. As long as the water lasts, and hopefully there's rain to make it last longer.

 

2) Do you think it's okay to lie to spare someone's feelings? Why? 

A. I think it is ok to give little white lies, like "Oh yes, that dress looks lovely on you" when it kind of doesn't. Those are lies that keep someone from feeling bad about themselves. Otherwise, it really depends on the situation. 

3) If a talking doll were made to resemble you, what 3 phrases would it say?

A. "That's interesting." "I love you." "You are beautiful to me."

4) If the superpower to be able to read minds at will was possible, do you think it would be... cool and helpful, intrusive and wrong, manipulative or maddening?

A. I think it would be intrusive and wrong, as well as manipulative and maddening. I don't think it would be a good power to have.

5) Are drunk confessions things people can't bring themselves to say sober or just the crazy ramblings of an influenced and intoxicated mind? 

A. I think they can be both.

Thank you for playing! Please come back next week.

__________

I encourage you to visit other participants in Sunday Stealing posts and leave a comment. Cheers to all us thieves who love memes, however we come by them.

Saturday 9: Rhythm of My Heart

Saturday 9: Rhythm of My Heart (1991)

Unfamiliar with this week's tune? Hear it here.

1) Rod Stewart sings that the words "I love you" roll off his tongue. When did you most recently say, "I love you?"

A. Last night. My husband and I say it all the time.

 

2) In "Rhythm of My Heart," he recalls running down the alley with his lady love. Does your neighborhood have alleys?

A. My neighborhood has farm trails. No alleys.

 

3) Rod is well known for his coif. Are you having a good hair day today?

A. Lots of humidity and high heat today, so no.

 

4) Rod was the youngest of 5. He remembers that, as a family, they enjoyed singing with Al Jolson records. Did your family have singalongs?

A. Not exactly.

5) He is proud of his luxury car collection, which includes a Rolls Royce, a Ferrari and the one rumored to be his favorite: a classic mid-70s Lamborghini Countach LP400 Periscopio. Looking back on years as a driver and a car owner, which vehicle is your all-time favorite?

A. I had 1989 Ford Taurus that was a very good car. I drove it for 10 years. I also liked my 2003 Toyota Camry, which I also drove for 10 years. Both performed well and required little maintenance.

 

6) Rod turned 80 this year and he's still touring. Once known for his hard partying, he takes better care of himself now and rides a stationary bike every day. What steps do you take to keep fit?

A. I walk on the treadmill.

7) In 1991, when this song was popular, Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry died. Do you have a favorite Star Trek character?

A. From the original series, my favorite would have been Dr. McCoy aka Bones. My favorite from the series overall would be Captain Kathryn Janeway.

8) Also in 1991, Seinfeld was a big deal on network television. Today the entire series is available to stream and on DVD. When you binge a show, are you more likely to pop in a disc or turn to a streaming service?

A. We have DVDs of many shows, so I guess that, although I also stream some shows now that we have Internet that actually works.

 

9) Random question: Have you ever cared for a hamster or a gerbil? (Extra non-existent Saturday 9 points for its name.)

A. I have never had a hamster or a gerbil.

 

_______________

I encourage you to visit the posts of other participants in Saturday 9 and leave a comment. Because there are no rules, it is your choice. Saturday 9 players hate rules. We love memes, however. 

Thursday 13

 

Fictional Female Journalists/Writers

1. Lois Lane (Superman) – Dives into danger and conspiracy with a voice that says “This needs to be told,” even if no one believes her yet.

2. Murphy Brown (Murphy Brown) – Commanding the newsroom with integrity and dry wit, she made journalism feel like rebellion with credentials.

3. Carrie Bradshaw (Sex and the City) – Her columns blurred memoir with cultural critique, reminding us the political starts in the personal.

4. Rita Skeeter (Harry Potter) – Sleazy, spectacular, and fully bewitched—she's the cautionary tale every journalist conjures when ethics go poof.

5. Andie Anderson (How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days) – Her yellow dress got the headlines, but the real story was a smart woman stuck in shallow copy.

6. Bridget Jones (Bridget Jones’s Diary) – Hilariously human behind the scenes of televised fluff. She chronicled her own chaos with brutal charm.

7. Hallie Shea (The Newsroom) – Campaign trail correspondent with fire in her belly and friction in her relationships. A woman navigating truth in the eye of the political storm.

8. Brenda Starr (Brenda Starr, Reporter) – Glamorous, globe-trotting, and never far from a mystery or a romance. She made deadlines look like adventures and high heels look like armor.

9. Michelle Capra (Northern Exposure) – A travel columnist turned small-town observer. She wrestled with editorial pressure, cultural dissonance, and the quiet power of local storytelling.

10. Lee Smith (Civil War) – A hardened war photojournalist who bore witness to America’s unraveling. Her final act was not a shot—it was a sacrifice.

11. Jane Curtin (Saturday Night Live) – Dry, deadpan, and slyly subversive. As the straight woman on Weekend Update, she turned parody into media commentary with a raised eyebrow and perfect timing.

12. Jo March (Little Women) – A scribbler in the attic who became a published author. She wrote with fire, sold stories to skeptical editors, and eventually turned her pen into a golden goose.

13. Vicki Vale (Batman) – Gotham’s photojournalist with a nose for danger and a heart that sees through masks. She chased truth in a city built on secrets—and sometimes fell for one.

_________________

Thursday Thirteen is played by lots of people; there is a list here if you want to read other Thursday Thirteens and/or play along. I've been playing for a while, and this is my 917th time to do a list of 13 on a Thursday. Or so sayth the Blogger counter, anyway.

Reflections from a Veteran Reporter

The Art of Newswriting

In an era when news often feels rushed and superficial, there’s something refreshing about looking back at the craft of reporting as it once was—where curiosity, patience, and empathy shaped the stories that truly mattered.

As a former weekly paper reporter, I learned early on that being a good journalist was about more than just asking questions. It was about listening deeply, holding space for the unexpected, and sometimes sitting in silence until the real story surfaced.

A long, pregnant pause in an interview can be unnerving for the subject, but it’s also a powerful tool. It creates a moment where the interviewee, caught off guard by the quiet, often reveals something genuine. It’s in these pauses that truth often hides.

And then there’s the closing question I came to rely on: “Was there something I should have asked you but didn’t?” This simple line can turn an interview on its head, prompting reflection and sometimes delivering the key insight that shifts the entire story.

Interviewing people in their homes added another layer of discovery. I learned early on to ask to use the restroom—not out of necessity, but as a chance to quietly open the vanity cabinet or take in what people collected when I could see into other rooms. A collection of salt and pepper shakers might not be the headline, but it adds texture and sparkle to an otherwise straightforward piece, helping readers see the subject as a real person with quirks and stories beyond the main topic.

All this had to be done on a tight schedule, generally forty-five minutes or less. Weekly newspapers don’t have the luxury of months to develop a story. Quick, sharp, and compassionate was the order of the day.

I especially treasured the “hit in the heart” stories—those about people with disabilities, or community efforts like the angel tree at Christmas. One year, my reporting on the angel tree helped raise $20,000—the most the local social services office had ever received. It was proof that words could move people to action.

It’s too bad that today’s news media often lean more toward entertainment than actual information. I saw my work as an educational guide for my readers, a way to give them facts and context they otherwise wouldn’t have, delivered in a way they could understand. I included backstory when necessary, so the issues became clearer and more meaningful. I wish today’s journalists would focus more on educating their readers than entertaining them. I think we would all be better off.

Today’s journalism landscape often prioritizes speed, clicks, and entertainment value over depth and empathy. The art of holding space in an interview, of asking the tough but thoughtful questions, seems to be fading.

But there’s a lesson in those quieter, more deliberate moments: true journalism isn’t about performance. It’s about building trust, being patient, and caring enough to wait for the real story to emerge.

As I reflect on my years reporting, I realize those experiences weren’t just about gathering facts. They were about honoring the humanity behind each story. 

Five Things

Last week I:

1. had a haircut.

2. cleaned the house with the assistance of my housecleaning helper.

3. saw my chiropractor.

4. walked on the treadmill.

5. wrote a couple of drafts of short stories.

In solidarity with federal workers, I started listing 5 things I did last week every Monday. I don't know if they still have to do that, but I have kept it up since it's a quick way to get something on the blog for Monday. Since I don't have a regular job, it's a fairly mundane list.

Sunday Stealing

 

Stolen from Follow That Dream

1. My bestie and I once ... fooled the checkout clerk at the grocery store into thinking we were sisters.

2. When I'm nervous ... I eat.

3. My hair ... is turning gray.

4. When I turn to the left, I see ... a bookshelf with books and cameras on it, my guitars, two clocks, a picture of Gandolf from Lord of the Rings, and other stuff.

5. My favorite aunt ... seldom calls me.

6. I have a hard time understanding ... what is going on in the world.

7. You know I like you if ... I talk to you.

8. When I was 5 years old ... I told my mother my brother had swallowed a bottle of aspirin and saved his life.

Thank you for playing! Please come back next week.

__________

I encourage you to visit other participants in Sunday Stealing posts and leave a comment. Cheers to all us thieves who love memes, however we come by them.

Saturday 9: It All Depends on You

Saturday 9: It All Depends on You (1959)

Unfamiliar with this week's tune? Hear it here.

1) In this song, Shirley Bassey sings that she could be happy or sad. As you answer these questions, do lean more toward happy or sad?

A. I am fair to middlin'. 

 

2) She tells us that she can save money or spend it. Do you try to stick to a budget?

A. I try to stick to a budget for the household items. The farm? Eh. Depends on machinery breakdowns and bugs and such.

 

3) By the time Shirley Bassey recorded "It All Depends on You," it was already an oldie, written back in 1926. Can you think of a song, book, or movie that you enjoy today that you believe audiences will relate to 2125?

A. For a song: I Did It My Way. For a book: The Lord of the Rings. For a TV series: M*A*S*H. For a movie: The Wizard of Oz.

 

4) Though she has risen to the title Dame Commander of the British Empire (DBE), her childhood allowed her little education. She dropped out at 15 and got a factory job to help her family. How old were you when you got your first full-time job? What was it?

A. I was 18 and I worked as a receptionist.

5) A favorite of the Royal Family, Shirley performed at the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Party at Buckingham Palace. How would you like to celebrate your next anniversary or birthday? Are you in the mood for a big blow out, or would you prefer something low key?

A. My anniversary is next, and we will, as always, have a quiet celebration.

 

6) Madame Tussaud's has two wax figurines of Shirley – one in London and a second in Las Vegas. Do you enjoy wax museums, or do you think they're creepy?

A. I have memories of visiting a wax museum in Williamsburg when I was in elementary school and we took a school trip there and being rather creeped out by it. I don't think it still exists, though.

7) In 1959, when this song was popular, most women wore nylons on a daily basis and the average price per pair was $1. What socks or leg wear – if any – do you have on right now?

A. Nothing on right now, but I normally wear compression socks. I take medications that make my ankles swell.

8) Also in 1959, Alaska became our 49th state. Today, cruise lines showcase Alaska on 4- or 7-night cruises. What do you consider the perfect length for a vacation trip? Is a 3-day weekend too short? Are two weeks away from home too long? What's your ideal?

A. Three-day weekend vacations are too short, two weeks is too long. I think a week is about right.

 

9) Random question: Which cable channel would you watch more often – one that shows nothing but classic sitcoms, or one that shows nothing but new movies?

A. Probably the one with the sitcoms.

_______________

I encourage you to visit the posts of other participants in Saturday 9 and leave a comment. Because there are no rules, it is your choice. Saturday 9 players hate rules. We love memes, however. 

In the End, She Stayed

I just finished listening to a fiction book, What Are You Going Through, by Sigrid Nunez (2020). It is literary fiction.

It's about a woman who stands by a friend with a terminal illness, some kind of never-identified cancer. The woman wants to commit suicide in order to have a beautiful death. Or a better death, at any rate.

She doesn't want to suffer.

I wish a good death upon everyone. You know, the kind where you fall asleep in a chair, your favorite TV show on or a book in your hand, and you just never wake up.

But we don't have those kinds of deaths. We have long lingering deaths that can take years, sometimes.

They are not fun. I watched that with my mother when she had pancreatic cancer. She never once, to my knowledge, thought of euthanasia as an out.

But I had a friend who was diagnosed with a terminal illness who did think of it.

We had a long talk about it one day over lunch, about six months after her diagnosis. She wasn't going for any long-term treatments, no organ transplants, she told me. And she wanted to go when she wanted to go.

She'd already contacted an organization in England that assisted people who were terminal and wanted to die, she said. She had the information in hand. This was how she wanted to go.

Her husband was against it, she said. But this was her plan. Someone would need to help her, she thought. She didn't know who that might be, but she hoped to convince him it was the right thing to do.

She did not ask me to help her. I did not volunteer, but I would have helped her. Even if it had meant I went to jail, I would have been there for her if that had been her wish. In the book, the narrator was there for her friend until the end.

My friend and I never discussed this subject again, and as her life dwindled down from a five-year span to months, I realized that she wasn't going to go through with it.

She was going to go the way she had said she didn't want to go, with hospice hovering about, and her loved ones telling her goodbye, her body growing thinner and weaker. One day she wrote me that the only way she could communicate with me was via text. Emails were too hard to write. She couldn't talk on the phone. 

She would die in her own home when life finally left her.

But it would not be by her own hand.

I was surprised, really, that she didn't go through with her initial plan. She was always so forthright, so quick to do what she wanted, and her control of herself and her thoughts were almost superhuman. 

This book brought all of that back to me, how my friend and I had discussed this in depth, in earnest. How I had thought until the last months of her life that she would, at some point, die by her own hand.

The will to live is a strong pull, stronger even, than the will to die a beautiful death. I remember watching my mother's fight to live. My friend's fight to live was no less devastating, but not quite so tortuous to me because she was, after all, a friend I loved, not my mother.

The book portrayed the narrator not as a hero, but as a kind, reflective woman who wanted what was best for her friend. But she also found the whole situation disturbing, and at the end, she wondered, what exactly is the meaning of life?

I wonder about this, too.

I see this valiant will to live in the longevity of many folks around me, people who are still going strong in their 90s. What have they found to live for? What keeps them going? The desire to see great grandchildren? The need to prove something?

What, actually, keeps me going? Love for my husband? My need to take care of him, to see to him, and ensure that he's happy, or at least as happy as he can be? 

I'm not really sure I know. Does anyone really know what they are living for, until those words from the doctor tell them their time is nearly gone?

Thursday Thirteen

Some authors feel like old friends. You meet them in a moment of escape, curiosity, or heartbreak, and somehow, they stay with you. Their characters linger, their stories echo, and their voices become part of your own inner dialogue. This week’s Thursday 13 is a tribute to the women writers who’ve shaped my reading life, some for decades, others more recently. They’ve made me laugh, cry, think harder, and feel more deeply.

Here are 13 women whose books have left a lasting mark:

1. Janet Evanovich

With her Stephanie Plum series, Evanovich delivers mystery with a side of chaos and comedy. Her quirky bounty hunter heroine navigates New Jersey’s underbelly with sass, luck, and a rotating cast of romantic entanglements.

2. L.M. Montgomery

The creator of Anne of Green Gables and other books that follow in the series, Montgomery gave the world a red-headed orphan with imagination and grit. Her stories are steeped in nature, nostalgia, and the quiet strength of small-town life.

3. Jennifer Weiner

From Good in Bed to The Griffin Sisters’ Greatest Hits, Weiner writes with humor and heart. Her novels explore modern womanhood with honesty, wit, and a deep understanding of complicated relationships.

4. Lee Smith

A Southern literary treasure, Smith’s Fair and Tender Ladies and Silver Alert, among others, capture the rhythms of Appalachian life. Her characters are flawed, funny, and unforgettable.

5. Louise Penny

Penny’s Chief Inspector Gamache series is more than mystery, it’s philosophy wrapped in suspense. Her Canadian village of Three Pines is a place of secrets, redemption, and moral reckoning. I have read all of her books and am waiting on the next one to drop in October, called The Black Wolf.

6. Fern Michaels

I’ve been reading Michaels for years, drawn to her blend of mystery and justice. Her Sisterhood series features women who take matters into their own hands, delivering suspense with loyalty and grit.

7. Nora Roberts

Roberts is a storytelling machine. Her novels are immersive, fast-paced, and filled with strong women who know what they want. Titles I've enjoyed include Legacy, Whiskey Beach, The Villa, and the trio of books The Awakening, The Becoming, and The Choice. 

8. Fannie Flagg

Flagg’s Fried Green Tomatoes is just the beginning. A Redbird Christmas, The Whole Town’s Talking, and The All-Girl Filling Station’s Last Reunion are full of Southern charm, humor, and heart. Her stories celebrate community, identity, and the quiet heroism of everyday life.

9. Jane Austen

The original queen of social satire, Austen’s novels still sparkle with wit and insight. Pride and Prejudice and Emma remind us that manners, marriage, and money have always been complicated.

10. Lois Lowry

Lowry’s The Giver and Number the Stars remind me of the power of young adult fiction. Her stories ask big questions about memory, freedom, and what it means to be truly human.

11. Ursula K. Le Guin

Le Guin’s Earthsea and The Left Hand of Darkness are genre-defying masterpieces. She writes fantasy and sci-fi with poetic depth, exploring identity, power, and the boundaries of language and thought.

12. Juliet Marillier

Marillier’s Sevenwaters series is steeped in Celtic mythology and lyrical storytelling. Her heroines are brave, complex, and deeply rooted in the natural and spiritual worlds. I can get lost in these books.

13. Kristin Hannah

Hannah’s novels, such as The Nightingale, Firefly Lane, The Four Winds, and The Women, are emotionally rich and historically grounded. She writes about love and loss with a tenderness that lingers long after the final page.

These women have written me through seasons of change, curiosity, and comfort. Their stories have been companions, provocateurs, and lifelines. If you’ve read any of them or have favorites of your own, I’d love to hear about it. Who are the women writers who’ve shaped your world?

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Thursday Thirteen is played by lots of people; there is a list here if you want to read other Thursday Thirteens and/or play along. I've been playing for a while, and this is my 916th time to do a list of 13 on a Thursday. Or so sayth the Blogger counter, anyway.

If We Don’t Pay the Poet, What’s AI For?

 

AI image

I was twenty-one years old when I walked into the newspaper office with an article printed on my dot matrix printer. Older folks will remember those. They’re the ones that had perforated edges in the paper. They made a noise as they slowly spit out words line by line. For my very first article, I’d used a Commodore 64, not a typewriter.

 

It was terribly exciting, turning in that story for the local weekly paper. I remember feeling proud, maybe even a little bold. After I gave the paper to the editor, I told the two ladies who ultimately typed in copy that I was handing in the future. No more typesetting. No more cutting and pasting with rubber cement.

The newspaper would be done on a computer.

They laughed at me.

But I wasn’t wrong.

Technology did change everything, just like I said it would. The newsroom eventually traded the paste-up boards for pagination software, and now, here we are. Machines are taking jobs. We’re arguing over whether AI is a good thing or a bad thing. Is a machine that can hold a conversation about grief, ethics, and philosophy a good tool? Or are we standing on precarious edge of something we cannot define.

Because that’s where we are now, isn't it? On the edge of another big change. One just as big as the industrial revolution. Maybe bigger. This time, we don't have the luxury of laughing at the kid with the article in her hand. This brave new world is both thrilling and deeply unsettling: the promise of a new age, tempered by the sobering truth that not all change is progress, especially when it happens without justice.

AI image

It’s hard not to feel torn about the growth in technology. On the one hand, I see so much potential. If we do this right, AI could lift people out of survival mode and help us build a society where dignity isn’t tied to working yourself half to death. We could take care of each other better, free up time for art, music, rest. The base of Maslow’s triangle, that is, food, shelter, and safety, could be solid ground, not quicksand.

But if we do it wrong, and let’s be honest, we don’t have a great track record, we’re headed for something much darker. I don’t want to live in a world where people sleep in cardboard shacks because a machine does their job and we’ve made no plan for what comes next. We keep calling people lazy when it’s the system that pulled the rug out.

It’s not “immigrants taking my job.” It’s tech. Quietly, efficiently, inevitably.

And if we keep treating human creativity like an afterthought with no value, we’re going to lose something essential. AI can write poems and paint pictures now, but it didn’t grow up listening to the same music I did, watching deer cross a foggy field at dawn, or wondering how a girl from Botetourt County ended up explaining digital futures.

AI could free us from drudgery, from hunger, from burnout. Imagine a world where no one worries about rent or healthcare or whether they can feed their children. Where dignity isn’t tied to a job title but to being human. That world is possible. But only if we choose it.

It’s a painful irony. People are endlessly creative, but we don’t pay the poet. We pay the one who cuts the check. We outsource art to algorithms while the original artist goes hungry. When art is treated as luxury instead of lifeblood, society starts to hollow out.

We need to value those who do the work only people can do: caregiving, teaching, healing, creating. Maybe someday a machine will be able to cut my hair, but it won’t lean in close and whisper, “You’re doing okay.” It won’t see my eyes swimming with tears and change the subject gently. It won’t connect the moment to something deeper.

A new vision is what we need right now, one where progress is measured not by GDP or shareholder returns, but by how many people have time to make music, grow gardens, write verses, raise children with love and attention. One where the tools of AI allow the things that make us human flourish. We shouldn’t replace or commodify the very things that make people unique and necessary.

AI isn’t the enemy. But we have to decide who’s holding the reins. If it’s just corporations looking to cut costs and maximize profit, we’re in trouble. We need real, honest humans who will think hard about justice, dignity, and meaning to reimagine where we are in the world.

Then maybe we’ve got a shot at building something better.

I’ve been playing with computers since the first Commodore Vic 20 came out in 1980. I was among the first of one million people to purchase this initial affordable home computer. I could see even then that this was a big deal. I knew eventually that computers would turn into something that would talk back to me.

I saw endless possibilities. I still believe in those possibilities.

But the right people - folks with empathy, foresight, and humility - have to pay attention.

TV Talk - The Women Who Walk With Me

I don’t watch a lot of TV. But when I do, I find myself drawn to the same thing over and over again: strong women. Some are funny, some are fierce, some are flawed. All of them speak to something inside me, maybe something I wanted to be growing up, or still want to be now.

These are the shows that have reminded me of what it means to be powerful in a world that often doesn’t make space for women to be that way.

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Hacks
Starring Jean Smart, Hannah Einbinder, Carl Clemons-Hopkins

Jean Smart’s Deborah Vance is a powerhouse: funny, sharp, self-made, and unwilling to fade quietly into the background. Paired with Hannah Einbinder’s Ava, a messy and ambitious young comedy writer, the show becomes a study in generational push-pull and female resilience.

I loved Hacks from the start. Deborah is exactly the kind of woman I admire: someone who fought her way to the top and keeps evolving. But in the 2024 season finale, Ava blackmailed Deborah into making her head writer on a new late-night show. That betrayal shifted the dynamic, and Season 4 lost me for a while.

It wasn’t until the final three episodes—when their relationship snapped back into focus—that I felt the show again honored what made it great: two women challenging each other, needing each other, growing because of each other. That’s a kind of strength we don’t often see, especially between women across generations. I’m glad it’s coming back for another season. Maybe the next season will fully repair what the last season broke.

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The Bionic Woman*
Starring Lindsay Wagner

I was 13 when The Bionic Woman first aired, and Jaime Sommers was like nothing else on TV. She wasn’t there to be rescued. She was the rescuer. She was powerful, kind, smart, and human. And Lindsay Wagner had a way of bringing vulnerability and depth to the role that still holds up.

The show itself didn’t always hold up. By the third season, the writing had veered into strange territory - bionic dogs, aliens, Big Foot, and too much clumsy action. Jaime stopped being a grounded, thoughtful character and became more of a plot device.

But even with all its flaws, I’m glad I rewatched it. Jaime was one of the first TV women I saw who didn’t shrink from power. She didn’t have to be loud to be strong. That stuck with me.

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The Gilded Age
Starring Carrie Coon, Morgan Spector, Louisa Jacobson, Denée Benton, Christine Baranski, Cynthia Nixon

On the surface, this show is about money - old money versus new money in 1880s New York - but beneath the corsets and chandeliers, it’s about women asserting themselves in a world run by men.

Marian Brook is supposed to be the emotional heart of the story, but the series has drifted toward the Russell family’s rise, especially Carrie Coon’s formidable Bertha Russell. She’s ruthless, clever, and refuses to be dismissed just because she wasn’t born into the “right” class.

There are quieter forms of strength here, too. Denée Benton’s character, Peggy Scott, is a Black writer and activist navigating racism and sexism with extraordinary dignity and drive. I admire all these women, but I do wish the show would slow down a little. There are a lot of characters, and I crave a deeper emotional connection with a few instead of quick glances at many.

Still, visually and thematically, The Gilded Age reminds me that female strength doesn’t have to be loud to matter. It can be strategic. It can be quiet. It can be dressed in silk.

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M*A*S*H
Starring Alan Alda, Loretta Swit, and ensemble cast

This might not seem like a “female strength” show at first glance. After all, it’s about a bunch of male doctors in a Korean War field hospital. But watching MASH again, I’ve been especially drawn to Loretta Swit’s portrayal of Major Margaret Houlihan.

When the show began, she was little more than a punchline, "Hot Lips," a caricature of the uptight Army nurse. But over the seasons, she evolved into one of the show’s most grounded, complex, and admirable characters. She found her voice. She questioned authority. She led. She cared. And she never stopped fighting to be taken seriously.

That transformation - the writing, yes, but especially Swit’s performance - is what I’ve appreciated most on this rewatch. In a setting dominated by male egos and wartime absurdity, she became a woman with backbone and compassion. Watching her reminded me that growth is its own kind of strength.

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Xena: Warrior Princess*
Starring Lucy Lawless and Renée O’Connor

Xena was the first time I saw a woman on TV who could save the world and look like she meant it. She wasn’t just tough. She was dangerous, complicated, funny, and constantly trying to be better. Paired with Gabrielle, who started out innocent and grew into a warrior in her own right, Xena became a show about transformation, redemption, and partnership.

The series was campy and mythological, full of gods and monsters and moral dilemmas. But beneath all that, it was about two women finding purpose - and strength - in each other.

I was deeply involved in the original Xena fandom. I wrote episode synopses for Whoosh magazine under the name Bluesong, Spoiler Princess. We had a C-band satellite dish and could catch episodes before they aired. That community meant something to me. It was a place where women (and some men) shared their love for a show where the women weren’t sidekicks. They were the story.

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Looking at this list, the pattern is clear: I’m drawn to strong women, especially those who fight for something bigger than themselves. Some do it with humor. Some do it with grace. Some, like me, probably do it because no one else would do it for them.

Maybe that’s what I’m really watching for: proof that strength takes many forms - and that women have always had it, even when the world refuses to see it.

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*I’ve watched or am watching these shows while walking on the treadmill.*