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Observations The USA

Vernacular

I couldn’t take another word so I punched a finger into the car radio power button and sat in silence. A prestigious panel had been discussing the latest school shooting on the Diane Rehm Show and I was still bristling from their word choices. People who kill other people are murderers, not “shooters” and yet during the few minutes […]

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Unsung Heros

Resilience Diva Tami Schwerin – Getting it done by making it fun

Few people are as good at their jobs as Tami Schwerin. The dynamic executive director of a small North Carolina-based nonprofit, she moves through her day like silk across polished oak. Her ready smile and signature girl-next-door charm exude a level of calm which belies the magnitude of her accomplishments. In the twelve years since […]

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Environment

Lawns and Hay Fields

If the photo on the left troubles you and the one on the right makes you happy, you are like me. I find large expanses of lawn depressing. What a waste, I think. All those hours of mowing, and for what? Hay fields, on the other hand are full of pastoral promise. They evoke images of thriving farms and […]

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Observations

Communication Roulette – reaching out in the techno void

Sometimes you just need to bitch a little before a solution up and slaps you in the forehead. Here goes. I’m confused and frustrated. Every day the communication gods heap another app on the technology pile and now no one quite knows how to get ahold of anyone else. I’m spending way too much time […]

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Community Cookie's Bliss

Rediscovering Manners

A smug laugh echoed through my nasal passages when I ran across my old friend, Miss Manners in the Washington Post online. Rubbing my hands together I dove in. How fun to discover her advice has kept up with these changing times. Gentle Reader that I am, I never missed a column of hers back in […]