Conseco at Racialicious is asking that we participate in viral blogging to find our children. Please
visit photobucket.com/ourmissingkids where you’ll find fresh ads to grab and spread around and re-post. The posters are updated frequently. Please visit BlackandMissing.blogspot.com.
Will be awhile before I completely unpack and stop living out of boxes, but otherwise I'm settling in OK. I'm meeting neighbors and getting used to strange sounds, including bathroom pipes that gurgle in the middle of the night, and a heavy-footed upstairs neighbor who also plays the piano early in the morning...and moves things around at night into the wee hours. I mean things that sound heavy and on roller casters. I suspect she's moving around her piano. Even with carpeting, the apartments leave something to be desired by way of sound insulation. Even so, I love the numerous windows which let in a lot of light.
Eventually, I'll get back into the blogging groove. In the meantime, below are more digital art I've done over the last few weeks:
Sharon Cullars Coffee Talk at 6/05/2009 07:53:00 PMPermanent Link |
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Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Finally made that move
Yes, I have finally moved. Although the initial plan was to leave the state, I realized that it would be better to remain in Illinois, so I just settled for leaving Chicago and am currently in Evanston. The moving was much smoother than previous moves, and I'm now enjoying a quiet view of a cemetery next door. It's really not as macabre as it could have been, and the subterranean neighbors pretty much keep to themselves. And luckily, I'm within walking distance to Lake Michigan. With the proceeds from the fundraiser and an unexpected extension on my unemployment benefits, I was able to stretch out to a year's lease instead of just six months, but everything entails that I pull in a moderate income. For that, I'm seriously considering either doing an online class for about $30 a session or trying to publish an e-book. Let me know if anyone would be interested.
Again, I can't thank all of you enough for keeping a roof over my head. And as for the cemetery...well, I feel some horror stories itching to come out. Keep posted.
Sharon Cullars Coffee Talk at 4/28/2009 07:15:00 PMPermanent Link |
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Dropping in from my sabbatical
My self-imposed absence has been more a fallout from real life, which I'm taking care of so that I can be back in full throttle. Thank you for still checking on me, I appreciate it.
Given all of the news I wanted to comment on these last weeks, it's been hard not to do a column or two, especially in lieu of the passing of one of my favorite Golden Girls, Bea Arthur, an inimitable force I thought could never be silenced. Unfortunately, I was wrong. Since the vid below is making the blog rounds, I thought I would post it here as it is one of the funniest scenes from GG.
Still, what brings me to the keyboard is the hilarity of the pic below that I found over at Daily Kos in a column on Arlen Specter's defection from the GOP to the Democratic Party, giving Obama a filibuster-proof majority (depending on whether Minnesota's Al Franken is officially sworn in). I did a double take and broke out laughing, which is rare these days. So, I thought I'd share.
Sharon Cullars Coffee Talk at 4/28/2009 02:44:00 PMPermanent Link |
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Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Frustration
I'm sorry I've been reticent but I've been busy searching for an apartment or studio. My mother is relocated to a nice senior facility, but it seems that I've become persona non grata because of my credit rating and foreclosure. Even when I offer money upfront via either money order or certified check (thanks to the fundraising efforts), I am told that most management credit checks will invalidate me. So, I'm hoping for a sublet as the time is winding down to the mid-April sheriff's sale. It never occurred to me that people would turn down money, but I guess a credit rating supercedes even money. To say that I'm frustrated is an understatement. I can't even determine what furniture to take or give away until I know what square footage I'll wind up with. But I'm holding out hope that everything works out in the end.
Soon as I'm settled (whenever that may be), I'm determined to write another novel just to get my creative juices flowing again - and to bring in some income to extend beyond six months. The stories I have heard from you of your own trials have inspired me to survive this as best I can. It isn't the good times that make you, but rather those times that would break you that galvanize your strength and ingenuity. Lemonade out of lemons; just gotta find some sugar somewhere.
Sharon Cullars Coffee Talk at 3/17/2009 04:42:00 PMPermanent Link |
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Friday, February 20, 2009
Un-be-weav-able
I just had to say that. I've heard all kinds of hair-raising tales, but never one that actually involved a life-or-death situation. And no matter what side of the hair wars you are on, I think that all of us are glad that this sista was fronting a weave that day.
Feb. 20: A Kansas City woman says she feels lucky to be alive and that she has her hair weave to thank.
Sharon Cullars Coffee Talk at 2/20/2009 05:05:00 PMPermanent Link |
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Tuesday, February 17, 2009
A great freebie - Neil Gaiman's The Graveyard Book
Here's another cool thing I found. As you know, I am a Neil Gaiman appreciator, having first read Neverwhere, then Stardust, and his young adult book Coraline (now coming out in theatres). I am also working through his graphic novel series, Sandman (but only when I can find the books at the library; my fellow nerds tend to beat me to them) Anyway, last year Gaiman conducted a 9-city tour to promote his other children's book The Graveyard Book, where he read a different chapter each stop. He uploaded the vids at MouseCircus.com, effectively creating an audiobook for potential readers. I respect this marketing ploy; although it may seem that Gaiman gave away his whole book during his tour, he basically whetted the audience's appetite to know what preceded or came after the read chapter, prompting his audience to make a beeline to the nearest Border or Barnes and Nobles to purchase the full text.
Gaiman likens The Graveyard Book (which was recently awarded The Newbery Award) as a sepulchral version of The Jungle Tale where a human orphan is raised by non-humans. In the case of The Jungle Book, the adopters were animals. In Gaiman's tale, the adoptive guardians are the ghostly and other-humanly denizens of a graveyard, who come to the rescue of a toddler who literally toddled to the cemetery from his nearby home. Warning: for parents of small children, you should know that the episodic story is premised by the brutal murders of the young child's family. It is at the behest of his newly ghosted mother that the young boy, who will later be re-christened Nobody Owens (Bod for short), is adopted by the graveyard citzenry, and by one couple, the Owens, in particular who gift him with their surname. They as well as an assortment of nearly 300 ghosts, ghouls and a character who may or may not be a vampire, will watch after Bod from toddler to teen as well as protect him from the murderer, who will continue his quest to do in the last member of the unfortunate family.
What might have been a fully disturbing, horrific tale is actually one of adventure, love and affirmation. It is also a tale of self-discovery, as Bod grows to learn not only his history but his destiny - and why his family was targeted in the first place. Gaiman is a deft storyteller, injecting horror, suspense, adventure and even humor at all the right places. Writers from every genre can definitely take cues from Gaiman's work to hone and craft their own writing style. I know I will - when I get back to writing.
Click the pic further up for an excerpt from the first chapter.
Sharon Cullars Coffee Talk at 2/17/2009 04:01:00 PMPermanent Link |
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Learning the right lesson about gender and violence
Something about this article at The Roots rubbed me the wrong way. The author of the piece related how she had taught her son not to hit girls under any circumstances and how this lesson was revisited in the wake of the Rihanna-Chris Brown controversy. This lesson is too simplistic to cover the many circumstances where her son should take measures to protect himself, no matter the gender of the aggressor. Also, the author leaves me wondering what she would have told her daughter (if she had one) about gender and violence. It's one thing to tell your daughter that she has a right never to be hit; but would you also teach her that it is not right to engage in physical violence herself? Like most sane people, I believe that men should not strike women because on average men tend to be bigger and stronger than women. So, for all those Chris Brown apologists out there, I'm not on board with you. Nothing Rihanna is reported to have done could have justified Brown's violence. And even if a woman is stronger or bigger than a man, a man should only take reasonable measures to deflect and not harm - unless he is truly in danger of physical injury. For example, if a woman assaults a man with a knife and he has to do more than just deflect in order to protect his life, then he should take those extra measures.
But somehow the underlying message in this latest sordid story out of Hollywood seems to have been lost on many commenters at various blogs and news sites. The real issue here is more than just gender politics; it is the violation of basic human decency and respect. No one, whether boy - or girl - should be hitting anyone. If I had children of either gender, I would stress this point: not to hit at all unless it is to protect yourself - no matter the gender of the other person. My son would be told not to hit girls or even smaller boys - unless he is subject to real physical harm. And I would tell my daughter the same thing. Outside the parameters of protecting themselves, my hypothetical daughter would no more have the right to strike out at another than would my hypothetical son. In other words, the strong should never prey on the weak, no matter the gender. So, no striking out against those who are smaller, weaker, or who cannot duly retaliate because of a moral or social prohibition. Again, this is just a matter of basic HUMAN respect, which too many people of either sex seem to be bereft of.
Again, this is not so much an observation on the Rihanna-Chris Brown fallout as it is a response to The Root article's author, whom I believe gave her son a faulty - or at minimal, an incomplete - lesson.
