As I have mentioned, I am participating in the Pen to Paper challenge as a Pearista sponsored by Pear Tree Greetings.
For week 3, I wrote a note to Big Brother. He just started kindergarten and I wrote him a note to let him know how proud I was of him. I told him he would have a lot of fun learning to read.
Here is the note he write me back. On the top half is the drawing of a car and the word car, which he didn't ask me to spell! On the bottom is a picture of Big Brother and I hugging and it says, "I love you." Can I just say, I am so proud of my son! I just love that boy to pieces!
I absolutely LOVE Photoshop actions. It seems I have amassed an extensive collection. However, having so many options makes deciding on which photo to choose as the finished product almost impossible. It is even harder when you have a subject that you can not get enough of, like Little Brother. Here are just a few examples of how Photoshop actions can completely change the look and feel of your photo. I just simple can not make up my mind on which I like best.
MCP Extreme Color
MCP Urban
PW B&W
PW Vintage
More Photography
One of the things I love about blogging (among the many many reasons) is reading comments from you.
Here are some of the best comments from the last week! Want to end up in a Dear You Guys letter? Leave a comment!
Patty: love this poem… the visual imagery is wonderful!
just parousing the blogsphere tonight… not quite sure how i landed here, but i think it had something to do with that adorable girl with all the tatoos… 
Finding Serindipity
Daenel: Wow, that was unnecessarily hurtful. I'm sorry this happened to you. I know it's hard (trust me, I know) but hold your head up high and don't give that person any more power over you. All the best to you. Living Outside the Stacks
CK: Bleh! What a rotten experience? I am seriously so sorry that that terrible written English fell int your email. What a disaster.
I saw a quote today by Buddha, "When words are both true and kind, they can change our world." I wish every person would realize this. You have amazing talent, Lindsey. I have read your poems and you are an incredible writer. And that's the truth. Made By Bedtime Tales
Sonia: I love your writing, I have followed you secretly until now, because I don't worry about grammar, punctuation, spelling (well that one gets fixed now automatically) on my blog. If you do go look, just smile! Or laugh at me that's ok also, Just keep in mind I can sew a mean wedding dress!
But I just had to say – first of all get fired by an email – No class! That's just wrong, I think they just didn't want to tell you face to face because they knew they had zero on which to base there arguments.
I say ignore the ignorant, to bad I'm one of them 
Modista Modesta
Cynthia: This brought back so many memories to me…and makes me want to just SWING! Cynthia Short
Writing is not always easy. Sometimes the blank page is terrifying. Every Saturday, I will post a writing prompt to help get that blank page filled. Stop back by anytime during the week and leave a comment with a link to your post or put your finished/ in progress writing in the comments. Not a writer? Post your art. Any medium is welcome. Make sure to stop by the other participators and leave a comment!
Writing Prompt #10 – Not as it Seems
All that is gold does not glitter, Not all those who wander are lost The old that is strong does not wither, Deep roots are not reached by frost. – - – -J. R. R. Tolkien "Lord of the Rings"
This week, think about things in your life that are not as they seem. What are you overlooking that is of great importance? Look deep. Find your roots.
The Facebook site Boycott Target Until They Stop Funding Anti-Gay Politics states "Target, practically everyone's favorite discount retail store, is headquartered in Minnesota, the land of 10,000 lakes. But along with precious bodies of water, Minnesota is home to some pretty rabid anti-gay politicians and groups. Among them include Tom Emmer. And Target, it seems, is apparently filling his campaign coffers with nearly $150,000.
Follow the money. At least, that's the message delivered by an article at sfist.com by Matt Baume, who tracks $150,000 from Target's coffers, through a political action committee (PAC) known as Minnesota Forward, all the way to Tom Emmer, who himself supports a Christian rock band in Minnesota that travels around the state saying that it's moral and righteous for religious people to kill gays and lesbians.
For those into algebra, it looks a little like this: Target + Minnesota Forward + Tom Emmer = Support for a rather dangerous and radical political philosophy that diminishes LGBT people to pests that should be murdered. And Target is cool with this?
Send the company a message right now, urging them to explain why their money is being used to fund a politics that not only serves to prevent LGBT equality, but breeds homophobia, transphobia and hatred."
The site has almost 74,000 fans. Let's be honest. Who will a boycott hurt? Will Tom Emmer care? No. Will Gregg Steinhafel care? No. A boycott won't hurt them in any way. Selling Target stock may hurt them a little bit, but not a whole lot.
Who will a boycott hurt? The people that pay for drops in sales or stock prices aren't usually the big fish or those that make campaign donation decisions. The people that pay for those drops are the minimum wage, bottom of the run employees. Stockers. Cashiers. The people that help you find what you need in the store. Basically, people who really need that job at Target.
I won't be boycotting Target because I refuse to cause one person to lose their job.
I got fired.
Well, she didn't use the word fired. She used words much, much worse. You see, I have a Master's degree in English. I worked very hard to get that degree. Hopefully someday I will be able to go back to school and get my Ph.D. When I do, I will make everyone I know call me doctor for at least a month. Including my children.
I have read the Strunk and White manual at least a dozen times. I have read Eats, Shoots and Leaves three times. I know how to cite sources in MLA and APA without looking up where to put the punctuation. I can research a subject until the research runs out. I even had a professor in college tell me that I needed to cite my source for an idea that was completely my own (he didn't believe a student could have come up with that idea) on Chaucer.
I read Beowulf in Old English and understand it. I can read The Canturbury Tales in Middle English. In fact, I have some of it memorized. Whan that April and all that. I know how to use commas, apostrophes, dashes, colons, semicolons, and ellipsis correctly.
This knowledge is why I teach English. It is what I do because frankly poetry doesn't pay the bills.
A couple of weeks ago I got an e-mail from one of the schools I teach for. I had just finished the absolute worst class I have ever taught. These kids didn't want to learn. They wanted to get good grades for complaining well.
Anyway, the e-mail said that I had "no knowledge of the fundamentals of English" and would no longer be allowed to teach English classes for this University.
What?
Really?
My hubby said to ignore it. They obviously just needed to cut some corners and I just happened to be standing on the edge. I know that. I understand that. The problem was, words do hurt. These words hurt our wallet, which had been squeezed to a pulp with 9 months of hubby being unemployed. These words also hurt me.
In a place where I had just begun to feel the confidence to really write again, she made me feel mediocre. Less than mediocre.
It has taken me two week, and probably will still take a lot longer, to get over that feeling of mediocrity. I keep reminding myself that other people only have the power over you that you give them. I am better than that e-mail. I am better than that silly job.
Plus, I am published and she isn't. So there.
