Trump, Jr. with his Kill
You know how you look at Something
It seems shocking at First
You can tell it’s Bad.
You don’t like it.
It’s Absurd, Really!
But after it’s been around awhile, you kind of get used to it.
And then it seems OK
Or at the Very Least, the Best you can do.
And, over time, you come to Accept it
As Normal.
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Posted by Arnold J. Mungioli on July 23, 2016
https://livethequestionsnow.com/2016/07/23/dont-let-your-guard-down/
| vul·ner·a·ble (vŭl nər-ə-bəl) adj. 1.a. Susceptible to physical harm or damage b. Susceptible to emotional injury, especially in being easily hurt c. Susceptible to attack —American Heritage Dictionary |
The Deaths of those 49 kids in Orlando kicked off this tumultuous Summer in the shadow of what I find to be a fairly Terrifying Presidential Election Campaign, all making us aware of just how Vulnerable we are.
Grieving for the Lives of: (more…)
Posted by Arnold J. Mungioli on July 16, 2016
https://livethequestionsnow.com/2016/07/16/vulnerable-in-the-soup/
“What are you doing?” I asked.
I was only a child when my MOM began to pull all the brittle withering leaves off of the plant in my windowsill.
“Ohhhh,” she shooed me away, admonishing, “You have to take off the old dead leaves. Otherwise they drain the plant.”
Motherhood requires, among other things, an uncanny ability to Let Go of what is unnecessary in favor of that which will survive.
It is to become an expert in How to Grow.
And Growth involves letting go of superfluous ballast so that the Balloon may Lift Higher.
Mothers know this.
It was one of those simple moments as a child
That meant nothing. And everything.
(more…)
Posted by Arnold J. Mungioli on July 6, 2016
https://livethequestionsnow.com/2016/07/06/dead-leaves/
“I would like nothing better than to see you die, Mr. McKinney. However, this is the time to begin the healing process. To show mercy to someone who refused to show any mercy. To use this as the first step in my own closure about losing Matt… Mr. McKinney, I’m going to grant you life, as hard as that is for me to do, because of Matthew…Mr. McKinney, I give you life in the memory of one who no longer lives.”
— DENNIS SHEPARD, father of MATTHEW SHEPARD, in his Statement to the Court 11/4/99
AARON MCKINNEY and RUSSELL HENDERSON, nearly two decades ago, beat MATTHEW SHEPARD striking him 19 to 21 times in the head with the butt of a .357-caliber Magnum Smith & Wesson pistol. They then tied his dismembered body to an A-Frame fence in Laramie, Wyoming, leaving him to die.
He was beaten so badly, AARON KREIFELS, the mountain biker who discovered him the next morning, said that he could not tell if it was a human form that he saw. He thought it was a ScareCrow. Sheriff REGGIE FLUTY reported that SHEPARD’s face was caked in blood except where tears had left tracks along his cheeks.
That was in the Autumn of 1998.
It seems like it was Two Weeks Ago.
Two weeks ago —
It seems like it was Eighteen Years Ago —
OMAR MATEEN entered PULSE NightClub in Orlando Florida.
He killed 49 innocent people, and injured 53 more.
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Posted by Arnold J. Mungioli on June 26, 2016
https://livethequestionsnow.com/2016/06/26/forgiveness-and-pride/
As another Academic Year draws to a close let us review:
1. Your parents paying a quarter of a million dollars for your college education does not entitle you to a diploma. You earn that through your work.
Yes, the money is obscene. Yes, as NEAL GABLER put it in last month’s article in the THE ATLANTIC [Link may be found here:
], “I’m not saying that universities are extortionist, but, well…universities are extortionist” — Educational institutions can be a lot like the Profiteering Insurance Companies that call themselves “Health Care.” They don’t care about your Health. They are there to take your money.
A Meme from the Internet
Nevertheless, Tuition Payment does not entitle you to a degree.
It entitles you to something much better: an Education.
2. When you get out into the real world and hold a job for 6 months, that does not qualify you as an expert in your field. (more…)
Posted by Arnold J. Mungioli on June 22, 2016
https://livethequestionsnow.com/2016/06/22/to-all-of-the-students-who-have-failed-my-class/
Snapped by a Photographer for the Digital Journal: http://www.digitaljournal.com/image/301783
So Much Pain
So Much National Disgrace
How Do we get on now?
Clinging to one another.
I have been So Inspired by my fellow-Citizens on Planet Earth this past week.
People figuring out what to do.
How to write their CongressPersons
And Stop such easy Access to Weapons of War and Mass Destruction
With No BackGround Checks, No Waiting Periods…
People sharing information about to whom to write
And How
Email Addresses
Hard Copy Letter Addresses
PostCards
Whether or not it is OK to Write a Congressmen who is not of your District…
Such Tremendous Activity
Such a Great Coming Together
Such a Beautiful Sharing of Community.
Posted by Arnold J. Mungioli on June 17, 2016
https://livethequestionsnow.com/2016/06/17/light-one-candle/
Tutti Fruitties
I made a plate of scones today.
Not a big deal, I know.
But it was fun, creative, and I enjoyed doing it.
I made “Tutti Fruitties” with fresh blueberries and fresh strawberries; then I spontaneously added in some chopped peaches, as well.
I made “Ali Babbas” — dates, pecans and cardamom spice.
Ham and cheese “Deli For the Belly.”
“Violet Beauregard’s Nuts” — fresh blueberries, toasted sliced almonds, and vanilla.
I used buttermilk in the dough.
It was a creative process.
(more…)
Posted by Arnold J. Mungioli on June 1, 2016
https://livethequestionsnow.com/2016/06/01/a-plate-of-scones/
Me and MOM, Out for Dinner with Family on Mother’s Day
Mother’s Day
Wildly Commercial
A Great Day to be a Florist
A Good Day to have a Greeting Card Company
But the True Gift of Mother’s Day
Is the Gift of Time.
My Mother would often tell me of her Mother,
“Whenever you’d ask her,
‘MAMA, What do you want for your Birthday [or Mother’s Day or Christmas],’
she would always say the same thing.
‘La Visita!’ meaning ‘A Visit!’
That’s all she ever wanted!”
“We have a Lot in Common,” I would tell her,
“That’s all my Mother wants, as well.”
(more…)
Posted by Arnold J. Mungioli on May 8, 2016
https://livethequestionsnow.com/2016/05/08/the-gift-of-time-mothers-day-2016/
ABUNDANCE
What does it mean to you?
One need look no further than The Secret Shame of Middle-Class Americans, NEAL GABLER’s profound expose’ of current economics in America, in this month’s THE ATLANTIC to see the sobering realities of economics for Most of Us.
As the byline reads, “Nearly half of Americans would have trouble finding $400 to pay for an emergency. I’m one of them.”
Earnings are low. Debt is high. The shame of financial impotence is rampant.
I am as subject to these realities as any other person who has spent their life working in American Theater since America’s 200th Birthday.
But these actualities and the harshness of their toll do not define me.
As GABLER says in his article, “We don’t make [the choices that define who we are] with our financial well-being in mind… We make them with our lives in mind. The alternative is to be another person.”
But I choose to be the person that I am.
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Posted by Arnold J. Mungioli on May 4, 2016
https://livethequestionsnow.com/2016/05/04/abbondanza/
A Hundred Million Miracles — Just on this one Tree!
“A HUNDRED-MILLION MIRACLES
A HUNDRED-MILLION MIRACLES
A HUNDRED-MILLION MIRACLES
ARE HAPPENING EVERY DAY”
— Flower Drum Song, Rodgers & Hammerstein
Are you counting?
I think we’ve reached 95 Million and it’s barely Lunchtime!
Lunch — Another Miracle!
Time — Another Miracle!
Reaching — Another Miracle!
(more…)
Posted by Arnold J. Mungioli on April 16, 2016
https://livethequestionsnow.com/2016/04/16/a-hundred-million-miracles/
Live The Questions Now 