Inspiration

Review of book My Love Story by Tina Turner (2018)

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After reading Ms. Turner’s book, I’m reminded of Kelly Clarkson’s song, A Moment Like This.

“Some people wait a lifetime…

some people search forever…

for that one special kiss…

Oh, I can’t believe it’s happening to me…

Could this be the greatest love of all…”

Songwriters:  John Reid/Jorgen Elofsson

Lyrics Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Universal Music Publishing Group

In her prior book, What’s Love Got to Do With It, Ms. Turner had finally loved herself and her children enough to fight for her freedom from physical and sexual abuse.  She was a young woman when she met the talented Ike Turner, musician who became boss of the Ike and Tina Turner Revue.   But only faith in her God and finally realizing that she did not have to stay in that situation brought her through the abuse, overwork, and lack of money. 

Even her mother helped keep her in the imprisonment because her mother admired Ike and credited Ike with everything positive that occurred.   Women were only a means to an end for Ike so he kept many even in their home.   After a while, Tina was just a meal ticket for Ike.   It’s like a Cinderella story but more like the Grimm version.   Once she escaped, she became a role model to other abused people.  All she kept was her stage name.  Her troubled past is merely a point of reference in this book to compare to her happy future.

My Love Story gives some of the above background for those who don’t already know her story.   But the rest of this book is pure happiness in spite of medical problems in her later life.   This book is written when Ms. Turner is 73, and after she has written other books.   She is still full of life, looks, and love.   It is a love story to her current husband, Erwin Bach, German record executive, and fans like me.   When it comes to love, race nor country matter.   What matters is freedom of choice, respect, individuality, etc.

My Love Story has beautiful color pictures in the inside front and back covers, and in the middle of the book.  Ms. Turner talks of her friendships established with various musicians like David Bowie, Mick Jagger, and other music industry people like Beyonce’. There was even a London musical done about her life which became a Broadway musical.    She has earned twelve Grammy Awards, a Grammy Award for Lifetime Achievement, a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, was in a movie role “Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome”, received a Kennedy Center Honor, and sold more concert tickets than any other solo music performer in history by 2018.   She also continues to get letters from abused people about their situations.  This is a positive book.  You will really get a lift from reading this book.

Written by Rosa L. Griffin

Separation of Church and State

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There was an interesting discussion on Twitter on June 24, 2020 about the separation of church and state.

Some one mentioned that the separation of church and state is not in the U.S. Constitution.   The idea was mentioned by Thomas Jefferson in a letter to the Virginia Danbury Baptist Church.   Many other Twitter contributors brought up what they considered to be negative uses of money in today’s crystal cathedrals, jets, and other signs of wealth that some megachurches have while other churches are poor and actually do what Jesus would do in helping the poor, etc.   

I had to look it up and Time magazine did an article on it which verified what was discussed on Twitter.  The First Amendment only prohibits government from creating a law regarding the establishment of a religion.

 Sources:    

https://time.com/5103677/church-state-separation-religious-freedom/

A popular current text, the King James Version shows 1 Timothy 6:10 to be: For the love of money is the root of all of evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.

en.wikipedia.org › wiki › Love_of_money

 12 ¶ And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves, 13 And said unto them, It is written, My ahouse shall be called the house of bprayer; but ye have made it a cden of thieves.   


Matthew 21 – The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

www.churchofjesuschrist.org › study › scriptures › matt

Also check www.irs.gov on Charities, Churches, and Politics.

Submitted by Rosa L. Griffin

Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely (A Quote)

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[Reprinted from March 8, 2018]

This was a best-known quote of the 19th century British politician, historian, and moralist Lord John Emerich Edward Dalberg Acton 1834-1902, in a letter to Bishop Mandell Creighton in 1887.  But, he was borrowing from other speakers or writers who earlier said it differently. 

A king was the one with the most wealth and power.  This person thinks that all in their “kingdom” are pawns to do with as they please and they’ve done it so long that they believe their own hype.    They rule by threats, coercion, bargaining, murder, and compensating.   “…this option to impose on without any regard whatsoever for due process, becomes, in the hands of most, a license to harm, if not destroy the careers and lives of others.  Leadership incompetence” 1

“Absolute monarchies are those in which all power is given to, or as is more often the case, taken by, the monarch.   Examples were Roman emperors who thought they were gods and Napoleon Bonaparte who declared himself emperor”.2

There’s no room for absolute power in a democracy of checks and balances.  As seen recently, if you act only to build your own wealth, it will eventually come back to bite you in the behind.

As in the movie, The Man Who Would Be King (1975), based on Rudyard Kipling’s 1888 original story, two con men (Carnehan and Dravot, “British adventurers in British India”) sought their fortune in a foreign country, Afghanistan.   They were fellow freemasons to the journalist that they convinced to help them with their research.  They started out by helping people who were warring against each other and came up with satisfactory solutions.   But, then they went a few steps too far by becoming kings themselves over people whose customs they didn’t understand.  

Since the holy men who lorded over all the local tribes declared Dravot (Sean Connery) a descendant of Alexander the Great because of the freemason symbol he wore around his neck, he basically was thought to be a God until he told the holy men that he was going to marry a local girl and father children.  The local girl was instructed to bite Dravot on the face causing him to bleed.  Seeing Dravot bleed, the holy men knew he was not a God, and executed him.  

Two years later Carnehan (Michael Caine) returned to the journalist.   They had paid for their deceit.  Carnehan had been tortured, crippled, and released.   But, he showed the journalist (Christopher Plummer) the skeletal head of Dravot that was still wearing his golden crown.   Both actors did a wonderful job, especially Sean Connery explaining that he felt this Godship was his calling, and he intended to mend his ways.   Had they left with the spoils before they were outed, as Carnehan wanted to do, they would have been wealthy men.   But, Dravot believed his own hype. 3

And, now we have another example of absolute power in the case of the Saudi Arabian American journalist executed in the Saudi consulate in Turkey recently.    He was the same journalist who accompanied President 45’s business dealers to Saudi Arabia on past trips.  And, don’t forget the arms deal President 45 had already made with the Saudis.

Sources:

1.  Dr. Robert Aziz, Huffington Post, https://m.huffpost.com

2.  Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely (A Quote), https://www.phrases.org.uk

3.  Wikipedia, Rudyard Kipling, The Phantom ‘Rickshaw and other Eerie Tales’

Submitted by Rosa L. Griffin

Attack of the Virus, Keeping Calm in Turbulent Times, The Why of Design, What You Want to Watch When You Want to, O yeah!

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‘‘’Seismic’ Events and Loss Have Shaped US History: World Wars to 9/11— Catastrophe Has Long Driven Social Change”, by Marco della Cava, USA Today, Weekend, April 17-19, 2020, 1A.

“The virus is a modern-day terrorist attack on us all, so if I lost my father or friend to 9/11 or Oklahoma City or COVID-19, the loss is the same,” Watkins says.  “The sacrifice is the same.”

“Whenever we go through these national tragedies, people have to have a chance to rebuild their lives and move forward,” Watkins says. “So many are dying now, but we have to make the very best of the very worst.”

“We might take baby steps together, and maybe there will be mistakes on both sides of the political aisle.  But we should all be working together now for America.”

Kari Watkins, Executive Director, Oklahoma City National Memorial and Museum

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

“Keeping Calm in Turbulent Times” by Margaret Foster, The Beacon in Focus for People over 50, Vol. 17, No. 5, p.1, 7.

“We’re all having anxiety about the future,” said Dr. Sally Winston, co-founder of the Anxiety and Stress Disorders Institute of Maryland, located on the Sheppard Pratt campus.

“Acknowledge your emotions.  What you resist, persists (Carl Jung).  Turning on the radio to drown out your thoughts is distraction which doesn’t work for long.  The other way is to say, while one part of my mind is worrying, I might as well listen to music.  It helps to acknowledge fear, anger, or confusion.”

“Stay in touch with others.  Pick up the phone and call a friend.   Learn some video chat programs that you can use on your smartphone, tablet, or computer.   Skype, Zoom, Google Hangouts, Facebook Messenger and WeChat are free.   Many churches are live-streaming services.”  [Someone did a program on letter writing and journaling is also helpful.   I keep a daily diary as a mental activity.]

“Go on a news diet.   Restrict your news-gathering time” especially if it stresses you out.   [I look at one news cast a day and spend no more than an hour on Twitter every other day.]

“Try for mindfulness (staying in the present moment).   Pause for self-reflection.  When you are worrying, there’s a ‘what if’ mindset in which you are in the future.  Try to do something that is sensory or active.”   [I listen to an opera called the Flower Duet-Lakmè by Lèo Delibes which is two sopranos singing to each other.  It is beautiful and restful.]

“Move your body.  Exercise has therapeutic and physical benefits.  Follow a free exercise video on YouTube.”  [I have attended a Tai Chi for Better Balance class at a senior center for nearly four years.   It is slow movement and you’ll find great company and make friends when things get back to normal.   I also have an exercise video called Aging Backwards 3 Essentrics by Miranda Esmonde-White which is slow stretching.  It also includes chair exercises (beginner-beginner) for those who have a hard time moving at all.]

“How to get help.    Extreme anxiety or depression?   Reach out to a mental health professional at the Anxiety and Stress Disorders Institute of Maryland 410-938-8449.   Or read Winston’s Psychology Today column, “Living with a Sticky Mind”, at bit.ly/worrytips.   In Baltimore City, call the city’s free Crisis, Information, and Referral Line at 410-433-5175.”

Check out the Beacon for the details of the article from the news stand or online at www.thebeaconnewspapers.com.   “How are you faring?” p.2 “The undeniable loss of experiences.  Enjoyment is seriously lessened.”   [The Beacon newspaper itself can also have a calming effect with the variety of topics it covers each issue.]

“These 25 Photos Show Why Things Were Designed the Way They Were”, by John Poe, Fetch Sport, April 15, 2020, online.

For example—the fifth pocket on jeans; ridges on the edges of corners; lines on outside of Solo Cups; cap holes on pens; loops on the grocery cart; notebook margins; dimples on golf balls; the arrow next to the gas gauge; the secret message in the exit sign; free fabric in new clothes; and so much more.

“Quaran-Stream”, by Leah Greenblatt, Entertainment Weekly, May 2020, pp.50-51.

“People—or most of us, at least—need people.”

“…pop culture is often what’s keeping us sane, from one uncertain day to the next.”

“So, will these methods of consumption become the new normal?”

“Robert Thompson, a professor of pop culture at Syracuse University, says ‘There were all these other ways that [content] used to be delivered to us, and now it’s one single means of delivery, and that is online, to whatever device you feel like looking at it with…  And once you’ve learned to stream stuff—what you want to watch, when you want to watch it—it’s hard to go back.’”

[I still have magazines delivered to me.  Streaming to a phone can be hard on the eyes.  A few of Barbara Streisand’s songs come to mind: “The Way We Were”, “People” (Needing People) and “What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life?”.]

Written by Rosa L. Griffin

Something Positive Found on Twitter shared by Lucifansgroup1

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One of the most hopeful things I’ve seen lately on Twitter during the Coronavirus (COVID-19):

“The things that will not be cancelled:

+ Conversations

+ Relationships

+ Love

+ Songs

+ Reading

+ Self-care

+ Hope

May we lean into the good stuff that remains. 

From TWLOHA, To Write Love on Her Arms”

Update:

“Founder Opens Up About His Own Mental Health Journey”, founder Jamie Tworkowski of the organization To Write Love on Her Arms said that “it’s ok to ask for help” and discussed “the value of self care” among many other topics. https://www.healthline.com, written by Healthline Editorial Team, December 20, 2019.

[As any of us who have been on Twitter know, it contains good sources of information as well as hateful rhetoric.   Although I have only been on Twitter for a month, I commiserated with one of our front-line doctors who talked about the lack of protective supplies, etc. Then, some “nasty” person condemned the doctor and myself and others as whiners and we ended up being called slaves along with the doctor.   It was the first and last time I will comment to a negative person on Twitter.]

(I inserted the + sign above)

Submitted by Rosa L. Griffin

Review of book:  Bloodsworth—the True Story of the First Death Row Inmate Exonerated by DNA Evidence, by Tim Junkin

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Bloodsworth is the nonfiction account of how Kirk Bloodworth was wrongfully accused and spent 9 years in prison for the alleged heinous rape and murder of a child.    The book includes a short history of how DNA came about (“clearing the innocent as well as identifying the guilty”), the history of the Maryland Penitentiary, and a short Baltimore history beginning in 1661.  I love a book that gives the historical backstory to explain why things happened and what was going on in the country at the same time.

“In her news conference, Sandra A. O’Connor declined to say that Bloodsworth was innocent and offered no apologies.   ‘There are no other suspects at this time’, she said.  ‘Based on the evidence, our office did the right thing in prosecuting him,’ she said.   ‘I believe he is not guilty,” O’Conor added.  ‘I am not prepared to say he’s innocent.’  This public statement of hers caused some people to think he was still guilty despite the proof of his innocence.

The author says “There is a strain of hubris that affects certain people in power, people with authority.  It can be slow to develop, like a dormant infection.  If not guarded against, it can breed an unhealthy arrogance, a cocksureness that their judgments are beyond fallacy.  Such self-righteousness allows them to close their minds to new possibilities.  It can cause right-thinking people to do terrible things.  The devil has a long tail.”   In addition, it can cause these professionals to not consider any other options like the four other local men who had criminal records and creepy ways that caught their co-workers’ attentions, but not the prosecution investigators’ attentions.

Kirk’s personal story of triumph is intermingled with the above in an interesting and far from boring way.  There was no evidence to even bring him in as a suspect.   But, think of what he and other innocent men and women have gone through.   Some say, well, the cover tells you that he was proven innocent, why should I read his story?   Who knows, maybe you will need the information that he learned from his experience being locked up in the Maryland Penitentiary, being trapped with the guilty, using every bit of money your elderly parents have in trying to prove your innocence, etc.   This could have been your story.

And, what was his crime?   This former waterman, Marine, and discus-throwing champion allowed his life to spiral out of control in pursuit of the wife whom he loved.  So much so that he wasn’t prepared physically or emotionally to bring his life back on track.   He and his wife were living with a group of like-minded party animals who only lived to party until his wife grew bored with him and ran away to find some other like-minded fellow.  Bloodsworth was high and miserable about his wife when he was arrested.   What a time to be arrested when you are not thinking clearly at all and having to come down off that high in prison.

This book was selected by the Maryland Humanities One Maryland One Book campaign.   Copyright 2004 by Tim Junkin and Kirk Bloodsworth, Published by Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill

Submitted by Rosa L. Griffin

Chase the right waterfalls! Please don’t stick to the rivers and the lakes that you are used to!

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Hi, everyone!

A few years ago, TLC sang a beautiful song –“Waterfalls”.

“Don’t go chasing waterfalls. Please stay in the rivers and the lakes that you are used to.”    I thought the lyrics were kind of negative, because I thought of waterfalls as something positive.   But in watching the video and re-reading the lyrics, I found that the song spoke of young people who were going too far in the wrong direction–ruining their lives.   The video of three beautiful women standing in water is breath-taking.

“According to Bustle, the song we love to belt out is about H.I.V., drug dealing, and other tragedies that kill predominantly young people.”    “The Meaning Behind ‘Waterfalls’ by TLC is Pretty Dark”, https://www.flava.co.nz, 4/15/17

http://www.lyrics007.com/Tlc Lyrics/Waterfalls Lyrics.html, TLC (T-Boz/Left Eye/Chili), 1995, on the LaFace label.

Submitted by Rosa L. Griffin

Review of book: Power Walking, A Journey to Wholeness by Maxine Bigby Cunningham

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I found Maxine’s book very inspiring.   Her book, Power Walking, is a memoir containing poetry, affirmations, and Scripture.  It is filled with prayers to God.  And, the most unique part of all is her life in falling.

Maxine has physically fallen many times in her life because of medical conditions.    Many I suspect were caused by a type of perfectionism in which she must carry on at any cost despite a broken ankle, fainting spells, stroke, anxiety attacks, mental health, etc.   Sometimes she was hospitalized, and other times released from the hospital on the same day.  The Scriptures are appropriately related to her seeking God’s help or successfully coming out of each circumstance.

She has a unique history of the suffering in her life, but also how God brought her through.   Maxine is not beating you down with Scripture but asking you to join her in standing up after a fall.

Maxine is made of stronger stuff than me.  It is a book small enough to be read often and should be.   I plan on referring to her book again.

Her book may be purchased at https://www.amazon.com/Power-Walking-Maxine-Bigby-Cunningham/dp/1419643916/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1535328050&sr=1-1&keywords=Power+walking+cunningham

Publisher:  BookSurge Publishing, 2008

Written by Rosa L. Griffin

 

Review of book:  My Life as a Mermaid, A Tale to be Shared, by Michelle D. Smith

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Imagine a society where everyone is treated the same.   A mermaid/merman decides what they want to be and do before birth.   Their friends are whales and dolphins.   There is no necessity for money.   Clothing is unnecessary.   Couples mate for life.

Everything is done for the society/collective’s benefit.   There is no greed or crime.

But lest you think mermaids are pushovers, small sea animals are killed but only for each meal, not for storage or mass production.

Humans are the mer peoples’ only natural predators and biggest polluters of the sea.

Michelle has written a book about a perfect community as told to her by her mermaid guide, Shahia.  I believe her book would make a great fantasy or inspirational movie.

Her book can be purchased at https://www.amazon.com/My-Life-As-Mermaid-Shared/dp/1329964780 2015

Contact:   Michelle D. Smith’s website is www.YourSpiritualGarden.com, blackrefer.com/michelle.html, and lulu.com/spotlight/MermaidLife.

Written by Rosa L. Griffin

 

On Reading

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If you have never liked reading, you are missing a lot because movies would have to be as long as Margaret Mitchell’s Gone with the Wind movie (4 hours) in order to get as many of the author’s book details as possible into a movie.

To become a reader, start slowly.    Have a dictionary or your smart phone near by to look up words you don’t understand.    Or, make a list of those words to look up later.

If you can’t read at all, there are voluntary organizations available.   Some libraries have reading programs to help you learn to read and there are other free programs listed on the Internet.

I improved my reading ability by reading Gothic novels in my teens written by British authors such as Emily Bronte, Charlotte Bronte, Mary Shelley, Bram Stoker, Robert Louis Stevenson, Jane Austen, Oscar Wilde, Daphne du Maurier, etc.

I’ve also read American authors like Shirley Jackson, James Baldwin, Stephen King, Ann Rice, Edgar Allen Poe, Walter Mosley, Joyce Carol Oates, Ray Bradbury, Tananarive Due, Isaac Asimov, Maya Angelou, etc.

However, there are two authors that are hard for me to read:  Toni Morrison and Richard Wright.  I don’t know why they seem to be so difficult.   One day, I plan on conquering their books as well.

I only use audio books if I can’t find a printed copy of a book I want to read.    I like the feel of a book in my hand and I don’t want to have to keep scrolling up, down, or across on the page electronically.

P.S. 11/20/19  I just finished reading my first Toni Morrison book, Sula.   It was wonderful and not hard to read at all.   I will soon write a blog review of it.

Written by Rosa L. Griffin