Tag: #bloggingchallenge

Posted in Non-fiction, Politics

Judging and Society

Posted on by R.M. Carlson

#keepitalive

How often in your life have you judged someone, perhaps not even realizing what you were doing? I think we all may be guilty of judging others without full information or even the right to do so. Judging is only part of what is tearing our country apart in the U.S. There are many other factors but judging our friends and neighbors for their political and personal beliefs ranks right up there at the top.

In the last eight years, U.S. society has become more polarized than at any time since the civil war from a political perspective. It’s very much an atmosphere of us versus them. During this time, many of us have lost friends and even family because one or the other of us were judged harshly for their political beliefs. The political beliefs that each side holds couldn’t be more different. One side wants to maintain the progress of the U.S. and try to improve it. The other side wants to take us back to the past and even worse, establish a fascist regime. We all have friends on both sides of this argument.

What do you do if you are on one side and a friend is on the other? Do you judge that friend for their political beliefs and in the process, you realize you may lose that friend? The number of people in the U.S. over the past eight years that have lost friends and family because of our political divisions has become innumerable.

What is the solution? Can you maintain a friendship with someone on the other side of an issue or many issues? Can you just not bring that into your conversations? Can you refrain from judging your friend even though you don’t agree with them? Believe me, it’s difficult since almost all the conversation currently is about the politics of the U.S.

I don’t have a solution, but what works for me is just talking to my friends as always but avoid the politics discussion if possible. I realize that will never solve anything, but I’m starting to wonder if judging people based on their political beliefs is becoming entrenched in our culture. There may be no turning back.

Thanks to Sue W and Gerry C for hosting the #Keepitalive Weekly Prompts Weekend Challenge Judge!

Posted in #unicornchallenge, Challenges, Fiction, Flash Fiction, Uncategorized

A Trip Back in Time

Posted on by R.M. Carlson

#unicornchallenge- October 10, 2024

Photo Prompt @Ayr/Gray

She stopped for a moment to catch her breath. Her evening constitutional had been challenging today. It was wet and foggy. She wasn’t sure how far she had come.

The old woman gazed up the hill that bordered her walking path. Two children, wrapped up warmly, were playing on the side of the hill. It reminded her of when she and her siblings had played on the same hill.

Her mind wandered and she was suddenly one of those children and her brothers and sisters were with her once again. They were all running down the hill and ending up in somersaults at the bottom. She laughed as she saw herself come in fourth out of fifth.

Clyde came in first as always and poor little Allis was last. They all ran back up the hill, falling and tumbling as they went. Next, she saw herself in a game of hide and seek. They hid behind the scrub or whatever they could find.

Finally, they tired and flopped down on the side of the hill to rest. She and Bonnie, her older sister, talked of how dusk was coming and their mother would be calling for them soon. She could clearly hear Bonnie’s voice.

The old lady felt a gentle touch to her elbow and looked around. It was her caregiver and she had come to find her. The relief was obvious on the caregiver’s face.

They smiled at each other and she said, “Mother, I’m hungry.”

Thanks to C.E. Ayer and Jenne Gray for hosting the #unicornchallenge!

Posted in Challenges, Fiction, Flash Fiction

Danger!

Posted on by R.M. Carlson

#fridayfictioneers – September 20, 2024

Photo Prompt @ Lisa Fox

She and her mother found it when they were cleaning out the attic. Several boxes of what some call uranium glass. Antique glass with a glow in the dark glaze on it from decades ago.

She looked in her books about antique glassware and discovered that it is a much sought-after collectible.

As they got it ready for sale, they noticed the glow in the dark coating was flaking off. Antique collectors bought it anyway.

Later, she found out that the flaking was radioactive. What about the people who bought their glass?

Thanks to Rochelle for continuing to host #FridayFictioneers!

Posted in Challenges, Fiction, Flash Fiction

The Escape

Posted on by R.M. Carlson

#unicornchallenge – June 28, 2024

@Ayr/Gray

She’d had enough.

Enough pain. Enough emotional turmoil. Enough violence. Just enough. This wasn’t the way her life was supposed to go.

She was only 24, but she’d been with the old man for four years. Back then, she was searching for a way out of her family situation. Now, she was searching for a solution to her ill-advised solution back then.

She knew he would eventually kill her if she didn’t escape him. He had seemed so kind and gentle at first. As time passed, there were still moments of that, but most of the moments he saved for abuse.

It started with verbal abuse. He would say terrible things to her about her appearance and temperament. He ramped it up with emotional abuse. He would withhold any affection for weeks at a time. He would do horrible things just to make her cry. As he got older, he couldn’t stand that she was still young and jealousy sprung up.

He insisted on a sparkling clean house no matter how she felt. She hated the sight of that mop in the corner. She wanted to chop it up and throw it away. He had started hitting her in the head with it along with his fists. She swore to herself never again.

When he came home that night, and hit her again, she was ready for him.

The mop had one more use. She had to mop up the blood before the police came.

Thanks to C. E. Ayr and Jenne Gray for hosting the #unicornchallenge.

Posted in Challenges, Flash Fiction

A Change of Heart – #fridayfictioneers June 14, 2024

Posted on by R.M. Carlson
Photo Prompt @ Lisa Fox

She walked away from her home because she needed to think. Depression and anxiety were plaguing her. She felt like she was losing her mind. Her heart was sick.

She arrived at the path that led to the ocean. She started to walk toward the ocean. She wanted it to swallow her. Maybe then she could forget.

When she got to the sculptures, she stopped and admired them. A feeling of hope washed over her. She wanted to live, really live. After standing there, she turned to walk home.

She knew what she had to do.

Thanks to Rochelle for hosting #friday Fictioneers!

Posted in #FridayFictioneers, Flash Fiction

The Mirage – #FridayFictioneers March 15, 2024

Posted on by R.M. Carlson

She ran along the water’s edge on the private island, her tanned legs pumping hard. Suddenly tired, she sat on the beach near the water to rest.

When she looked up, she saw him wading in the shallow water. She looked twice because he was a dim, gray image of himself. “Everything will be all right,” he said as he smiled at her.

He started walking away through the shallow water. As he got farther away, he became increasing dim and gradually disappeared. She didn’t understand. Her father had been dead for 20 years. Then, she realized she was smiling.

Thanks to Rochelle and Friday Fictioneers for the challenge and the photo prompt.

Posted in Holidays, Mother's Day, Non-fiction, Uncategorized

#Core – #MothersDay

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On this Mother’s Day, I find myself thinking about my mother and what her passing meant to me. She’s been gone for eighteen years now. My dad died when I was comparatively young – only 30. I had my mother for many years after he passed away. After she died, I felt a keen since of mortality at my core. There was no one left older than me. That meant I would, at some point, be next. You really feel that when both parents are gone as they were in my case after my mother died.

When your mother dies, you feel quite alone. Even though I was closer to my father than to my mother, I felt more alone after she died. You never quite get over losing your parents and I think I can safely say, your mother. I think that may be because your mother nurtured you before you were born and immediately thereafter.

Mother’s Day also revers the maternal bonds as well as being a celebration of Mothers. I don’t know a lot about maternal bonds. My mother did her best, even though she was plagued by serious illness all of her life or the portion of her life in which I knew her. We didn’t have the strong bonds many daughter’s and mother’s have.

I hope every Mother out there has a wonderful Mother’s Day today and that you get to spend it with your children!

Posted in Non-fiction

#weekendcoffeeshare – 5/5/18

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I want to welcome all of you to #weekendcoffeeshare! If you were having coffee with me, I would ask you to please pull up a chair. I have a selection of coffees for you, from a traditional breakfast mix to more exotic coffees. Try my hot cinnamon spice tea or just plain black or green tea if you wish. I’m very glad you’re here!

If you were having coffee with me, I would ask how your week has been? Has your weather been as crazy as ours here in the Ohio Valley in the U.S.? It seems like we went from the dead of winter to July within the space of a few days! We had a freeze one night and within a couple of days, it was 88 degrees. There were no green leaves on the trees and everything burst out in buds and leaves all at once. I’m sure the plants don’t quite know what’s going on. One of my tasks for today, in between rain showers, is to take a look at my flower bed and see what made it through our very long, cold, and snowy winter. It snowed more here than in the city less than 100 miles west of us.

If you were having coffee with me, I would tell you that today is the Kentucky Derby, the most famous horse race of them all. Those of us here in Kentucky really enjoy it and I usually keep up with the horses. This year, life has gotten in the way and I’m not as schooled on the horses as usual. I will still enjoy the race and hope to get up-to-date before the race begins in the late afternoon.

If you were having coffee with me, I would tell you that I have started writing on my novel again after a long break and I’m really enjoying it. I gained some perspective about it during my break after doing some reading and thinking. I’m changing some things, improving other things, and I’m more satisfied with the direction it’s taking now. I hope your writing is going well.

If you were having coffee with me, I would tell you that my exciting news is that I’m waiting on my new puppy. I won’t yet have he/she when I write the next #weekendcoffeeshare, but two weeks from now, he/she should be home with me and will be about 10 or 11 weeks old. I’m very excited!

Thanks for having coffee with me and I look forward to seeing you next weekend!

Posted in Non-fiction

#SoCS – 04/21/2018

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My writing muse spoke to me today for the first time in weeks. When I’m dealing with the intricacies of life, I’ve found that the muse escapes me. If there are situations in my life that demand my attention, I feel my creativity slipping away. Those mundane situations sap any creative impulses that normally motivate me to write. When I realize that is happening, it’s very disturbing to me. I’ve been writing since I was nine years old. It’s how I’ve always dealt with stress and stretched my mind.

Recently, I’ve been juggling a lot of balls in my non-writing life. I’ve been too busy to write. My day doesn’t seem complete unless I can write, but there haven’t been enough hours in the day. I’ve ended my days very frustrated because I haven’t written a word.

When I feel like this, I try to take a few minutes to do some writing-related tasks. I’m in the middle of a novel, so I do some editing. I also read. I try to pick books that, for example, are good character studies or have excellent plot lines so I can get better at both techniques. I want to write some short stories, so I’m reading the latest collection of short stories compiled by the “Pushcart” collection. I also read the Writer’s Digest magazine and other publications on writing techniques.

What do you do when the writing muse isn’t with you?

Posted in Fiction

#AtoZChallenge – Jumpy

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The first day of the first class that all ten of them had together found them jumpy. They didn’t know each other yet. They had just been assigned a desk in the bullpen. It was a graduate class in management. The Professor walked in and in a booming voice said, “Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”

She never forgot that quote and it came to signify their entire academic experience. They looked at each other and knew that the roller coaster of their graduate experience had begun. They all knew, from the outset, that getting a doctoral degree was difficult. Beyond difficult. It was a lifetime commitment. Some of them had families. Some didn’t have children yet, but were married. Some single. All determined to join the elusive Club. The Professorship.

They didn’t know yet that, by the end of their two years of classwork, and endless years of writing their dissertations, that the commitment to join the Club would take a heavy toll on their lives, families, and relationships. Only a few more than half of them would even succeed. For those that did, it would make their lives. It would define their lives. The Professorship would become more important to them and they would become more important to each other than anything else in their lives.

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