Note: I've reorganized the memoir entry page to include NLQ links and the latest material.

Also, all of my memoir posts and other original posts are copyrighted. You are welcome to provide a link to my posts with a short excerpt to catch someone's attention, just as I do with others' material, but please don't reproduce entire posts. Thank you!

If you have followed the link from my guest posts on the No Longer Quivering blog, you may be interested in my other memoir entries. Please keep in mind that these are rough drafts intended to establish the sequence of events and reveal some of the themes of my writing. The finished product may look very different. I am also not putting everything online for obvious reasons.

I should be clear that not all of my material is about the Hare Krishna movement. That is one period of my life, certainly, and for the NLQ blog I have discussed the movement in some depth since it was relevant. But my life is about more than my time in ISKCON and I hope to put it in context in my finished memoir.

If you find my memoir posts interesting, please consider supporting my writing efforts by using the Paypal donation button located on the right of my journal pages. Thank you so much.

An old-guard conservative breaks with what he calls the new right and explains why in this fascinating piece:

http://www.salon.com/2012/05/24/my_break_with_the_extreme_right/

This song helped me get up the nerve to end my abusive first marriage, among others. I sang it over and over again. Thank you, Donna, for all the love you poured into your songs.

"When you are a mother, you are never really alone in your thoughts. A mother always has to think twice, once for herself and once for her child." ~Sophia Loren

I would like to suggest that we be kind to North Carolina progressives (who worked damned hard to fight this) and avoid stereotyping the entire state based on the Amendment One vote. 39% of North Carolina residents voted against it. I remember how depressed we Californians were over Prop 8 passing so I feel a sense of solidarity. Conservatives are everywhere, not just the Southern states.

Gay rights, state by state: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/interactive/2012/may/08/gay-rights-united-states?CMP=twt_gu

My review of the March 26 Ani DiFranco concert, Still Joyful, has been posted in the May 2012 issue of Synchronized Chaos.

Attending Uncle Steve's funeral yesterday had us thinking about what music we'd like for our funeral. I came up with my own list and then thought, why not put it on youtube. Here it is.

Bear with me; I feel a rant coming on.

Ann Romney talks about how much hard work she did as a wealthy mother of five.

Excerpt:

“I know what’s like to finish the laundry and to look in the basket five minutes later and it’s full again. I know what’s like to pull all the groceries in and see the teenagers run through and all of a sudden all the groceries you just bought are gone,” Romney said to the crowd. “And I know what’s like to get up early in the morning and to get them off to school. And I know what’s like to get up in the middle of the night when they’re sick. And I know what’s like to struggle and to have those concerns that all mothers have.”

Romney alluded to the fact that not all women can stay at home saying, “I love the fact that there are women out there who don’t have a choice and they must go to work and they still have to raise the kids. Thank goodness that we value those people too. And sometimes life isn’t easy for any of us.”

Ann, Ann, let me break it down for you. Those welfare moms who don't know the dignity of work (according to your husband Mitt) worked much harder than you. Those groceries you hauled in out of your car? I used to haul them over a mile in a shopping cart, feeling like I could just die of humiliation. I would also push that same cart back to the store the next time. Sometimes I lived too far and had to lug groceries home on the bus along with my two children. Laundry? I didn't get to simply use machines in my home. Without a car I had to take them to the laundromat, in duffel bags hanging off my stroller and over my shoulder, again with two kids in tow that I had to watch while I did my laundry. Once someone stole my load of diapers and I had to just wash the last dozen I had over and over by hand every day.

When my kids got sick I had to beg a ride from someone to get them to the doctor. Sometimes we were so low on food that starchy foods like rice or potatoes were what we had for the final week of the month. I would save up my WIC coupons to supplement that with things like milk and cereal. I remember counting up pennies for a quart of milk or a loaf of bread. I remember how the people in line looked at me while I laid them out for the cashier. I remember that a quart of milk took 32 pennies. I would stack pennies into units of five to save the cashier from having to count them all.

Gosh, Ann, I'm so happy that you are happy that some of us were or are broke ass bitches who have had to work for minimum wage and then lost some of our benefits that our kids depended on. But hey, I guess the "dignity of work" kept our kids fed, clothed and in decent shelter. Right?

Point of information: they won't accept dignity as currency in the supermarket. So no, I guess not.

My Uncle-in-law Steve had a massive stroke after heart surgery and the family gathered to be with him as he was removed from life support. We were there in the room when he passed peacefully with his family around him. When one has to go, that's the best way. He never regained consciousness and I believe he didn't suffer.

http://colorlines.com/archives/2012/04/the_talk_with_my_white_daughter_dont_be_like_john_debyshire.html

I'm sure y'all have heard that Special Prosecutor Angela Corey is having a press conference at 6pm Eastern Time to announce what charges will be brought against George Zimmerman in the shooting death of Trayvon Martin. It won't be 1st degree murder because only the grand jury could have charged him with that (in Florida). I'm guessing she bypassed the jury because she wanted to be sure that SOME charge would be brought--they could have decided not to charge him at all. MSNBC's Kerry Sanders is announcing that FLA law enforcement sources say they are calm and confident that they can find Zimmerman, leading him to believe he may have been arrested already.