February 23, 2011 – Write From Karen

3WW: Define Creative Nonfiction

February 23, 2011February 23, 2011 Karen

Hi.

Me again. If you haven’t noticed, I’m on a mission to write more fiction. I’m hoping the more I write, the easier it will get and someday, SOMEDAY, I’ll actually get that book written.

I used to participate in Three-Word Wednesday many moons ago. Here I am, participating again.

The three words to use in a story this week are:

Figure

Juicy

Stress

Thanks for reading.

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“Well that figures. Censorship is alive and well in America.” Sam nearly spat out his disgust.

Dale rubbed his eyes. He could feel another migraine tickling the back of his eyelids. He needed to get rid of this kid and close himself off for five minutes. “I can’t print this and you know it. Where are your facts? This is pure fluff.” He opened his eyes and looked at the newly-graduated student in front of him. “Your opinion is not news, Sam.”

Sam snatched up his report and audibly growled at his boss. “You need to run this piece, Dale. It’s juicy. It will fire people up.”

“You haven’t listed one source. You haven’t given me one concrete fact. Everything you wrote is hearsay. We’re supposed to be journalists, Sam. Journalists are supposed to remain impartial. They’re supposed to report what happened, not what we want to happen, not what other people perceived as happened, but what actually happened.”

“So I’m not supposed to have an opinion? I’m human. I’m going to naturally be biased when it comes to issues I care deeply about.”

“Did you not learn anything in Journalism school?” Dale asked. “Your job is to report the story. Sure. Use a little creative nonfiction to keep people interested, but stick to what happened. You can’t make this stuff up. It’s unethical.”

“My teacher said journalists make stuff up all the time.”

Dale blinked in surprise. He could feel his blood pressure rising. This was exactly why journalists were getting such a bad rap nowadays – because the people teaching the next generation didn’t possess a moral bone in their bodies.

“I’m going to assume that that is taken out of context,” he said slowly. “Also? This is not going to work out. I need real reporters out there covering stories, not activists using my paper as their personal podium. Get out.” He could feel his stress level rising to the critical stage. He was getting too old for this crap.

“You can’t get rid of me. My uncle owns this paper,” Sam said with a smirk.

Dale slowly opened his eyes and glared at the boy. “Your uncle also thinks you’re a pompous ass.”

He watched the boy’s shocked expression with satisfaction. He probably shouldn’t have said that, but seeing the boy’s open-mouthed trout-like face was worth the price of unemployment.

The kid stormed out of his office and slammed the door behind him. The glass wobbled with reaction.

Dale glanced at the clock – it was only 9:00 in the morning. It was going to be a long day.

Plinky Prompts

Sadly, I Am Not a Fashionista

February 23, 2011February 23, 2011 Karen

Share a photo of a fashion statement you regret making.

Actually, I’ve never been a fashionista, but the few times I tried to be remotely trendy, well, I failed. Miserably.

Case in point:

Big hair and acid-washed jeans. Yes. Hi. I’m an 80’s child. This hair style? Took me two hours to achieve.

Two. Freaking. Hours. Every. Day.

I hot rolled my hair and had to wait until they completely cooled before removing them. And then, I had to use a TON of hairspray for it to stay.

Only, it didn’t. All of that body you see in this picture? (Which, coincidentally was taken immediately after I fixed my hair). Fell flat within three hours of the last spritz of hairspray. It was terribly frustrating to live in an era when big hair was all the rage and I happened to have naturally stick-straight hair. It’s sort of amazing that my hair never fell out as much trauma as I put it through on a daily basis.

Now the high bangs actually didn’t go out of style for quite a few years. Well, for me, at least. In fact, my high bangs followed me throughout my wedding and early motherhood. (And by the way, did you check out what I’m wearing in that last link? Stripes. I have no fashion sense AT ALL. Oh. And that was Kevin’s shirt, too. So. Stripes and a man’s shirt. CLEARLY, I needed help).

Of course, MY big hair was pretty small potatoes when compared with mom’s hair back in the day, but whatever. (Sorry mom. I couldn’t resist! HA!)

But putting the big hair aside for a moment, there were my fashion mistakes.

I know you can’t see this very well, but I’m wearing a pink and blue (or was it green – does it really matter??) blouse with puffy sleeves and a PINK tie.

On picture day.

What was I thinking?? I believe I was a Sophomore or a Junior in this picture. I scanned it from my yearbook so I apologize for the grainy quality.

But seriously people. Pink/green/blue STRIPED shirt with a man tie. Exactly what look was I going for here? Lesbian?

And then, there was the overalls.

To my credit, I soon realized that overalls in high school wasn’t cool. So, I didn’t wear them but a few times before I figured it out. Unfortunately, one of those times was on picture day. So it’s been captured for all times.

In everybody’s yearbook, I might add.

(*sigh*)

I’m sad to say that wasn’t the last time I wore overalls. Nope. I wore them off and on in my early motherhood days. I thought that wearing overalls would hide my widening girth. Unfortunately, I didn’t realize until I saw a picture of myself wearing a pair of short overalls, on the beach in Florida, that it doesn’t hide but in fact, only accentuates the body rolls.

That was the last time I wore overalls and I will never wear them again.

I’ve learned my lesson.

I’m wearing a granny shirt in this picture.

Again, sorry for the poor quality (scanned it from yearbook), but in addition to the granny shirt (and when I say granny shirt, I mean a blouse with a bib), I’m wearing some sort of poinsettia hair clip.

I can only plead temporary insanity.

But it was the 80’s. We did crazy stuff in the 80’s.

That’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it.

(And if you’re wondering what in the world I’m doing in this picture … this was taken in drama class. We were doing an impromptu exercise and I totally knew my picture was about to be taken so I hammed it up for the camera. I’ve never admitted that outloud before. It feels sort of good).

I’m sad to say that my fashion “sense” hasn’t gotten any better over the years. I’m still pretty clueless when it comes to dressing “nice.” I pretty much live in t-shirts and jeans, though that is changing quickly as I’m working out of my husband’s office now and looking for a job.

In fact, I wast just telling Kevin today that I’m on a mission to find some nice work-appropriate tops for spring-summer because guys, I honestly don’t have anything. It’s sad, really.

I really need to overhaul my entire wardrobe.

But that requires money.

And I’m cheap.

So. I’m at a cross roads.

This post was in answer to a Plinky prompt.

Abundant Life

Audio Teaching: The Importance of Speaking in Tongues

February 23, 2011February 13, 2011 Karen

by John Schoenheit
Speaking in tongues is a subject of great interest among Christians, and many do so. However, many of those who do understand that God wants us to speak in tongues have not been sufficiently taught as to why it is so vital. Thus, they do it only sporadically. In contrast, the Apostle Paul, who is set forth as an example of what a Christian can be, wrote to the Church at Corinth that he spoke in tongues more than their entire church put together.

This teaching is primarily for people who already speak in tongues, and is an exhortation to do so as much as possible. It does not teach how to speak in tongues, but goes into detail as to why we should, setting forth the benefits and blessings of utilizing this magnificent manifestation of the spirit.

Click the arrow to listen.