NYC 2012, Pt 2

As the new year looms I remembered I still hadn't posted the rest of the story about my trip to New York City last spring for Jessica Leccia's fan luncheon, so here it is. I promise you, dear readers, that if I have the opportunity to attend another event like this I will not wait so many months to tell the story. (If you missed it or just want to refresh your memory you can read about it here.)

I concluded Part One of this story by telling of a very special dinner with Jill Lorie Hurst and a few friends. As we left the restaurant that night, Bettie volunteered to see me home safely and we had time to continue our conversation on the subway. She's a wonderful storyteller who has led an interesting life so be sure to check out her blog for her stories of her recently concluded two year sabbatical in NYC.

The next morning was colder than expected so Kathy and I decided to accept the offer of our Twitter friend @Nnn2u to share a cab to Brother Jimmy's instead of walking. Among the first to arrive we quickly found familiar faces and met new old friends we'd known for years online. Moving downstairs for the luncheon, Kathy & Julie (@julieluvsotalia) found our friend, Linda (@Medasst28) at one table while I found Denise (@jessiewolf) at another table down front near the band.


The best way I know of to describe an event like this one is to say it's like a family reunion. Not the ones you brace yourself and go to whether you want to or not, but the ones you can't wait to get to because you know you'll finally meet those cool relatives you've only known through frequently shared stories. Looking around a room full of strangers you can't deny there's something familiar about them, the way you can see the expressions of loved ones in the face of a cousin you've just met for the first time. Some have experienced great joys during the previous year, some heartaches and challenges, but we've drawn strength from each other through all those silly little conversations on Twitter and sought each other out for a little encouragement and hope when we've needed it most. For many, like me, these encounters have been life changing.


As the room fileds up Jeryl Orsino (@JerylMusic) and her band stepped up to play. Jeryl's music has been featured on Venice, the Series so if you've watched that wonderful webseries, you've heard her music. I began to take a few pictures as they played and when I looked behind me to the rest of the audience I saw that Jessica Leccia, herself, had sneaked in - she's good at that!

After the music, Jessica began to go from table to table, greeting everyone, signing autographs & posing for pictures. Fans got pictures with Jeryl, too.

After a while Jessica sat down for a Q & A session and we learned a little bit more about her. This always gets a lot of laughs because Jessica has great sense of humor and a quick wit. Really, somebody needs to get this girl a sitcom!

There was time for one more question and I raised my hand. Jessica had been telling us about her daughter, Ivy, and of course her stories made me think of my two daughters, now 29 and 20, what they were like at three years old that gave me a glimpse what they might be like when they grew up. I can't remember exactly how I worded the question but it concerned what she would someday tell her grown up daughter about what she'd been like as a child. As soon as I asked the question, Jessica exclaimed, "Donna, why'd you have to go and make me cry!" When the Q& A was over I gave her a hug and we had a little "mom" moment, marveling at the miracle of daughters before she went back to signing autographs and posing for more pictures.

Everyone had gotten a packet that included an 8x10 photo of Jessica for her to autograph and a "Jessica Leccia" shot glass and a few other fun things. When I opened mine I also saw a handwritten thank you note from Jessica (I had made pin back buttons for the packets) but that note somehow did not make it home with me. I'm guessing my packet got switched with someone else's by mistake. If you went to the luncheon and ended up with a note from Jessica that says "Dear Donna, Thank you..." please let me know! I'm glad I at least saw it and made it home with everything else in the packet!

One of the highlights of attending Jessica's luncheon is meeting her husband, Brian Malloy, who runs Brother Jimmy's. He's a sweetie and it's so fun to see the two of them together because they just radiate love and joy. Many of us had met him before so he renewed old acquaintances and made new friends and posed for photos with Jessica and with the fans. You should stop by Brother Jimmy's the next time you're in NYC because Brian makes everybody feel right at home!

Then Jill Lorie Hurst showed up, joining in for the picturing taking, too, and visit with Jessica and Alan Locher, another member of the GL family.....

Just a few photos with some of my favorite people...

It's always a challenge to get a good group picture at an event like this but always worth the time and effort!

When it was finally time to go a few of us took a little walk with Jill, first to Rockefeller Center, then up to the Central Park. Then it was time to catch the train back home. I can't wait till next time! Thank you to Brother Jimmy's and everyone who had a hand in planning the Jessica Leccia Fan Luncheon and a special thanks to Jill Lorie Hurst!

Thanks, Mom!

Checked my mom's old tin of threads to find just the right color for securing this bow & look what was right on top!, originally uploaded by ddpool.

Checked my mom's old tin of threads to find just the right color for securing this bow & look what was right on top!

Newtown

When I heard the news of the shooting in Newtown, Connecticut today my heart went out to those whose lives will never be the same. Along with my horror at the unfolding events came a growing concern for the life of one little girl, a friend of a friend of mine.  As time went on and others had been accounted for, I prayed specifically for her and her family. This evening my friend could share no details with us except that this little girl is not among the survivors.

While we struggle to understand how something like this could happen I don’t know if we can ever really know. It makes no sense. 

We are reminded that life is short and precious and that we should tell people we love them when we have the chance. Instinctively, I want to do something to fix this.

I was accused of being insensitive because I made comments on Twitter today about changing laws in ways that I believe might help prevent another school shooting.

This person made the assumption that because my comments were about political solutions I had no feeling for the victims. I should instead wait a bit, as a sign of respect. She assumed that I was just using the tragedy to further my personal political agenda.

I think the fact that I seek positive steps that might address the need for more mental health care and fewer assault weapons in our country shows that I do understand what the families of the victims are dealing with, at least as much as I can without having experienced it myself. I know they’re hurting and I hurt for them and I’d like to do what I can to keep other families from hurting. I’d like to do that as soon as possible.

If I say something now…

Do something now…

While people are paying attention….

Then maybe we can start to take some positive steps

Now

Before Honey Boo Boo comes back on.

Because we can’t compete with one of the year’s 10 most fascinating people, right Barbara Walters?

I don’t mean to be dismissive of people who watch Honey Boo Boo or Barbara Walters because I know smart, caring people who watch them both . I just don’t share their taste in television programming.

And that’s the problem we have to face…  being dismissive of those who disagree with us.

Because there are no disposable people.

If we are all part of the problem then we must all be part of the solution.

Keep listening.

Tina Sloan's Charity Auction

Great Guiding Light memorabilia is being auctioned for charity on eBay by Tina Sloan  who played nurse Lillian Raines on the show. When Tina mentioned on Twitter that she had these items the fans suggested she auction them for charity and Tina made it happen.

After the pictures were taken for eBay, she autographed each of them and also had them autographed by Grant Aleksander (Phillip Spaulding), Beth Chamberlin, (Beth Raines Spaulding), Justin Deas (Buzz), Peter Simon (Ed Bauer), and Jill Lorie Hurst (Headwriter).

All proceeds go to the Commit Foundation for wounded vets, a cause close to Tina's heart as her son served in the Marines and she stars in the movie "Happy New Year" about a wounded veteran returning home.

Included in these items up for auction is a glass cube paperweight presented to her by the producer at the end of Guiding Light. Tina received two of these and is auctioning one, with the actor's autographs on the box.

You can see pictures of the actors signing the items in Tina's Twitter gallery,

And here's a link to the auction listings:

Tina Sloan's Guiding Light Auctions

Imagine the delight of your favorite Guiding Light fan if they received a present like one of these this holiday season! Better hurry as the auctions are up for only one more day!

Image copyright Tina Sloan

I See People....

We, the People….

Which People?

My people?

Your people?

Surely not those people….

When our Founding Fathers wrote those words they surely didn’t mean those people whose skin was darker than their own,  who planted and harvested their crops and built their buildings, whose names were not written in their ledgers because, after all, they were property, not people.

They surely didn’t mean their wives because everyone knew that women weren’t concerned with politics and power and important things like that. They just took care of their homes and raised the next generation.

I doubt they meant the Native Americans who had occupied the land first, either, considering the way they drove them from the land simply because they wanted it for themselves.

This Land is Your Land…. Yours… mine… but certainly not ours.

In the movie “Little Big Man” a white boy is adopted into the Cheyenne tribe whose word for their people is translated “Human Beings”. So when the characters mention someone who is not of their tribe they say, “He is not a human being.”

It’s all about who you see as people.

Who do you see as human beings who have wants, needs, families and dreams

Just like you?

I will never forget hearing Rep. Barbara Jordan’s eloquent speech to the Watergate Committee on the Articles of Impeachment in which she said ”… through the process of amendment, interpretation and court decision, I have finally been included in ‘We, the People…’.”  I encourage you to take the time to listen to at least the first couple of minutes of this as she speaks of her faith in the Constitution:  

I wonder if the Founding Fathers envisioned a time when a black woman would make such a statement, when she would be able to vote and herself be elected to serve in the Congress. I’m glad they wrote the Constitution in a way that allows America to grow and change as the world grows and changes.

I voted early this time, taking my daughter with me for her first experience as a voter a few days ago. We decided to vote early because we didn’t want to take a chance on Hurricane Sandy leaving our polling place without power on Election Day. I thought of women who fought to give me the right to vote, grateful that my daughter understands the significance of this responsibility and privilege. I don’t mind telling you how I voted. I voted for Barack Obama. I also voted for Question 6 here in Maryland because I support the right of all people to marry, regardless of sexuality.  

Before another day has passed we’ll know who the next president will be. We’ll also know if enough voters saw gay and lesbian citizens of Maryland as human beings with hopes and dreams and rights to uphold the law that was recently passed by the legislature, giving them the right to marry.

Because that’s what it all comes down to, isn’t it?

Who do you see when you say

We… the people?

NYC March 2012 Part One

I used to watch the soap opera Guiding Light which went off the air in 2009. It Introduced me to some wonderful friends online through message boards and Twitter and I met some in person at fan luncheons in New York City for Crystal Chappell and Jessica Leccia, two actresses from that show. Because I’m a writer and photographer I shared my experiences at those luncheons here so others who were not able to attend could know what happened there and what it meant to me and maybe feel, at least a little bit, as if they were a part of it all. Because they were. If I had a nickel for every time the name of an absent Twitter friend had been mentioned by someone at one of those luncheons I could probably afford to go to the next event! If you’d like to catch up on those stories you can read about them here: 

NYC October 2010 Part One

NYC October 2010 Part Two

NYC: Lost and Found

NYC: Lost and Found, Part Two

NYC: Lost and Found, Part Three

NYC: Lost and Found, Part Four

The weekend of Jessica Leccia’s fan luncheon in March of this year began a couple of days early for me when Kathy (@Zoogirl) arrived to spend a couple of days with me in Maryland. We had been talking about our travel plans on Twitter and decided that she’d spend some time with me here in Maryland before and after our train trip to NYC where we’d split the cost of a hotel room.  I put her to work helping me make the buttons that would be included with the fan packets at the luncheon. Then she got to watch me stress out as my computer started making strange noises and I frantically backed up everything, hoping I didn’t have a failing disk drive. (I’ll finish that story later.)

My husband dropped us off at the train station on his way to work Friday morning. Thank you, Amtrak, for wifi on your Northeast Regional trains so we could tweet all the way there! I had assured Kathy that we could easily walk to our hotel, having checked the map and compared the distance to other walks I’d taken around NYC on previous visits. I wanted her to get a feel for the city and see it up close, too, instead of speeding by in a taxi.

We met Julie (@julieluvsotalia) and her mom, Marcia, at the hotel. It was too early to check in so they had checked their bags and we did the same before heading out again to eat lunch. I had noticed we passed a burger place, a bar & grill and a pizza place on the corner near our hotel so we debated our choices as we walked and decided on pizza. I’ve been to a lot of pizza places in my day but I’ve never seen a guy bring his unicycle to one (and that’s a sentence I never expected to write!). I couldn’t resist taking a picture. Oh, and Marcia? Thanks for the pizza! (Gotta watch her… she deserves a gold medal for fastest check-grabber!)

After lunch I called Denise (@jessiewolf) who had arrived on a redeye flight the night before. She was staying at a hotel where we’d split a room when we came for Jessica’s luncheon in 2011. I led the way as we walked just a few blocks and found Denise and her friend, Natalie, in the lobby. We didn’t have too long to wait before Jill Lorie Hurst joined us. After introductions, hugs, a few pictures, and discussions about plans for the weekend we left Denise & Natalie to go to their show and Jill led the rest of us toward Grand Central Station where she and I parted company with the others. Kathy, Julie and Marcia had plans to attend an event for @nycwriterchick and Jill had plans for me....

Jill said she’d called a few friends and said, “Donna’s coming to town! Let’s have dinner!” We took the subway to the Upper West Side to a great little Greek restaurant, Symposium, and were soon joined by my friends Lisa 9@ColumbusNYC) and Bettie (@bettielavin).  I’d met them when I came to Crystal Chappell’s fan club luncheon in October, 2010. They were followed by Mimi Torchin (@Mimi_Torch) and her partner, Liron Cohen (@SunshineLiron), whom I was delighted to finally meet in person after chattering with them on Twitter for a couple of years. 

I wish I had set a tape recorder in the middle of the table to capture the evening’s conversation. I’m sure we solved all the problems of the world at least three or four times as we talked about politics and soap operas and families and politics and Texas (Mimi & I are both Texans) and writing and politics and pets and the economy and oh, did I mention politics? Mimi had been reading my blog and giving me wonderful words of encouragement for months so I shared with her my idea for a book. She thought it was a great idea and urged me to write it, just as Jill had done when I shared it with her. (It's in the works. OK, mostly in my head.)

At one point during the evening I took a deep breath, leaned back and let the conversation swirl around me, thinking, “How did this little Baptist girl from Dallas, now preacher’s wife, end up here, of all places?!” I felt honored to be in the company of these fascinating women who had courageously pursued their dreams and led such interesting lives. It made me want to reach for my dreams, too.

I had my camera with me but I hadn’t taken any photos since we got to the restaurant, choosing to be a participant in my own life rather than observer. But as we were getting ready to leave I knew I’d regret it if I didn’t document the moment. I asked everybody to gather around for a group photo, handed my camera to our gracious waiter and had him take a shot of us all together. I think it turned out great!

Stay tuned for "NYC, March 2012, Part Two".....

Up a Tree

I was a tree climber when I was a kid. Not that we ever had trees worth climbing in my yard when I was of an appropriate tree climbing age. I had to go to the neighbors’ yards to find the good ones. My friend Kellye had a nice Chinaberry in her backyard a few houses up the street but my favorite was a mimosa tree right next door.

Mimosas had more entertainment value per square inch than any other tree in my neighborhood. The big fan like leaves were perfect for pretend servants to fan a pretend Cleopatra, and the seed pods were great for pretending to pick beans for supper or just tearing up and scattering to the breeze with the soft, tufted blossoms on a windy day. The end result of such play was that every yard on the block had a few mimosa trees of varying sizes, some small saplings, some large enough for not-too-big kids to climb easily.

My neighbor’s mimosa tree stood right in the middle of the back yard but the branches arched almost all the way over to the tall stockade fence between their backyard and mine. It was fortunate that a couple of little boys lived there for a few years when I was in my tree climbing prime. I’d bound out my backdoor, letting the screen slam shut behind me, and head straight for the fence where I’d scramble up to peak over the top and see if Vernon and Davy had finished their breakfast so I could come over and climb their tree with them.  Once we’d shouted our greetings over the fence they’d wave me over I’d head straight for the tree.

I was big enough that with a good jump (it sometimes took two tries) I could reach the lowest branch, then walk my way up the trunk, throw my leg over it and hoist myself up the rest of the way. Vernon was shorter and required a boost but he liked to push his pedal driven tractor over by the tree and climb up on it so he could reach it himself (no safety inspector required). Little Davy was only three so we didn’t help him climb up, at least not after his mama caught him up there with us once. Okay, maybe twice.

Once up on that first branch, I saw a larger branch rising from the trunk at about an 80 degree angle to the left. This is the one that reached toward my house and I could lean my body against it, holding tight to smaller branches, and see the full expanse of my yard next door on the other side of the fence. To my right I saw the dog asleep on the back step of the house across the alley from mine, a sight I could only see from that perch because if it saw me in my backyard it started running and barking along the chain link fence. If I climbed a bit further up that branch I could even see a little over the fence on the far side of my yard into my friend Tony’s backyard, too.  And I could always see the neighborhood kids taking a shortcut through my yard from the alley to the street, something they did often since we were in the middle of the block and our yard had no fence.

Extending in the opposite direction of that branch was a larger one sloping gently upward at about a ten or fifteen degree angle. It was broad enough to seem almost like the floor of a tree house with good strong limbs branching out from it, giving us several options for swinging down to the ground. We played Tarzan and Swiss Family Robinson and we could even sit cross-legged on this big, wide branch and play a game of checkers as though in a room with gently swaying green walls.

Climbing trees was something I could do better than the big kids. That was significant for me, the youngest of three children in my family. Yes, taller kids could sometimes reach those lowest branches more easily than I could but I could climb higher, up into the thinner branches that could easily hold my smaller body as they danced in the wind. My grip was sure and I knew the way to the best footholds on that mimosa. And once I’d found my perfect perch I could stay until I was good and ready to come down because the big kids couldn’t follow.

I had lunch with a friend this week. We don’t see each other that often. Months may go by without exchanging a single word but when that inevitable phone call or visit finally comes, the words tumble out for hours and the visit ends much too soon.

My friend and I have each had our share of challenges the past few years. Our children have grown up, loved ones have aged and passed from this life, our husbands have coped with professional challenges, and our families have struggled with the economy.

During our lunch visit we talked about who we are now, who we used to be and what we’re trying to do with our lives. We have each found it easy to see the good qualities and talents in someone else yet have difficulty seeing them in ourselves. So we spent a great deal of our conversation pointing out these things we’ve always known about each other. I say I’m just a doodler who likes to take pictures and tell stories. She calls me a talented artist, photographer, and writer. She says she’s trying to learn new software and marketing initiatives for their family business and I’m in awe at what she’s accomplished without ever taking a class.

We take turns heaping huge piles of affirmation on each other over plates of ribs and catfish, propping each other up until we can regain our footing, pointing out new possibilities our busy schedules and personal blind spots have prevented us from seeing before.

As I opened the door of her car after saying goodbye and bounded up the walk and into my house I thought, “There is something familiar about this feeling....”  I didn’t know why at first. The same half-finished projects were strewn about my living room, the same To Do list in my notebook on the table, the same bills waiting to be paid.

And then I realized….

I felt like just like that little kid, bounding out the back door into a world of possibilities, secure in the knowledge that my grip was strong, that I knew the best footholds and that my dreams were carried on the breeze.