Long answer… I’m not very good at it, but I have a few lovely memories.
Canopy of Stars by: Aaron Bedell
One time I have truly enjoyed camping was with friends in college. A few of us had trucks & I had a Jeep Cherokee Laredo that I could lay the back seats down & put a twin mattress in the back, which would be for my friends who hated the outdoors altogether & needed a roof. We put down mattresses in all the other truck beds & parked in a circle with the truck beds toward the center – where we had a lovely fire.
Open Season Campfire by: Art Licensing Studio
I need to get better at the outdoors. My spine tends to disagree with sleeping on the ground, as Degenerative Disc Disease, spinal stenosis, & metal on C4-C7, react poorly to the Mother Earth Mattress. One of my “to-do’s” is learning basic survival skills; not certain when that training will begin. ∞Cecelia
Dear Questioner, this relates to my answer just the other day… moving to Illinois, where we had no friends or family other than my mom & stepdad, who were truck drivers & never home. The Oklahoma we left behind was markedly different than what it has become over the last decade in so many ways. Several times I have been reflective of the past, or confronted by events, in which I have pondered where we would be had we not left Oklahoma.
No Regrets by: Pam Holdsworth A quote by John Barrymore.
Mostly, I think about what Roegn would be like had we not left. First, she would have a southern accent. Honestly, that would have annoyed me, but wouldn’t have been irreconcilable. Second, I would have had a more difficult time battling the ‘Republican mindset’ as we would have been surrounded by family & friends that were on the right. That would have made 2016 intolerable. I mean, that’s why I’m not on facebook much anymore • 2016 was the beginning of a chasm between myself & many of my friends and family.
Explore Yourself “Self Portrait Study, me drawing myself. The only way to truly know yourself is to study & examine yourself from every conceivable angle. But you must also keep in mind that we are never the same person from one moment to the next.” by: Amber Ryder
Third, she would not have had the freedom to swim through her identity as she grew up. As we saw with the death of Nex Benedict, people who are different are bullied with impunity in Oklahoma. Roe has always been influenced excessively by her environment, which is why she didn’t go to public school – even here in Illinois. It took me over 18 years to help her understand that she is worthy of being herself & not someone others want her to be (even me). I honestly believe that had we stayed in Oklahoma she would have been hit from every side NOT to be who she wanted to be, but to be what THEY wanted her to be.
In that instance, I would have been forced to be overtly leftist & probably would have been more radical in order to balance the information coming from family, school, church, local government, and the news.
By: Studio Grafikka
The risk? We moved to a place where we didn’t have friends, family, or know anyone within a 3 hour drive… eventually more, closest being 6 hours away. This was not new to me, as I was raised a nomad, and because of that attempted to keep my daughter in the same place for most of her upbringing. Oddly enough, all the positives I had heard about growing up in one place ended up not being what my daughter experienced, but that’s another story for a different time. ∞Cecelia
Well, dear Questioner, before June 2022 my answer would have been, “very little.” However, once the highest court in our land decided to take away a woman’s right to choose, incurring the ramifications many of us could see coming, I became ‘nervous’ about many political issues I had no reason to consider before.
Vote by: Matt Faulkner Illustration
A conservative Supreme Court has the ability to change our lives in a myriad of ways – especially now that they have jumped off the cliff by taking away a right for the first time in our country’s history.
New Yorker 3.May.22 by: Brooke Bourgeois
Immediately following the SCOTUS decision to repeal Roe, I thought about marriage equality & all my LGBTQ+ friends who have gotten married as a result of the Obergefell decision in 2015. If we are honest, the only reason they have not publicly discussed inter-racial marriage is because Justice Thomas is married to a white woman; that came to my mind immediately as my best friend, a black woman, is married to a white man. If they could take down something like Roe v. Wade, which had stood for longer than 50 years, they could take anything.
It’s Time – Equal Rights For All by: Sharon Cummings
We have seen it with the arguments over Mifepristone – the far right have zero scruples & will do anything in order to progress their agenda. Please do not think that includes actually being “Pro-Life” as they are merely “Pro-Birth”; once the child is born they are not interested in supporting them at all. Which harkens back to the original point of anxiety, which was the overturning of Roe v. Wade.
Unfortunately, it seems we are in a time of fighting for our rights (again) & must continue to do so, which means a constant anxiety or nervousness. It seems as though we must never become complacent, constantly on edge, or the patriarchy will take advantage. Prayerfully, they can feel the rumble as the Blue Wave grows to Roevember… ∞Cecelia
Dear Questioner, how I wish I could answer, “very carefully”, as we all know it is very bad for us. However, just like the myriad of things we consume that are bad for us, often in spite of their awfulness (i.e. alcohol, cigarettes, vape, etc.) …social media is something that gets thrown into the “blessing & curse” category. Here’s a brief history of my social media usage…
I began, like so many, with a MySpace & Facebook account. Personally, I enjoyed MySpace more; there was more going on, you had a personal page to deck out, & there was music! Honestly, I don’t know why MySpace died, it was much better than simply writing a line of text… etc., but I digress.
Eventually there was twitter, something which I avoided for as long as possible. I never had much of a life on twitter, occasionally I would go on to see what celebrities or athletes were doing.
Slowly facebook took over and by 2016 it was the major social media site I personally utilized. It had become the place I would keep up with my family, who are spread out throughout the US, and many friends from high school & college. However, the political nightmare that ensued caused me to spend less and less time on facebook.
Guess Who’s by: Ian Young
Instagram became a time waster at some point…
By the time Elmo bought twitter & proceeded to dismantle it piece by piece, I was never on the platform. It was incredibly easy for me to erase my account.
Enter threads.
Since the start of the threads platform, I have been involved in creating & sustaining the Blue Wave. Hopefully we will continue to grow ••• I do not spend much time on any other platform.
Describe a decision you made in the past that helped you learn or grow.
—Questioner
Good morning, dear Questioner. This is a difficult question, only in that I have so many to choose from – as I have made so many mistakes, I have learned much. (I believe we learn more from our mistakes). So when I think back through what I have learned, the decisions I have made…
A couple years after we moved to Illinois.
Just over a decade ago, things were not going well between Roegn & me, we were growing apart. This was not a natural process, my sister was doing a masterful job of manipulating Roe into despising me… later she admitted to wanting to come between us. Around this time, my Ma needed surgery that required a long recovery time in which she needed help & her husband needed to stay on the road. I was homeschooling Roe at the time, so it was easy for us to travel from Oklahoma to Illinois & stay for a while.
September, 2023
Getting away from the influence of my sister was a weight lifted from our relationship. I will not say that everything was perfect right away, because quite the opposite… we went through hell for a few years. However, had we stayed in Oklahoma, I know we would not have the relationship we have now. The decision to move to Illinois was not easy, the consequences were many; the road was long, the journey difficult & it’s certainly not over. We work on our relationship constantly.
Roe’s my best friend and the most amazing kid a mama could have. Having to make that decision was incredibly difficult, mostly because we moved away from our “village” of family to a place where we knew no one. It helped me understand boundaries better & that I’m allowed to draw certain lines in order to make my & my daughter’s lives better.
Unfortunately, it also taught me lessons I’m still dealing with, like how important it is to keep in touch with relatives that are far away. Yeah, both Roe & I still work on that one.
If you could have something named after you, what would it be?
—Questioner
This is interesting, dear Questioner, as I have not been thinking about this at all.
When I was younger my Ma was the manager of a Restaurant, Bar, & Grill attached to a hotel. Once when I was sitting at the bar (I was in elementary school, by the way) the bartender was talking with me. I asked about a “Shirley Temple” & wanted to have a drink named after me. The bartender asked what I would want in it, so we started with soda water & added about five different liquors I randomly pointed to ••• in the end he added grenadine & a cherry.
He said it was strong, but of course I had no clue.
Shirley Temple by: Agnes Javorka
As an adult, if I could have something named after me, I think I’d want something that is helpful to humanity. Not certain I would want it named for me, more so after the cause; hopefully my name would be synonymous with our fight (whether it is democracy, climate change, mental health awareness, etc.).
Hello, dear Questioner, it has been a minute since you did that thing where you ask a question that I had just been pondering. So, here it is…
Daily News Cycle by: Teresa Burns Parkhurst Published in the New Yorker, 10.Sept.19
I get that ‘you’ don’t like politics. I understand that it’s difficult to watch the news & that it can very well be damaging to your mental health. I hear you when you say, “Oh, I just stay out of that.” However, there is soverymuch happening in our cities, states, our country, and our world; this moment in history is singularly excessive & destructive with the advent of social media & the speed at which misinformation is spread.
It is more important than any other time in your history to stay informed, prepare for what happens next, and to understand that you cannot keep your head in the sand.
Now, to be clear, I do not think that you must watch a 24-hour news cycle – that is not what I am suggesting. You do not need to listen to every podcast, read a multitude of articles, and end your evenings with legacy media (please don’t). However, listening to a 30-60m podcast as you get ready for work in the morning, or on your commute, during your lunch, etc., is not asking much. I wish it would not take even that much time, but there’s soverymuch news happening right now that even a quick pod like The Daily Beans often hits 50m covering the news cycle.
New Yorker November 2nd, 1940 by: Constantin Alajalov
Where you get your news is just as important. I suggest looking into news stories with ground.news where you can see what the right & left publications are saying about the same story. It’s a great way to understand the spin that both sides engage in. Understand where your favourite podcaster is getting their news (they tell you, right?) – it may open your eyes to manipulation of facts.
Indifference by: Mario Sanchez Nevado
Okay, well, if you made it here – thanks! Leave me a comment or a ❤️ … I look forward to your thoughts.
Ohhh, dear Questioner, I lose myself in writing quite often. Those times that my daughter hears the ‘tap tap tapping’ on the computer keys turn into ‘angry typing’ as she calls it… yeah, that means I’m really “in it”.
Ohhh, dear questioner, yes. I have broken the law intentionally as well as unintentionally. Though, to be fair I usually felt incredibly guilty following the latter.
I remember one time specifically, before I became a mother. A friend and I were in a cute shop & just browsing. I found a candle that was a tiny sunflower (she & I were the daisy & the sunflower). After a bit, we got busy looking through books & I put the candle in my coat pocket so I could use both hands. I had every intention of paying for it, but eventually forgot about it.
I felt awful & because of that very moment each time my daughter would come out of the store with something, accidentally, we would march back inside & pay for it.
Not my favourite, but a milestone of sorts today… I cooked my homemade mashed potatoes for eight. (My Ma was one of eight kids, so all of my recipes are huge & yeah, I know I could cut it in half… I just didn’t.) Anyhow, I am eight days post surgery & we had potatoes that needed eating. This is my recipe, one that was based on my Ma’s recipe… but hers was very basic.
🔪 Cut the potatoes into cubes & boil for 15 minutes. (more if not quite Mashable yet) You can add a tbs of Tony’s Cajun Spice™ during the boiling 👉🏻Whilst they are boiling, fry bacon, pat dry, chop. 🔪 Chop the green onions, set aside. 🥔 Strain & put potatoes in pot. Mash, mash, mash baby until your arm is screaming that you’re a fat ho/ that shouldn’t be eating carbs (& bacon) anyway… add the remaining 2tbs of Tony’s, to taste. 🧈 Once you’ve gotten to the point that you need lubricant, put the stick of butter & cream cheese near the bottom of the taters. Put your oven on low-simmer & grab a strong spatula – mix, adding milk as needed. 👩🍳 Add sour cream, mix 🥓 Add chopped bacon, mix 🚨 Final step, so make certain the potatoes are to your liking (are they creamy enough? if not, add milk & stir, etc.) 👉🏻Add the chopped green onion, mix.
This is the basic recipe, you can add spices to your liking, put in more cream cheese, or less… you get the point. These mashed potatoes are meant to be good enough without gravy, but I suppose you could add it too. Everything I used was from our local food pantry, save for the Tony’s; I’m trying to add a little creativity rather that just frying or baking the taters, having BLT’s, etc. 🌶 If you don’t like spicy stuff, just use regular bacon & take out the Tony’s – though make certain you balance with enough salt. You could slice a couple pieces of garlic & add it to the potatoes as they boil… I thought about that today, but avoided it. It has literally been over a decade since I made these lovely potatoes, sticking to my basic recipe seemed like a good idea. Turns out, I was right. Though it will make her stomach hurt a bit, Roegn loves them. Not certain how Violet feels, she tasted them & said they were good, but with Vi you never know. 🤷♀️ Hope this recipe is to your liking! Enjoy… we did. Goes great with anything, in our humble opinions. 🗣 Talk Soon, Cecelia ✌🏻🌊 💙
This is easy for me… I would pay off all my & my mom’s debts. With whatever was leftover I would begin a self-sustaining town, realizing new ways of living for everyone.
Latinate feminine form of the Roman family name Caecilius, which was derived from Latin caecus meaning “blind” or “hidden”.
For me, Cecelia is a family name; named after my grandmother, Elizabeth Cecelia, who was named for another amazing woman (my great grandma) before her, and so on… Cecelia can be found throughout my family tree going back a couple hundred years. The Polish spelling is apparently ‘Cecylia’ – however, there is one thing that could overcome nationalism…
…and that is Catholicism.
Saint Cecelia by: John William Waterhouse
Saint Cecilia/Cecelia is the patron saint of music, musicians, supposedly because as she was being married off to a man she didn’t want to be with, she sang hymns to the Lord… but I’m getting ahead of myself.
All we know for certain about Saint Cecilia is that she lived, was a follower of Christ, and died a martyr… we do not have historical facts, [however] we have an inspiring legend that was [finally] written down around the fifth century in a book called The Passion of Saint Cecilia.
Mycatholic.life
Saint Cecelia by: David Luebbert
If you’d like to read that “reflection on the life of this holy martyr,” you can do so here. It is a beautiful (short) story about the power of our witness.
As for myself, I think that “blind” can be attributed to my tendency to look beyond race, sexual orientation, religion, etc. and be ‘blind’ to all the excess & focus on the person before me. It has made me a very good judge of character, as well as a bit of a black sheep at times throughout my life. I believe it is an unusual name for an unusual lady.
20th Century Fox in a 21st Century Disaster
Post Script: According to the Urban Dictionary, Cecelia is:
• An amazing girl who can make anyone laugh even when they are sad. She is a fighter and even though her life isn’t ideal, she will keep pushing. A Cecelia is gorgeous and very smart even though it doesn’t show as much in school. She has a group of friends she has known forever and will take a bullet for her. She is the type of person who you might not notice right away but as soon as you meet her, you will never forget her. • However, she can never see the beautiful side of herself the way others can and if she looks up her name in the urban dictionary, she will probably dismiss this as someone just being nice. But, it is true and a Cecelia is a fabulous person who makes an amazing how friend. Person 1: Who is that? Person 2: That’s Cecelia. You shouldmeet her- she is super cool
This is a lovely prompt today,dear Questioner. My perfect space would take advantage of the outdoors as well as the inside. Whether it be lakeside, or near the mountains, or just somewhere with lovely trees, I would want ambiance & something lovely to look at (probably not theocean though as I would get tired of sand toot sweet. So, that’s where we will begin: In a forest, by a lake, with mountains along the skyline…
In that forest I will have a small cottage that seems to disappear into its surroundings • created from what the forest could offer. The interior would be simple & comfy, hopefully sustainable in all possible ways. Music but no tv, as I would not want to shift my focus from writing. Though in the forest, I would require the internet for research, unless gifted with a giant library that magically exists without taking up too much room.
I would be very happy there, but would need to see friends & family at some point. This would make a lovely retirement, as long as I had free delivery 😆.
sustain.able.future 