CC licensed Out back, Edna poem] for Edna St. Vincent Millay              born on this day, 1892 Out back, Ednahangs pillowcases, fresh as a line of sonnets. Her rogue image candid in a nightie and tramp-coat, displays robust charm matching her savage beauty. We chat over wet laundry ― I trust her with my tough secrets, my edged tools. It's easy like having another drink when you know you’ve had enough. She tosses words like clothespins, exhales slow, stamps a cigarette in th

I am going to start another series called "Serious Reading." These will include thoughts on reading, especially in the online world. I know that the Internet has diminished my reading because I do so much of it on screens rather than on the much-preferred (for understanding and memory) paper medium. I need to get back to more "book" reading v. iPad or Kindle or computer reading. I know better.  The real point of Serious Reading will be to read serious and difficult books, and

These are short but, I think, masterful in their own way, especially the last.  ‘ O look, look in the mirror, O look in your distress: Life remains a blessing Although you cannot bless. ‘O stand, stand at the window As the tears scald and start; You shall love your crooked neighbour With your crooked heart.’ —W. H. Auden A (sort of) Christmas Poem six weeks late. But it's by Wendell Berry, and I think I like his poetry better than his fiction. This one is "Sabbaths." Remember

As an experiment with Open AI Art, I tried to create a cover design for my next novel, whose working title is The Foark River Hair and Tanning Salon and Bait Shop . The final one may be truncated from that. It is based on a play I wrote, which was a comedy, but the whole vibe is quite different.  I used the AI app the first time to create a rather bland convenience store look. I would not use it, of course, and as I hope to have this published by someone else, that will be t

This will be a three-parter. I am fascinated by speculative fiction of a certain type. I would call it Twilight Zone -based. I love the Twilight Zone when I was a child and it imprinted on me. I have not watched many of the episodes now on YouTube, but I remember many of them. The basic aesthetic of a normal person all of the sudden caught in a nightmare world has a lot of possibilities. I have written some short fiction of that ilk myself. One day I need to collect them and

I am talking about the Bette Davis movie, The Letter , and the Ann Sheridan film, The Unfaithful.   You can watch both on TCM or YouTube. They are posted now on YouTube.  Both involve a woman who kills a man she had an affair with and goes to trial. She is married, and she does a lot to keep her husband from knowing the truth, including lies.  Other than that, they are very different because of their time period, the supporting actors, the motive, the actress, and the morals

In Turkey, I visited the Istanbul Archaeological Museum , which actually was disappointing only in that we were not scheduled much time there. It is a fabulous place and I recommend it right after the Haggia Sophia, Blue Mosque, and the ferry ride across the Bosphorus. I saw the sarcophagus of Alexander the Great, quite a sight. And I noticed peach-colored paint on it. We have been told the Greek and Roman statues, which to us are a stark but stunning white, were originally p

Paganism may have some value. The Old Testament and New are a chronicle of a struggle between paganism (nature-based deities rather than one God over all and unbound by nature), idolatry (worshiping before statues, pictures, and figures as if the god is in the idol) and polytheism (multiple lesser gods) and a a monotheistic narrative about a Father God who sends His Son to redeem us. There are many descriptive lines in the monotheistic narrative. In my life, everything that i

With the cold, damp weather in Northwest Georgia, I had a hankering for soup, particularly potato soup, since I ingredients. I’m making it now, that is, this morning. Cutting up the potatoes got me thinking about the old story, “Stone Soup.” I am not sure children still learn this story, but they should, although as with all stories, some could argue that there are life lessons or themes that are counterproductive for children. As a side note, I sometimes say I’m making stone

I am teaching about Hezekiah and Josiah, two “good” kings of Judah (out of a slew of losers) who might be said to have incurred “revivals” in the 600s BC in the Southern Kingdom. I see these two regimes as times for the individual Jews to repent even though the prophesied end would come: destruction of their land and capital and temple; exile; and then return of a humbled people 70 or more years later. It is hard to imagine the history of the Bible without 586 B.C., Nebuchadn

My trip to Turkey was eleven days of my life, and nine and a half of those actually in the country. This is a limited time to get a sense of what the country is like, but here are my thoughts, and my prayers. I have hundreds of photos posted on Facebook and on my other blog. They are here: https://www.facebook.com/barbara.tucker.161 and here: https://partsofspeakingpublishing.blogspot.com/ One is not very long in the country before you know you are in a Muslim country. It i

Those who have accepted that God saves by His grace alone have found the message to be one of unutterable sweet liberation. Martin Luther wrote, “I felt as if I was born again, led to Paradise through open gates,” and so it remains today. The Reformers’ tenacious insistence on grace alone is no relic of the history books or thought of as an embarrassment and as the sorry squabble of persnickety theologians. It remains as the only message of ultimate liberation, the message wi

Since I blog A LOT on another platform, I have let this one ride for a while. Not good. Realistically, I should be blogging here every...

I mostly get these from Facebook, which insists on showing me poetry I did not ask for but find compelling and perspective shaking.

This is a script of a podcast I am working on about AI – What it is and what are we to do about it. I will probably add to it from time...

I'm reading a lot about this now (I have time in retirement). I want to distinguish between generative AI and AI that might be used for...

“In Louisville, at the corner of Fourth and Walnut, in the center of the shopping district, I was suddenly overwhelmed with the...

Rachel Griffin-Accurso and Melani Sanders My granddaughter, like most toddlers, loves “Miss Rachel.” Miss Rachel (or Ms. Rachel) is a...