Gang Hei Fat Choy: Wishing you great happiness and prosperity.
Image by Vecteezy
Love, J.
2026, Year of the Yang Fire Horse
January 20th, 2026‘Tis the season…
December 3rd, 2025
Dear Reader: please be aware of potentially triggering content following.
This has been quite a year under the current administration.
When the leader of one of the most influential nations on the globe calls a female journalist “piggy” and “ugly” on record to shut her up because of her line of questioning, well, I truly worry about the daughters and granddaughters yet to have voices in the near future. I refuse to imagine what he says in private to his wife.
He was convicted of rape yet voted into the White House by 49% of female voters! (there seems to always be a complicit female in crimes against females. Example: Ghislaine Maxwell) I am absolutely flabbergasted by the decisions of intelligent women that supported and continues to support the current administration.
There is also an escalation of rampant militarization tactics against tax-paying private citizens on the basis of false criminal charges (in some cases no charges were made, just forcible arrests) including, the “free” press: journalists and war correspondents. There have been documented evidence reported locally to my point.
Mainstreaming white, Christian nationalism is a frightening portend of history repeating of an almost a cult-like following (can you spell Nazi?) which has produced a No Kings protest on a national scale from the other half of the American population with sympathetic rallies occurring simultaneously in Europe.
In addition, Margaret Atwood’s novel, The Handmaid’s Tale written as fiction may actually be taking form as reality in some states: termination of pregnancy deemed unlawful even if a result of rape. What’s next?
Oh, an AI-generated actress. YIKES! And NO. Absolutely not.
Chat GPT addictions. HORRIFYING. Are there group meetings for those addicts yet? This is a serious form of a mental breakdown.
The band-width is fragile and for the first time in history, a billion (and counting) people are online scrolling. Platforms and servers are crashing. Our reliance on tech and “smart” appliances is an insidious encroachment on our psyche and organic way of living.
Yet, the bell stills rings for pennies for heaven at the entryway of grocery stores from dedicated servants of God dressed in their pristine white uniforms. Tis’ the season. Actually the bell rings year-round for pennies which may soon become obsolete. Christmas carols plays in all the stores with hopes to instill the joy for spending despite economic budget and healthcare cuts from that “Big Beautiful Bill.” Black Friday was not much.
Now that I have chilled your bliss and harshed your mellow…
Thank goodness, the simple pleasures of hugging our babies (or fur babies) can still soothe our fearful hearts. Preserving the peace by withholding our retorts to grumpy elders becomes more important than ever in these challenging days.
Wait! I am a grumpy elder! Dang it, when did that happen? As my wise father-in-law once said, “No one gets out alive.”
May my kindness always exceed my expectations for gratitude returned.
May you stay safe, healthy, and be warm with a full belly this season.
j
Esteemed Publisher Walks On…
August 25th, 2025
I was so touched when Mr. Malcolm took the time to write and tell me that he liked my writing. Now his words are even more precious and his kindness lives forever. Rest in words and beauty dear one.
j
Summer without sun feels blah and cold…
June 13th, 2025
…so come and warm yourself by the fire! We will pray and dance for sunshine.
Happy Summer Solstice!
xo, j
Really?
April 4th, 2025It is certainly a controversial healthcare plan but hey, wouldn’t it be good to find a doctor not burnt out and stressed beyond belief…and affordable?
Just sayin’…
Be well friends, j
Rest in beauty Laura Faye
January 14th, 2025Sunrise 1963 – Sunset 2025
I wish you an afterlife filled with joy, laughter and all of your beloved four-legged creatures. Give my love to Mom and Dad. Be free forever. I love you.
REZ BALL
August 7th, 2024
Hello friends 🙂
I cannot wait to share my review with you. Stay tuned and enjoy summer! See you at the movies.
xo,
j
Great in-depth article by Joanne Furio
July 18th, 2024Happy 2024 and hello sweet spring <3
March 7th, 2024
On the invitation of a sweet friend, I joined three lovely ladies for an evening out to see MJ: The Musical at the San Diego Theatre. After an hour on the I-5 heading south to the Gaslamp District, we valeted at the US Grant Hotel. Heather saved us a table in their oh-so-elegant cocktail lounge with appetizers and glasses of chardonnay for Liese and me, rosé for Tonya, and H20 for Heather who was rehydrating.
When we hurried out to to make curtain call, it was in a downpour. Quite a few people were drenched and had to sit through the play dripping wet. Fortunately, all four of us brought our umbrellas. Liese even gave hers away because mine was a golf umbrella–(such a generous human being!) to a few women suffering through the rain while we stood in line. I saw a few adolescent children with their parents, many, many adult men and women were in the audience.
The play: this is a Broadway musical on a national tour. Two-time Pulitzer Prize winner Lynn Nottage scripted this play to debut in 2020. Well, we all know what happened that year. I refer to it as the new B.C.
With the full blessing from Michael Jackson‘s estate, Nottage and brillant British director/choreographer Christopher Wheeldon created a musical storyline that revolves around Jackson’s Dangerous Tour in 1992. With flashbacks to Jackson’s past, through his music, they filtered in the details of his childhood and career leading up to the tour.
They chose that year because musically, Jackson was at the pinnacle of his career (who hasn’t tried to master his famous “moonwalk”?) while breaching musical genres once restricted to black performers/musicians on pop radio. He really was a musical genius.
My first vinyl 45 RPM record was the Jackson 5 with Michael’s hit single, Rockin Robin which followed Got to Be There, Michael’s first solo hit in 1971. They touched on his father’s militant and abusive managerial control on Jackson and his brothers. His sisters, La Toya and Janet were missing in the family line-up. I am guessing because they were not part of the Jackson 5 originally but since the mother was featured—why not just place the sisters in the background? Every sibling has spoken out against their father’s heavy hand.
I loved his music and tried not to think about the heinous accusations against MJ in the 2019 HBO documentary Leaving Neverland as I sat through the play. I wondered at what point in his life did he get so lost and so twisted? The second to last song Man in the Mirror brought tears to my eyes because of its well-meaning message that has gotten lost in the mire and muck of sordid Hollywood Babylon. A legacy tainted but reincarnated in wholesomeness with this play. One could feel MJ’s spirit alive in the theatre.
The dancers were phenomenal as was Roman Banks who played adult MJ. Little Michael and adolescent Michael were perfect. The orchestra and local musicians were so well placed and contributed to the entire musical magic for those several hours of live entertainment.
Here’s to the arts and culture community for supporting a necessary reason for uplifting our spirits and keeping the civil in civilization.
Stay safe and stay well friends,
J
‘Tis the season for toyon…
December 5th, 2023
Also known as holly berry. Toyon is a common, perennial shrub that is native to California, northern Baja and parts of the Pacific Northwest. This shrub commonly grows 4-6 feet in height and is a prominent member of the oak woodland and chaparral plant community.
Seek nature–let it heal and comfort you.
Be well, j.