GOSSIP FROM THE GIRLFRIEND GATHERINGS

Learning from YOU to empower ME !

Love Poem #1 – “Love Song for Lucinda” by Langston Hughes

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heart box

 

 

 

Love
Is a ripe plum
Growing on a purple tree.
Taste it once
And the spell of its enchantment
Will never let you be.

Love
Is a bright star
Glowing in far Southern skies.
Look too hard
And its burning flame
Will always hurt your eyes.

Love
Is a high mountain
Stark in a windy sky.
If you
Would never lose your breath
Do not climb too high.

COMMENTS:

This poem is clearly about an addictive love.   We are warned about being blinded by it and the pain of looking at it too closely. We are warned about the possibility of it becoming all-consuming and uncontrollable.

QUESTION(S):

What are your thoughts about this poem?

Have you ever known or witnessed this type of emotion?

 

February 2015 – A Fusion of Love and History

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February is the month we celebrate Love and African-American History.    So, I am going to be creative and fuse the two topics into my blog posts this month.  I will celebrate with the love poems of a great African-American poet, novelist, columnist, playwright, and social activist, Langston Hughes.

Langston Hughes

A year ago, I purchased the book “The Collected Poems of Langston Hughes” but have not had the opportunity to delve into it.  Now, I can devote this month to do so and share with you.    Let’s explore together what he has to say about that wonderful and perplexing human emotion – LOVE.

Read more about Langston Hughes here: (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Langston_Hughes)

Greta Grypp – Report #1

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SuperChgWomanThe journey that began 28 days ago is still on course.   My primary mission to remove gluten from my diet has been hard but successful.    In the first 10 days it was really tough and it was a conscious effort to shop for the right foods.   However, I found it is true that you can find all that you need to eat in the perimeter of the grocery store.

The amazing thing is I continued to eat chocolate, ice cream, falafel chips, nuts, guacamole dip, and I still lost weight.   I was not trying to lose weight this month but I lost 8 lbs just getting rid of wheat from my diet.   I plan to continue to refine this method and follow the guidelines in the book “Lose the Wheat, Lose the Weight” by William Davis, M.D. since I know I have gluten sensitivity.

The eating goal for February is to remove sugar from my diet – refined (permanently) and natural from fruit (until I reach healthier weight).  The only allowable substitute sweetener will be the natural one from the Stevia plant, Sweet Leaf.   Also, I will stop snacking in-between meals and eat at specific time intervals.   I do want to lose weight this month and continual grazing inhibits that for me.

In the past, a nutritionist calculated that I need to drink 92 ounces of water per day.   So, I rounded it up to 100 ounces and have been consistently drinking it every day.   It is amazing how my skin and hair appearance has improved.   Also, the craving for other drinks has disappeared and my appetite has been suppressed.   I contribute my increase in drinking water to be an important factor in the unexpected weight loss I experienced this month.

For the 3-6-5 MOVE movement, I did increase my motion this month consistently for 30 minutes per day.   I focused on incorporating the increase in the normal things I do each day – using the walking trail on the campus of my “day” job, riding my stationary bike while watching TV, walking around the perimeter of the parking lot before going into the grocery department, and walking around the mall after going to the movie theatre.   I did continue my long weekly bike ride on the Saturdays that we had good weather in preparation for our first large group ride in about 2 weeks.

For February, my 3-6-5 MOVE goal is to restart and incorporate organized cardio workouts into my daily life – using my equipment and DVDs at home.   I just don’t have time to go to the gym during this month.   Luckily, in my at-home gym, I have a treadmill, a new stationary bike, an elliptical, several DVDs by Leslie Sansone, weighted body bars + DVDs, a BOSU – so the only reason to go the gym is for the companionship.

This month was not too productive for my creative life.   I had some family matters that popped up and required my attention so I had to take a break from blogging but I did “revamp” my novel draft and will start the next revision/rewrite on  Monday, 2/2/15.

So, I avoided a Greta Grypp butt-kicking this month – which is a good thing.

 

QUESTION(S)

How did you do in the first month of the New Year?

Still Here – Taking a Short Break

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butterflyI know it has been a couple of weeks since I last posted.   Life and family has gotten really busy.  I started a couple of blog posts but I just could not get the words out in a manner that was suitable to present here.   So much was going on that I felt passionate about and wanted to write about but I could not get the tone objective enough for you.   I decided to just “chill” for a bit.

I am here today just to reach out and let all of my readers know that I am “percolating” on some ideas, rearranging some situations, and coordinating all of my “lives” so that I can come back writing strong.

I recall Arianna Huffington advising us at the BlogHer ’14 conference to take some time off when we need it to care for ourselves.   So, I am just taking a short pause and will return next week.   Maybe I will even find time to get to those dust balls under the sofa!

Girlfriend Gathering Movie Review – Selma

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Women at the Movies

It was a dismal cold rainy day in Houston on Sunday morning but the girlfriends and I decided to bundle up to go see the movie Selma.   In our opinion, rain only stops a picnic and nothing was going to prevent us from seeing Selma on its opening weekend.  We wanted to be supportive for the number crunching that goes on for society’s determination of a successful movie but we felt the movie was already a success because it was providing a glimpse into our country’s historical past.

The movie was as moving as I expected giving me proud and tearful moments.   I was a kid in the sixties but I remember the drama and trauma of the Civil Rights Movement.   I remember my parents and extended family discussing Alabama’s governor – George Wallace – during that period and his name was synonymous with hate and evil in our household.  So, to see this depiction of the events surrounding the march from Selma to Montgomery in 1965 was a revisit but this time from my adult point of view and with my adult emotions.

Overall, the movie was an enlightening experience as it gave us an inside view of how the diverse African-American activists of the day came together under the courageous leadership of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. to show our country and the world the plight of African-American citizens seeking their right to vote.  I especially was proud that the movie emphasized the roles that strong women activists played in that particular march and in the entire Civil Right Movement.   History has shown us that the events surrounding this march were pivotal in President Lyndon B. Johnson comprising and signing the Voting Rights Act of 1965 a few months later.

All of the portrayals of the actors were superb – David Oyelowo (Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.), Oprah Winfrey (Annie Lee Cooper), Carmen Ejogo (Coretta Scott King), Tim Roth (Governor George Wallace), and Tom Wilkinson (President Lyndon B. Johnson).   I appreciate their dedication to their roles because it was evident in the manner in which they brought their characters to life for the audience and the way it evoked emotions from us all.

I know there is some criticism about this movie as there are usually around movies and books that shed a painful light on the true history of our country.    I wish those that criticize these efforts will transfer their concerns to the whitewash that exists in the unreliable history books in our schools.    Unless you are doing a self-study of American history, sometimes these types of movies are the only way to acquire some historical truths – which is really shameful.

This movie is highly recommended by the girlfriends and we suggest that you gather up some young people so they can learn another perspective of a moment that changed our society.