Tell me, what is it you plan to do?

Tell me, after you read The Summer Day, what you plan to do with your one, wild, precious life, on this winter January day?

The Summer Day by Mary Oliver

Who made the world?
Who made the swan, and the black bear?
Who made the grasshopper?
This grasshopper, I mean-
the one who has flung herself out of the grass,
the one who is eating sugar out of my hand,
who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down-
who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes.
Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face.
Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away.
I don’t know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,
which is what I have been doing all day.
Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn’t everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?

from New and Selected Poems, 1992
Beacon Press, Boston, MA

Copyright 1992 by Mary Oliver.
All rights reserved.

The Culture of Cheating

The Sarasota Herald-Tribune ran an op/ed of mine — on the topic of Herman Cain, cheating, and what difference it makes if a liar and a cheater holds office — in today’s newspaper — you can find it on the last page of the A section in print — or just click on the link below to read.

You’re lyin’ cheatin’ ways …. or as I like to call it, Cain’s Complaint (for all you Philip Roth lovers out there).

Holiday Etiquette 101 — RSVP ASAP

If you’re planning a party for the holiday — or if you’ve received invites to mistletoe merriment, you may want to read my annual rant about the fact that people just don’t RSVP anymore!

In the TICKET — found in news boxes throughout the city today for free or online at:

MC’s annual rant about people who don’t RSVP!

Breaking the silence on domestic violence … thanks to readers

Thanks — merci mille fois – grazie – danke, to every one who posted such supportive comments and shared their own stories in response to my recent op/ed piece in the Sarasota Herald-Tribune (to read it online just click here). I’ve heard from so many women — and several men, too — either on this blog, in direct emails, phone calls, comments in person, and in letters written to the editor of the newspaper. Thank you all for taking the time to contact me.

To read some of the comments readers have shared, click on this link here .

Lessons Learned from Ashton & Demi (or as I like to call them — Ashemi)

My Sense and the City column in today’s Sarasota Herald-Tribune TICKET section asks the question: What did Demi Moore see in Ashton Kutcher, anyway? You can read it by clicking here:

http://www.ticketsarasota.com/2011-10-20/section/nightlife/sense-and-the-city-lessons-learned-from-ashton-demi/

October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month

The Sarasota Herald-Tribune ran an opinion piece I wrote in today’s op/ed section. If you want to read it online, click here: Break the Cycle of Domestic Violence

Equality Among the Sexes?

No, I’m not channeling that long-ago tennis match between Billy Jean King and Bobby Riggs … just announcing today’s Sense and the City topic: Women’s Equity Day, which is next Thursday. You can read it in today’s Sarasota Herald-Tribune TICKET or just click here: Do Women Really Need an Equity Day?.

Feel free to come back here to MC Reality Online and debate the topic!

Coffee with a conscience

If you’ve been reading my blog for a while, you might recall me writing about my new coffee-maker last year … . I wrote a different version for this week’s Sense and the City column. If you’re still buying coffee … maybe this will inspire you!

Coffee with a conscience in today’s Sarasota Herald Tribune TICKET (next to last page) or online here:
MC’s Sense and the City column online

Unspoken truths … articulated by Christopher Hitchens

If you haven’t yet read Christopher Hitchens’ June essay in Vanity Fair … I can’t urge you enough to do so. I’ve been reading Hitch since I was just past knee-high to a grasshopper (give or take a few years) and his writing — his thinking — and most importantly, his feeling — are all more acutely drawn because of his personal situation.

You can read “Unspoken Truths” by clicking here. It’s a fabulous piece of writing, but far more than just that.

I have seen the moment of my greatness flicker,
And I have seen the eternal Footman hold my coat, and snicker,
And in short, I was afraid.
—T. S. Eliot, “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock.”

Dating do’s and don’ts

I could write a book on bad dates, dud dates, and my own many faux pas made on dates … there’s just a sampling of the many do’s and don’ts that can make or break a first date .. in my Sense and the City column in today’s Sarasota Herald-Tribune.