12 Years A Slave; Millenia, Humans Beings, A Blight

On March 16, 2014, in Uncategorized, by rsguthrie

I finally got to see 12 Years A Slave. It was an outstanding film—as good as advertised. Obviously, as with many epic movies, the subject matter is difficult to watch. I find films about slavery in the United States in the 1800s particularly hard to watch. My family is from the North, as far as […]

 

Do The Years Steal Our Abilities?

On March 14, 2014, in Uncategorized, by rsguthrie

Last week I was hit head-on by an incident I never saw coming. In fact, the very reason I didn’t see it coming is because I trusted my instincts—instincts that had almost never failed me in almost thirty years of adulthood. My whole life I’ve been able to read someone from the first moment I meet […]

 

Should Writers Mix Business And Friendship/Family/Pleasure?

On March 3, 2014, in Uncategorized, by rsguthrie

If you’re in a hurry, the short answer is EASY: NO. You may leave now. There are a hundred “old adages” about money, business, etc. that revolve around the paraphrased: “If you know ’em, don’t do business with them. Don’t borrow money from friends. Don’t loan money to family. Don’t do business (or start a […]

 

Non Sequitur: King of the Internet

On March 1, 2014, in Uncategorized, by rsguthrie

The other day a great and trusted writer friend asked me about a “comment tête-à-tête” she found herself in on the good old Internet. She wanted me to read what she had said (in response to a comment on a semi-famous and controversial—i.e. “did he or did he not really say that”) pic she’d posted […]

 

Six Years

On February 21, 2014, in Anniversaries, Family, Healing, In Memoriam, Life, Surviving, by rsguthrie

Six means many different things to many people. To some it is the length of an engagement; to others, the lifespan of an entire marriage; to the lucky, perhaps, but six of fifty-six. Or seventy-six. Six can be a beginning or a lifetime. Often, it is the first day of first grade—a beginning into the […]

 

Do I Look Fat In These Jeans? (More About The Misuse Of Words)

I blogged recently about common misuses and abuses of the English language. It was all prompted by the alluring Scarlett Johansson uttering what I assumed to be a scripted line in a Super Bowl commercial. Firstly, you are all welcome—who else could manage to fit in two (count them, TWO) pictures of the sultry, pouting, […]

 

An Author Blog Chain

On February 16, 2014, in Uncategorized, by rsguthrie

So a writer friend of mine named Renée Pawlish (also a fellow Colorado resident), asked if I want to participate in a kind of blog chain. Now if you recall the old “chain letters” and then “chain emails”, they always had a bit of a negative connotation, primarily because they asked a large group of […]

 

Grammar Police Undercover: Pet Peeves At The Donut Shop

I’ve admitted it before: I love words, and, conversely, it causes me physical discomfort (and even agitation) when simple grammatical phrases are misused, abused, and generally disrespected by the very professionals who are (ostensibly) supposed to treat them kindly. One of the more popular commercials that aired for the Super Bowl this year was notable […]

 

Global Warming, BITE ME. Bring On Summer!

Anyone who knows much about me knows how much I revere the late John Hughes and his brilliant canon of movies. The Breakfast Club, Sixteen Candles, Uncle Buck, Pretty In Pink, Vacation, Christmas Vacation, Mr. Mom, The Great Outdoors,  Home Alone, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, She’s Having A Baby—the list goes on. I intentionally omitted one particular movie […]

 

Crappy Bowl, Crappy Ads—WORSE Responses

Okay, here it is: the inevitable rehashing and armchair-quarterbacking of both the game itself AND the “Super Ads”. I usually wouldn’t sink to “joining the herd” of sheeple blathering about the aftermath, whether crying about the poor game or lamely decrying commercial advertisements as “unworthy” of their time. Most years I just say the same […]