“If I’m remembered for having done a few good things, and if my presence here has sparked some good energies, that’s plenty.”
Category Archives: News
In Memoriam – Betty White, 1922-2021
“If one has no sense of humor, one is in trouble.”
“There’s no formula. Keep busy with your work and your life. You can’t become a professional mourner. It doesn’t help you or others. Replay the good times. Be grateful for the years you had.”
“Get at least eight hours of beauty sleep, nine if you’re ugly.”
“I like those touches of chivalry that are fast disappearing. If I sound old-fashioned, it’s because I’m as old as I am! But it’s just polite.”
“People say, ‘But Betty, Facebook is a great way to connect with old friends.’ Well, at my age, if I want to connect with old friends I need a Ouija board.”
“Mind your own business, take care of your affairs, and don’t worry about other people so much.”
“Friendship takes time and energy if it’s going to work. You can luck into something great, but it doesn’t last if you don’t give it proper appreciation.”
“I have no regrets at all. None. I consider myself to be the luckiest old broad on two feet.”
“It is important that you not believe your own publicity. Be grateful for whatever praise you receive, but take it with a grain of salt.”
“You can always tell somebody by the way they put their hands on an animal.”
“I just make it my business to get along with people so I can have fun. It’s that simple.”
“I’ve always liked older men. They’re just more attractive to me. Of course, at my age, there aren’t that many left!”
“Does desire melt away with age? I’m waiting for that day to come.”
“I’m a health nut. My favorite food is hot dogs with French fries. And my exercise: I have a two-story house and a very bad memory, so I’m up and down those stairs.”
“Everybody needs a passion. That’s what keeps life interesting. If you live without passion, you can go through life without leaving any footprints.”
“Laughter keeps everyone feeling wonderful.”
“Best thing about being in your 90s is you’re spoiled rotten. Everybody spoils you like mad and they treat you with such respect because you’re old. Little do they know, you haven’t changed. You haven’t changed [in the brain]. You’re just 90 every place else. Now that I’m 91, as opposed to being 90, I’m much wiser. I’m much more aware, and I’m much sexier.”
“In my head, I’m the ultimate cougar. Animal lover that I am.”
“My mother always used to say, ‘The older you get, the better you get. Unless you’re a banana.’”
“Butterflies are like women — we may look pretty and delicate, but baby, we can fly through a hurricane.”
“I’m a big cockeyed optimist. I try to accentuate the positive as opposed to the negative.”
“Animals don’t lie. Animals don’t criticize. If animals have moody days, they handle them better than humans do.”
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Happy New Year 2022!
“No matter how hard the past is, you can always begin again.”
Buddha
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Merry Christmas 2021!
“Let’s be naughty and save Santa the trip.”
Gary Allan
“I’ve learned that you can tell a lot about a person by the way he handles these three things: a rainy day, lost luggage, and tangled Christmas tree lights.”
Maya Angelou
“In the old days, it was not called the Holiday Season; the Christians called it ‘Christmas’ and went to church; the Jews called it ‘Hanukkah‘ and went to synagogue; the atheists went to parties and drank. People passing each other on the street would say ‘Merry Christmas!’ or ‘Happy Hanukkah!’ or (to the atheists) ‘Look out for the wall!’”
Dave Barry
“It’s always consoling to know that today’s Christmas gifts are tomorrow’s garage sales.”
Milton Berle
“Christmas is a baby shower that went totally overboard.”
Andy Borowitz
“The main reason Santa is so jolly because he knows where all the bad girls live.”
George Carlin
“Christmas, here again. Let us raise a loving cup; Peace on Earth, goodwill to men, and make them do the washing up.”
Wendy Cope
“Thank you, Stockings, for being a long flammable piece of fabric people like to hang over a roaring fireplace.”
Jimmy Fallon
“A lovely thing about Christmas is that it’s compulsory, like a thunderstorm, and we all go through it together.”
Garrison Keillor
“There are three stages of man: he believes in Santa Claus; he does not believe in Santa Claus; he is Santa Claus.”
Bob Philips
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Imprisoned for Writing: Pham Doan Trang
Independent journalist and human rights defender Pham Doan Trang was sentenced to nine years by The People’s Court of Hanoi on December, 14 2021. She was arrested in Ho Chi Minh City on October 7, 2020, and charged under Article 88 of the 1999 Criminal Code which criminalizes “making, storing, distributing or disseminating information, documents and items against the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam.”
Trang is the author of several books that address women’s rights, LGBT issues, environmental concerns and land rights. In 2019, Reporters Without Borders awarded her a Press Freedom Prize in recognition of her impact. Her work on the Liberal Publishing House helped it receive the prestigious Prix Voltaire award in 2020 for its continued coverage in spite of risks and dangers of reprisals.
Trang was held in isolation from the time of her arrest until October 19, 2021, when she was finally allowed to meet with one of her lawyers after having been denied access to her family and legal representation for over a year.
Foreseeing her own arrest, she gave instructions ahead of time for fellow activists to take advantage of her imprisonment to negotiate for more freedom in Viet Nam, and to “advocate for the others first, then me.”
In The Vietnamese, a journalists’ magazine Trang founded, her “final statement” from her trial has appeared today reads, in part:
“In a democratic society, if a citizen writes something or responds to interview questions from foreign journalists regarding matters the government doesn’t want to hear, what would be the civilized response? The most civilized response would be for the government to do nothing because a civilized person knows how to respect the opinions and interests of others.
“In a less fortunate situation, if a government has authoritarian tendencies and finds what the citizen says unacceptable, then it could simply write books or articles to rebut that citizen, or even boldly reach out to the foreign press to arrange an interview in which a government representative expresses his/her viewpoint or responds to the citizen in-kind.
“But the Socialist Republic of Vietnam does none of this. Instead, it chooses to respond in a more vile, foolish, and heinous manner, imprisoning its citizens simply because they write works or respond to interviews with foreign journalists.”
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In Memoriam – Joan Didion, 1934-2021
“We forget all too soon the things we thought we could never forget. We forget the loves and the betrayals alike, forget what we whispered and what we screamed, forget who we were.”
Joan Didion, Slouching Towards Bethlehem, 1968
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In Memoriam – Bell Hooks, 1952-2021
“I think the truth is that finding ourselves brings more excitement and well-being than anything romance has to offer, and somewhere we know that.”
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In Memoriam – Anne Rice, 1941-2021
“I loved words. I love to sing them and speak them and even now, I must admit, I have fallen into the joy of writing them.”
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Veteran’s Day 2021
“In the face of impossible odds, people who love this country can change it.”
Barack Obama
Image: Janet Brown, The Cake Studio
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Indigenous People’s Day 2021
“Oh Great Spirit who made all races. Look kindly upon the whole human family and take away the arrogance and hatred which separate us from our brothers.”
Cherokee Prayer
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Chief Writing Wolf 