Concerns of my wife about President Trump

Last night, my wife and I were sitting up having a few drinks. The conversation covered various subjects then it went onto politics. I asked her what concerned her the most about Trump becoming President. This was her answer, "I am not concerned with the rights of women being trampled upon, even removal of my voting rights. What concerns me more is the fact that the Republicans want to roll back laws and even eliminate EPA to allow businesses to pollute even more destroying the planet for our children, grandchildren and great grandchildren. We have a lot of those. About Trump, "he is a ticking time bomb that would start World War III in one of his tirades, destroying this planet for future generations, maybe even eliminating them entirely.  We were entrusted this planet by our past generations, to make it better and pass it onto our children and to learn to live in peace regardless of religion, color and gender.  If humans are truly the advanced species, they owe it to themselves and the other inhabitants of this planet to allow each to live and not be destroyed in one of the rages of man.  I couldn't disagree with any of the points she raised. I like it getting a woman's prospective on this election. Everyone with a half a brain knows Hillary was less than truthful about her emails but she was calm under fire and didn't explode just because someone questioned her. I would feel better knowing we have a calmer person in the White House with their finger on the button. 

Talk back, I'm listening. Tell me how you see the 2016 election shaping up.       

Reflections of a blogger

Thanks to all those that dropped by my blog during the 2016 Cherish Blogfest. It was nice to see you. Sorry I wasn't able to drop by every site on the list, my volunteer activities limited my time on here. 

As I write this post, it gave me thoughts to reflect upon. Why does anyone blog anyway? Most people blog to sell you something, others blog about their point of view on different subjects including politics, books and their health conditions or what they had for dinner. I started blogging back a few years ago when I found out that as an author, I had to present myself to the public. Along the way, I found I enjoyed talking more about other unknown authors and their books than I did about my books. Then I started doing reviews of other's books since I read a lot. I have made a lot of online friends and others that I will call associates. I tend to follow back anyone that follows me whether I find their post interesting or not. I even comment more on various posts on LinkedIn,Facebook, Blogs and even on GoodReads. It is interesting on GoodReads that I have even started chatting with other authors in their discussions where you ask why they write and other questions. A question for other authors, do you engage in such discussions?

Time spent on social media will always reduce the amount of time an author has to write but I try to balance that with writing and my activities where I do volunteer work realizing both are equal important in my life.

Talk back, I'm listening as always! Have a great week!

Cherish Blogfest 2016 post-Cherished Item

 It took me a long time to find my Cherished item. My real most cherished item is my wife, children, grandchildren and great grandchildren so I had to select something after agreeing to do the Cherish Blogfest 2016.

My wife discovered during the winter that she had talents she never knew. Normally she does not have the patience to create something. It was tedious work but she found her abilities and patience to do this. She started with old horseshoes, cleaned them up and then painted them. Some black, some silver. Using leather she attached all the beads and feathers creating a beautiful wall ornament. In the center is our last name made from wooden blocks. To me it is something special she created for us.
I showed two views, the top one is trying to show the entire item with a slight close up in the second picture to see more of the details. Thank you for dropping by my blog and you can follow me if you wish. I normally follow the sites I visit.

 Drop by and visit other blogs taking part in this blogfest. I am sure they will enjoy having your company.

A Poem "Thoughts from Afar" by my wife-S.J.Moye

My wife is a better poet than me, I have to agree. She wanted to post a poem to share with the world she wrote in 1981. Previously she had only shared it with family and a few friends, until now. Previously untitled until now. Copyright - 1981 by S.J.Moye
She wrote this in Ireland when she was 21 for her younger sister she jokingly called "Duffet". She left the states with a 13 month old son and a 6 week old daughter. Leaving her close knit family behind finally got to her, ergo the poem.
(the picture is of my lovely wife with our granddaughter, Elizabeth).

"Thoughts from Afar" by. S.J.Moye

All night long
the gale winds blew

whisking my thoughts 

from Ireland, to you

Dreams of times

of days gone by

in the dead of night

I hear the blackbird cry

My thoughts stop

as I lie and listen

she sings a song

of the love she's missing

Alas, she's finished

off she flies

thoughts stir of you

as tears fill my eyes

I hear your voice

in the howling wind

Oh my, I can see you

I'm home again!

We kiss, we hug

we laugh, we cry

we reminisce

of days gone by

We're walking in 

the summer sun

I reach for you

and off you run!

Further and further

your now out of reach

I stand alone

on the sandy beach

Yak, Yak, Yak,

the magpie screams

awakening me

from a long winters dream

So, all night long

the gale winds blew

whisking my thoughts

from Ireland, to you...

Copyright-S.J. Moye  

Talk back, I'm listening

Learning To Stutter by Sherm Davis -blog tour

Welcome to my tour stop of "Learning to Stutter" by Sherm Davis, presented by Elite Book Tours.  To follow the full tour, please visit here.

LEARNING TO STUTTER IS FREE ON JULY 4, 5 AND 6!

BUY NOW @ AMAZON!

Kenneth Kocher seems to have it all - a good heart, a sense of humor, decent looks, and lots of money. What he doesn't have is something most of us take for granted - freedom of speech. Kenneth lives with a severe stutter which has wreaked havoc with his life since childhood.

After much embarrassment, pain and soul-searching, Kenneth realizes that to free his inner self he must accept the fact that he cannot be cured, and that he must learn to stutter with grace. Along the way he meets another stutterer and a young widow who are both dealing with the stumbling blocks in their own lives.

Using an experimental syntax to portray the neurological component of the syndrome, the novel gives the reader a unique view of stuttering from the inside out.

Amazon | Createspace

PRAISES FOR "LEARNING TO STUTTER"

This is an extraordinary book. It’s the inside dope on stuttering. And if one person was born to tell the story, it’s David Sherman. And does he have a story to tell. The plot is consummate, the writing proficient, the pacing skillful, with a clarity of detail that renders it very realistic. After awhile, I found myself caring about all the characters, even (or particularly) the minor ones, oftentimes because they reminded me of myself, and were therefore incredible familiar. It is a reflection of the author’s versatility –as educator, in math and Language Arts, as musician and writer –and diversity –Jewish, New York born and bred, having resided all over the world –that some parts of the writing even speak to the Oriental in me. As each of the characters, stuttering and non-, go about their lives, problem-solving, adapting, you cannot help but see the parables at a universal level. Resonant, poignant, and ultimately elucidatory, this book get an A+ from me.

---- Ling T., Guatemala

In addition to those who struggle with dysfluency and their friends and family, I highly recommend this novel to educators and speech pathologists to ensure their understanding of the multi-faceted impact that this neurological syndrome can have on one’s identity.

---- Shari Mayerson, MS, CCC-SLP

EXCERPT FROM "LEARNING TO STUTTER"

Why is the name so difficult? Perhaps because there is no way to reach into the verbal bag of tricks which every person who stutters carries with him in a desperate attempt to seem normal. Word substitution (the favorite of all stutterers who block more on certain sounds than others) is impossible when the name is fixed and finite. Linking the end of one sound to the start of another to increase fluidity is impossible also, because the name begins with a specific sound, and most stuttering occurs on the initial syllable of a word.

But the great author, unaware of Kenneth Kocher’s internal trauma, was in a hurry, and only scribbled his name and gave a cursory nod before moving on to the next person in line. It was only as he was walking away that KK realized that he was fixating on his own name, and hadn’t said a single word to one of his personal heroes.

On the heels of this humiliation, he still had one more errand to run, and it was better to get it over with early in the day. When he entered the toy and game store, he really didn’t know what he was looking for. He walked up and down the aisles of the small shop, but couldn’t find anything that struck his fancy. Finally the shopkeeper, a jovial man in his fifties, horseshoe bald with a red pate and dramatic waxed moustache like the character from Monopoly, came over and played the part.

“What are you looking for, son?”

“A gift for my six-year-old nephew,” was the sentence that formed itself with perfect clarity, sonority and resonance in his brain. But just after the sentence was formed, he scanned ahead and found a stutter reflex embedded in the /g/ in gift. Automatically, he sought to substitute a synonym, but in this case he couldn’t even substitute the word present, because the /p/ was his nemesis, the hardest sound in the lexicon and one to be avoided at almost any cost. So he got past the opening vowel and then hit the hard /g/ like an electric fence. His larynx locked and he started pushing against it with brute force, but it wouldn’t budge. His face and neck started twitching, and his left eye was blinking out of control. The harder he pushed, the harder he jerked and twitched.^[1]

Finally he caught hold of himself and let go of his breath. Inhaling anew, he substituted one sound for another. “^Ssssssomething fffffor mmmmy nephew.” It was stilted and spasmodic, but got the point across, more or less.

He could see the surprise in the storekeeper’s face, but he was used to seeing this. All his life, he had been watching people try to figure out how to respond to his twisted speaking voice.

“Well,” the man said, maintaining an amiable front, “what is your nephew like?”

The second interaction of the day, and it wasn’t going well, either. He was floundering in a neurological rut, and he couldn’t make it stop. His larynx slammed shut on its own accord, his left arm shot into the air like it was connected to an invisible string, and the muscles in his face and neck began quivering under the strain. He pulled himself together and responded slowly, too slowly, “^~I…. ^d-d-don’t know. I nnnnnever see him.”

“Hmm,” the shopkeeper tugged at his moustache. “That makes it a bit more difficult, but I’m sure we have something. Are you looking for something educational, mechanical, sports-oriented, or just plain fun?”

He shrugged his shoulders. “Sssomething he ‡can ^g-grow into.”

The paunchy man nodded sagely from behind his suspenders and his bowtie. “I’ve got just the thing,” he said, and went into the back roozm. The shopkeeper returned with a magnetic construction set, simple enough for a young boy but advanced enough for his father to enjoy as well, and handed him the box. “What do you think?”

KK nodded his appreciation and gave a thumbs-up, too taut to say anything. On other days, he might have made the effort to ask the man to gift-wrap the box, but when a day began like this, every word was precious.

“This is a gift for a nephew who lives far away?” the man deduced. “Would you like me to wrap it for you?”

Exhaling a sigh of relief for the man’s telepathy and compassion, KK nodded his head and handed him a credit card. Walking out of that toy store, he was unable to even thank the man. Cursing himself and vowing to never shop in a store again for as long as he lived – he’d shop online instead – he stuffed the gift in his backpack and started power walking through the streets.

OTHER BOOKS FROM SHERM DAVIS

This bilingual English/Spanish collection contains pieces ranging from flash fiction to folktale. Set in New York, New & Old Mexico, Guatemala, Italy, and the future, eight morsels of Zap Fiction lead off the collection, and five longer stories close it out. The Spanish translations, the product of a team of professionals, are as true to the original English as possible. 

Buy NOW @ Amazon | Createspace

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

David Howard Sherman Davis is a writer, musician and international educator who has taught in five countries on four continents. Born in Brooklyn, New York, and raised on Long Island, he currently lives by Lake Atitlán in Guatemala. His journalism and fiction have appeared in the United States, Canada, Guatemala, and online. 

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Soundcloud

Trump hearten by Britain vote

Donald Trump is invigorated by the British vote to leave the E.U. The backlash vote was to close the borders and allow British to determine their own future, however rocky it may be.  In his campaign to become the next President his slogan is "Make America Great again" what he is really saying is "Make America White again" trying to return to the past where white males reigns supreme. Women, other religions, different colored people will all become second class citizens if he can have his way. He will get most of his way as the Republican controlled Congress gives him what wants in return for giving them what the want. I see a dark and unsettled future for the USA if he is elected President. He just might pull it off, his main opponent is strong establishment candidate. Americans are sick of the establishment and want a changed even if it means electing a racist, bigot and angry man that is quick to explode. Don't worry, he will get World War three started in one of his outbursts. He tried to sound Presidential now with new campaign manager and read straight from a teleprompter to keep him from saying something he should not say even though he seems bored with the speech. The true Trump will emerge once again as he tries to fire up the voters after he has the official nominee of the Republican Party. They Republican establishment is trying to rally around him, somewhat but they are worried He will return to his true self on the campaign trail and cost them the majority in Congress. They are building super amounts of cash to ensure it doesn't not happen and know that the weeks just before the November election they will flood the airwaves with untruths and other propaganda to get their candidates back into the do Nothing Congress.
Talk back, I'm listening as always. If you disagree, just say so but this is my current take on American politics.  

President Trump verses our Allies and Media

Our allies will be holding their breath, taking a wait and see approach, once Trump takes office. Our Muslim allies know they can expect nothing from him except hatred. President Trump will try to get Congress to agree to back out of NATO and other alliances that don't bow down to him when he withdraws our forces leaving them to shoulder the burden of protecting the free world. Putin will smile with glee seeing the USA withdraw into itself. China will see America taking the adversary role against China ending all trade agreements forcing American companies to bring back to the USA work they had shipped overseas. That might not be a bad thing but will further damage American relationship with other countries. 

The Washington Post found out the hard way why not to report the truth as it is but the lies Trump expects everyone to believe. News media will learn the hard way that reporting the truth is not what President Trump wants and if you cross him, you will find yourself shut out of being an acceptable new service at the White House. He will try to control what is printed, reported and what goes on the wire services. He might even try to get the licenses of anyone telling the truth about his actions, revoked while he strangles the freedom of speech. President Obama has tried to keep the flow of information to the news services down to a minimum, she should take lessons from Trump because he will take it to a new level unheard in America since the political bosses ran the conventions from back rooms making deals that decided American Politics. 

Talk back, I'm listening. If you disagree, say so but this is how I see America under President Trump with a Republican Congress that is willing to give him what he wants in return of giving them what they want.