Block Head

Filed Under All Posts, Christie Healey, Work | 6 Comments

Christie Healey has an “arid condition” and she’s trying all sorts of ways to remedy the situation.

When I first started to write a lot of people recommended Natalie Goldberg’s book Writing Down the Bones. It’s a marvelous entry into writing that helps you free the writer within. Of late I think I have not only freed the writer within, but she wandered off and didn’t leave a note. The eternally effervescent Connie Stetson has described my arid condition as “blog clog.”

Now people say that writing is not easy and if it were everyone would be doing it. Well, as far as I can tell, everyone is doing it. Blogs abound, they spill out every time I check my email. People are writing about everything all the time, putting together interesting, funny and provocative collections of words. And I sit here struggling to find something to say. I set off down a story path and within a matter of 70 words or so, I become aware of an increasing pressure on my forehead. What is it? It’s the literary version of a dead end, up against a stonewall of the imagination, no way out, no thread to pick up, the string has run out. I go back to the start to see if I can find another path. Read more

Is That a Rock in Your Pocket?

Filed Under All Posts, Christie Healey, Miscellaneous | 5 Comments

Apropos of nothing, I want to share a few stories that tickle my mind.

Is That a Rock in Your Pocket?

A chimpanzee at a Swedish zoo has been planning. Those who know (?) say that animals are not capable of planning for future events; they work more on instinct and spontaneous action.

Previous chimp spontaneity has included throwing pooh. This chimp, Santino, shuns bathroom humor. Each day before the zoo opens he calmly gathers rocks from around his enclosure, carefully stacking them in pre-selected spots. He even watches for places in his compound where the concrete is crumbling so he can gently knock on the loose parts and gather more rocks. Later in the day when an audience has gathered, he launches his missiles. He has terrible aim, so no one has been seriously injured. All the people I know who have heard of the Rockin’ Chimp immediately express their total support for his actions. I wish Santino could get into spring training and develop a good breaking fastrock. Read more

What, Me Worry?

Filed Under All Posts, Christie Healey, Politics | 12 Comments

I think I tend to be more Alfred E. Neuman than Pollyanna.  I like the hefty dose of self-delusion with a side order of mischief.  Mad magazine’s iconic celebrity has yet to meet his reality equal, if you don’t count George W. Bush.  Actually, I don’t think GW can count.

We are all worrying too much these days.  Take a leaf out of Alfred E.’ s book.  Lighten up, stop listening to the news, stop wondering if the stock market could go lower, listen to Rush Limbaugh and laugh, laugh, laugh!

If you can’t stop worrying, then at least be selective about the things you are going to grieve over.  I heard Oliver Sacks on NPR the other day.  He has certain fixation problems, so he decided to reduce his worries.  He chose to stop worrying about what he was going to eat.  He has the same thing for dinner every day: tabouli and sardines.  Presto, no more agonizing, worry reduced.  He told a visually exotic tale about when his daily diet was kidneys and his butcher misheard and gave him 22 lbs of the slithering purple things instead of 2 lbs.  He made his way through about 15 lbs before developing a lifelong aversion. Read more

That Was So Much Fun, Let’s Do It Again

Filed Under All Posts, Christie Healey, Humor, Work | 12 Comments

I recently joined Facebook at the urging of two friends. I am quite bemused by this social network, and the comments people post: E wants to know if B is awake, M has changed his profile photo, B confirms he is awake but that it’s not the world’s business. I have ceased striving to find meaning.

Recently former colleagues from Chrysalis Artists/Records/ Music have found me on Facebook. There’s a 40^th reunion in the planning stages. We are trying to meet up sometime this year before we are all too gaga to remember why.

I joined Chrysalis when Swinging London was in full swing, although how a shy girl from the industrial Midlands came to be part of a white-hot music scene is still a bit of a mystery to me. Read more

Fifty is the New… Barbie!

Filed Under All Posts, Christie Healey, Miscellaneous | 16 Comments

Yes, that impossibly long-legged perky gal turns 50 in March.  Love her or hate her she has, like us, changed with the times and stood the test of time too. I know everyone has a Barbie opinion so let’s have ‘em. Oh, and don’t forget Ken.

The More Things Change…

Filed Under All Posts, Christie Healey, Group Posts | 5 Comments

 

The more things change, the more things stay the same.  My mother could muster an old saw for every occasion and this was one of her favourites. I have probably inherited a little of this annoying trait.  Change has been in the air and in everyone’s mind a lot lately and this phrase (and my mother’s voice) has been running through my mind constantly.

Do things really appear to change and then end up staying the same?   Well, if one is intent upon only creating the appearance of change, then my mother’s comment will have a certain truth to it.  I waited years for my late husband to change (being late was one of the things I waited for him to change).  Then I woke up one day and realized it was me who had to change.  So I did.  I changed my attitude, the locks on the doors and my marital state.  Things were not the same afterwards. 

Women go through “the change.” Men do too, but we haven’t been able to make them feel comfortable enough to openly discuss it yet.   Read more

With Hope, Good Morning America

Filed Under All Posts, Christie Healey, Politics | 12 Comments

Winter has stilled us on the tundra and once again we have made the news with -5 as a daily high and wind chills resembling basketball scores. I propose a new state slogan, “Minnesota—we live here so you don’t have to!”

This winter is as inhospitable as the economic times, but we have a presidential inauguration to lighten and warm our hearts. January 20th is the dead of the season and a time that makes us all a little more quiet and reflective. We have time for poets in the winter. There may be other countries that commission poets to bring their special language songs to national ceremonies, but I cannot think of one at the moment. Four poets have held us in their thrall at a presidential inauguration; the first was Robert Frost in 1961 for President Kennedy.
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