Feline Warrior

Coretta Scott King dies at 78

Coretta Scott King has died at the age of 78. She had a stroke in August that left her weak on her right side, unable to walk, and barely able to speak.

The wife of assassinated Civil Rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr., Scott King continued to work on behalf of racial equality after her husband’s untimely death. She was the founder of the King Center in Atlanta, GA. According to the Center’s web site, the Center offers a wide variety of programs and services in place to fulfill the organization’s mission of building Dr. King’s “Beloved Community.”

Scott King was born on April 27, 1927 on a farm in Heiberger, AL. She and her siblings picked cotton to help the family make ends meet during the depression, and she was both intelligent and a talented musician. When she met the man who would become her husband, Scott King was a music student at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, where she had received a scholarship to study violin and voice. Dr. King was studying theology at Boston University.

The Kings were married in 1953 and moved to Montomery, AL, where they had four children. Scott King focused her time on raising her children and supporting her husband’s civil rights work. Following King’s assassination in 1968, Scott King led a march through Montgomery, and became a civil rights leader and advocate for peace until her stroke in August of 2005. In the last 10 years, she was particularly attentive to matters concerning AIDS and gun control.

Coretta Scott King is survived by her children, Yolanda Denise, Martin Luther III, Dexter Scott and Bernice Albertine, as well as millions of admirers, fellow civil rights and peace workers around the world.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Photo from The King Center

Bush to anti-abortion activists: ‘We will prevail’ - Yahoo! News

Favorite quote: “You believe as I do that every human life has value, that the strong have a duty to protect the weak and that the self-evident truths of the Declaration of Independence apply to everyone, not just to those considered healthy or wanted or convenient,” Bush told the anti-abortion marchers.

See, there’s a disconnect here. “…every human life has value,” for example. I need some dots connected between the part where healthcare is less available to the poor, yet their “unwanted” children are somehow… well, wanted.

Is it just me? And don’t even get me started on where the value of soldiers’ lives may (or may not) play into this human life = value bit.

A WORLD WITHOUT LOVE

(J. Lennon - P. McCartney)

Please lock me away
And don’t allow the day
Here inside where I hide
With my loneliness

I don’t care what they say I won’t stay
In a world without love…

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Yeah, that’s how I feel right now. Sometimes it just seems like the world is one gigantic ball of anger and hate. I know that isn’t true, and yet… world news… AIDS… wars… us vs. them… blue vs. red… idgits like that Fred Phelps bastard… people arguing over stOOpid stuff, not paying attention to actual problems - fetuses instead of fully formed, breathing children… Just, you know, stuff.

Face Transplant Patient Smokes Again - Yahoo! News

C’mon, lady! Using your new lips for smoking? You couldn’t find anything better to stick in there? (And I am not suggesting naughty things, I’m just sayin’!)

Favorite quote: …they [her doctors] said she has resumed smoking, which besides being bad in general for health is especially a problem after surgery because it impairs circulation to tissues and could raise the risk of rejection.

Study: 7 Percent of Workers Drink on Job - Yahoo! News

I used to drink on the job. Oh, it was a long, long time ago. I found that it helped me to bond with my customers. Oh, and yes, I was a bartender at the time.

This other drinking on the job -that is, people who do not work in bars- is a bit worrisome, and yet not that surprising, either. I had a friend who hated her part time receptionist job, but needed the income, so she kept the job. She also kept a small bottle of Tia Maria in her bag and added the stuff to her coffee throughout the day. By doing this, she felt like she was not only catching a little buzz while at a place she disliked, but also getting over on the man.

The article does not go into reasoning behind the drinking (ie, getting over on the boss, alcoholism, etc.), so there’s no way to know. I’d be interested in the thoughts behind the drinking, frankly. Someone who drinks because he or she has to -an alcoholic- is different than a non-alcoholic who drinks once in a while at a going-away lunch, for example. The person who drinks on the job as an act of defiance needs a different sort of help than the alcoholic.

Here’s the web site for the Research Institute on Addiction at the University of Buffalo.

Hello, dear reader-

I have started and stopped several posts since the last few weeks of December. First I wanted to share in greater detail my joy about graduating Magna Cum Laude (BS) and with High Honors (AS), both in communications.

Then I wanted to share my feelings about leaving West Virginia for a new state, Ohio - the people I’d miss, the networking, and so forth.

After that, I wanted to share about the New Year -Happy New Year!- and all that sort of thing. Rembrances, looking back, oh, even New Years Eves that I don’t remember at all (and not because I wasn’t yet born!).

Next, I feel certain that I wanted to congratulate my spouse and myself for being married 3 years on January 1st. We spent a romantic day hanging pictures in our new house in Ohio.

Most certainly I wanted to address the horrifying mine accident in my former home state of West Virginia - what a tragedy, and how simply awful that there were miscommunications regarding what turned out to be just one survivor.

No doubt I have had thoughts about Ariel Sharon’s strokes - it’s awful, I know, only second-hand because my father has had more than his share of strokes. And it frightens me to think of what might happen in the Middle East.

Oh, and there’s more, I’m sure - job hunting, unpacking boxes, wondering where in the world certain items are, and where I will work when I combine a bunch of plants. You see, I’ve always had quite a few houseplants. But I didn’t realize I had about ten thousand of them until they were all sitting on one table… and then another… and another… and then the floor… and I saw that they needed to be combined. It’s not hard to do, and I enjoy the task, but where to do it? It’s cold outside!

On job hunting- I’m using Monster.com, of course, and The Creative Group which is for freelance folks. I’d love to do web content writing, although from the looks of my blog lately, one might have doubts about that. (But please see Webmaster Consulting where I have done some writing and editing! (Plus you’ll get to see some absolutely beautiful sites via the portfolio page!)

This is difficult, the job search piece. Frankly, I really would like to do freelance writing. But I will probably need to find full time employment in an office where I will have to wear suits and such. Pearls, upswept do’s, shiny shoes, you know what I mean. And I don’t mind that at all. But in just a few weeks, I’ve grown somewhat cozy wandering around the house in jammy-like clothes. That’s all. That and my irrational fear that nobody will hire me. Oy!

Okay, I feel as though I am back on track with this page, so please come back for more of my nonsensical ramblings. Yes, really, please do!