Since I very much want North Americans to like each other once more, and because I was raised not to namecall, and due to the influence of a college half-semester on LOGIC at UF years ago, and because of wanting to avoid feeling more shame, I pledge to longer reblog or reference any post utilizing the logical errors of MISUSE OF EMOTIONAL LANGUAGE or POISONING THE WELLS, which includes sarcasm. Call me on it if you catch me, and catch me if you can.
A mixed bag
All posts in the A mixed bag category
RACISM part two
Published March 15, 2021 by Nan MykelPrejudice is the attitude that one group of people is in some way inferior to another.
KINDS OF PREJUDICE INCLUDE:
1. Racism – people of color or ethnicity are treated as inferior
2. Sexism – Gender prejudice…Belief that one sex is inferior
3. Ageism – People too old or too young are treated as inferior
4. Classicism – One economic class is seen as inferior to another
5. Homophobia – Belief that LGBTIs are inferior
6. Nationalism – The belief that citizens of one’s own country are superior to all others
7. Religious prejudice – The only prejudice I found written out contained nothing negative cited.
8. Xenophobia – Fear of foreigners
9. Ableism – Those with physical or mental disorders dismissed as inferior
10. Immigrant, Refugees and Gypsy populations – Seen as inferior since “not from here.” Gypsies are one of the most persecuted minority groups worldwide.
11. Political Identity – The belief that members of one’s own political party are superior to all others
Out of curiosity you may want to check yourself for any problems with this topic. For myself, today, I have most difficulty with political prejudice. For example, I feel disrespect for Republicans, and while I have no conscious prejudice against black women, culture has shaped me to have a deep seated fear of black men due in part to a plethora of years of news stories about their criminal activity. Little did I realize that their aggressiveness was exaggerated by the prejudiced media and police of the time.. So one feeds the other. Fear of the unknown is a factor, also. I’ve known personally several wonderful black women, but no wonderful black men, personally…so far. I realize that the men part of black men may also relate to an underlying fear of all men.
Much of this information is from the far-reaching blog theclassroom.com/the.different-types-of-prejudice-12081909.html which contains The Different Types of Prejudice by Parker Janney.
STOP IT STOP IT STOP IT, Nan…
Published March 14, 2021 by Nan Mykel
I do so want to focus on unite and forgive, but then I see someone railing against everyone being able to vote, and I get upset. What balls to say this in our democracy! I wonder if they’ll try and take away womens’ right to vote, too. Retrograde and blatantly unAmerican. This isn’t freedom of speech; it’s blasphemy!
…
last thoughts
Published March 14, 2021 by Nan Mykel
I know not how to live my death
so choose instead to skip it.
When the fan’s click fades I’ll know
it’s time to re-cast the show,
re-write the script –
most of it.
There’s no curtain call this time,
only a re-shuffled cast.
The kids all remain
and Big Ma too.
Perhaps I’ll keep
a teacher or two,
and surrender my role
of playing the shrew.
After, I may
shout out and call,
Adieu my dears, adieu!
As I shove me and my load
out to sea, to see… Nan 3/13/21
Waiting
Published March 13, 2021 by Nan MykelExquisite…
Yesterday and today: Merril's historical musings

A thousand wonder-worries cloud the night—but
play in shadows and in light,
soar in time, moon-drunk, star-dazzled,
as wind whispers to water, flow, live–
and if you dream, recall
the luscious, languid sighs
of pink-petaled branches after the storm,
and the cool-blue smell of sky and air—
waiting
in honeyed sunglow,
watching the diamond spray
of spring rain on ripening buds,
waiting,
for the moment to embrace
color, to heal the world.
My poem from the Magnetic Poetry Oracle. She knows spring is on its way.
RACISM part one
Published March 13, 2021 by Nan MykelThere’s too much to say on the topic, so I’ll just write in small chunks, over several days.
To correct the belief that no one is born prejudiced: the grim fact is for us moderns that evolution gave us millions of years of the unsocial tendency called kin selection, which means that evolution favored maintaining one’s own genetic family line over others’. (Remember all the kin in the white house?)
“People of different races are different. Although we are all one species and quite capable of exchanging genes, the fact remains that members of any race seem likely to share more genes with each other than with individuals of a different race. Physical resemblance almost certainly has some correlation with genetic resemblance, and accordingly, we can expect the principles of kin-selection altruism to operate on this fact.” (David Barash, The Whisperings Within, 1979 p. 153).
“…we’ve got to be carefully taught not to hate others who are different from ourselves, because it may be our biological predisposition to do so…If evolution does incline us to a degree of racial bigotry, that certainly does not mean that such inclinations are justified. What may have been adaptive under the conditions of our early evolution , when groups rarely met and were likely to be strongly competing when they did, is today not only dangerous and stupid and socially reprehensible but woefully maladaptive…We must demand that our cultural institutions, such as education and child rearing, make sure that we are “carefully taught” to love one another. Because, but true, we seem unlikely to do so by ourselves.” (Ibid 154, 155).
P.S. A post has appeared on my website several times showing the supposed enlarged penises of black natives. I wonder if its purpose is to feed competitiveness between men of different races.
Next: The Malleability of Humans’ Attitudes toward outsiders.
I MAY SUE…
Published March 13, 2021 by Nan Mykel
Because I split a gut laughing…at Diane Ravitch’s reblog of
Alexandra Petri and Jessica M. Goldstein of the Washington Post watched Oprah’s interview with Prince Harry and Meghan Markie and they came to a sudden realization: Princesses need unions!
Go to and read, you’re welcome in advance.
Janis Ian – a truth teller with her songs – Keith reblog
Published March 8, 2021 by Nan Mykel
Many women (and men) within ten years of my age will know her immediately for her huge hit which told the unvarnished truth she learned “At Seventeen.” This song spoke to so many as most of us are not blessed with model like looks and effervescent charm. And, when you are not, you face a different set of challenges. Yet, the other part of this “truth” is even when you are born with looks and charm, you need to be able to find and be yourself, because looks don’t last forever, even with Botox. Here are a few lyrics, which ironically were penned by two men, Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff.
I learned the truth at seventeen
That love was meant for beauty queens
And high school girls with clear-skinned smiles
Who married young and then retired
The valentines I never knew
The Friday night charades of youth
Were spent on one more beautiful
At seventeen I learned the truth
And those of us with ravaged faces
Lacking in the social graces
Desperately remained at home
Inventing lovers on the phone
Who called to say, “Come dance with me”
And murmured vague obscenities
It isn’t all it seems at seventeen
…To those of us who knew the pain
Of valentines that never came
And those whose names were never called
When choosing sides for basketball
It was long ago and far away
The world was younger than today
When dreams were all they gave for free
To ugly duckling girls like me
Yet, if you download her body of work or purchase a greatest hits CD, you will find a number of enchanting songs. Once you do, pour yourself a glass of your favorite wine, light a few candles or stoke the fire and listen. Here is an excerpt from “Between the Lines” written by Janis which speaks to how people do not know what to say to each other after the games and banter end.
There’s never much to say between the moments of
Our games and repartee
There’s never much to read between the lines of
What we need and what we’ll take
There’s never much to talk about or say aloud
But say it anyway
Of holidays and yesterdays, and broken dreams
That somehow slipped away
In books and magazines of how to be and what to see
While you are being
Before and after photographs teach how to pass
From reaching to believing
Another one of her classics, is called “Jesse” by Columbier and Michel Jean Pierre, about her loneliness over her lover Jesse’s departure. The pacing of this song is emblematic of her style. She is never in a hurry and she has a voice that soothes, as well as portrays her pain. So, you can find the words amid the tune.
Jesse, the floors and the boards
Recalling your step
And I remember, too
All the pictures are fading
And shaded in grey
But I still set a place
On the table at noon
And I’m leaving a light on the stairs
No I’m not scared – I wait for you
Hey Jesse, I’m lonely, come home
Many people likely do not know Janis Ian. My older brother was the first person who turned me onto her music. She followed in the tradition of similar singers like Joan Baez and Joni Mitchell and a contemporary Phoebe Snow. If I had to find a more current performer, I would liken her to Traci Chapman. But, I think her words and music resonate with people as she would never be considered a glamorous person. In fact, when she walked on stage with her guitar, she came in from one side and walked all the way to the other side and exited the stage. This shyness was characteristic of her and her music. But, as McLean said later about Ian when he came on stage, ‘that little lady can sing her hind end off.”
So, if you do not know her music, you are in for a treat. Every 17 year old girl (and boy for that matter) should listen to “At Seventeen.” If you know her, please use the opportunity to revisit her songs. And, remember the glass of wine and the candles.
Keith Wilson, Charlotte
WHAT I FELT LIKE…
Published March 7, 2021 by Nan Mykel
When I filled out the papers for my second covid vaccination I checked “Female,” and then saw that I was offered the option of “Prefer not to say.” I felt good about the fact that the LGBTI population was being taken into consideration.(The I stands for Intersex, about which I was totally ignorant). I decided if I was ever offered the choice I would check that box, to support those groujps of humans who experience what has been called “medical racism.” I had an eye-opening experience this morning when I visited Intersex and Transgender on Google. The illustration above comes from one of those sites. The articles explain the difference.
Thanks, Hook: Read Across America Day ~ 2021 — By Hook Or By Book
Published March 5, 2021 by Nan MykelSo true–I’m reblogging! Thanks, Shira…
Context, Thought, and Learning: ShiraDest publications Offers Project Do Better

Stories never really end…even if the books like to pretend they do. Stories always go on. They don’t end on the last page, any more than they begin on the first page. ~ Cornelia Funke, Inkspell ~