Dot Hatfield

First Person Limited

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Between All Hallows Eve and Christmas

Between All Hallows Eve and Christmas

November 14, 2020 3 Comments

It’s here again. The season between Halloween and Christmas. Which over the years has become a  rather contentious time. Our nation, thanks to social media giving everyone a platform to air their complaints, has become rather quarrelsome.

Each year, immediately after All Hallows Eve, and often before, the stores begin to display Christmas decorations and gift items. The response to this ranges between rage and shopping mania.

The former group seems to resent the rush to Christmas, thinking we will neglect the traditional Thanksgiving holiday.  They feel the world should not begin to experience Christmas until Thanksgiving Day is over.

The latter group begins their usual this-time-of-year buying frenzy. The merchants respond by introducing “Black Friday” earlier and earlier in the season. Black Friday once referred to the day after Thanksgiving when  Christmas sales began. This year, this event will begin around the  middle of the month.

And on social media, we see the eager-for-the-holidays group becoming braver, decorating trees and houses and posting pictures for the world to see. “I’m ready for Christmas and I don’t care who knows it.”

This made me think of a post on this site a few years ago entitled The Taming of the Scrooge.

One morning, after a really bad night, Ebenezer Scrooge said, “I will honor Christmas in my heart and try to keep it all the year through.”

That means that while hunting Easter eggs, popping firecrackers, trick or treating, or even during Thanksgiving dinner, he would experience the joy, love, and wonder that is Christmas.

He would look at the cross at sunrise on Easter morning and think, “Yes, this is what it’s all about.” He would celebrate the birth of our country knowing that God alone gives us real freedom. He would enjoy the happiness and excitement of the children on Halloween, remembering the saints who have gone before us.

I doubt he would be so determined to observe Thanksgiving Day before having anything to do with Christmas that he would stomp into the holiday season with a chip on his shoulder.

He might love it that the merchants in town began early in the season to remind us to prepare for the coming of the Christ Child.

Keeping Christmas all year long. That is really a good idea.

Don’t Worry

Don’t Worry

October 10, 2020 3 Comments

I’m thinking of a song from a few years ago, “Don’t Worry, Be Happy.”

Wow. Wouldn’t you love to do that? Don’t you wish someone today would actually encourage us to have a positive attitude about the world we live in?

But, no. We are encouraged  to worry. We’re told we should worry — about the upcoming election, the pandemic, racism in our country, the environment, the future, fires and hurricanes, and on and on and on.  If we are not actively worrying about these things and constantly posting, liking, sharing on social media there is something wrong with us and somehow we’re not doing our part.

Our entertainment venues are closed, so we turn to the media and watch 24-hour news. We stream the current releases, whose storylines seem to follow all of the above.  The late night ‘comedians’ only regurgitate what we have already heard all day.

We need a break. We need to find a way to lighten up a bit.

In 1918, during the flu pandemic, most theaters and vaudeville houses were closed. But folks found humor in the comic strips: Katzenjammer Kids, Mutt and Jeff, and Krazy Kat.  The Great Depression brought us some of the most delightful lighthearted movies that are classics now: It Happened One Night, The Marx Brothers, The Wizard of Oz.  Red Skelton, Abbott and Costello, and Bob Hope saw us through World War II.

The entertainment industry is missing the 2020 boat.

But we can find our own enjoyment. Turn off the news. Reach out and touch — if only virtually or electronically. Call a friend and determine to NOT talk about current events. Talk about past fun times, talk about your kids or grandkids, talk about the weather. Write a note to someone. Imagine their surprise when they get a piece of mail that’s not a bill or junk. Watch a feel-good movie.  Look through your collection of DVDs.  You can stream Sleepless in Seattle, When Harry Met Sally, or You’ve Got Mail. 

Write Matthew 6:33, (Don’t Worry About Tomorrow) on a 3×5 card — or on an 8½x11 sheet of paper if you need to — and put it on your fridge door, bathroom mirror, television set.

God’s got this. Don’t worry. Be happy.

 

 

Not So Cute After All

Not So Cute After All

September 18, 2020 3 Comments

I know it’s a mistake to review a movie I’ve never seen, so I won’t. But I will review a 30-second clip of the movie “Cuties” that’s been making the rounds. This is the most-watched, most-controversial film currently streaming on Netflix. It’s a pedophile’s dream come true.  At least the clip I saw.

For 30 long seconds I watched a dance troop of bikini-clad 11-year-old girls — children — engage in a provocative dance far more outrageous than the twerking you might see at a Super Bowl half time show.

A video like this, sold over the dark web, would be labeled child pornography. IMO. I have no experience with soft or hard core porn. What I have had experience with, however, is listening to adult survivors of child sexual abuse. Enough to recognize exploitation when I see it.

In most states in the USA, the sexualizing of a child and filming it for sale is a felony. This movie was made in France. So I guess it’s legal to make it available to anyone — regardless of age or status on the Sex Offender Registry.

Who took these innocents and taught them to use their young bodies in such a seductive way? Is anyone looking out for the welfare of these children?

The producer of this movie is guilty of using them for monetary gain, with no thought of how it might harm them.

The director is guilty of teaching these children to portray sex objects.

The girls’ parents are at worst exploitive, and at best clueless. They should make themselves aware of how predators groom their victims. Especially in the entertainment industry.

Netflix should be ashamed.

Netflix stock has fallen and they’ve lost a bazillion subscribers, but they have not pulled this film from their site.  This atrocity is being defended by its makers, and some groups in the USA, as telling a story that needs to be heard (sexual exploitation of young girls).  Their defense: “(This film) is a powerful exploration of the way young girls are . . . encouraged to perform for the male gaze.”

Excuse me? Isn’t this what you just did? You taught these girls to bump and grind to attract lecherous attention? Are these graphic clips really necessary to tell your story?

Would you document the issues around animal cruelty with a film showing puppies being tortured?

The defense of this film is helping to create a whole new ME TOO movement — years from now when these girls come forward to tell their stories.

If this movie were banned and not another person watched it, the damage has been done.  These children were abused.

Not so cute now, is it?

Every Day is Saturday

Every Day is Saturday

September 8, 2020 4 Comments

Before I retired I always looked forward to Saturday, a day usually free of obligations or schedules. Although I am very comfortable with schedules,  I do enjoy the occasional un-scheduled time. Now, post retirement, most of my days are scheduled by me, open to tweaking.

Before June 30, 2020, my most frequently asked question was, “When are you going to retire?”  I was, after all, 20 past being eligible for Social Security. Now the FAQ is “What are you doing since you retired?” or “Are you enjoying retirement?” or “How is retirement?”

The answers are: “Lots of things” “Yes” and “Not what I expected.”

During the last years of my working career, when I thought about what retirement would look l like for me, I expected to spend more time with my friends, go to Bingo each Friday, visit folks who are home bound, read and write more, make pictures albums.  I didn’t plan to spend so much time at home.

But, I’m convinced that is temporary and for now it’s okay. I enjoy the reading and writing I’ve accomplished. I’ve shredded documents that have been stored in the top of the closet since 2000. I have taken two trunk loads to Goodwill.  If I have a sleepless night, no problem. No alarm is set to wake me the next morning.

I have NOT become involved in daytime television. I turn on the TV at 4:30 to watch Jeopardy, after that a little of the local news until I don’t want to listen any more. With the help of Netflix, Prime, and CBS All Access, I have discovered many shows I missed the first time around.

Only one day have I worn PJs all day … almost. After several hours of writing, I took a shower and dressed before sitting down with Alex Trebek.

This past Saturday (in real time) was the annual White County Creative Writers Conference, always a highlight in my year. We weren’t sure we’d make it this year but it happened with all the safety precautions in place and I had the fun of being Contest Chair and handing out awards.

Back to the weeks with 6 Saturdays and one Sunday. What project will I find to occupy my time?

 

Arkansas Writers Hall of Fame

Arkansas Writers Hall of Fame

August 6, 2020 2 Comments

It was a great honor to be inducted into the Arkansas Writers Hall of Fame on Saturday, August 1, 2020.

Thank you, again, to the Arkansas Pioneer Branch of the National League of American Pen Women for this awesome honor.

Thanks also to the Pen Women for hosting the Arkansas Writers Conference each year for the past 76 years. The goal for the event when it was first conceived was to provide learning and networking for writers of all levels. It certainly fulfills it mission.

Here is the video of my  acceptance speech.

I Have Retired

I Have Retired

July 21, 2020 10 Comments

Yes. I’m retired, as of June 30, 2020. I’m trading my desk chair in for a back porch recliner.

This is actually my second retirement. In 2000 I left my position at a crisis center in Nashville, Tennessee, drew my Social Security, and moved with my 10-year old son to a small town in Arkansas where he could live in a neighborhood, ride his bike to school, and we could both be near family. After a  year or so of stay-at-home I decided, for economic reasons, I should work a few more years. I was certainly healthy enough to do that.

I was fortunate to land a job at Wilbur D. Mills Education Service Cooperative about a mile from my house. If you don’t know what an E.S.C. is, you should research it.  They provide an enormous service to Arkansas Schools. I was 67 years old. I can still hardly believe the Literacy Specialist I worked for and came to love and admire, hired a secretary old enough to be her mother.

I had thought the crisis center position was my dream job. I loved supporting therapists who helped victims of crimes.  I was contributing to a worthwhile effort.

But I soon found that being a secretary at the Co-op was a dream job, too. Eighteen years flew by.  Now it’s time for me to call it a career.

I hardly have words to express how I feel.  And I’m a writer!

May I borrow (and paraphrase) words from poet Conrad Aiken?

“Music I heard with you was more than music,
And bread I broke with you was more than bread.”

To my co-workers at WDMESC:

“The work we did together was more than a job, it was a calling. We were more than co-workers, we were family. We laughed together and prayed for each other. Sometimes we disagreed. Often we rolled our eyes. Being at WDMESC was a special time for me and I will always cherish the friendships I made there. I love you guys.

And don’t forget to turn in your schedules.”

Okay. Life of leisure here I come… unless another dream opportunity comes along.

And That’s a Wrap

And That’s a Wrap

March 27, 2020 2 Comments

Thanks to those who played along. Hope you enjoyed the trivia game. Here are answers for yesterday’s quotes:

16. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (Classic last line) 

17. Babe (The one about the pig)

18. Dr. Strangelove (Never saw this movie) 

19. Bonnie and Clyde (The last 3 minutes – a guess – of this film was the ambush on B&C that left them and their car full of holes. This was said by the man who was the bait and they stopped to help.)

20. The Odd Couple  (A pretty cute play that was made into an okay movie and a terrible TV sit com and then a worse one.) 

Thanks again for visiting my blog! 

Five More Grand Exits

Five More Grand Exits

March 26, 2020 1 Comment

Yesterday’s answers to exit lines from the large screen: 

11. Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (one of my favorites)

12. Love Story

13. Animal House (Never saw this movie)

14. On Golden Pond (Another favorite)

15. Back to the Future

Well, this has been fun. Here are the last five questions. Answers tomorrow. Good luck! 

16. For a moment there, I thought we were in trouble.

17. That’ll do, pig. That’ll do.

18. Mein Führer, I can walk!

19. I’ve got a flat tire, and I ain’t got no spare.

20. Boys, let’s watch the cigarette butts, shall we? This is my house, not a pigsty.

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  • Did Anyone Read My Story?
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  • R.I.P. Emma Lou Briggs
  • To Find a Home
  • The Last To Know
  • Every Day a New Day

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