Daily Ditty #23 - Alicia Alonso (or double-dipping a b'day)

Short and sweet. With a mild tone of reprimand.


Today’s the day – your birthday! Enjoy with joy and zest.

I won’t ask you your age though – some folks fail that honesty test.

Case in point: today’s birthday’s (thank you history orb dot com.)

Lots of famous people (Jane Fonda is the bomb)

And here’s Alicia Alonso, Cuban ballerina who was all the rage

Born in 1917, then again in ‘21

A simple error or… fess up, hon -

Are you blushing for all eternity, caught lying about you age?​

Daily Ditty #18 -

A simple little slip of a song today, based on the Civil War classic, when Johnny Comes Marching Home.

My husband is in Dubai again

Hurrah for them.

He’s doing the work of seven men

Hurrah for them.

There’s food in the fridge, clean sheets on the bed

I’ve got earrings on and clean hair on my head

It’s a happy day when

My husband comes flying home.

Daily Ditty #19 - Blind Spot, a/k/a crash and burn lyric-writing

How a Daily Ditty doesn’t come together (in six simple steps).

1) Start with an idea:  a "Blind Spot." (inspired by some parenting or career shortcoming that was on my mind when I woke)
2) Explore the driving/car angle (the verse)
3) Write a chorus that awkwardly tries to bridge from the actual to the metaphoric 
4) Start over. Go with things we don't see involving ourselves, awkward things (fly open)
5) Try to link the mundane/jokey and the meaningful/hokey with a bridge that does… nothing very well.
6) Hear the timer ding 30 minutes and give up

SO totally ripping the curtain away from the Wizard, here goes:

I started by exploring the driving metaphor. It went downhill from there.

VERSE:

Time to pass that slow poke in front of you

So you check the rearview

Glance to the left for a second or two

Start to slide over

When out of nowhere

A horn is blaring

There’s a Volvo bearing down that left lane

You jerk back

Disaster averted

But you are shaking

How could you not see him?

CHORUS:

That blind spot

How did I not see

What was right there next to me?

My blind spot

How do I not see

What is obvious about me

To other folks

This is no joke:

If you love me, shine a light on my blind spots.

STARTING OVER - SECOND ATTEMPT AT A  VERSE:

The toilet paper stuck to your shoe,

Or your unzipped fly.

The skirt tucked into your pantyhose,

Or the ketchup on your tie.

The spinach that spent the day in your teeth

Mascara on only one eye

Things everyone sees

Except you

SECOND BAD CHORUS:

Why won’t anyone clue you in

On what you cannot see?

Why don’t they shine some light

On your blind spot

Do they think it’ll do you in

To see what you need to see?

Take pity on my plight

Shed some light

On that blind spot

USELESS BRIDGE:

What do I not see

That everyone else sees

Plain as the nose on my face?

What do I not get

That everyone else gets

Cause they’re making bets

On the horse that’s not gonna just place

But win

I want to win!

ONE LAST ATTEMPT TO FIND SOMETHING…

Your loved ones are your mirrors

They reveal you from every angle

They don’t let you crash

When there is danger

They don’t act like a stranger

ARGHGHGHGHGHGH

Rules about how to dress - in the US

The Montana Legislature approved new dress-code guidelines spelling out how both women and men should garb themselves. No jeans, no casual Fridays. And women "should be sensitive to skirt lengths and necklines."

Is this really so bad?

Is this really so bad?

"It just creates this ability to scrutinize women," said Jenny Eck, Democratic house member.

Lindsey Grovom - a woman - who drafted the bill, was surprised at the uproar. She said there was nothing overtly sexist about asking professionals to dress like professionals.

You'd think people would have the common sense to dress appropriately. But what is "appropriate" anymore? What do you think?

And what ever happened to the idea of "flattering"?