People take such liberties these days, don’t they? Yeah, I know I sound like I’m going into a “back in my day” rant, but it really does seem to me that the meaning of “free speech” has somehow gotten skewed. Free speech means that one is free to say whatever they want, yeah. We have the legal right to speak, as long as it’s not to falsely malign or spread hate. But it’s a legal right, not a moral one.
Used to be that people were polite. Then again, it used to be that people spoke face to face, or at least over the phone. These kids with their technology, they hide behind their screens in their dark little basement rooms and say whatever they want and damn the consequences. It ain’t right, I tell ya! It just ain’t right.
Drommen sits at the window. A light shines on him from above and he stands and addresses the audience.
Drommen:Hello. (steps into the aisle, resting a hand on the back of the seat) What if none of this is real. What if I am just the fantasy of a writer. An author in a crisis of identity. What would the outcome be.
Drommen takes a seat and stares out the window as the overhead light dims. Holly approaches.
Holly: Hey! How are you? Long time no see!
Drommen:(looks up and smiles) Well, hi there. Have a seat.
Holly:(sits) How have you been?
Drommen: Oh, not bad. My sister Francine moved in with me, but apart from that nothing much is new. How about you?
Holly: Everything’s great! The baby is due in a few months. No sign of Mr. Fangs or my ex, so things are fantastic. And I’ve got you to thank for it. (nudges him) So what was it you wanted to show me last time?
Drommen:(frowns) I was going to ask you if you’d mind if I masturbate.
Holly: (smiles) Go ahead! I’d love to watch.
Drommen: But now I’m a little reluctant.
Holly: Why is that?
Drommen: Well you see, I’ve got all these other people watching now, and I’m not sure I can do it.
Holly: Performance anxiety?
Drommen: Precisely.
Holly freezes. A light shines from above and Drommen stands and addresses the audience.
Drommen: And there you have it. I’m Jake Drommen, and this is the Bus Stop Zone.
It’s Monday once again and time for your Monday Just Jot it January prompt. As I write this Sunday night, I see in the forecast that we’re supposed to get freezing rain all day tomorrow. Which means no school. Which means Mom gets to play Monopoly all day. I can feel the love already. What fun! Here’s your prompt:
Your prompt for January 22nd, 2018, brought to you by the friendly and nautically inclined Capt Jill, is “Liberty.” Use it any way you’d like in your post. And make sure you visit Jill at her blog, “Capt Jills Journeys” to read her post and say hi! Here’s her link: https://captjillsjourneys.wordpress.com/
Here are the general rules to follow for Just Jot it January:
1. Just Jot It January starts January 1st, but it’s never too late to join in! Here, we run on the honour system; the “jot it” part of JusJoJan means that anything you jot down, anywhere (it doesn’t have to be a post, it can even be a grocery list) counts as a “Jot.” If it makes it to your blog that day, great! If it waits a week to get from a sticky note to your screen, no problem!
2. I’ll post the daily prompts at 2am my time (GMT -5), every day except for Saturday’s Stream of Consciousness (SoCS) prompt–you’ll find that one on Friday morning at 9:30am. That daily post (i.e. this one) will be where you leave your link for others to find in the comment section. There will be a prompt for every day except Wednesday, when the prompt is simply my One-Liner Wednesday.
3. As long as your blog is on WordPress, you’ll be able to link via pingback. To execute a pingback, just copy the URL from the daily prompt post, and paste it anywhere in your post. Check to make sure your link shows up where you want it to, and go back occasionally to see other bloggers’ entries – the more you visit others, the more they’ll visit you! If you’re participating from another blogging host, just drop a link into the comment section. Note: The newest pingbacks and comments will appear at the top.
4. Tag your post JusJoJan and/or #JusJoJan.
5. Write anything! Any length will do! It can even be a photo or a drawing – you’re going to title it, right? There’s your jot!
6. The prompts are here both to remind you and to inspire you to write. However, you don’t have to use the prompt word of theday. You can link any kind of jot back here. Note: If it’s 18+ content, please say so in a comment with your link or close to your pingback.
7. If you’d like to, use the JusJoJan badge so that others can find your post more easily.
Am I the only one who’s getting an influx of spam from Outlook e-mail accounts? About half of them are getting through the spam filter, and if I had to estimate, there have been sixty or seventy in the last couple of days. I don’t want to turn off the option to let people who aren’t WordPress users comment on my posts, but this is getting ridiculous. And they’ve started swearing–and threatening to touch me, too! Here’s the last message I sent to spam:
F*ckin’ amazing issues here. I am very happy to peer your article. Thanks so much and i am looking ahead to touch you. Will you kindly drop me a mail?
That was on one of my Second Seat posts. What the bloody hell?
Ah, silence. It’s something I experience very little of during the day. I’m very quiet most of the time, but there’s always something going on in the next room, cars going by outside, and all the other noise that generally goes on in the background, in a house in a suburban neighbourhood.
Quiet–mainly the lack of motors–is why I love the country. Birds chirping I can handle. Leaves rustling in the breeze and waves lapping the shore are like music to my ears.
I don’t need complete silence. I need nature. Yeah.
Awesome article on how far we’ve come in regards to feminism. From one of my oldest and dearest friends here on the blogisphere.
Comments here are closed. Please click on the original post.
You know, a couple of generations ago, women were struggling to find their place in society. We struggled to emerge from predominantly being the keepers and managers of our homes and families to join the work force and be accepted more regularly in fields that were saturated with men. We were struggling with the choice to accept our current roles in the home or to evolve into something more. Something that equaled our partners.
And then once women were seen more and more in the workforce we struggled with being heard. With feeling like our ideas and theories and methods were not only as valid as our male counterparts, but perhaps sometimes superior. And then we struggled to be compensated equally for equal contributions. And we still struggle with that today.
So no, feminism for me doesn’t have anything to do with how many women hold this office or that…
It’s Sunday today, so Just Jot it January is back with our regular daily prompts again. I’m not sure what I did yesterday, but I twisted my knee and when I sat down, it felt like I tore something. I’m falling apart! And just in time for my birthday tomorrow. That’s it! I’m blaming it on my birthday. Hehe. Here’s your prompt:
Your prompt for January 21st, 2018, brought to you by the wonderful and talented Willow, is “Silence.” Use it any way you’d like in your post. And make sure you visit Willow at her blog, “Willowdot21” to read her post and say hi! Here’s her link: https://willowdot21.wordpress.com/
Here are the general rules to follow for Just Jot it January:
1. Just Jot It January starts January 1st, but it’s never too late to join in! Here, we run on the honour system; the “jot it” part of JusJoJan means that anything you jot down, anywhere (it doesn’t have to be a post, it can even be a grocery list) counts as a “Jot.” If it makes it to your blog that day, great! If it waits a week to get from a sticky note to your screen, no problem!
2. I’ll post the daily prompts at 2am my time (GMT -5), every day except for Saturday’s Stream of Consciousness (SoCS) prompt–you’ll find that one on Friday morning at 9:30am. That daily post (i.e. this one) will be where you leave your link for others to find in the comment section. There will be a prompt for every day except Wednesday, when the prompt is simply my One-Liner Wednesday.
3. As long as your blog is on WordPress, you’ll be able to link via pingback. To execute a pingback, just copy the URL from the daily prompt post, and paste it anywhere in your post. Check to make sure your link shows up where you want it to, and go back occasionally to see other bloggers’ entries – the more you visit others, the more they’ll visit you! If you’re participating from another blogging host, just drop a link into the comment section. Note: The newest pingbacks and comments will appear at the top.
4. Tag your post JusJoJan and/or #JusJoJan.
5. Write anything! Any length will do! It can even be a photo or a drawing – you’re going to title it, right? There’s your jot!
6. The prompts are here both to remind you and to inspire you to write. However, you don’t have to use the prompt word of theday. You can link any kind of jot back here. Note: If it’s 18+ content, please say so in a comment with your link or close to your pingback.
7. If you’d like to, use the JusJoJan badge so that others can find your post more easily.
Occupational hazards are present in every job, it seems. I mean seriously, you would think staying at home working on a computer in your pajamas has to be the safest thing you can possibly do. Apparently not. I need to get up and move occasionally. And the eyes! They’re at risk as well unless I look away from the screen regularly. I suppose that’s true of many desk jobs, though. Even ones that aren’t performed in one’s pajamas.
Companies should have pajama days, don’t you think? Casual Fridays have been a thing for many years, but what about designating a day of the week, or even a day of the month, so people can go to work as though they’re shopping at Wal-mart? Oh, and especially if you work at Wal-mart, though that would be more of a dress-up-like-the-customers day.
Not sure why I’m picking on Wal-mart, though. I see people walking around in their pjs in the grocery store, around the mall … hell, even I ran out to the bus a couple of months back to hand Alex something he’d forgotten for school, dressed in my sleep clothes. (“Sleep clothes” is what I call them in sign language – it’s managed to translate to English nine times out of ten in my house.)
Speaking of sleep, my Saturday Second Seat on the Right series post will come out at 11:58pm my time–hopefully I’ll be sleeping (what a segue!)–and then Sunday’s Second Seat post will appear at 12:01am, just three minutes later. If you’re a regular reader, don’t miss them! It’s kind of a two-parter. Could I call it a bi-parter? Because then, if it had eight parts, I could call it an octo-parter …
This post full of sleep-clothes madness is brought to you by Just Jot it January …
