Even Believers are Hating Each Other

Facebook breaks my heart. It has become a house of outrage, opinions, and hate. What makes it heart-breaking is that these things are coming from the hearts and minds of people who profess to be lovers of God. They are at war with one another. Saying “delete me” if you don’t like my words. It’s ugliness, and they claim to state their opinions and their angry speech for God and because of God.

Y’all … stop and think. Please. About the bigger picture.

What God is outraged about is hate and ugliness of the human heart. In all it’s forms and in His people. Hate the sin, not the sinner. He will use the leaders of the land to move His will forward, no matter who they are! His will is not reliant upon a Trump or an Obama.

God’s Will is that believers spread LOVE and the GOSPEL. His Will is reliant upon Believers spreading love, grace, and mercy! But, even in that, the Scripture says that if we don’t cry out for God, nature will.

We should, as believers, be outraged at the devil for the chaos he is creating and reveling in right now. It is the Devil doing all of this! It is the Devil! He is real, and he is laughing his ass off at all of this chaos! That should OUTRAGE believers!

I just watched the Black police chief in St Louis break down because 4 of his officers were shot last night and are in the hospital. He cried, can we just make sense of all this? Calling for peace. This is utter chaos. Chaos that the Devil is puppet mastering! He is the author of hate, anger, racial problems, ageism, sexism, just ugliness in all of its forms. Pride. Greed. Selfishness. Disparity between believers of God.

For so long, I heard people say Obama was the anti-Christ. Now, it is Trump who apparently holds the tickets to hell. There were horrid things said about the Bushes, Clinton’s. Ronald Reagan. The world didn’t end under any of them, because God is in control. Shame on believers for giving political leaders more power in their hearts and minds than they give to the greatness and plans of God. He will accomplish HIS will despite us.

God wants as many to come to him as possible before he sends Christ back to this earth to get those who have called on His name.

That is truth. That is what believers are to be about. We are to be about fighting the devil with the LOVE of God. We are to be sitting with people and having conversation. Serving people. Showing kindness. It is not ours to seek vengeance or to shout about how we are mistreated. Jesus did not do that. He ate with prostitutes, tax collectors, and sinners. He showed love to Samaritans, who were despised by the Jews. He chose Saul/Paul to be a changed man to spread His love. He did not even “unfriend” Judas.

Maranatha, Lord Jesus. May we band together as believers to win the world for God’s love, grace, and mercy! Micah 6:8 is the verse for today … “He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”

Bereft

Today I came across ugly words on social media between people I love.  People who have held a spot in my heart in the last twenty years of my life – we went to church together, we did life together, we believed in Jesus together.   We cried together.  We laughed together.  But today … what I read between them, broke my heart.

Anger over the President’s words today – one calling him a dictator for his strong commands to the country’s governors.  The other saying, we need to see the truth of the situation for what it is.  Two opposing sides, but both having professed to love Jesus in my own personal past.  And I sat back stunned at the ugliness of the words in the exchange.

I shouldn’t be stunned though.  That’s humanity.  And bereft of Jesus, that is what we become.  Ugly.

This post was written in June of 2020.

ALL is an Ugly Word

The problem is lumping people into groups. Generalizing. Saying things like …

All white people are racist

All Republicans are Deplorable

All Democrats are out of their minds

All black men are dangerous

All cops hate black people

None of those statements are true. Not one. I scroll Facebook and Instagram and see the posts of friends and family, and what I read hurts me deeply because of the blatant lumping of people into ALL groups. It is wrong, and I do not understand it.

People, we are ALL human and unique. Stop labeling ALL white or black or cops or political party or age group as ONE thing. It is inaccurate. It is wrong. It perpetuates the problems we see all over the news.

I just don’t understand. I watch the news, read posts, and find myself baffled at so many things.

The hatred of the President is another thing that I cannot grasp. I understand disagreeing with words, policies, etc, but the hateful rhetoric is childish and helps no rational debate. Attacking the person is a logical fallacy, and it is manipulative language used to stir anger rather than create constructive discourse wherein change can actually occur.

It’s only 9:35 a.m. and the ALL lumping language and hate speech I’ve read this morning has me feeling reflective, confused, and sad. Perhaps unless WE (I almost said YOU but I have to include myself) have been in someone’s shoes, done their job, walked their pathway, experienced their pains and sorrows, gotten a grasp of the why of their beliefs, and therefore, have the “right” to be judge and jury, perhaps, maybe (facetious word) we should be respectful of all persons, be listeners, be conversational, and be … well, be loving.

Love your neighbor as yourself.

That is the vehicle for change. “Be the change you wish to see in the world.” – Gandhi

I’m adding “All” to “never” and “always” in my “ugly” word bucket. Just saying.

Does the Story Change if They’re Black?

Since when does a protest get to equal destruction of property, trashing of city blocks, looting of stores, and vandalism without consequence? I’m watching buildings burning on the news, and my heart goes out to the owners of those businesses, just like it did during Ferguson days. I worked in Berkeley, Missouri at that time – next to Ferguson. What happened there that you saw on national news, happened in Berkeley, in Jennings, along HWY 70 through St. Louis, but it’s called ‘Ferguson.’ I saw Ferguson and the other areas rebuild after the riots, saw the communities pull together to help each other recover from the rioting done by people who largely did not live in their areas at all. People taking advantage of an opportunity to get away with bad behavior. Newsflash! Protesting does not equal a right to destroy!

Peaceful demonstrations are our right in this country. Peaceful. The right to protest, speak freely, band together with like-minded individuals in support of a cause. Start petitions. Have speeches. Change laws. Be aware. Get involved in politics for the good! Fight for justice the right and lawful way! Much like the example set by Dr Martin Luther King, Jr for us ALL!

There is no justice in looting Target. There is no justice in burning down businesses that are community member’s livelihoods – 16 of them! Trashing streets. Burning cars. Trashing cash registers with hammers to steal money! Throwing things at police. Capitalizing on the chaos. What I see on the news is tragically distracting from the George Floyd story. Now, it is just a mob mentality destruction vendetta serving no purpose that I can understand! You loot Target because you’re angry at a criminal action, and it doesn’t make sense to you that that perpetuates criminal action at your own hands! It’s a vicious, irrational cycle! This does not help! It does not change a narrative! It makes it worse! People are getting hurt! Their livelihoods lost! They are innocent! Should they then have the right to go to the rioter’s homes and trash and burn them? Good grief! No! People!

What happened to George Floyd is evil. It is wrong. The officers involved deserve swift punishment for this murderous act – whether it was all of their actual knees or not! One knee and three other officers just standing around. Doing nothing! It is wrong. It is disgusting! It is heart-breaking. It CAN begin a narrative that must take place!

Racism exists – and it must be addressed!

But … rioters, what you are doing is damaging that! You are hitting back at criminal action WITH criminal action! It detracts from the conversations that need to take place! We need to be discussing love and kindness and understanding in an honest way … but you, this rioting, promotes MORE hatred! Don’t you see that? It’s like trying to fight a fire with gasoline! It just burns hotter and bursts out of control! That cannot be contained without drastic action!

And … the media making George Floyd’s death into a political firestorm frenzy … SHAME ON YOU. I just watched a black woman on the news justify the rioter’s behavior because black people have a right to their protests! OMG! Is that not a racist thing to say? She was angry that police were there with guns and rubber bullets and in riot gear, because they only showed up that way because it was a “black” protest! Basically, she’s giving license to “black” people to burn down businesses, loot, steal, destroy neighborhoods… because it’s their right to protest. Is she saying that only black people riot in such a way? It’s not true! There are young folks of all colors running those streets causing destruction. Is she saying it is okay to act destructively when angry only if you’re black? Lady! THAT (destructive behavior) is why the police were in riot gear! I am BLOWN away by this. It makes NO sense to me! Zero.

Despite all of that … I am angry at George Floyd’s death! It was murder. And justice needs to be swift. Do I think race played a factor in it? Yes, I do. That is what my gut tells me. Was I in those officer’s heads? No. I wasn’t. But, a man is dead. A knee was in his neck for far too long, and it killed him. Why was the officer’s knee in his neck in the first place? Who does that to anyone?!?!? It is unconscionable! He was handcuffed and there were multiple officers on scene! It is wretched and tragic. Punishment is deserved! I pray the DOJ does justice by George Floyd’s family and friends in a swift way.

Because of the strong potential that George’s death was racially motivated …. a big conversation needs to take place and it needs to keep going until every person has been faced with the realities of prejudice and racism, sexism, ageism – all the isms! And it is happening among many people! On Facebook, I’m reading those conversations. I’m hearing people talk while out and about! Honesty. Hurt. Healing. Let that be your protest!!!!! Talk! Rational talk!

Be honest about hidden racism and hate and fear and prejudice! Be open to learning about others and stretching yourself to step outside of comfort zones! Learn new things, new cultures, new vocabulary! New stories! This applies to everyone of every color! It’s not just “white” people who need to learn about “black” people. It goes every which way! My brain gets so bamfuzzled at labeling entire groups of people as one thing or another! It makes NO sense to do so! There is no way you can say ALL WHITE PEOPLE THIS, ALL YELLOW PEOPLE THAT, ALL BROWN PEOPLE THIS, AND ALL BLACK PEOPLE THAT. All Democrats this. All Republicans are deplorable. That thinking is stupid and it is divisive. Rampant. I understand that, but it is stupid. No, ignorant is a better word. Without knowledge. Ignorance abounds! And what is scarier than ignorance is the people who race bait … using their crafted words to incite hate and stir up riots to get ratings and spotlight. Disgusting.

We are none of us in any group all one thing.

There are 320 million people in this country, and we are ALL different. We are each one UNIQUE! And … We have to live together. We have to work together. We are all HUMANS. We have to stop looking at skin color! My God, we all bleed the same! Cut us open, and the color of skin does not matter!

We all hurt. We laugh. We work. We love. We die. We are all created with talent and purpose! We are all children of God! Made in His Image! We have been given clear rules for relational living that leads to peace. But, like petulant children, we want to do it our own way … and, well, it’s like this:

One day when my daughters were 16 and 14, they were fighting in the kitchen – my kitchen. Catty fighting. Exhausting fighting … that mess where no one is listening to the other, just a pissing match to see who can be louder, scratch the hardest, inflict the most pain, pull the hair the hardest. I reached my done point with their chaotic protesting of one another’s very existence beyond just being a variant of pestilence sent by demons to inflict suffering upon their very lives (such drama). Stepping between them, I announced, “All I know is that neither one of you is loving your neighbor as yourself!”

Mom out. Drop the mic.

They both looked at me like I was insane, but the fighting stopped. Funny … you just can’t argue those words. It’s not funny though. It’s just the truth. Love your neighbor as yourself. Those are Jesus’ words when he was questioned about the most important commandments. He said, Love God and Love Your Neighbor as Yourself. Simple, but because of our petulance, somehow these simple ideas are the hardest to live by. We isolate. We choose ignorance. We fear. We hate. We jump to bombastic conclusions. And Target gets destroyed.

We need a big Come to Jesus moment in this country! 320 million people. Each one important. Each one valuable. Each one beautiful. Each one needing love. Each needing education about others. Each one needing to hear good stories about others. Here’s a story for you:

Yesterday I needed to get out, just to be somewhere other than home if even just a little while … the Salvation Army Thrift Store always calls my name in situations like that … so, I acquiesced, and shopping I went. I particularly enjoy the Salvation Army store on 71st because they play Christian music, and I tend to think it is Karaoke hour and sing along while perusing rack after rack of clothes.

The store was full of folks having the same mindset as me … get out and have some “normalcy” … so, there I was and they were, and the shopping was good. At the dresses, I picked up a dark brown dress to observe it closer. “Put that back!” I heard a woman’s voice, and I looked up. She was smiling at me. “It doesn’t go with your hair! Don’t wear that color! It’s not right for you!” I laughed, said, “Ok,” and I put it right back on the rack. Conversation ensued. I couldn’t help myself. She was fun. Probably in her 60s, but the smile was bright and energetic. Youthful.

She introduced me to her sister-in-law with whom she was shopping. Well … former sister-in-law, she informed me as she laughed and said she didn’t keep the husband, but she kept his sister! I laughed. Said I have one of those too. The three of us continued to shop, all of us commenting on each other’s choices; it was a hoot! Apparently, I can only wear jewel tones and black because of my white hair. They’re not wrong. We picked out snazzy dresses for their saucy “older” lady selves too.

After a while, we went separate ways … I ventured to pants and capris, while they went to housewares. After I made my purchase and headed towards the front door, I came upon the dresses ladies near the exit. Both of their carts were piled sky high with clothes and couch pillows. I said to the woman with the amazing smile, “Thank you for shopping with me today!” She insisted on looking in my bag to make sure I made only smart choices in my colors! Ha! Okay, so I let her, and she exclaimed how proud she was of me. I laughed and said, it was all because of her. She said, “You’re too pretty to wear wrong colors!” I left with a huge smile on my face and a warm heart. What a lovely time in one of my favorite places.

Does my story change if I say they were black?

It shouldn’t.

The “Where is the Love” Link is below … Thank you, Black-Eyed Peas for such an amazing song.

https://youtu.be/WpYeekQkAdc

My Picture Isn’t As Pretty As Hers, but the Results are the Keto-Rocks Same!

Since starting Keto, I have not had a single Mr. Goodbar.  As a matter of fact, I’m pretty sure by this time, it would taste over-the-moon sweet to me, and I’m not down with that idea despite how often I look longingly at the yellow bars lying near the check-out stands at most every store, convenient or otherwise.  One time I picked it up to inspect the carb content of a single bar … 40g.  There are 40g.  In my 20g of carbs or fewer days of living, there is no way on this planet that I will spend my 20g backward.  I’m like a miser or Scrooge when it comes to spending my carbs wisely.  I like losing weight.  I like how my body feels on this marvelous journey called Keto.  That does not mean that I do not still have some variant of a sweet tooth.  I’ve had to get creative in my spending and tasting.

Fortunately, this lovely woman named Kasey Trenum and her Keto Peanut Butter Mousse both exist.  On Facebook I follow a couple of different Keto groups.  Kasey’s recipes pop up often.  I find them easy and delicious, and this one, in particular, I need to share.  Peanut Butter Mousse … or Fluff … or Fat-Bomb.  Whatever title you want to give it, it satisfies the sweet-craving quick.  It is so rich, I can only eat a couple of spoonfuls at a time, and I find I am fully satisfied.  What started me writing about its awesomeness today was I made myself a small bowl and topped it with some sugar-free Cool Whip.  Have mercy! So delicious.  A total of about 4 carbs for my sweet, little snack.  Well worth the expenditure of carbs today – and I can move on.

Kasey Trenum’s Photo of the Keto Peanut Butter Mousse:

peanut butter fluff in a jar with chocolate chips

My photo of the Peanut Butter Mousse … yes, it’s there under the Cool Whip.

 

Thank you, to Kasey Trenum!  You are a life-saver.  You make Keto great fun to accomplish.   So much yumminess in recipe after recipe.  I’m ever-grateful and satisfied.

Christian Cooper – Today’s Hero in My Unsolicited Opinion

Earlier today I sat stunned, frozen in place, watching the news replay the clip of Amy Cooper crying into her phone on a 911 call that a black man was threatening her and her dog.  Anger burned in me at the audacity of her words and her fake cry which was to convey fear as to hurry the police to her ‘rescue.’  She was in no danger from Christian Cooper.  Zero danger. In fact, she was the one in the wrong in the situation. The words “How dare you!” raced through my mind.

Not just “How dare you!” regarding her filthy lies, but “How dare you!” because there is enough damage needing to be repaired already in this world.  There is enough hatred.  There is enough fear.  It is insurmountable as it stands before Amy Cooper and her blatant racism, which she now claims is not racism … but, Amy, it was.  It is.  And it is based on fear and ignorance – yours and that of so many other people walking around in this world.  What you have accomplished today is deepen divides that needed no further spreading.  Far too many people walk around content, even glorying, in their ignorance of the beauty of our colorful world.  Instead, they skulk around afraid of anything different than themselves and hate it, content in their willful ignorance, and not aware of how that fear and complacency manifests itself in true racism and prejudice.

“I am not a racist,” Amy told CNN today.  “I think I was just scared.”  Not fear, I say.  It was the manifestation of her internal fears, ignorance, and beliefs.  The inner trappings of her mind spurred forth in that moment of ‘fear,’ where she thought by crying into the phone falsehoods about an innocent man who called her out for her own disregard of law would somehow save her and make her ‘innocent’ … because he was black.   She made a decision to call the police and to lie – ‘frantic’ is what I read in one article.  She ‘frantically’ called the police.  It is obvious when she called … it was fake fear.  Again, I say, “How dare you!”

To Christian Cooper, I say, thank you for having your phone camera ready.  Thank you for safeguarding yourself against that unwarranted hatred and injustice.  Mostly, I want to say ‘Thank you’ because of your words today as reported by ABC News.   You said, “It’s a little bit of a frenzy, and I am uncomfortable with that.  If our goal is to change the underlying factors, I am not sure that this young woman having her life completely torn apart serves that goal.”  Thank you, for being a man of intelligence and grace … your words made me slow my roll.  I stopped and listened to my own anger in the situation.  I stood as Amy Cooper’s judge and jury alongside so many others.  Yet, Christian Cooper said, “If our goal is to change the underlying factors, I am not sure that this young woman having her life completely torn apart serves that goal.”

He is right, and as I read his words, I remembered myself and what it is that I profess to believe about humanity.  The underlying factors here are the burden of us all.  I hate the term ‘burden’ to describe this, but it is the truth.  Far too many people live bereft of knowledge of the beauty of other people in this amazingly colorful world.  Instead, they walk in fear of what is unknown. Fear and a choice to remain in ignorance.  A choice to exist in hate of the unknown because of that self-imposed ignorance.  Prejudice. Racism. Ageism. Sexism. On and on the ‘ism’s’ can go.

Christian Cooper extended grace today.  Grace is favor bestowed when wrath is owed.  Grace is a foreign concept to many people, especially those walking around bent up in fear and ignorance.  The very concept of showing grace or mercy spikes the hackles of folks who bear hatred as a shield.  All they can muster is a desire for retribution, for wrath, for punishment, for segregation, for delineations of what is ‘pure’ in their own eyes because it matches themselves and causes no discomfort to their own lives, which in turn, might challenge them to grow or change or fail or … gasp, learn.  The truth is, there will never be peace without grace.  There will never be a lightening of the burdens of fear, ignorance, nor hatred without grace and mercy, without taking time to understand this color-filled world is a blessing! God gifted us with each other.

My mantra is, and will always be, found in Matthew 22:35-40.  I do not see how this can be argued or dismissed.  In light of all of the world’s hatred and fear, these words hold the answer.  The very key to grace and mercy is in these words.  The whole mystery of ridding the world of ugliness is contained in six short verses of Biblical text. Yet, the ugly wins again and again … because it is too hard for many folks to admit the words of Jesus might merit hearing and listening to.  Those two things being very different. Hearing and Listening.  It is one thing to hear something – that can often be forgotten, but to listen is to take it in.  To soak in the words, let them find root, and allow understanding to blossom – thus producing change that gushes forth in grace and mercy.

35 One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: 36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”  [Keep in mind here, the ‘experts in the law’ were the religious leaders in the land who hated Jesus, basically because of his ‘hippie’ ways – love, healing, kindness, associating with the ‘lowly,’ and masses of followers.  They, the Pharisees, were determined to trick him into blasphemy or a punishable breaking of an Old Testament Law. They wanted to destroy him.  He was messing with their rule of law, and they were afraid to lose their power over the people.]

37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

Love God. Love your neighbor as yourself.  All of the Law and the Prophets (meaning all of the old covenant – the Old Testament – anything before Christ) hang on those two Love statements.  Everything is rolled up into those two simple concepts.  Jesus broke it down for us all.   Want peace?  Want to walk in grace?  Okay … here’s the recipe.  Love God.  Love people.

This is too hard, apparently, because the world keeps turning on its axis of self which is anchored in ignorance, fear, hate, greed, pride … and the seeds of these are bound up in the perpetuation of racism and all the ‘ism’s.’  Amy Cooper personified it in Central Park.  Her quick jump to fear, and her choice to spew forth disgusting lies … but … all of that ugliness was met by the grace of Christian Cooper’s actions and his words in return, “If our goal is to change the underlying factors, I am not sure that this young woman having her life completely torn apart serves that goal.”

Thank God for a man like Christian Cooper.  May we all be able to walk in mercy and extend grace to those around us who just do not understand simple concepts like love and kindness.  May those of us who can grasp the simplicity of the message of Christ find it without ourselves to show mercy and extend grace to those who are caught up in the lies of ignorance and hatred which are spread down through generations and cast upon unwitting recipients at tender ages, who grow up knowing no better than to be angry and hate-filled, suspicious and quick to jump to violent words or actions.

To those who might read this and want to argue with me my belief in the deity of Christ, that argument is not what I am about, nor am I looking for, and it negates the message here, ‘undermining’ the possibility of an offered solution to the issue at hand.

To change the underlying factors … You can choose to be kind.  You can be a person with an open heart.  You can be a person who sees the beauty in the color-filled world that we call home. You can learn to appreciate the vast amount of culture this world offers.  Life is abundant and beautiful if we but choose to see humanity as a whole – one race of fantastically talented, multipally* intelligent, and exceptionally different beings!

Simply put … love [and appreciate] your neighbor as yourself.

 

*Yes, I used ‘multipally’ … knowingly I did.  It fit my narrative, so I created it.  🙂

 

Resume Writing & Editing – A Challenge and a Thrill

Spent my morning involved in a favorite activity – editing resumes.  Taking a person’s professional information and making it not only visually pleasing but precise and easy to read is something that thrills me. Each time it is a challenge, and it provides a rush to my spirit – an adrenaline kick that what I can do may indeed help the individual achieve their professional goal is AWESOME.

Over the years of my teaching career, I have written and edited hundreds of resumes.  It started at Vatterott College around 2011 when I taught Composition II.  Without all the detail as to the why it began, I started teaching my Comp II students how to edit their own resumes after conducting extensive research into resumes and their production, what the business world needed, and what it wanted.  I desired for MY students to find success after completing their educational journey.  Their resumes needed to look professional and like they were worth talking to/consideration for the jobs they trained for.  So … it began – soft skills training – resume writing and interview skills preparation.

Resumes are a living document.  Therefore, it is best to create one from scratch sans the templates inundating the internet.  To be able to edit – manipulate – per job and add information over time is essential, and a crisp, clean Word document provides that means.

Each job an applicant applies for should have a revised copy of a resume – one that is tailored specifically to the job desired – containing work experience, terminology, and educational experience directly relating to the position the person is applying for.   A template makes this … let’s use the word ‘difficult’ at best.

Keeping each resume labeled with specifics and saved to the computer and an internet drive is important.  In my own personal files, I have multiple copies of my resume, each edited according to the position applied for and labeled according to each opportunity/company name with dates of application/edit.  This is the same for each cover letter, letter of recommendation, and reference sheet.  Having these saved nice and neat in my Google Drive provides the opportunity to work further on my information at any time or place necessary.

So, it’s been an invigorating morning – enjoyable for the simple fact that my ability to edit and write may be the catalyst each of these two wonderful people needed to get the attention/interviews for the jobs they desire.  THAT is cool.  I am grateful to play this part. In lieu of that, I feel compelled to jot down a few (not all naturally – for that would take away the need for my eye and services) items for job seekers to bear in mind as they approach resume writing.

  • Do not put the year of high school graduation on the resume.  Avoid age discrimination.  It is no one’s business how old the candidate is before an interview is scheduled.
  • Do not take that personally.  If you had job-applicable activities/coursework in high school years, then those can be used, just no dates attached.  Bear in mind that the name of the high school attended can also help and/or detract from job seeking.
  • A street address in the header is not necessary.  It is, again, no one’s business where the applicant lives, whether it is rented or owned, etc.
  • Make sure the email address provided is professional.  Don’t use something like … axlrosefan88@whatever.net.  Now, I made that one up.  It would describe me, for sure, and it would give an employer insight into who I might be, but it is not professional.  Stick to the candidate’s name as the meat of the email address.
  • Bullet points are essential.  They make a document easy to read.  Remember that an employer spends an average of 6 seconds scanning a resume for pertinent information before deciding whether to look at the document deeper.  6 seconds.
  • Put all dates on the far-right side of the resume page and in bold print.  Research shows that an employer will look across the top 1/3 of the page and down the right side of the resume before looking into the center or left side.  Have those dates of employment and education stand out!
  • Read the ad well and research the company you are applying for.  Use their terminology and keywords in your resume.  Make the resume ‘match’ their needs.
  • Understand the majority of resumes should be no more than 1 page.  There are instances where a longer resume is required.  Education and ministry are in this category.  But, on the whole, a resume is to be 1 page.  It should contain only the information regarding the candidate that is pertinent to the job being applied for.
  • How can you accomplish that?  Create a LinkedIn page online.  On your LinkedIn profile, house all of your work history, recommendation letters, and important contacts.  At the top of your 1-page resume, post your LinkedIn ID so that an employer will know there is further information to be read concerning your professionalism and abilities.
  • Use crafted verbs.  Each bullet point under job achievements/duties should begin with a new verb.  Do not over-use verbs.  Active verbs are necessary and must be in the proper tense for the job’s dates.  If it is a present position, then verbs should be in present tense.  If it is a past position, ensure that verbs are in past tense.  There are abundant lists of Active Resume Verbs on the internet.  Google one.  Use a thesaurus.  Get crafty.

These are a few suggestions for resume editing and writing.  I cannot give away all of my thoughts.  No, it’s more that I won’t give away more at this time.  When I teach resume writing and cover letter preparation to students, the actual lesson can last 2 hours or longer.  There is a vast amount of information to share and for folks to add to their job readiness arsenals. What a thrill!

Some of my favorite resume editing challenges are when I am presented with a two or three-page (a couple of them have been longer) resume and the candidate says there’s no way I can get it to one page.  Watch me – it will happen.  There is a learned skill involved in manipulating Word and making text comply with what I need it to do.  I have not been bested by a resume yet in this challenge, and the competitor in me will work to ensure that I win.  It’s me against the information, and I am armed with manipulation and word skills.  Bring it on.

It is noon now, and I am charged up, ready to work on another resume.  At the close of each semester, I tell my students I will be available to them for the rest of my life as their own personal resume editor.  Friends, family, folks … come one, come all.  Alas, I don’t have one to work on.  They will come, just not at this moment.  So, I will settle for opening one of my manuscripts and jumping into that sort of editing.  Grammarly Premium and I have work to do on “A Kiss in the Rain.”  Ah … that’s a whole nother blog post.   

 

 

Normal in the Best Way

For the first time in a long time, I am classified as “normal.” This is most exciting! Not that being normal in most senses is anything I wish to gain or adhere to. Normal is just not me when it comes to style, literature, taste in men, food, or my ENFJ personality. I’m a bit on the quirky side with my cowboy boots, concert t-shirts, rhinestones, dusters, crazy white hair, flirtatious spirit, love of motorcycles and tattoos, 6600 Instagram pictures, and a hearty, freely-expressed belly laugh. I say, embrace yourself! Be you! Flash the rhinestones and stomp around in those boots! Wear tons of black and red and big silver jewelry! Eat too many spicy pickles! Take a bubble bath every day! Why be normal? Whatever it is, is not for this girl. Except when it comes to BMI.

My Keto journey began mid-January 2020 at 157 pounds. In September 2019, at a doctor appointment for high blood pressure, I weighed in at 167. That concerned me (and my doctor who pointed out it was time to start paying attention to my Mitral-Valve Prolapse). So, I slowed back on the wine consumption and the Diet Dr Pepper intake, dropping 10 pounds slowly between September and January. My boyfriend and I started the Keto journey together in January. It is now May 21, 2020, and I am “NORMAL.” BMI-wise. The only way I’m content to be normal. Well, my heart. That, it’d be great to have normal and not have to take the daily blood pressure pill. Alas …

But, Y’all … I am in the normal BMI range for my height! It has been years since I existed in this range. Didn’t think I could do it. But … Keto works. I’m a meat and salad girl, so it was an easy lifestyle change for me. Here I am today at 137 pounds, wondering about changing my goal weight. It was 135. Well, goodness, I know that’s coming, so … 130? 125? It was 1996 the last time I fell below 130.

My best friends tried to convince me to start Keto for 7 months before I joined the journey. It seemed unattainable and restrictive in some senses. Pizza and wine being the things I was determined to not give up. But, there are pizza options – like a chicken/mozzarella crust with Alfredo sauce and bacon, and there’s a delightful thing at Marco’s Pizza called the Pizza Bowl! And Vodka has 0 carbs. A little Diet Cherry 7up, and you’re gold. What an adventure this path to “Normal” has been! I am grateful to Lana, Jackie, and Mike for their Keto love and partnership. I am grateful to my daughters for their pride in my striving to be healthy. To my parents for their support in my constant barrage of carb content comments every time they suggest a place to eat. I am grateful for bunless hamburgers. Sonic, you are a blessing. And, to the Black Bear Diner, thank you for the Bacon Cheeseburger Salad. Also, the makers of cream cheese and Sprite Zero and to Hershey’s for sugar-free chocolate chips. I cannot leave out Monkfruit or Kasey Trenum’s online Keto recipes!

Normal feels good. My mind is clear. My energy is up. My allergies are controllable. Keto works for this girl. It is a beautiful thing.

Just messaged my Mike and said, “I’m normal!” To which he replied, “I’m not.” He’s my big, bearded and tattooed love. I replied, “You will be!” (Cause we’re not stopping this train!). He then said … “I’m not normal in the head either! Lol.” Right on! I said, “I don’t want you to be!” His Bitmoji said, “Yay!” Lol. Let’s be ABNORMAL together for the WIN! 🤗

Choose to be a Force for Good at Work

Written on March 11, 2015

Watching “Murdoch Mysteries” – my new Netflix crush – and a disgruntled employee stood ranting about his employer not caring about the employees, only caring about the bottom line, and never giving free beer.  “Get in line” was the sentiment to the question “who might want to harm the boss.” I smirked. This show set in the late 1800’s espouses the same, hamster-wheel behavior of the masses of disgruntled employees in today’s world who think their plight is the worst, their workplace to be the gates of Hades, that the boss doesn’t care. I hear it every day and I bite my lip and continue my work, putting on my smile, showing kindness as often as possible, wishing that all folks could understand the simplicity of the simple phrase … Treat others the way you want to be treated.

More than that too … understand the job is not about you. If you want a job to be about you, be self-employed – do your own thing. Try that, but you’ll soon discover, it’s not about you still. Without customer service skills, you’ll soon find you have no customers.  Customer service skills = it’s about the customer. And there it comes back to treat others the way you want to be treated.

Success at work is understanding your roll in the company – that every position is irreplaceable but every person is replaceable. Understand you are replaceable. 

This I’ve seen multiple times as well. People come and go in a workplace – new faces sitting at old desks. It does not have to be thus. It takes each person pulling their own weight, recognizing the role they play in the function of the company and finding pride in whatever that work might be.  It takes …

Stopping the negativity and the gossip.

Pulling your bootstraps up.

Recognizing no workplace is perfect – as they’re all run by humans who are fallible.

Being grateful to have a job.

Understanding work is what we are created to do.

Serving others is the greatest function of mankind.

Grasping this phrase … it’s not about you.

Theodore Roosevelt said, “Whenever you are asked whether you can do a thing, you say ‘Certainly I can’ and then set about figuring out how to do it.”

It’s really fairly simple. It’s a choice. Choose to be a force for good or not.

The Page Holds My Secrets

Written on March 12, 2015

The Pages Hold My Secrets

To write fiction is to live in another realm wherein the author’s fantasies, wishes, dreams, daydreams, voices in the mind all roam free – experiencing adventure, romance, triumphant endings, and it’s a win for the author as much as the reader once the words reach them.

I know this because it is my story – my books drip with the essence of my soul, my heart, my mind.

The pages hold my secrets … and my tears.

Where they are hidden, I will not tell (at least not now), but know I am in all of the pages. Every character in some way bears the visage of me or someone in my life or someone I want to know – someone I imagine as a part of my world.

Without time to write, I am not complete because I cannot live well without my dreams.

This is the crux of a great struggle for me – as the wife of a self-employed guy, the mother of six ranging in age from 18 to 7, an all-in full-time employee – I race through my days, fall into my bed exhausted, sit and listen to everyone else’s problems, and I rush, rush, rush … all the while my characters prod me, asking when we’ll get to talk again. They tell me their stories want to be told – that in their stories, my story exists. In their worlds, I am free to live as I desire, to love, to explore, to be.

Allison, Morrison, Danielle, Alice, Adeline – in some way, each is a side of me. Sylvia – you’ve not met her yet. Allison loves books, reading, words, poetry, literature, art, familial relationships, belonging. Morrison flaunts, flits, flirts, flies – embracing with fervor all she desires. Danielle hides the deepest parts of herself, afraid to trust, cautious, anxious – wanting to discover her place in life. Alice longs for freedom and adventure, locked up in herself and a life she let happen to her rather than pursue in her own strength. Adeline – strong, assured, embracing life, always vibrant – the future. In each of these women, I exist. And Sylvia … with Sylvia, there is an exploration into that what could have been part of any woman’s heart nearing middle age.

Within their romantic stories, I can say those things that I, as Dacia, would never say – that I keep bottled inside. That right now I’m bursting to write but do not dare. Fiction, how I appreciate you and need to spend more time with you.

The how.  There is the how. Time for the blog – I find. And I think about why I find it easier to write non-fiction … because in those articles I write about that which moves me politically, educationally, spiritually – and despite their personal nature, they do not strip me bare and expose me. I keep covered … I do not write about the romantic notions that move me. In Allison, Morrison, Danielle, Alice, Danielle, Sylvia … my truest self shows.

A couple of days ago, a friend encouraged me to write my deepest, hardest thoughts inside my non-fiction. I can’t – my response.  Translation, I won’t.

One day. But until that time, my stories speak for me – though you might not guess how  … however, if you tried, I could be tempted by Diet Coke AND good reviews to spill my guts.
My books A Kiss in the Rain, The American Queen, For Love of Words, Not Real and Never Will Be, Fauxpocalypse, Not Your Mother’s Book on Being a Mom, Spirits of St. Louis, can be found at/between www.rockinghorsepublishing.com and Amazon.com. I welcome your thoughts and REVIEWS. Without critique, I do not grow or get more bold.  🙂