November 3, 2017 by johannisthinking@wordpresss.com

Love is Magic!

Looking for the good in each person and letting them know that you see that good is an uplifting thing that anyone can do for another person.

Sometimes one small word can help them see into their own soul. You can be a LIGHT to them and bring them out of their darkness and enable the crystal within to shine. I think it is possible to do so with even a complete stranger. As long as you speak the truth, you will help the other. I recall being with my sister and her husband in Missouri, and we made a stop at this antique store. The clerk had the most beautiful blue eyes! I hesitated and then said to him, “Your blue eyes are amazing!” I just thought they were beautiful. Then I left and returned to Wisconsin. I am not sure if it made him happy or not. I do realize he turned beet red. But I think he should have been happy that I noticed his eyes. He must have been around my young age of 60+. I think I startled my sister! LOL I am just hoping that he saw his own beauty…and I wanted to share with him that I had!

Maybe that is what we all need to do in these dark times. We must stop focusing on the darkness and bring out the light in each other.

A year ago, a friend came into my life and sparked my imagination. To some, it may seem like a no-brainer or nothing significant. But for me, it reawakened my world of painting. I hadn’t painted in a very long time and my brother, Claude, and his wife, Kerri, came to help me with some much-needed home improvements to my floor. Another improvement needed: painting.

My friend, Pat, saw the small powder room and suggested to change the walls from dull white to some color. I was very hesitant. I had this huge fear–as giant as the ascent of Mt. Everest! I was afraid to experiment. Then Pat spotted this candle-holder that my sister, Mary, had given me 20 years earlier. It was in different shades of blue, with s moon, sailboat, and stars carefully lasered out of the stone. Pat spoke, “Why don’t you paint that on the wall?” Inwardly, I thought, “That is crazy! I can’t do that! Impossible! No way!” I probably said it aloud as well.

Being the ultra-stubborn person that I am, Pat had to repeat it several times over several days. Thank God she has persistence! Finally, one morning I got up at 5 and picked up a brush and a spray can of a beautiful blue paint, along with various shades of blue and white oil tubes. I went off to the powder room. I became mesmerized in what I was doing and followed the form of the candleholder, more or less, and les voiles! The wall turned out great! I couldn’t believe it!

And this happened because a stranger came into my life to become my friend—and she saw something in me that I could not find in myself. Besides getting the bathroom painted, she gave me a renewed faith in my own innate ability. That was pure gift!

A small thing to some; however, for me it encouraged me to do something with my creative energy instead of sitting in my depression.

Whenever I feel depressed, I have a place to sit and remember…and get inspired…I just go to the little room and ponder and then get off my derriere and do something with my life! LOL

Candleholder ©Jane H. Johann
Palmyra, WI 2016

Powder Room Wall©Jane H. Johann
Palmyra, WI 2016

Powder Room Wall©Jane H. Johann
Palmyra, WI 2016

November 2, 2017 by johannisthinking@wordpresss.com

the child at sea

WHY do we destroy

the precious gifts we receive?

Children are not property

Children are gifts…don’t you see?

WHY do we destroy

the growing heart?

WHY don’t we give our children

a holy start?

For a brief time,

tenderly their precious lives are held in our hands

For a brief time

we breathe our words into the tiny lambs

Then from us they take leave

Their delicate souls facing forward as they walk through life

Our words can build or destroy them–

Empower them to stand strong in the inevitable strife

How does a child turn from a loving being

to a person without control?

WHY do we cut the child apart

that was given to us whole?

Solomon’s tale rings true

in more ways than one

Turning one parent against the other

is always wrong and always done

Pure and innocent

quick-witted and giving

Snuffed out by an angry parent

is no way for living

November 2, 2017 by johannisthinking@wordpresss.com

…Mom Used to Say

I was preparing breakfast this morning for the two of us who happen to be together for awhile–my youngest daughter and me. The apartment is great for a married couple, but I am not too sure about a Mother and Daughter! (giggling) The bacon was frying, slowly sizzling, while I mixed the omelet. When I finished that, and the bacon was still frying, I washed some of the accumulated dishes. Then the flood of practicalities from my Mom came into my head, “Be sure to use a clean towel when you dry those dishes!” After all, with eleven children, my parents and Great Aunt Gerty many germs abounded! I am sure we are all going to live to be a hundred years old and immune from nearly everything! (yes, I know, we have made ourselves too sterile to the point that we will die if we breathe!).

The thought of my Mother’s admonition and practicality for the day made me think, “How will our children hear our voices?”

Today, cell phone texting dominates family interactions, sad to say. Even when we go to a restaurant, TV’s surround the eating area at every angle, blaring away! Why? I thought going out to eat was a chance to speak and listen to each other. When we are at home in our living rooms, the TV becomes the god, along with football. I would prefer not having a TV, or, at the very least, have it in another room–because it does not bring life to the living room! Bring in laptops, I-pads, tablets, and computers to accompany our visits, and we no longer hear each other, let alone our parents.

All those little bits of wisdom–what is proper, what can be done, what should be done, how to behave, how to be kind–and, foremost, the personalities of our Moms, their caring voices, their worried thoughts, their encouragements–are embedded in our brains from the voice of our Moms. And, I am happy I have them! My Mom was in my life for 60 years–and now I am blessed to hear her voice in my thoughts.

Then my heart becomes sad…how will children remember what their Mom said or their Dad said?

How will they remember them?

Will their voices echo through the cell phone texts?

November 1, 2017 by johannisthinking@wordpresss.com

Wordless Wednesday

“Ode to Mother Earth” Rocky Landscape near Wisconsin Dells, WI. Interstate-94. Between LaCrosse and Madison, WI.
Copyright
©Nadia Krenn; 2015.
Used with Permission

October 31, 2017 by johannisthinking@wordpresss.com

White Privilege…if you do not understand…here is your opportunity!

SOURCE: https://www.facebook.com/JungleVT/videos/1701654019976433/hc_ref=ARSzUxADowikLNRHzqGR8FNQjiz86CDIETRZigx2mmKtcS

October 31, 2017 by johannisthinking@wordpresss.com

History…Herstory…Our Story

“Light at the End of Cloud Trails”

I am posting the summary of what John Kelly, the Chief of Staff of the Trump Administration delivered to an audience last night, October 30, 2017.

I am posting it NOT because I accept anything that he says, but so that my readers can understand my words that follow.

SOURCE: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/trump-chief-staff-john-kelly-defends-confederate-monuments-n815886

The following is the full transcript of Kelly’s remarks on the removal of Confederate statues:

Well, history’s history. And there are certain things in history that were not so good and other things that were very, very good.

I think we make a mistake, though, and as a society, and certainly as individuals, when we take what is today accepted as right and wrong and go back 100, 200, 300 years or more and say, ‘What Christopher Columbus did was wrong.’

You know, 500 years later, it’s inconceivable to me that you would take what we think now and apply it back then. I think it’s just very, very dangerous. I think it shows you just how much of a lack of appreciation of history and what history is.

I would tell you that Robert E. Lee was an honorable man. He was a man that gave up his country to fight for his state, which 150 years ago was more important than country. It was always loyalty to state first back in those days. Now it’s different today. But the lack of an ability to compromise led to the Civil War, and men and women of good faith on both sides made their stand where their conscience had them make their stand.

A WOW of disbelief….but then WHY would I expect anything else to come from a racist, bigoted White House management team. I, for one, do think and believe that what Christopher Columbus and all the other explorers did to the Native people of the Americas were morally wrong! They wiped out civilizations for the same reason it is being done today! Greed and power prompted them to practice genocide. Give me a break! Since when has it ever been accepted as “right” to kill men, women, and children because they were or are of a different ethnic race or culture! It was just as wrong and incorrect in 1492 as it is today in 2017!

Kelly’s sentences appall me, “You know, 500 years later, it’s inconceivable to me that you would take what we think now and apply it back then. I think it’s just very, very dangerous.” The danger is that he actually believes this! My goodness, isn’t that WHY we are taught history, so we do not repeat the same mistakes! Are we supposed to swallow what happened in the past and not consider the ramifications of such actions? What planet does this man live on! He goes on to say,”I think it shows you just how much of a lack of appreciation of history and what history is. ( I question his sentence construction…but onward) Seriously? We should “appreciate” the shackling and servitude, the raping of women and young girls, by the forefathers of this country? I can appreciate history without erecting statues to glorify the men who controlled the armies and enforced the immoral norms of society back then. I can appreciate the fact that I am glad to have learned the facts so that type of behavior does not continue (Unfortunately, it does, in so many ways in modern society).

His response to the Removal of the Confederate Statues: “I would tell you that Robert E. Lee was an honorable man. He was a man that gave up his country to fight for his state, which 150 years ago was more important than country. It was always loyalty to state first back in those days. Now it’s different today. But the lack of an ability to compromise led to the Civil War, and men and women of good faith on both sides made their stand where their conscience had them make their stand. AND just what kind of COMPROMISE would a person reach within a nation that subjected another race into slavery? It is 2017…and we still do not have equality in this country! And I am WHITE and I hear what comes out of people’s mouths every day…I read what is said by them…there is NO DOUBT in my mind that racism is alive and well in our country of equal rights. While I tend to have statues in my home, I would NEVER have a statue standing of someone who was hateful or killed people, erected in my home. WHY would I want a statue of an evil person gracing the land of my country?

I just do not agree with the remarks of John Kelly. I think one could interpret his response in a number of ways. I can certainly understand there is NO need to perpetuate the ideology of slavery. Would you want a statue of Hitler in your backyard? For the Black American, from various sources that I have read, that is akin to how they feel about Confederate monuments and the plaques that extol the former leaders of our country.

I think we are expected to call into question what someone did in the past…and I certainly do hope that the future calls into question what we have done! Because much of what the USA has done is detrimental to the survival of people and of the entire planet in oh so many ways,

And, no, I haven’t kept up on my reading of War Heroes or Leaders. I am sure General Robert E. Lee was a very knowledgeable man and most likely good to his own soldiers—but no man has the right to enslave another—and yes, it continues today. (Sex trafficking comes to mind here in this country)….and yes, it was in the Bible…and I do not condone what they did in the Biblical stories either! AND I do not believe that the Bible was dictated by God…but maybe Godtelepathy is stronger than I realize…LOL. As far as I know, it was mostly MEN who wrote the Bible,…perhaps they wrote it all…Out of balance! Men and women are called to be co-creators, regardless of race or creed. So no one should try to tell me that slavery is acceptable because we find it in the Bible! That fact does not make me respect those people in the Bible who accepted it. My understanding of the Bible is that God was faithful to His people. People were unfaithful to God—just like today—we forget to respect one another.

History is HIS STORY—-a story of war is always about killing…a murderous activity which would NOT have to take place if the respect and care of each person were important to all of us.

In conclusion, I think it is the morally correct action to take down the statues that in fact are praising those people who fought for the survival of slavery. I stand with the Americans who believe we are all equal and we need to have mutual respect for each other.

October 30, 2017 by johannisthinking@wordpresss.com

To Write or Not to Write, That is the Question

Abstract #1 was drawn by my Grandson, Ayden, when he was in Kindergarten…2011

Why Don’t I Write MORE or Less? Or, is it MORE or LESS that I write?

Well, questions with many responses.

I begin an idea at the very top of my head and then I think of another idea and then my mind becomes flooded with even more ideas!v I become overwhelmed! Which idea should I begin with?

Then, over in another corner of my brain, the questioning punctuates my thoughts: What IF I write this and then they think that? Oh my goodness, someone will read that! I can’t say that can I? What will they think of me if they read that? Of course, everyone writes what they experience or have a hint of experience, but if I write that, they WILL think I did it, won’t they? But then, do they think everyone who writes a murder mystery actually committed a murder? What if someone thinks I am writing about them and I am NOT writing about them? But they think I am writing about them. Maybe I am but maybe my words are just a fantasy? Or, maybe I am writing about them? Or, perhaps I am writing about myself? Oh my goodness, I did write about myself! Now my secret is out!

Then my ideas change. Just because I wrote that yesterday, that does not mean I think the same today or tomorrow!

Then begins the self-conflagration: If I write that, I must be a horrible person? Am I a sociopath and not know it? Am I too moralistic? Who do I think I am that I should write that? WHO do you THINK YOU ARE—preaching to the world? “Clean up your own backyard!”

Or the questions arise about my writing style: Do you think others have not already said that? What is so unique about that line? How boring! You can’t say that! Oh my goodness, you thought that?!

Just a few of the fleeting thoughts that my brain wrestles with each time I sit down to write.

P.S. The BEST part of this entry is the beautiful abstract work of art by my grandson, Ayden Michael Krenn. when he was in Kindergarten. He is now in 5th grade! I give him canvas to paint when I see him and hope he will continue to paint!

This link can take you to see Ayden’s work of art: https://johannisthinking.com/page/11/

October 30, 2017 by johannisthinking@wordpresss.com

today i remembered YOU

this morning when I woke

i remembered

YOU

last night

i remembered

YOU

yesterday as well

during the daylight hours…

YOU

as well as the day before

i remembered…

YOU

and the day before that…

and the week before that…

and the many days of days before that…

and the weeks following weeks before that…

not to mention the years…

finally–

today i called you…

YOU

…

You didn’t answer.

October 11, 2017 by johannisthinking@wordpresss.com

Writing Contests—Time is of Essence

SOURCE: https://www.pw.org/grants

University of Louisville

Calvino Prize

A prize of $1,000 and publication by Tupelo Press is given annually for a poetry chapbook. Submit a manuscript of 20 to 36 pages with a $25 entry fee by October 31. Visit the…

Silverfish Review Press

Gerald Cable Book Award

Cash Prize: $1,000

Entry Fee: $25

Application Deadline: 10/15/17

Genre: Poetry

A prize of $1,000, publication by Silverfish Review Press, and 25 author copies is given annually for a first poetry collection. Poets who have not published a full-length…