I'm doing two presentations in Columbia, SC this month. If you live in that area, come see me. Details here!
I had a wonderful time with K-6th grade students in the after-school program at Wright Elementary in Belton, SC, and was delighted to discover 1st graders familiar with onamatapoeia!
The Comma Goddess doesn't find time to blog very often, but when I do, it's here!
Not a poetry fan? Check out the definitely-not-boring selections at YourDailyPoem.com. You may be surprised!
Our world right now is one of struggle and duress. Oh, there are plenty of us with a roof over our heads, food in our bellies, and a network of people who love us, and there are plenty of us for whom politics and Wall Street and the unemployment rate have little direct bearing on our lives. Still, it’s hard to enjoy good fortune when you know your nephew hasn’t had a paycheck in two years, your college roommate has cancer, and the guy at the end of your block just lost his house to foreclosure. And then there are those endless TV commercials about the world’s starving and abandoned children. What’s a caring person to do?
There’s prayer, of course—and I’ve seen my share of answered prayer, so that’s always my go-to choice. We can give money—though greed and dishonesty is so prolific these days that you can’t always assume your hard-earned dollars are going to end up in the hands you expect them to. We can volunteer—time and talent are always a precious and welcome gift. We can brainstorm—few things are as powerful as collective wisdom and creativity. We can pass it on—using Facebook and other social media to perpetrate a good cause might almost redeem the wasted hours it sucks up!
But the easiest and most immediate way to contribute may be to simply be a good steward. By realizing each day is a gift and treating it as such, we give value to even the most basic joys: a good rain, a kind word, the sweat produced by honest labor, the satisfaction gained by thanking someone for a job well done. By taking a moment to appreciate our health, job, home, neighbors, or talents, we can both set an example and remind ourselves of blessings we too often take for granted.
I’ve set a goal to be more positive in the way I react to things because, lately, I think I’ve allowed the doom and gloom of world events to start negatively impacting my viewpoint and attitude. I may not be able to end terrorism or world hunger or global warming, but I can smile at strangers, be nicer to my family, shock a store manager by saying, “Your [whatever] display looks really great!”, and put some positive vibes out there in the universe.
Every day is a gift. Treasure it.
Jayne
Welcome to my website! Whether you're here by intention or accident, I invite you to spend a few minutes looking around. Some elements of the site are permanent; others are changed and updated on a regular basis. Feel free to e-mail comments or suggestions. PLEASE NOTE: I'm happy for you to share my work with others, but please contact me for permission--and so I can acknowledge your publication--before including any of my poems in a personal website, church newsletter, etc. Thank you!
