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  • One Thing or Another Podcast

    From the Podcast Archives: Author and Halloween Expert Lisa Morton Joins the One Thing or Another Podcast

    It’s that time again! Here’s a fun conversation from last year with author and Halloween expert Lisa Morton.

    October is my favorite month, bringing with it two annual events: my birthday, and Halloween. It’s been a double dose of goodness all my life, and this year is no exception, despite the stresses the coronavirus has put on us all. Halloween is a good opportunity to live a semi-normal life and scare up some fun. Listen in as I chat with author Lisa Morton about her writing, her life, and her experience as a bonafide Halloween expert.

    About Lisa Morton

    Lisa Morton is a screenwriter, author of non-fiction books, and award-winning prose writer whose work was described by the American Library Association’s Readers’ Advisory Guide to Horror as “consistently dark, unsettling, and frightening”.  She is the author of four novels and 150 short stories, a six-time winner of the Bram Stoker Award®, and a world-class Halloween expert. She co-edited (with Leslie S. Klinger) the anthology Weird Women: Classic Supernatural Fiction by Groundbreaking Female Writers 1852-1923; forthcoming in 2020 is Calling the Spirits: A History of Seances. She is a six-time winner of the Bram Stoker Award®, a recipient of the Black Quill Award, and winner of the 2012 Grand Prize from the Halloween Book Festival. A life long Californian, she lives in Los Angeles.

    Coming up on the One Thing or Another Podcast

    Sociologist Hilary Levey Friedman discusses the history of beauty pageants in America and her new book, Here She Is

    Enjoy the One Thing or Another Podcast on Libsyn, iTunes, Stitcher, Spotify, iHeart Radio, and at OneThingOrAnotherPodast.com

    Join my email list for updates, podcasts, giveaways, and my monthly newsletter!

    Copyright MadeMark Publishing

    Comments or questions? You can reach me at Mark @ OneThingOrAnotherPodcast. com

  • LGBTSR

    And the Emmy Goes to … Me!

    Show co-creator Rick Rose accepts the award

    Correction: the Emmy goes to us, everyone who has worked on the children’s TV program Into the Outdoors for the past 20 years. The show is dedicated to teaching kids about nature and the outdoors. I co-created it with my longtime friend a collaborator Rick Rose (the co-host of our weekly Twist Podcast), and it’s so nice to be included in the entry. My statue from 2001 will soon have a BFF to share shelf space with. – Mark/Editor

  • Columns,  One Thing or Another

    One Thing or Another: The Joys of Being a (Almost) Halloween Baby

    By Mark McNease

    It’s always One Thing or Another … a lighthearted look at aging, life, and the absurdities of it all.

    I’m reprinting this column as an annual tradition. The pandemic changed things dramatically last year, but Halloween is back. Nothing can keep a good witch down!

    October has always been my favorite month. It’s the month when autumn really makes its presence felt, especially if you live where the seasons are discernible. (It recently went from air conditioner weather at the tail end of a relentlessly hot summer, to a sudden and unexpected freeze with a 30-degree drop). It’s flu season, which is always good for a sick day or two spent lying on the couch taking over-the-counter cold remedies that do nothing to stop you from feeling like death is close by. Honey, is the healthcare directive in place? You’re sure you’ve still got your copy? And how about the will? Can I change it by tomorrow? My sister forgot my birthday, I’m not sure she deserves the belt buckles.

  • LGBTSR

    Kapok Aging and Caregiver Resources: Technology Tutoring for Seniors in 5 Easy Steps with Proven Strategies

    This article is excerpted with permission from Kapok Aging and Caregiver Resources. You can listen to my conversation with Angelica here. – Mark/Editor

    By Angelica Herrera Venson,DrPH, MPH

    Angelica Herrera Venson

    I’ll never forget when an aunt bought a foot massager for my 105-year-old great grandmother.  As soon as she dipped her feet in the water, heard the rumbling vibrations, and saw the LED lights come on, she almost fell out of her chair with fright.  My aunt had the best intentions, but clearly this was alien technology as far as my great-gramma was concerned.

  • Savvy Senior

    Savvy Senior: How Does Social Security Work When a Spouse or Ex-Spouse Dies?

    By Jim Miller

    Dear Savvy Senior,

    Who qualifies for Social Security survivor benefits? My ex-husband died last year, so I would like to find out if me or my 17-year-old daughter are eligible for anything?  

    Divorced Survivor

    Dear Divorced,

    If your ex-husband worked and paid Social Security taxes and you and/or your daughter meet the eligibility requirements, you may very well be eligible for survivor benefits, but you should act quickly because benefits are generally retroactive only up to six months. Here’s what you should know.

  • LGBTSR

    The Weekly Readlines October 8

    The Weekly Readlines (rhymes with headlines!) is a feature at LGBTSr.com, offering news you can use every Friday morning. Subscribe here for virtual delivery.

      BIG CUP: THE WEEK’S TOP STORIES

    The good news first: Facebook was down for six hours on Monday. A billion people suddenly discovered they could do something else with their time. And my adopted state, New Jersey, is home to two of the nation’s most LGBTQ-friendly colleges! We love the Garden State.

    A massive document dump called the Pandora Papers revealed how the filthy rich hide their assets and no one cared. They’re too busy blaming Joe Biden for the rising cost of chickens.

    A debt ceiling deal was reached in the Senate, two infrastructure bills still hang by a thread, and Lindsey Graham yapped some more about impeaching Biden because … what else do they have to do?

  • LGBTSR

    Review: Ken Burns’s ‘Muhammad Ali,’ by Sue Katz

    This review is reprinted with permission from Sue Katz: Consenting Adult.

    By Sue Katz
    The Greatest: Burns was not up to the challenge

    Ali film poster

    Ken Burns, his daughter Sarah Burns, and her husband David McMahon, were not the right people to make the lengthy documentary on Muhammed Ali for PBS. I felt the long series had a subtly hostile tone to Ali and a more explicit hostility to boxing. Despite having the resources to access piles of stunning archival footage and despite having a massive eight hours of airtime, the entire work was devoid of emotion. Muhammed Ali was a passionate, emotional figure, but this was not reflected in the deadpan commentary, not the least by the guy they presented as the biographer of Ali, who seemed barely conscious.

  • Savvy Senior

    Savvy Senior: Simple and Inexpensive Final Farewells

    By Jim Miller

    Dear Savvy Senior,

    My husband and I are looking for the simplest and least expensive way to dispose of our bodies when we die. We hate the idea of wasting a lot of money on high-priced funerals and would like some advice on some simple and cheap send-offs.

    Simple Seniors

    Dear Simple,

    With the average cost of a full-service funeral running around $11,000 today, many people are seeking simple ways to make their final farewell more affordable. Depending on how you want to go, here are several low-cost options to consider.

  • Book Reviews

    Book Review: Believing: Our Thirty-Year Journey to End Gender Violence, by Anita Hill

    By Terri Schlichenmeyer
    The Bookworm Sez

    Believing: Our Thirty-Year Journey to End Gender Violence, by Anita Hill
    c.2021, Viking $30.00 / $40.00 Canada 352 pages

    The grab was savage.

    You yelped because you weren’t expecting it. Because it shouldn’t have happened. It was rough enough to leave marks on your skin, little round marks like fingertips; for sure, it left marks on your self-confidence but complain, and it’ll all be denied. You know the truth, though, and when you read “Believing” by Anita Hill, you’ll know someone else does, too.

    Twenty-five percent of American women today “experience intimate partner violence…” Thirty-three percent say they’ve endured harassment at work. The rate’s higher for women of color, highest in the LGBTQ community. Similar statistics were available in 1991 when Anita Hill testified before Congress about the harassment she’d said she’d experienced from then-Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas, testimony that later contributed to Hill’s becoming one of the country’s leaders in the fight against sexual harassment and gender violence.

  • The Twist Podcast

    The Twist Podcast #172: October At Last, Platonic Parenting, Swing Low Alabama, and Our New Twist Tops Must List

    Join co-hosts Mark McNease and Rick Rose as we consider platonic parenting, appreciate the arrival of October, boo the Alabama prison craze, and introduce our new ‘Twist Tops’ must list. Plus headlines!

    Enjoy The Twist on Libsyn, iTunes, Stitcher, Spotify, iHeart Radio, Amazon Music, and TheTwistPodcast.com.

    Copyright 2021 MadeMark Publishing