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Health Beat: Bridges, Dentures and Implants (Oh, My)
By Mark McNease
As anyone knows who has not simply let their teeth fall out, effectively gumming their way through life, dental work is incredibly expensive.
In some ways I consider myself fortunate to only have about 8 ‘real teeth’ left. You can’t need expensive dental work on teeth you don’t have! The rest—those spaces where my natural choppers used to be—are filled in by very reasonable facsimiles with the cumulative price of a small automobile.
My lower front teeth were replaced about 15 years ago with a permanent bridge. The dentist, now long-retired, did a good enough job. They’re still there, still permanent, and will most likely last until they escort my body to the crematorium. The problem has been the top teeth. They, too, were initially replaced with a permanent bridge, but it had been anchored to a couple teeth I had left, and it was a mistake. The bridge came loose about 10 years ago, and I got a partial denture instead. By then I was I my 50s, married, and determined not to spend another small fortune to replace something I could just take out at night for a much better price.
As anyone knows who has not simply let their teeth fall out, effectively gumming their way through life, dental work is incredibly expensive. I’d paid approximately $10,000 for each of those bridges. Out of pocket. That is not a typo! So when I had to get a replacement for the top one that had proven not to be so permanent, I refused to shell out another ten grand. The partial option was only $2,000, so that’s what I went with. I quickly learned that Polident is my friend, and I found other ways to spend the difference.
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Just Added! In-Person Workshops In September
5 week autobiographical writing workshop at Bucks on BridgeI’ve just added four in-person workshop in September, to be held at Bucks on Bridge in their art space run by the artists’ collective Soupcon. I’m a partner, and this has been a terrific space to hold workshops. I just completed a 5 week journaling workshop there in April, and we’ve all bonded so much we’ll be reconvening in July.
You can read about each of the four workshop here on the website, and register at the links below:
Fiction Writing Essentials, Monday September 8 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM
REGISTER HERE ($40)They’re Alive! Creating Vivid Characters, Monday, September 15, 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM
REGISTER HERE ($30)Self-Publishing with KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing), Monday, September 22, 10:00 AM – 12:oo PM
REGISTER HERE ($40)Guided Autobiography: A 2 Hour Introduction, Monday, September 29, 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM
REGISTRATION FOR THIS ONE WILL BE OPEN IN MID-JUNE ($40)
Contact me at YourWritePath AT Outlook. com before then -
Fiction Writing Essentials at the Bristol, PA, Library
This was one of my best workshop experiences yet: enthustiastic attendees who told me it could have gone another two hours. Several of them expressed interest in a self-publishing workshop and spoke to the program director about it afterward. Such a great morning.
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The Weekly Readlines May 2
From the Editor’s Desk: It’s been a helluva year … I mean week. So much destruction, so little time. Amazon kissed the Imperial ring yet again, declining to include tariff charges on their items. Gee, I guess people paying $10 more for something won’t notice if it doesn’t say “tariff,” or at worst they’ll blame vendors and Joe Biden.
I try every day to keep my perspective, and every day it gets more challenging. What’s happening was never about grocery prices, or cutting federal spending, or stopping drugs from coming into a country that can’t seem to get enough of them, or deporting super scary brown people. It was about power and control. Always. Nothing else. Power and control, and our institutions are all proving eager to give it to them. May we march while we can, get off the damn parade floats, and record it all for posterity. Someday people will survey the ruins and want to know what happened. – Mark
BIG CUP: THE WEEK’S STOP STORIES
Trump Promises ‘Two Dolls in Every Pot’ with Crushing Tariffs
Truly a man of the peopleArmy Plans For A Potential Parade On Trump’s Birthday Call For 6,600 Soldiers
Grotesque does not begin to describe itTrump Orders Military to “Assist” Local Law Enforcement
What Posse Comitatus Act? This way lies martial lawLGBTQ
New Era: Major Companies Are Reportedly Reversing Course on LGBT Marketing – MSN
Trump Administration Issues Anti-Trans Health Care Report That Recommends Conversion Therapy
Governor Newsom Supports Bill To Put LGBTQ Helpline Number On Student ID’s
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This Week’s Survey: Television for the People
Cord-cutter or total abstinence? You can take the survey at the link. Multiple options are allowed.
RESULTS OF LAST WEEK’S SURVEY (because multiple options are allowed, it’s not a simple “100 percent” total).
What’s your preferred way of enjoying books?
eBooks: 52.94%
Hardback/paperback 41.18%
Audiobooks 23.53% -
April Showers Bring May Workshops! Fiction Writing Essentials at the Grundy Library (Bristol, PA) – May 3
May 3 is just around the corner! It’s a busy workshop month for me, kicking off with Fiction Writing Essentials in Bristol, PA. Support your lo
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Health Beat: Bifocals Versus Progressive Lenses – Understanding Your Options for Vision Correction
Health Beat is a feature at LGBTSr highlighting health and wellness.
I recently had a regular eye exam. I knew my vision was getting slightly blurrier. It was impossible not to notice, since I spend a good three hours or more at my desk every day, between writing fiction, maintaining websites, and all the other things I’m doing in front of a computer screen. However, I’m also aware of being on a semi-fixed income: Social Security is about 80 percent of my income, with the rest coming from book royalties and writing workshops.
The question for me this time was: bifocals (the kind with a line across the lens), or another pair of progressives. The price difference is significant. My eye insurance covers some of it, and I knew bifocals were the more affordable option. So that’s what I got!
I don’t know yet if I regret not getting progressive lenses. Having spent $200 out of pocket for the bifocals, I’m determined to get used to them, but the difference is pronounced. Here are some things to think about.
What Are Bifocals?
Bifocal lenses have been a staple in vision correction for years. They feature two distinct optical zones: the upper portion for distance vision and the lower part for reading. This clear division is usually marked by a visible line separating the two segments, which is why bifocals are often referred to as “line bifocals.” Mine are for reading only, so the upper portion is set for reading a computer screen at somewhat of a distance, and the lower portion is for reading close-up text, such as a smart phone or book
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Book Review: Books On Current Events (Various Authors)
By Terri Schlichenmeyer
The Bookworm SexBooks on Current Events by various authors
c.2025, various publishers $28 – $30 various page countsThe world seems to be moving at lightning speed.
You can hardly keep up with work and family, so current events sometimes goes on the back burner – which is why you need these great books on things that are relevant to your life now, today…
So you say that you simply cannot understand the politics of those on the other side of the debate. In “What We Value” The Neuroscience of Choice & Change” by Emily Falk (W.W. Norton, $29.99), you’ll see what goes into our thinking.
How can we know what choice is right? And if we pick wrong, why is it so darn hard to change? Read this fascinating book and see how your brain and your experiences affect who you are and how you make decisions, which will also offer insight on others’ thought processes. This is a gentle book with a path to compassion.
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Survey Says! Coming Soon to LGBTSr
Let us know if you like The Weekly Readlines arriving in your virtual mailbox every week. Our imaginary reporters and one tireless editor would like to know.
I’ll be adding more surveys in the coming weeks and even having some fun with them! It will go out with the weekly email and hopefully make opening it a bit of a surprise. And they’ll get more complicated as time goes on. For now I’ll be coming up with some simple multiple-choicers.
Joan Crawford or Bette Davis?
– Joan
– Bette
– An impossible choice
– Before my timeEventually I’ll make my way up to the 12st century. – Mark
I’ll also include these with my weekly Substack, Mark McNease on Topic. SUBSCRIBE HERE.
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A New Goodreads Giveaway! ‘Night Flight to Murder Town: A Marshall James Thriller’, Runs April 9 – 30
For U.S. residents only, per Goodreads
Win 1 of 100 copies of ‘Night Flight to Murder Town: A Marshall James Thriller.’
Marshall James returns for one more walk down murder’s memory lane in ‘Night Flight to Murder Town, Book 4’. Marshall is thinking of leaving New York City with his husband for a new life away from the hectic pace of the nation’s largest city. But how did he get here in the first place? After three stories detailing his harrowing Hollywood past, where lovers, losers, and a serial killer or two nearly ended his life before he could make something of it, he finally tells us how and why he left LaLa Land for Gotham.
It was 1991 and a Christmas card showed up in the mail. An old flame was inviting him to make the move. L.A. had become a ghost town for Marshall and he was ready to get as far away as he could, as fast as a plane would take him. He caught a night flight to New York, and he soon found himself on a new and deadly path to a future he never saw coming.
Money laundering, drug dealing, murder, and high stakes crimes by high-profile people all welcome him with a lethal embrace. It’s an origin story like no How did he end up here? Why did he stay? And is love possible after all that death and destruction? Find out in Night Flight to Murder Town. You’ll need to fasten your seat belts for this one. -
New Workshop Coming in July: They’re Alive! Creating Characters With Lives of Their Own
Character Creation: They’re Alive!Join us on Wednesday, July 30 from 10:00 am – 11:30 am eastern via Zoom ($30)- Limit 6This 90 minute workshop focuses on creating characters with lives of their own, from the protagonist and antagonist to the casual passerby.
Writing is Listening
It Takes a Village
Motive, Means, and Opportunity: No Character Wasted
Who was that masked woman?
Without Conflict There Is No Drama
The Character Biography
AND MUCH MORE!Lean how to welcome a character into your mind and onto the page, with award-winning author and workshop instructor Mark McNease, from the comfort of your desk. This is an online workshop with a 6-person limit.
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Book Review: Poetry Picks for Poetry Month
By Terri Schlichenmeyer
The Bookworm SezPoetry Books by various authors
c.2025, Penguin $18.99 – $20 various page countsA, B, B, A.
That’s not only how you spell the name of a popular music group. That’s also how a poem might be structured, if it rhymes, or it might be created in other ways. That’s the thing about poetry: it’s all how you perceive it when creating it and reading it. So why not think about putting these great poetry books on your shelf this month…?
When you spend time with poetry, you expect a certain kind of relationship between author and reader. That’s only part of what you get in “The Space Between Men” by Mia S. Willis (Penguin Poets, $20). It might also change the way you feel.
Here, Willis – a poet, historian, and educator – explores culture, Black history, and what it’s like to be Black, Southern, and queer. When those various experiences come together in poetry here, it invites readers to consider the width and depth of the spaces, and their mere existence.
If short but image-fueled poetry appeals to you, this book is worth a good look.
Poetry can take your thoughts in many directions, including thoughts about yourself. If you’re hungry for soul-searching, then try “Is This My Final Form?” by Amy Gerstler (Penguin Poets, $20).