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One Thing or Another: Out With the New
By Mark McNease
It’s always One Thing or Another… a lighthearted look at aging, life, and the absurdities of it all.
As another year begins and we make promises to ourselves, if not outright resolutions, why not stop and consider the changes we don’t want to make? The things about our lives that we’re pleased to have in them: events, people, situations, even qualities about ourselves we would not change. I quite like most of my life, and while I want to lose some serious poundage for health and vanity, I can’t say there are many other things I would change about it.
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Book Review: Dead Lines: Slices of Life from the Obit Beat, by George Hesselberg
By Terri Shlichenmeyer
The Bookworm Sez
“Dead Lines: Slices of Life from the Obit Beat” by George Hesselberg
c.2021, Wisconsin Historical Society Press
$20.00 / higher in Canada 200 pagesAnd that’s the final word.
Just a few lines, a handful of dates and names, an accomplishment or two, and then that’s it. You’ll be done, dead, end of story – or is it? Will you be remembered only by a few lines in a newspaper or online? Or as in the new book “Dead Lines” by George Hesselberg, have you left small footprints on a lot of hearts?
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One Thing or Another Podcast: From the Archives – Author Fay Jacobs Talks Humor, Activism, and ‘Sit-Down’ Comedy
As we end our second year of the pandemic, I thought it would be good to close out 2021 with some humor. Who better to help with that than author, humorist and comedian Fay Jacobs? Enjoy this podcast from the archives, and let’s make 2022 a good one.
Fasten your headphones for a conversation with author, humorist, activist, and sit-down comedian Fay Jacobs. We talk about her life and career, her writing, and what’s in store for the tireless writer.
Fay, a native New Yorker, has had a 35-year career in journalism, public relations & theater. As an author, Fay has five published books of humorous and activist essays. All were originally published by A&M Books, a successor to Naiad Press and are now published by Bywater Books. Fay’s first book, As I Lay Frying is in its 4th printing. A second, Fried & True won the 2008 National Federation of Press Women Book of the Year for humor.
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EVENTS: Authors Mark McNease and Philip William Stover in Conversation at the Frenchtown Bookshop (February 4)
Save the date! I’ll be joining fellow author Philip William Stover for a reading and conversation about our books at the Frenchtown Bookshop on Friday, February 4. I’ll be talking about my newest release, Reservation for Murder: A Kyle Callahan Mystery, as well as the series and creating gay central characters.
Philip will be reading and discussing his romances The Hideaway Inn and The Beautiful Things Shop, set in New Hope, PA, just across the river from Lambertville, NJ, where most of my characters mysteriously moved when Frank and I relocated to nearby Kingwood.
Place: The Frenchtown Bookshop
Date: Friday, February 4
Time: 6:00 – 7:30 pm
Address: 28 Bridge Street, Frenchtown NJ
Phone: 908-628-9297 -
The Weekly Readlines December 29
The Weekly Readlines (rhymes with headlines!) is a feature at LGBTSr.com, offering news you can use every Wednesday morning. Subscribe here for virtual delivery.
BIG CUP: THE YEAR’S TOP STORIESIn keeping with the spirit of renewal and hope for the new year, I’ll only be mentioning the good news of the past year in this introduction. There will be plenty of time for the pulling of hair and gnashing of teeth in 2022.
If you tuned into the mainstream media this past year, you may think all is doom and gloom, that the Biden presidency has failed, that Covid is a permanent state of being, and a dozen other reasons to end your life. Hogwash! Here are some of the great things that happened this year.
Holiday sales rose 8.5 percent despite the naysayers. Americans’ wages rose, too, with the biggest increase in 20 years. More than 200 million Americans are now vaccinated, with the pandemic transitioning to an endemic stage on its way to ending. Supply chains are easing and gas prices are falling.
Meanwhile, the FDA approved the first injectable drug for HIV prevention. Utah billionaire Jeff Green resigned from the Mormon Church and donated $600,000 to an LGBT group. And Channing Tatum announced a third and final installment of the Magic Mike franchise. Line starts here! Let’s make 2022 a great year. It’s our choice.
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Mark McNease Mysteries Podcast #31: Reservation for Murder, Narrated by Sean Rhead (Chapters 21 – 30)
Welcome to December! Here is the third installment of the audiobook edition of Reservation for Murder: A Kyle Callahan Mystery, narrated by Sean Rhead. I’ll be putting out the entire book ten chapters a week, allowing listeners to enjoy this fabulous narrator, with a pinch of suspense while you wait for the next installment. You can listen to my interview with Sean about the making the audiobook HERE.
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Kapok Aging and Caregiver Resources: How to be a Caregiver for a Diabetic Patient – The Ultimate Guide
By Angelica Herrera Venson, DrPH, MPH
The following excerpt is reprinted with permission from Kapok Aging and Caregiver Resources.
Whether you’re a family member to someone with diabetes or are a direct care worker, being a caregiver for a diabetic patient can get overwhelming fast. You may be juggling multiple visits to specialists, constantly taking inventory and restocking a long list of diabetes care supplies, checking lab work results online, or trying to follow their doctor’s insulin therapy protocol.
Images from Kapok article You may have many questions. Can they eat that piece of pie? What do you do when they feel dizzy?
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Steve Hayes’s Tired Old Queen at the Movies Thanksgiving Review: Ethel Merman in ‘Call Me Madam’
From Steve Hayes, ‘Tired Old Queen at the Movies’
Ethel Merman has a field day transferring her Tony Award winning Broadway role to the screen in Irving Berlin’s movie musical CALL ME MADAM. With Donald O’Connor, Vera Ellen, George Sanders, Billy DeWolfe and Walter Slezak giving delightful support, it’s the perfect Thanksgiving treat! Happy Holidays from all of us at STEVE HAYES: Tired Old Queen at the Movies!
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The Weekly Readlines November 19
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.
Want a weekly podcast edition of The Readlines next year? Take the simple Yes/No survey here!
BIG CUP: THE WEEK’S BIG STORIESFirst the good news: Confirming my deepest suspicions, President Biden is succeeding. So says conservative New York Times columnist David Brooks, bucking the media’s trendy doom and gloom. If the house weren’t on fire, they’d have no house at all.
Following the spectacular passage of the infrastructure bill (GOP interparty death threats aside), House Democrats are poised to pass the Build Back Better Act as early as Friday, hoping Senators Manchin and Sinema don’t kill it for sport.
And to brighten everyone’s Thanksgiving, pardoned criminal Michael Flynn told a group of extremists that the United States must have one religion. Zero guesses as to which one it is.
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Mark McNease Mysteries Podcast #29: Reservation for Murder, Chapters 1 – 10 (Narrated by Sean Rhead)
I’m doing something new here: releasing the complete audiobook edition of Reservation for Murder: A Kyle Callahan Mystery, narrated by Sean Rhead. I’ll be putting out ten chapters a week for the next six weeks, allowing listeners to enjoy this fabulous narrator, with a pinch of suspense while you wait for the next installment.
I was inspired by a musical duo I saw recently. The Skivvies are led by Nick Cearley and Lauren Molina, two of the most entertaining and terrific musicians you’ll ever have the chance to enjoy, backed by a crack band and featured performers. They made their first album during the pandemic, and they made it available to stream for free. I purchased it (you have to if you want to download the files), but you can just put on your headphones and listen to every song gratis. I loved that. I loved their energy. And I loved the idea of offering my audiobook as a segmented podcast, start to finish, and entirely free. So … fasten your headphones and listen to the first ten chapters of Reservation for Murder. The following ten chapters will be out next week. You can listen to my interview with Sean about the making the audiobook HERE.
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Book Review: How Magicians Think: Misdirection, Deception, and Why Magic Matters, by Joshua Jay
By Terri Schlichenmeyer
The Bookworm Sez
“How Magicians Think: Misdirection, Deception, and Why Magic Matters” by Joshua Jay
c.2021, Workman $27.50 / higher in Canada
310 pagesPick a card. Any card.
Don’t show it to anyone. Just look at it, quick, and put it back in the deck anywhere at random. Now think about that card. Think about the number, the suit, how many symbols were on it, the color, the shape. Concentrate hard on the card you chose and then wonder – as in the new book “How Magicians Think” by Josuha Jay – what the magician is concentrating on.
How did he do that?
If you’re like most people, that’s your first reaction when you catch a magic act: how did the person with the tricks manage to fool you, right in front of your face? That question, says Joshua Jay, is the wrong “mindset.”
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The Weekly Readlines November 5
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 STORIESThe good news first: the Senate confirmed Judge Beth Robinson, the first openly LGBTQ woman to a lifetime seat on the U.S. Appeals Court. That’s all, folks.
Democrats could be heard gnashing their teeth at the defeat of Terry McAuliffe in Virginia – a “stunning upset” that was neither stunning nor particularly upsetting. A bloodletting followed as progressives and moderates knifed each other, while Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema continued shooting a movie destined to bomb with themselves as the stars.
Another week, another theocratic lurch in Texas, as a federal judge cleared the way for for-profit businesses to discriminate against LGBTQ people. Sign us Unsurprised. Bonus: Kinzinger/Cheney 2024? Could be intriguing.