On what subject(s) are you an authority?
I am a jack-or rather jill-of-all-trades, master-of-none, I suppose.
I like to dabble or perhaps babble about a widening range of subjects.
My authority on the things upon which I choose to expound is unquestionable.
I ask you not to question it.
It’s the season in which we are called upon to be patriotic.
It’s the 4th of July, or thanks to the quirks of the calendar, the long 4th weekend.
This year, like any other, our allegiance to this country and its democracy should come from the heart. I know it comes from mine.
There was a time when patriotism had a rhythm. And, of course, a rhyme.
George M. Cohan gave both to the songs he wrote to honor the USA; he waved the flag hard.
The myth of his being born on the 4th makes for good storytelling, but he is really the son of the 3rd.
Watching that myth unfold is an annual tradition in our house.
It is such a thrill to sing-along with Yankee Doodle Dandy.
A truly patriotic buzz runs over me as I belt out She’s a Grand Old Flag and harmonize to Over There.
What are your daily habits?
The more lemons life throws our way, the bigger the pitcher we’ll need.
This is when gratitude is in order.
I try to make being grateful a habit for every day.
If you were forced to wear one outfit over and over again, what would it be?
My husband has a favorite shirt, which he prefers to all others. I think we all have outfits, which we pick to wear over others.
Sometimes, the outfit is best suited to a particular occasion. Sometimes, it’s the easiest one you run into when you open the closet.
How important is spirituality in your life?
As a devoutly atheistic person, I tend to treat questions of spirituality as code for queries on religion.
I realize they are not the same. If asked if I were religious, I would say that God has a great deal to answer for. Am I spiritual, perhaps just the fact that I reference God suggests my ambivalence.
You are religious, aka one who takes all matters at faith value, but maybe you don’t connect closely with the greater universe.
You don’t follow the Bible or the Quaran or some other text from the annals of religious time, but you are literally in sync with the moon and the stars. Pagan and spiritual.
Spirituality has its limits if you are seeing ghosts, naive about good and evil, or indulging in reverential fantasies
Believe or doubt. You can still have a sense of kindness and respect for the forces of man and nature.
So today, I was thinking of my days teaching kindergarten. There was a boy named Chris Cohen, and as if it weren’t confusing enough for him, he somehow had a Chinese grandmother. Chris [yes short for Christian] had been adopted as a baby. His father was the aforementioned Cohen, but his mother appeared to be a shiksa.
Neither parent was Asian and Chris himself was black.
As I ruminated on this aspect of my life, I also realized that other people’s memories may not hold all that much fascination. Do you find that to be true?
Sunset is a lovely time of day. My mother called it magic time. I sit by our windows and understand what she meant.
Who is your favorite historical figure?
It’s not really history if you’ve lived it but I greatly admire Martin Luther King, Jr.
He always maintained a harmonious dignity and respectful rhetoric.
He was a true peace maker.
He paid dearly for his efforts on behalf of equality and social justice.
Given our current civil status, I can only hope that his martyrdom was not in vain.
What are you passionate about?
Can it be relative?
Passion, for instance, like a love for Tide detergent vs. Percil is relative.
I’m thinking “no” because that relativity dilutes passion into just a liking. It cools it.
I take many things seriously enough to be passionate in my thinking. That extends from food to politics with stops along the way to consider climate issues and civic discord.
Taking the day’s question in its best light, I have to admit to a passion for my friends and their friendship.
I am certainly passionate about the love of my life. After over 30 years together, I am still mad about him.
Passion has many guises.
If humans had taglines, what would yours be?
Are we defined by the things we say about ourselves? A tagline can be a limiting description.
I am going with The Real Tamara.
Use that both for my tagline and my nametag.
All The Best