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I’m a married lady in Letchworth UK

I got here last Friday without incident.  (Last time I came I got held in immigration because being a writer isn’t a proper job and I hadn’t known Ben for very long according to some old man stranger.  Oh, and I’m black.) We drove up to Letchworth which is about an hour north of London and began settling in.  We got some fish and chips.  I started unpacking my bag of dirty clothes (cause I was skint on my way here, waiting for a check that didn’t come til yesterday) and getting myself generally acclamated to the house and such.  We live in a rented room, but have free reign of the entire house while the owner’s away in Thailand.  

It’s cute.  It has a garden and I watch the birds in the morning at the feeder.  There’s been no bird related violence.  So different from NY where pigeons will turn on each other for a piece of fried chicken.  Cannibals!

I walked around town and met Ben at the grocery.  It was all so civilized. We bought food and booze to get us through the weekend cause we were on a budget.  He’d sent me a bunch of money for immigration and such (FUCK YOU SENATE & CONGRESS!  EXTEND UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS!) so he was on thin ice too. But we got some wine and steaks and whiskey and veggies and breakfast food and were all couplely.  We ate and drank and talked our way through the weekend.  It was our honeymoon.

That was the first weekend we were together alone as a married couple doing regular things.  We went to a pub to have a beer and watch some of the match on Sunday before realizing we could do that at home.  Then made Sunday roast and chilled before he had to go to work the next day. I feel like I’ve been washing dishes and clothes for a week.  It explains why my house is such a mess.  This housework is for real.  

Then we went to the Derby in Liverpool Tuesday (which will be further explored in another post) and now I’ve finally gotten to the point where I am sitting here writing and going to post about being a married lady.  

I guess I’m making it up as I go along.  It’s like being boyfriend and girlfriend for life.  I’m aware of trying not to look like a slob, but I hadn’t showered by the time he got home yesterday.  Going to bed when he goes to bed, which is bloody early to my NY internal time.  It’s like going to bed at 4 in the afternoon.  And waking up when he does which is 4a and none of my friends are up yet to talk to on the Facebook, except my Cali peeps. 

There’s a lot more to unpackage but this is a start.

But I’m excited to have a husband that I like very much even when we’re both being big drunk babies.  

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cheeskisrantsandraves:

I wrote this in 2004….

Irony’s always ironic.

America pumps it’s market driven interests throughout the globe only to naively ask, “Why do people hate us?” and then answer their own question with “because we’re free”. Now I now one true fact about my life – IT AIN’T FREE.

Art ain’t free. It’s…

It Ain’t Free

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cheeskisrantsandraves:

I’ve got a few tax things I need to take care of. So I decided to share some of my favorite parts of what’s taxable. These are from the IRS in the “Miscellaneous Income”:

Bribes. If you receive a bribe, include it in your income.

-Really? You can just say that?

Foreign…

The IRS Is Serious

vintageblackglamour:

Two icons: Billie Holiday and William Faulkner, photographed in 1956 by Moneta Sleet Jr. According to Donald Clarke’s 2009 biography on Ms. Holiday, she was initially wary about meeting Mr. Faulkner because he was a Southerner. She called her friend, the singer Thelma Carpenter (best known in later years as “Miss One” from “The Wiz” and asked about him. Ms. Carpenter said that the meeting was likely set up by Bill Dufty, her ghostwriter for “Lady Sings the Blues” and that the singer and the writer “got along beautifully… he understood her perfectly.” Photo: Moneta Sleet Jr./Ebony/Art.com.

Sheila Maldonado

womenpoetswearingsweatpants:

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So comfy…

The Anti No Fear

My mantra of “no fear” keeps me afraid. As long as I’m waiting for the moment to be fearless, I’m ignoring the present. I can live outside of social conventions and fear. I have to move past the superficiality of success and action that I perceive from others and create my own momentum. The springtime of my discontent is over. It’s time to move. And instead of recklessness based on fear- stemming from fear- I’m going to turn it into a recklessness of confidence and boldness. I can’t be afraid of motion. I will not allow cigs and booze to be an excuse for not moving and succeeding. By the end of the year I will be a well paid published writer fully engaged in the process of my work and enjoying the writing because I’m not afraid of it. Trusting it and myself. Trusting being prolific. I think I can be. I know I must be. Be about the business of it. I have to remove the “shoulda/ gonna” fakeness of it. Being engaged, not having a choice. And getting money. A lot of money for it without losing myself or my love. All of this spiritual work is the build up to this. I must be engaged in my life. Not researching it. Not asking other people about it. Being really terrified about it and doing it anyway.

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cheeskisrantsandraves:

My name is Charity Thomas and I’m coming out as a broke and angry 38 year old black woman. It’s taken me a long time to write those words but it’s true. I’d turned that anger in on myself and have been depressed for a very long time because I was ashamed. Ashamed of being a stereotype.

PISSED