What are your thoughts on the concept of living a very long life? I have fewer years ahead of me than behind me. Since turning 50 almost seven years ago, I’ve thought about death daily. After my mother’s passing in 2024, that awareness became more profound. Grief pushed me to question why we experience it the way we do, especially since we all know none of us are getting out of this alive. Over the years since turning 50, I’ve moved from the unimaginability of no longer existing to a place of anxiety-free curiosity.

In what ways do you communicate online? I communicate online with intention. I credit the internet and early AOL chatrooms with setting me on the path to becoming a stronger written communicator, more curious, and a deeper thinker overall. Engaging online mirrored how I experience people in real life. I was never the popular one in those rooms. I would find another lonely soul, start a conversation, and slowly build a presence. That presence, sooner or later, always seemed to invite conflict. One particular time, I offered an unflattering critique of a poem that many people were head over heels over.

I will just pic one and that is staying committed to an exercise regiment. I have to start one now and I will. To get me started, 30 Minutes 3 days a week should be doable. Wish me luck.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. I’m really looking forward to getting back to Prompt Responses after the first of the year. As excited as I am about a new year, I also know it’s really just a continuation of the last one—365 more days where we get to choose change, choose kindness, and choose love. Those choices start with us, and they show up in who we support and what we’re willing to stand behind. The future is still ours to shape. Let’s make loving choices this year!💕

YouTube video by The Taliaferro's

YouTube video by Honey, WTF! Podcast

Hey everyone. Just wanted to stop by. My blog is still on my list of things to do and I will be back soon with more Prompt Responses. I've been busy phone banking for Prop 50 here in California and also teaming up with my husband for another episode of our Honey WTF! Podcast. I'd love it if you all would check out the latest episode, subscribe and drop a comment if you are so inclined.

No Kings will be massive, powerful, and meaningful - but it won’t be the end of our work. Join movement leaders and fellow local activists after the big day to come together, celebrate what we accompl...

Daily writing prompt Tell us about a time when you felt out of place. View all responses I love this question because I always feel a little out of place—and I’ve made my peace with it. At most social events, I can feel an invisibility cloak sliding over me. I people-watch, sip a drink, and drift into my own thoughts like…

Daily writing prompt Your life without a computer: what does it look like? View all responses It looks like an electric typewriter, trying to figure out margin settings, and lots and lots of whiteout.It looks like a commute to work.It looks like sitting in an office and rebuilding office etiquette and enduring microaggressions in person.It looks getting my news from newspapers again.

Daily writing prompt What's your #1 priority tomorrow? View all responses Happy Monday dear readers. I'm back. I decided to take a short break and let go of all of the have-to-dos in my life, those that are imposed upon me and those that I had imposed upon myself. I allowed myself to get up each morning without one single thought of what I had to do.

Write about your most epic baking or cooking fail. Another food prompt, I see. Well, my biggest recent fail wasn’t entirely my fault—I was conned by a recipe for cauliflower mash that promised to be a good substitute for mashed potatoes. Please hear me and hear me good: cauliflower does not replace potatoes. I don’t care how much parmesan cheese you throw in.

I’ve been experimenting with different platforms and have decided to give Substack a try. My plan there is to take some of the short prompt responses I’ve shared here and flesh them out into fuller, essay-style pieces — the kind of writing I hope will one day move toward publication. Poetry will remain a companion to my work, woven in as it has always been.

What are your favorite types of foods? Today my favorite type of food is beans. A local nursery I go to carry several varieties of Rancho Gordo beans. I usually get the small black and red beans that a soak, slow cook, then freeze to pull out to make chili from time to time. The other day, I went to the nursery in search of a new houseplant and found a beautiful one with silvery-purple leaves that reminded me of my mom, so I scooped it up.

How often do you walk or run? One memory of my mom that always stays with me is the care and commitment she gave to my youngest brother, who has been blind since the age of sixteen after a drunk driver hit his vehicle in 1997 and nearly took his life. This memory comes from the last year she lived in Stockton.

This woman is a super hero! Park your judgement at the door, enter, sit and learn as she teaches untethered to any political party. Features image by Noel Vasquez / Getty Images file

What's your favorite word? Today my favorite word is empathy. It names the emotion we feel when something tragic happens to another living being in a way that feels undeserved. Empathy is tied to what we know of the person, it cannot be forced or contrived. When we hear of harm done to someone we don’t know, we may still feel for their suffering.

Charlie Kirk believed that he was rational in his assessment of gun violence in this country. So, in his honor, may we take a moment of rational thought concerning his death and the media coverage …