Strait Up Monday Musing

Bailey Margaret Burris

I'm a Great Uncle!  My niece, Tiffany, became a mother this last week, and I couldn't be prouder.  The baby's middle name is Margaret, in honor of her Grandmother (and my mother).  Her name was Peggy legally, but was actually formed from Margaret.  This is my sister's first grandchild, and my first opportunity to be a great uncle.  I have zero grandchildren myself.  I bet my sister a long time ago that she would be the first to be a grandparent, and I was right!

Congratulations!  And we look forward to visiting Michigan next summer!

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I finished my first draft of my second book Friday, Crowley Stories: Swamp's Edge.  There is a bit of editing to do, but I will know have two books that I will be Hamleting about, paralyzed in indecision as to what to do with them - self publish or start the round of rejections by literary agents and publishers?  I just keep putting it off as a difficult decision to make another day.

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It was Alison's birthday this weekend.  We gave her presents Sunday morning, including antiques and a brand new vinyl of The Cure album disintegration.  Her mother brought over supper Sunday night, and we indulged in pot roast and Chocolate Delight for dessert.  It was a real treat, as my diet has been very restricted the last week, as I have been trying to regain control of my blood pressure.  The problem that I thought I had defeated has returned with a vengeance.

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I am going to try to get back to my posts about theater.  I am proud of the many and diverse groups we have in the area, and I want to see them all grow and prosper.  WACT recently had tryouts for The Beverly Hillbillies, and after valiant effort, could not come up with enough people to cast the show,  They will be putting another show in it's place.  I know that is frustrating, but I have faith in WACT and their ability to squeeze our some delicious lemonade.

I did not tryout for Te Beverly Hillbillies, as another group, Purlie Productions, was casting The Diary of Anne Frank, one of my very favorite productions.  They too, are falling short in the numbers needed to tryout, but they still should be able to get the cast they need, and are having additional tryouts for men tomorrow night.  That is at the Okefenokee Heritage Center depot at 7 PM Tuesday August 11.

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Politics is a mess right now.  The Republican debates were godawful, as the continued appeal of Donald Trump has weakened my faith in humanity.  People stress that even if I don't like him, I should try to recognize what his appeal is, and learn from it.  He is speaking in a way that is connecting with some people.  Well....no...NO...a thousand times no.  I don't have to figure it out because anybody who finds Trump's appeal remotely interesting is such a low information voter, so bereft of how a democracy works, that the smartest thing I can do is reject them and their thinking entirely.  I don't care how angry and hateful you are.  Trump is no kind of an answer for anybody.

Until next time,

T. M .Strait