"Get Out", I Did, and Why: Horror Movies v. Today's Horrors

Yesterday, I walked out of the movie, "Get Out." I went intrigued from hearing the writer/director, Jordon Peele describe it. I'd heard that movie critics gave it the highest ratings and one friend recommended it after seeing it. I don't usually like horror films, but shoved those thoughts aside.

As the movie began, I leaned over and said, I may not stay. A little more than a third into it, something happened and I knew it was downhill from there. I leaned again and said goodbye.

I sloughed it off to not liking horror movies... ever since the House on Haunted Hill, that  I saw at the Woods Theater back in the day. Oddly, they held a raffle after that show that I won. Very apt, and more odd, the prize was an electric knife. As a twelve year old, I didn't have a lot of use for it, but our parents used it for years to carve the Thanksgiving turkey.

Today, I told a friend about leaving the theater and being renewed as I walked out into a 70° sunny afternoon. She offered a connection and insight into today's experiences of horror...  killings, hunger,  refugees in camps for years, persecution of Muslims, Jews, Native Americans, and African Americans, health care nearly taken away for 24 million, our planet under seige.

It was an aha! comment. I recognized I have little margin for things that make me feel more stress. She made another interesting comment that "screwball comedies" came out of the Great Depression... thet were the antidote to a very difficult time. For me, a horror movie, no matter how well made or a horror story, no matter how well told, does not lighten the heart.

Painting: Lighthouse 2 by Mary Longe, Watercolor, 11x14", 3/23/17 wwe.marylonge.com

Create and Write Postcards - #Resist - Send on the Ides of Trump - March 15

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Are you feeling scattered and a bit out of it? Want a stress reliever? Make and Write postcards to be sent on March 15, the Ides of Trump.

MAKING POSTCARDS - no larger than 4x6" for postcard rate $.34, write a message and address them 

1) Pull out old greeting cards and cut them to size

2) Cut card stock and on one side...

use markers, crayons, paints and decorate

3) Buy prepaid postage cards 




Write

--a poem

--a limerick

--a favorite quote

--a list of things you want done

--a list of things you believe
--Prompt: Roses are red, violets are blue

Draw

--something or someone you love

--what you want to protect

--the outcome you want

Glue/Modge/Podge

--A ransom note

--A collage of things you want protected

--Symbols of things you treasure

WRITING A MESSAGE - Make sure you leave room to address the postcard

--Affirm

--Request

--Describe your vision

--Point out discrepancies

--Suggest changes

--Be succinct

--Be nice

--Be firm

Send several.

Address:
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500

Creating a Personal Mission - Simple Tactics In Deed

The political stuff has me agitated. (Really? You say, I hadn't noticed.) After seeing the Requiem for The American Dream, I am more convinced I need to do something. The point I took away from is that one doesn't have to do anything huge. It's about convening people, caring for people, and not buying into consumerism and isolationism. So, that may become my mission. I have befriended a refugee family who I've committed to spend time talking with them. That's it. Talking with them to improve their ability to communicate, to work.

I'm having a blast making postcards on the heavier paper samples we received at last summer's Urban Sketchers Chicago confab. I've sent four to representatives, sent a couple as a swap and will save the rest to send on March 15 to Donald Trump.

The interesting thing is that because of befriending the Syrian family, I've tasted food I never heard of, made an unplanned visit to the Art Institute of Chicago, which also took me into parts of the Maggie Daley Park where I haven't been and played tag for the first time in years. One of the kids called me old, but what the hell? It was fun.

With the postcard making, I actually paid attention to the paper types and discovered how much I love the Faber Castell Pitt pens that were given away. The many tones of grey to black, that I likely would never have bought myself, are helping me with value studies. And, as a side note, I'm not just watching tv.

Seriously, watch this documentary either on Netflix or buy it on You Tube for $3.99. And, tell us what you think. I know I will still be thinking about it.

Thinking about making postcards? 

Keep in mind that cards have to meet certain requirements. To qualify for mailing at the First-Class Mail postcard price ($.34), it must be:

Rectangular

At least 3-1/2 inches high x 5 inches long x 0.007 inch thick

No more than 4-1/4 inches high x 6 inches long x 0.016 inches thick

Otherwise they are the same cost as a letter.

Need an address? Google your zipcode with the office, Address Senator 60015. There are other ways, but that's an easy path.

The above info has been fact checked. It took about 1 minute. Why the hell doesn't the whitehouse know how to do that? I think I'll write a postcard.