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11/26/2025

Today’s blog

Lynn Murphy Mark

‘Tis the Season

It has arrived for me!! Time to fire up the Christmas carols and hear them all over again for the maybe one thousandth time. It’s funny – a few weeks ago I started playing them, but it was clearly not time and they did not resonate with me. I have resisted until now, when Christmas will be over in a month from today. 

Julie Andrews came up first.  She has such a pure, clear voice, made for singing these songs of joy and wonder. I have my huge playlist going on shuffle, so I don’t know what comes next. Each piece speaks to me about some memory, something that music can unlock.

David Lanz is next. Keep in mind that I have had this collection for decades, so I don’t even know if he is still performing. Google says he is 75 and still alive, and calls him a new type of musical talent from the 1980’s. He is a composer and a pianist and his albums came out at a time when “New Age” music was becoming popular. I love his melodies. The memory that comes up is one when Rose and I went to a Christmas concert of his, I think at the Westport playhouse. We both love this music so it was a great experience, tinged with sadness. I say that because this occasion was just before she returned to her work in South Africa, and I knew it would be some years before I saw her again.

Nat King Cole takes me straight to a childhood memory. We were in the house on Paracaima street in Mexico City. That house had a great den, where there was always a big tree on display for the Holiday. The trees were always magical to me. Those were the days when there was a particular kind of ornament all over the branches, ones you don’t see so much if at all anymore. They were shaped like candles with bubbling colors in their shafts. What ever happened to those? And of course there was tinsel. There had to be tinsel. Anyway, his voice can light up that part of my brain that saves the bits of memory I have from my childhood.

Heard of Celtic Woman? Their Christmas album is such fun. They sing all the old favorites with magnificent harmonies in unbelievably Soprano voices. And, one of them plays the violin as she dances around. We watched PBS specials featuring them starting in 2004. And Jan and I got to see them live at the Fox one year. Haven’t heard much from them lately.

I have Christmas solo albums from Linda Ronstadt, James Taylor, Aretha Franklin, Andrea Bocceli, Sharon Jones, and others I can’t even remember. But the one that starts Christmas for me is the one I always fired up first when the kids were growing up. Anne Murray has two albums. In her distinctive voice she filled the house with songs and, boy, can I harmonize with her!

I think that is what I love the most. Singing along with the music, and harmonizing as I go. There is something so life-giving about blending my voice with the artists’ offerings. The only thing is, now in my 70’s my voice is a little more tenor-like than my former Alto ability. But I can still find the right notes that go with the melodies.

Of course, the most meaningful album is Handel’s Messiah. It was recorded in the 90’s I think, and has been my go-to music to kick off the season. I won’t make Rose listen to it on our road trip today!

So, Rose and I will motor on up to Muncie, Indiana, where it is predicted to be in the 20’s and 30’s the whole time we’re there. I’m thinking that maybe on the road I can open the Christmas playlists and we can both sing to them. Rose likes Christmas music so we’ll be in music heaven as the miles go by. I am so grateful for the music that has defined my life. I honestly don’t know what I would do if music didn’t exist! 

11/24/2025

Today’s blog

Lynn Murphy Mark

A tiny road trip

This is Thanksgiving week, a time when people take to highways and airways to get together as family and friends. It’s a holiday that is rich with family traditions, favorite recipes, hopefully some gratitude, and time for togetherness. It ushers in the full blown Holiday Season. This year everything happens quickly – Thanksgiving, followed in a few days by the beginning of Advent. Good grief. What happened to 2025?

Thanksgiving has been my favorite holiday of all. Of course when the kids were little, Christmas was where it was at. Trees were decorated, presents were wrapped and hidden, and there was often a late night scramble on Christmas Eve to put something together for a great reveal the next morning. A favorite little story of Christmas was the year Jackie asked for bed sheets featuring “Rainbow Bright”. Remember her? Anyway, Jackie’s father and I waited until she was so sound asleep that we could change her sheets with her in the bed. When she woke up on Christmas morning, she was sleeping on colorful sheets with Rainbow Bright all over them. 

Back to The Giving of Thanks Day. There’s something about its approach that feels comforting to me. Autumn is fading away, even though Winter is almost a month away. Seasonal themes are everywhere. To me, the earth is going toward a mode of quiet and reflection. It’s time for a review of the past year.

2025 has been a bizarre year. It’s been filled with controversy and sometimes pure hatefulness. It seems that every day there is something new to be shocked about. My view of politics takes a hit so often that it is amazing to me that this country is still able to function in any form. This is why I look forward to the quietness of these next few weeks even though there is plenty of frantic getting-ready going on. When December 31 rolls around there will be a last “Hurrah!” in honor of the outgoing year. 

This Thanksgiving will be a little different for Jan and me. We have made an agreement that we can spend the day apart. She will go to Donna’s for the big day. And I will be on a road trip to Indiana. Rose and I will be making our first real road trip together. Now, we have traveled by air together on a couple of ventures to New Mexico. But we have never packed bags and taken a car ride together. That changes this Wednesday!

Mary, who usually accompanies Rose on this trip, is not feeling up to taking a long car ride. Rose, who is the most adventuresome of the duo, is able to make the drive, but would prefer not to do it alone. When she asked if I would consider going with her I said I would have to clear it with Jan. Jan graciously agreed. 

It feels like a fun trip to me. Rose’s family members are known to me, and we are long distance friends. I see them whenever they come to Saint Louis and always enjoy our encounters. They are amenable to my coming with Rose, so that is the plan. 

Needless to say, Rose and I carefully planned our trip around meal times, as only true foodies would do. We will leave early, in time for breakfast at First Watch – for which I have a $10-off coupon – and stop for lunch somewhere on the road. Rose has made this trip so many times that she knows all the eateries along the way. When we get to Indiana there will be plenty of laughter, football, maybe some playing of games, and no doubt a great Thanksgiving meal. It will be a chance for me to simmer with gratitude that Rose and I are such good friends. I am told that we’ll probably go see “Wicked for Good”. Great. I loved it the first time around!

So, this week kicks off another Holiday Season. To illustrate the joy of this time, I found the picture of Jackie on Christmas morning 40-some years ago when the magic of what Santa Claus can do occupied her child’s mind.

11/22/2025

Today’s blog

Lynn Murphy Mark

Define “Professional”

Last night I was on the phone with Katie in Baltimore. We had each just watched the latest Kathleen Madigan stand-up episode. As usual, she did not disappoint. Both of us laughed our way through repeating some especially funny one-liners we heard in the show. One in particular involved Kathleen’s mother, an elderly retired nurse. Kathleen’s father’s discharge plan after a stroke was being discussed. The family was in shock to learn that Mr. Madigan was to be discharged to home in the care of his wife – because “she’s a nurse”. Kathleen responded, “Yes she is, but in the Civil War! She had drinks with Clara Barton!”.

After we had choked with laughter, both of us being older retired nurses, Katie said something about the Department of Education’s latest missive: nursing is no longer considered a profession. “WTF?”, said I. “Why?”, was my next question. So Katie sent me a couple of articles from respected magazines like Newsweek. 

To clarify a little, the Department of Education is not exactly saying that nurses are not professionals. The gist of the new ruling is that nursing education and degrees will no longer be considered “professional degrees”. This means that Bachelor’s, Master’s, and PhD’s in nursing are now subject to federal student loan caps, meaning that students will face lower borrowing limits. This goes in effect in July of 2026.

The American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) has this to say: “AACN is deeply concerned by the Department of Education’s decision to move forward with a proposed definition of professional degree programs that excludes nursing and significantly limits student loan access. Should this proposal be finalized, the impact on our already-challenged nursing workforce would be devastating.”

And, “Despite broad recognition of the complexity, rigor, and necessity of post-baccalaureate nursing education, the Department’s proposal defines professional programs so narrowly that nursing, the nation’s largest healthcare profession, remains excluded…”

I don’t know about you, but I am just as happy being seen by a Nurse Practitioner as I am a visit with my MD. In my experience, the Nurse Practitioner is even more thorough than my doctor when I see her. I always leave with a plan for self-care, and perhaps a prescription to back up the plan. And, in the hospital, my first line of defense is the nurse because he or she will be informing doctors about my condition and my needs. In a complex health care situation, it is the nurses who will be setting up all the technology that constitutes forms of life-support. 

The AACN has put out a report on the nursing shortage. It predicted a shortage of over 78,000 full-time RNs in 2025. The shortage continues through 2030 when it is predicted that over 63,000 full-time nurse jobs will remain empty. Today, the median age of Registered Nurses is thought to be 50. Other sources say the age is 46, So, as a workforce nurses are aging and will be retiring in coming years.

There are 4.3 million RNs working in every aspect of health care. When the pandemic hit in 2020 nurses were already experiencing a strain as, “Retirements outpacing new entrants into the field…Increased demand for health care from aging and chronic disease populations…Inadequate workforce support….Nurses are under immense stress and feel the full weight of an overburdened, poorly functioning health care system.”  (American Nurses Association, “Nurses in the Workforce”).

It doesn’t make any sense at all for the government to make it more difficult for young men and women to be educated as RNs. The new proposal sets a cap of $20,500 for graduate nursing students and a lifetime total of $100,000. This comes directly from the One Beautiful Bill Act, where nursing is not currently classified as a “professional degree program”.

Last year I made what was a difficult decision for me – I did not renew my RN license. However,  I do have a certificate from the Missouri Nurses’ Association thanking me for 50 years of service as an RN. In my soul, I will always be a nurse. I am proud of the differences I made in a few people’s lives. As an aging woman who will at some point need nursing intervention, I am deeply saddened by the lack of respect this Administration has for those who are the backbone of health care in America. 

11/20/2025

Today’s blog

Lynn Murphy Mark

Movie magic

It’s been a long time since I entered a movie theater to see something on a big screen. This week I decided to make up for that absence. 

Monday night Jan and I went to see “Wicked for Good”. The message in this part two offering remains the same as in part one: it is worth standing up for what is right. It is an obligation to seek justice for those who are now oppressed. Sometimes it is necessary to risk it all in order to do the next right thing. Being different has challenges, but also comes with its own gifts. These are the thoughts I get from both Wicked movies.

The magic part in Wicked comes in the visual techniques that make the big screen practically vibrate with energy and special effects. The “wicked” witch flies through the air at unimaginable speeds, avoiding one obstacle after another. In the close up shots of Cynthia Erivo riding her broom, I remember that she wears a harness of sorts. And, she literally flies through the air, sometimes while singing beautifully. In part one she had to learn how to sing when she was hanging upside down as she was being filmed. This little powerhouse can do it all.

Yesterday morning I spent some time working on a presentation so I felt like a responsible adult. I met Rose for breakfast as we do on most Wednesdays. She had told me about another movie out in theaters. She had taken herself to see “Nuremberg” and highly recommended it. Since I had a free afternoon, I decided to do the same, and go to my local AMC theater a few miles away on Olive Street.

I pulled into the empty parking lot in front of the theater. At first I wondered if it was actually open. It was. I bought my ticket for “Nuremberg”, then spent twice that amount on popcorn and a coke zero. 

There were probably 20 other people ready to watch what I was pretty sure would be a very serious film. I was not wrong. Russell Crow plays Hermann Goering, a pivotal figure in the rise of the Nazi party and the subsequent Holocaust. Rami Malik plays an army psychiatrist who is assigned to work with 22 men being held for war crimes. His main job was to make sure they were mentally safe and sound while the world prepared to try them for the atrocities committed on their watch. 

The men were haughty and entitled. Most of them denied any knowledge of the Holocaust. The film centers on the relationship between the psychiatrist and Hermann Goering. Over time, Dr. Kelley and Goering developed a friendship of sorts. Goering, being a classic narcissist, was taken with the attention he got as a result of many meetings between the two of them. 

After the movie I wanted to know more about Dr. Kelley. He wrote a book about his experiences. Unfortunately it never made it big, and is now out of print. I would love to find a way to get my hands on this book. Anyway, after the war he became a professor of psychiatry and criminology at UC Berkeley. Apparently his experience with pure evil weighed heavily on him, and at the age of 45 he committed suicide. The reason I believe there is a direct connection between his death and the death of Goering is that, like Goering, he used cyanide to end his life.

The magic of this movie for me was the message that evil and a disregard for the humanity of groups of people is what drove the Nazi’s to commit such egregious acts. I know that’s widely known, but the acting in this movie made the message come alive. Practically until the day of their deaths, the accused denied any knowledge of the atrocities. Ten men were hung on October 16, 1946. To me, this in no way made their crimes any less horrible. The movie featured about a 10 minute clip of actual scenes from the death camps – camps that Goering, et al, tried to say were merely “work camps”. 

Those scenes included film of piles of human bodies being moved with huge plows into mass graves. Skeletal remains were all over the camps when the Allies liberated the people still alive in these death camps. Most prisoners were barely able to walk, exhausted by malnutrition and despicable living conditions. 

I left that theater in deep thought and shock. It’s not that I haven’t seen films and pictures of the Holocaust before.  It’s that I know that around this world other genocidal acts are taking place. Racial ideology, dehumanization and marginalization, indifference and complicity have even taken a place in our own government these days. That scares me.

11/18/2025

Today’s blog

Lynn Murphy Mark

A huge fan

Jan has been following Cynthia Erivo for years now and may be one of her biggest fans. She recognizes this woman’s brilliant voice, her songwriting skills, and now an actor becoming recognized and sought after. Besides that, Cynthia is an out and open lesbian and fights for LGBTQ+ rights. 

Jan belongs to a small group of Facebook fans of this remarkable woman. One woman lives in Great Britain, and through this media, she and Jan have become fast friends. Her name is Denise. As it happens, when we go to London in February – more about this in a minute – we have a tentative plan to board a train and meet Denise at the halfway mark between her home and London. We’re really looking forward to meeting this friend across the Pond.

Last night we took advantage of “preview” tickets and went to see the second Wicked movie, called, “Wicked for Good”. There was a line to be the first people to see this highly anticipated film. Some wore the Wicked colors – pink and green. There were children there hugging their stuffed animals and talking excitedly about seeing the movie before lots of their friends will see it. It is scheduled to be released on November 22. I have a feeling we will be going back, maybe to watch it in 3D. I’ll leave that up to Jan.

The movie is a visual extravaganza. We saw it at the B&B theater on Olive Street, and it was a special screen. The movie was projected widely on the main screen and the side walls of the theater. I could have done without that because to me it was a distraction instead of the gimmick it is supposed to be. And, unlike the first movie this one shows more emotions from the characters as well as a budding love affair. That’s what drew me in. That, and the witch’s courage to defend right.

After the show Jan decided that she likes the first one better. I’m not sure. The first movie had more and better music in my opinion. The second one spends more time on character development and I always appreciate that in a movie. There was raw sorrow and anger, tender love, and a message about the benefits of fighting against evil intentions. As the Wizard spoke about people in Oz believing in him unconditionally, I was reminded of how 47 brags about his Christians, his Black people, his women, and says he is the best friend they have ever had. I wish there was a green witchy woman confronting 47 with the truth of his devious ways!

This “Cynthia” week is not over for Jan. This afternoon she is leaving on a jet plane for New York City to attend a live appearance of Cynthia who will be talking about her book that will hit shelves and homes tomorrow. This will be Jan’s first opportunity to see her “live”. She is going to be inspired by Cynthia’s message: embrace your authentic self and overcome challenges by drawing on your inner strength and  wisdom. 

In February of next year we are giving ourselves a travel gift. We are flying to London for a couple of reasons. One of them is that Jan loves London, has been there many times, and wants to show me this British gem. I have been to London once, but that was way back in the 1960’s, with my mom. It happened to coincide with the release of the movie My Fair Lady so mom and I went to the theater to see it, and then visited Covent Garden. 

The main reason for the visit is to attend a play where Cynthia Erivo plays all 23 parts. It is a production of Bram Stoker’s “Dracula”. I find it fascinating that she takes on every role in the play. She has already won a Tony award for her work on Broadway in “The Color Purple”. In fact, Cynthia is the recipient of a Tony, an Emmy, and a Grammy. All she needs to be one of the rare EGOT winners, (there are 21 winners in all of the history of showbusiness), is an Oscar. I think she should have gotten one for her performance in “Harriet”. 

That wraps up Jan’s Cynthia week. I think Christmas is taken care of this year!

11/16/2025

Today’s blog

Lynn Murphy Mark

Afraid of the dark

This is not about watching a horror movie – well, not quite – or being a kid afraid to go to sleep when the lights go out. I’m 76 years old, and I think I know what deserves my fear and what is a waste of adrenaline. For example, my latest edition of The Atlantic magazine is here and the opening story gave me the shivers. It is a carefully crafted piece about what 47 and his minions can do to screw up the midterm elections next year. Let me count the ways was what I thought as I read through the article. With the present administration’s disregard for the law, there are many avenues that can be taken to reduce voter turnout, spread rumors that the election was “rigged”, use military force to take hold of voting machines and to render the election impossible to certify. And there’s that damnable electoral college, a feature of our elections that is gravely out of touch with current reality.

Nope. This morning I’m writing about something equally as concerning. That is something we now call “the dark web”. It includes a feature of the internet that is hidden and is not found with search engines called the “deep web”. It requires special software to access it and is known for its anonymity, used for illicit activities. 

My Wikipedia source says this about users of this nefarious technology: “Identities and locations of darknet users cannot be tracked due to the layered encryption system. The darknet encryption technology routes users data through a large number of intermediate servers, which protects the users’ identity and guarantees anonymity…communication between darknet users is highly encrypted allowing users to talk, blog, and share files confidentially.”

The darknet is a haven for hackers, who can work anonymously to steal personal information through a variety of methods involving technology and psychological manipulation of innocent web users. One of the most common methods is known as “phishing” that tricks individuals into providing sensitive information. Scammers use emails, texts and calls to send legitimate looking organizations so that victims will click a malicious link or call a number.

Malware and spyware can be installed on devices to secretly record and transmit data. This allows hackers to infiltrate the databases of places that store a huge amount of personal information. That stolen information is often sold on the dark web and is used to access people’s private accounts. With this information, hackers commit financial fraud by making unauthorized purchases, opening new credit accounts or loans in the name of an innocent person, or draining bank accounts. Data that has been mined illegally is sold to other criminals as well.

Am I afraid of this dark? Yes. Yes, I am. And I write this because our household has been maliciously hacked with this very technology. Using stolen credit card information we found ourselves being told that we owed thousands of dollars for unauthorized purchases. While we tried very hard to fight against this claim, we ended up having to take out a loan to pay the balances. 

Working on this involved hours of stressful phone calls to creditors who were not sympathetic in any way. As far as they were concerned, there was physical proof of our careless spending. Our credit scores were greatly affected, going from highly respectable numbers down to numbers that make us seem like a bad risk for any financial transactions. 

Bad credit scores are no joke. Losing a good score makes it nearly impossible to be in a position of trustworthiness financially. In our household, our scores have been a matter of pride in the past. They have resulted in advantageous negotiations on interest rates with our home and our cars. That is no longer true for us. And renewing our good credit standing is a time consuming process, requiring sustained effort over time. There is no quick fix for this problem.

This situation has left us feeling helpless and frustrated. Jan, who is a power negotiator, has spent countless hours trying to fix this. Because she is so dedicated to being financially sound and responsible, this takes a heavy toll on her psyche. In her past life as a mortgage banker she helped countless people improve their scores so they could get the best interest rate possible on their loans. And now, she is fighting what seems like a losing battle as an innocent victim of a malicious scheme. 

So, be afraid. Be very afraid of what hackers are capable of. Make every effort to protect your information, much of which is already out “there” in a terrifying darkness. 

11/14/2025

Today’s blog

Lynn Murphy Mark

The devil strikes again

It’s been a while since I’ve had an immigration subject to write about. That is surprising given this administration’s heavy-handed treatment of the immigration rules and regulations. In our office we simply come in every day not looking for trouble, but often having trouble slap us in the face.

Yesterday was one of those days. About once a week I go to the USCIS website to check the status of my clients’ cases. This tells me if there has been any new development with each case. Usually changes are very slow to happen, so sometimes I am caught by surprise when there has been some decision made. I go down the list alphabetically and if there is a change I know I must advise the client. Sometimes it’s very good news. Sometimes it’s not so good. 

I have a client here as a refugee from Burundi. This is a landlocked country in East Africa. It lies between Rwanda, Tanzania, and the Congo, and has around 14 million residents. If you remember, Rwanda underwent a very bloody civil war between the Tutsis and the Hutus. In Burundi there is a sizeable population of Hutus and a smaller population of Tutsis. These people have lived in Burundi for more than 500 years.

Burundi is a very small country in a huge continent. It is the poorest country in the world and one of the least developed. According to Wikipedia, “The 2018 World Happiness Report, ranked the country as the world’s least happy with a rank of 156.” I don’t know what brought my client here from her native land, but given the little I know I can only imagine it was out of desperation.

Burundi also happens to be one of 47’s banned countries. The State Department advises us not to travel there due to high crime and generally dangerous conditions. When I got my client I worried if this would have any effect on the consideration of her citizenship case. She has a legitimately acquired Green Card, so she is here legally, and has been here long enough to meet the 5 year requirement to change her Green Card into a citizenship certificate.

I sent her case off to Chicago and it was received on October 20. I got a notice that they could use her previous set of fingerprints and that her fee waiver had been approved. So far so good, thought I. 

But here is Stephen Miller’s latest barrier to legally acquired citizenship. Before October 20, applicants had to study a list of 100 civics questions. In their interviews, they were asked 10 questions and had to get 6 of them right in order to pass. I can assure you that us native born citizens would have trouble answering the questions without a goodly amount of time to study them. This part of the citizenship interview is what causes my clients the most amount of anxiety. Usually as we wait in the waiting room for the interview to happen, all citizenship candidates are still frantically studying the questions.

Back to the immigration devil-man. Very recently a new rule came down. Suddenly, the test now has 128 questions and candidates must answer 12 out of 20 correctly. Well, that can be a challenge, but up until now people have had 4 – 6 months to study before being scheduled for their interview. 

Here’s the latest huge hurdle: USCIS is scheduling interviews within a month of receipt of the file. Yesterday as I checked my client’s case online, my stomach lurched when I saw the message, “You have been scheduled for your interview. We will send a letter with a date and time to appear at USCIS.” My client’s case was received less than a month ago and she is now being scheduled. A colleague in my office had two similar cases – a rapid turnaround so the clients had very little time to study and learn. Both of them failed the civics exam. 

If my client doesn’t pass the test – and I sadly anticipate this will be the outcome – she will have an opportunity for a second interview. It may be months before she is scheduled again, which is probably best because she will have time to really get into the questions and answers.

There is such a huge sense of disappointment when a client does not pass the interview. After it’s over, I spend a lot of time assuring the client that they will have a second chance, and trying to be positive about how this gives more time for studying. But still, it’s a failure for them. I have had a couple of traumatized clients decide not to pursue citizenship after all. 

These are people who have done everything asked of them to get a Green Card, wait the 5 year period before applying, and then putting their lives on the line when they do apply. I know this is a Stephen Miller tactic to make it as hard as possible for immigrants to gain full acceptance in the USA. Shame on him for this despicable move.

11/09/2025

Today’s blog

Lynn Murphy Mark

Presence

I’m in a small book club. There are just four of us involved and we’ve been together for a couple of years now. It all started because the four of us are involved in various 12 Step programs, gratefully, I might add. We started with a book called, “A Woman’s Way Through the Twelve Steps”. It appealed to us, as women, and we read it carefully. It was helpful to read a woman’s perspective about recovering through a program whose literature is often written in “he and him” terms. The God of our understanding is also portrayed as a “he” throughout the literature that we read as part of our recovery. I can mostly look beyond the male references because I consider myself a liberated woman as much as that is possible these days.

We meet once a month. During the preceding month we will have read our assigned pages and come together prepared to discuss what we’ve digested. Because we are close friends, everything is open for discussion. The books that we read are selected on the basis of their potential to open new vistas and offer alternative ways to look at our lives. Together we have decades of 12 Step experience and have learned the importance of honesty in our words and actions. In our meetings we listen carefully to each other and we love and support one another when a knotty problem is up for review.

This time around we are reading one of the most powerful books I’ve had the privilege to encounter. Written by Eckhart Tolle, the title is “A New Earth – Awakening to your life’s purpose”. It’s not a new book. It was first published in 2005 and we have a new edition with a preface called, “Ten years later”, by the author. Of the group, I am the only one who had never read it. My enlightened friends remembered reading it years ago.

But now we are in our 70’s and 80’s and life looks a bit different as we are each aging as gracefully and gratefully as we can. Among us we have our share of health challenges and sometimes the challenges seem difficult to deal with. Like lots of us older folk, when we get together sometimes we start with the “organ recital”, a descriptor of our ailments. Thankfully, they are not the center of our meetings once we expose them. Since two of us are retired nurses we are a source of helpful insight and suggestions and then we can move on.

Oprah Winfrey picked this book as a Book Club selection. She was so drawn in by its message that she contacted the author and had a number of conversations with him about the book and its effect on her. She writes, “Talking with Eckhart all these weeks has made me aware of both the depth of spirituality and its simplicity. I now know for sure that spirituality can be something as ordinary – and extraordinary – as giving your full-force, 100 percent attention to another person without thinking about what else you need to be doing right then.” Here’s where the whole subject of Presence is brought up. 

Tolle says, “When you are present, when your attention is fully in the Now, Presence will flow into and transform what you do. There will be a quality and power in it. You are present when what you are doing is not primarily a means to an end (money, prestige, winning) but fulfilling in itself, when there is a joy and aliveness in what you do. When your attention moves into the Now, there is an alertness. It is as if you are waking up from the dream of thought, the dream of past and future. Such clarity, such simplicity.”

Staying focused in the Now can be a challenge for me. My monkey mind likes to jump around between what happened already, what’s happening now, and what’s likely to happen later. I am learning that of the past, present and future the most important moment with the most potential is happening Now. Past may be a source of rich lessons, a collection of insightful memories, a path to painful or joyful remembrances. Future is a palette of plans and possibilities, always subject to change. Now is all I’ve really got.

Yesterday as I was driving home after our meeting my mind was centered on the trees that have changed from green to shades of yellow and orange. I was absolutely taken by their beauty, and their meaning – a time of year is coming that encourages reflection and careful thought about the real meaning of this season. Nature goes into a hibernation of sorts. Despite the frantic messages about “the Holidays” we are invited to quiet down and to be Present to each other as we gather to celebrate.

“A New Earth” is a book in my possession that is heavily underlined. It is definitely a keeper and definitely one that can be read again to gather different insights. We still have a ways to go in our reading, but each section we assign ourselves is filled with valuable information and thought-provoking concepts.

11/07/2025

Today’s blog

Lynn Murphy Mark

No technophile here

I happily went to work yesterday, my head making a little list of all I could do with my six hour work day. Traffic was a breeze and I was there in less time than I usually spend navigating Highway 64 at the interchange with Highway 170. Usually that little traffic trap costs me an extra 10 minutes as everyone slows to a crawl to handle the volume of cars. I was listening to the Mothership, NPR, as I drove. All the traffic lights I faced were green.

I pulled in to the garage, got a primo parking place, and thanked my lucky stars. Up I rode to the 12^th floor where our little department occupies a corner framed by floor to ceiling windows. First I stop by the mail room – it’s the highlight of my day when I see envelopes in our mailbox. Yesterday some early bird had already collected the mail and brought it to our department mailboxes. Sure enough, there were two envelopes for me. Oh Happy Day. I say that because most of our work is driven by the mail we get from the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services. They tell us what to do and we try to accommodate.

It was happy news – two people applying for citizenship had their fee waivers approved and will not have to pay the $700+ fee.

This is very good news for my clients. Therefore I couldn’t wait to email them the receipt letters approving the fee waiver. The second thing I do after hanging up my purse is settle in to my desk chair and power up my computer. It’s as natural an action as breathing. Except there was clearly a problem going on as I tried to sign in. That little blue circle that goes round and round was busy stalling the usual procedure. I reached down and turned everything off at the power strip. That usually beats the machine into submission.

Not yesterday. As if to give me an electronic middle finger, when I flipped the switch back on, the only thing that showed was a foreboding all-black screen. I turned it off again and again I got the same result. The little white arrow showed up but did nothing but blink at me. Without a computer, it is hard to advise our very nice IT department that there is a problem. I remembered that I could send them a message through my iPhone, so I fired off a 911 type message to the Support Desk.

It didn’t take long for William to call me. I always feel a little foolish talking to a tech person because I use words like “thingy” and “I’ve got nothing” and, “I have to do what? How?”. So I told him the little arrow thingy was blinking but useless. He took some steps at his end and finally declared that my computer definitely had a problem, due to its age. Use the laptop you have, was his advice, only the laptop had the same black screen and blinking arrow. Apparently that was going to require an on-site intervention and he told me that “Polly will be there and I’ll send her to your office when she gets in.”

I’ve never met Polly but I would have baked her a pan of brownies for showing up. I was in another office for a meeting, so I left her a big message taped to my screen saying to come on in and do her magic.

When my meeting was over, I went back to my room and there was a woman I’d never seen before. It turns out that Polly is the owner of our IT company and she is working on site because we just moved to a new phone system and the whole of Legal Services is feeling frustrated by the change. Except for the Technophiles. Polly told me that switching phone systems in an organization is the single most complex move one can make.

She did look straight at me and tell me that it wasn’t anything I did, because my computer was full of problems. She offered to get me an updated laptop because she happened to have a new one available. She got it, plugged it in, made a series of clicks, and there was my “Welcome” screen. She had me sign in and it worked. She left saying to call if there were any more problems.

I felt so hopeful. That is, until I realized that all my other sign-ins weren’t working because the computer did not recognize my existing passwords. It kept insisting that I be “authenticated”, but would not accept any of my actions. Polly was long gone, so I sent my friend William another 911 message. Over the course of an hour, he had to call me three times to get me taken care of. 

By now, it was almost noon, and I had not been able to accomplish anything except for some limited actions that I can take with my iPhone. My list of “to-do’s” sat there unaddressed. By this time I had put in almost six hours, having gone in early. So I did the prudent thing. I cleared off my desk and went home after probably the most unproductive day ever. I did thank William effusively, though, because today, thanks to him, I might have a chance of getting some stuff done!

11/04/2025

Today’s blog

Lynn Murphy Mark

Feeling it

Here it is, nearly 5 AM and I want to write a blog without knowing what to write about. I know it is election day, and there are some very important races that may give us an indication of what next year’s midterms will be like. Last night Rachel Maddow showed slide after slide of poll results, indicating that 47 is “underwater” on every issue. And not just by 5 or 10 points either. 

I am exhausted by this administration. Even knowing that millions of Americans don’t support 47 is not always enough to lift this little fog. There are still millions of Americans who believe that he is doing all the right things to make us a Christian Nationalist country. As much as I have tried to stay above the fray and not get caught up in the mess we are in, I just can’t pull it off sometimes. Everywhere I look there is evidence of wrongdoing by the elites in DC. 

Thugs in masks are hurting people in our cities, with no consequences. Many probably innocent people are being blown out of Southern waters – I believe the death toll in the Caribbean and Pacific is over 60 souls in small boats. We now have a Department of War run by an unhinged problem drinker. 47 wants to send troops into cities to keep us “safe”. Judging by their tactics, the goons that are already there have no interest in peaceful anything. They will throw people on the pavement for no obvious reason, and last night I saw a picture of a 14 year old girl being zip-tied, for God’s sake.

But despite all this, there is kindness in most of us and I have a memory that brings me joy. This Saturday, Cassondra and I attended a play at the Repertory Theatre called “The Brothers Size”. It is a very powerful story about the relationship between two brothers, one of whom has just gotten out of prison. It lasted for a solid hour and a half and left me disturbed and pensive.

As we were leaving the theater, we were walking behind an elderly lady using a cane and doing some shuffling with her right foot. When we got outside there was a small ramp to get to the sidewalk. The lady in front of us must have caught her foot on a crack, and down she went. Fortunately she was not injured and there were enough of us around to help her back up. She stood there getting her bearings while her companion went for the car. I stayed with the lady.

The three young Black men who were the actors in the play came out that same exit. Somehow they knew that the lady had fallen, and they stopped to speak to her to be sure she was alright. She said she was, in a very subdued voice. One of the young men was watching her carefully. After a few minutes he said a few precious words: “You are a beautiful woman.”, he said quietly. He looked at her and took her hand. For just an instant, there was such a loving exchange between them, that I almost teared up. I wanted to give this tall, young, kind man a hug for the comfort he gave the lady. I didn’t, but I sure wished I could. I hope he felt the power in his words and actions.

In that moment, there were no racial tensions, no separation between human souls, no anger, no judgment, just loving kindness. Even though we had all just witnessed a performance full of rage, sorrow, dreams unfulfilled, and the spoken, lived true story of the white supremacy with which the young men grew up, there was a little knot of compassion on a sidewalk in Webster Groves.

Just writing about this gives me hope and I can feel myself relaxing into the truth that “this too shall pass”. I realize that I can’t afford to be gloomy for too long because there is nothing to be gained by staying fixed in despair. I send thanks to a young man who stopped when he didn’t need to. He recognized another soul in distress and shared his kindness with her. I remember that there is a lot of that still happening and as long as this is true, there is hope for us.