I'll Call It Like I See It

by sheila morris

Category: Lesbian Literary

  • Happiness Barometer


    at Casa de Canterbury in November, 2016

    at Casita de Cardinal this week

    Even the miraculously still alive 70th. birthday plant is happier in its new home. 

    Just saying.

    Beat the heat this weekend, cyberspace amigas this side of the equator…or stay warm to all our amigos in Capetown, South Africa where our good friend Dr. Saskia visited for three weeks recently and almost froze to death. According to her, everyone wears coats all the time because there is no heat in any building she ate, slept, shopped, or did research in. Brr. I must only visit South Africa in their summertime.

  • summer solstice


    i want to be sure i stay awake until midnight tonight.

    don’t waste a minute of the last gasps of spring.

    summer begins to steal the daylight hours

    as surely as heat rises.

     

  • We Will Not Let Hate Win


    This week marks the one-year anniversary of the massacre of  49 members of the lgbtq community in Orlando at the Pulse night club.

    We all remember and will stand with the people of Orlando who refuse to allow this tragedy to disrupt their ongoing belief, expressed again this week in their mantra, We Will Not Let Hate Win.

    The little girl in the picture looks up hopefully to the flag from the March on Washington in 1993. Forty years after that picture was taken, she carried a flag similar to this one preserved by Dick Hubbard who marched with Freddie Mullis and a large contingent of South Carolinians alongside her. It was a defining moment for all who stood tall for equality that weekend and returned home to begin the work of changing the political landscape of their state.

    There were no casualties during that protest, but there have been many since then… the Pulse shootings among the most notorious.

    I keep pictures of the little girl I was in my new office at Casita de Cardinal – originally because I thought they went well with  Pretty’s juvenile book collection she brought with her in the move. I asked for that bookcase to be placed in my direct vision on the wall across from my desk. The Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew were favorite sleuths of mine in my childhood so they create a wonderful atmosphere for my new work space.

    Now, however, I think the pictures are important on many levels. They are vivid reminders of a time and place where questioning, longings and determination to pursue the whole earth as my territory, as my daddy promised me, led me to become the woman who marched in Washington in 1993.

    Today during the anniversary week of the Orlando tragedy we understand we’ve come too far to turn back, as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s  famous quote became the poster for the 1993 march. For the survivors of the Pulse nightmare, the families of those we lost who continue to mourn, and for those who would limit our pursuit of happiness, his words of wisdom continue to be relevant in our ongoing adversities:

    “Our freedom was not won a century ago, it is not won today, but some small part of it is in our hands, and we are marching no longer by ones and twos but in legions of thousands, convinced now it cannot be denied by human force.”

    We will not let hate win.

     

  • WONDROUS WOMAN!


    Pretty and I went to the movies last night with our Yankee Quartet friends (2 from New York and 2 from Boston) to see Wonder Woman. Pretty was exhausted from her ongoing hard work clearing out Casa de Canterbury where she labors daily with her own personal Energizer Bunny Shelley. I tore myself away from the French Open coverage on the Tennis Channel which was not easy for me, but a date night with Pretty is always worth any sacrifice.

    Hello, my name is Sheila, and I’m a tennis television addict.

    I know, I know. Why are you watching tennis on TV while Pretty labors away at Casa de Canterbury? Simply put, I am a liability for that endeavor, but I excel in dog-sitting Spike and Charly who also prefer tennis to toil. Go figure.

    Thank goodness Pretty and I both wanted to see Wonder Woman. We really had such a fun time from start to finish. First of all, we saw several friends we rarely see while we were standing in line waiting to buy popcorn. The line was the length of a freight train on the railroad tracks as the signal clangs and the red lights blink during the interminable wait behind the wooden barriers that guard the railroad crossing. We had so much time waiting for popcorn we were able to catch up on the life of a seventeen-year-old friend’s daughter who was just graduating from high school and about to go to college. The last time we had heard anything about her she was eleven.

    Seriously, movie theater management people, you really need more than one person selling popcorn when Wonder Woman is one of your featured films – even on a Tuesday night. Pretty gave up when we were soooooo close to the concession counter and joined our friends for the previews. Luckily, one of our Boston buddies stayed with me for the duration and we spent an outrageous amount of money together for popcorn and sodas. Don’t even get me started on concession stand prices at the movies. Like I could truly say I remember when popcorn was 25 cents and cokes were a dime…but nobody cares or even wants to be reminded of the economic issues surrounding inflation on an innocent night of fun and frivolity.

    Turns out the expensive popcorn was delicious, and the movie itself was more than entertaining. Gal Gadot embodied the female super-hero Wonder Woman I remembered from my comic book days of secretive reading at Mr. McAfee’s drug store in my home town of Richards, Texas in the 1950s as well as the Lynda Carter Wonder Woman on TV I was in love with  in the 1970s. As the story came to life for me again on the big screen last night, I totally enjoyed the action packed images of this famous female super-hero directed by another woman, Patty Jenkins. If I were a movie reviewer, I would give this one 5 stars.

    Pretty and our other friends also enjoyed the heroics, but I did notice Pretty yawning several times and poked her to let her know she was being watched. I knew she was tired, tired, tired, though; and WW was a long film. Not as long as the popcorn line, of course.

    As the last credits scrolled down the screen after the final dramatic conclusion of the movie, we waited to see the names of the various actresses we recognized from other shows. Pretty never leaves a theater until the final credits are shown, even when she’s exhausted. That’s how she rolls in movies.

    We said our goodbyes to the Yankee Quartet in the parking lot with promises to get together again soon.

    On the way home, we talked about the movie, the popcorn line, the friends we hadn’t seen in forever. I asked Pretty what the father of the seventeen-year-old girl taught at the University of South Carolina. She replied, He’s a history professor who is an LBJ specialist.

    I was incredulous at the idea of someone making a living teaching about Lyndon Baines Johnson. That sounded so appealing to me for some reason.

    Gosh, I said, this is another example of choices I never knew I had for a career when I became an accountant fifty years ago. What would you like to have been, Pretty?

    Wonder Woman, Pretty said. And I laughed.

    That’s one of the things I love about Pretty. She dreams big.

    P.S. June is traditionally Pride Month, although it isn’t officially recognized by the current administration in Washington, D.C. this year. Hug an lgbtq person this month with the love Wonder Woman believed in for everyone. Happy Pride!

  • The Fabulous Huss Brothers – and How They Grew


    My head is spinning from the realization that today is the first day of June, 2017. The first five months of this year have evaporated into thin air – I sometimes feel like I’ve been on the Scrambler which was the only ride I ever ventured to ride at the State Fair which I made every effort to avoid on an annual basis. My insides became outsides during the interminable twists and turns at such high velocities they made me stumble with dizziness when I finally was allowed to remove the bar and exit the small metal prison box. I had survived the Scrambler one more time.

    I feel that same sense of relief at the end of the first five months of 2017. Moving is not for the faint of heart or body, a whirlwind trip south to New Orleans for the Saints and Sinners Literary Festival, the Final Four with an historic National Championship with our women’s basketball team, birthdays, good anniversaries, sad anniversaries, and finally the death of a cousin who took a part of my childhood with him. Enough already. I have been “scrambled.”

    Pretty and I were relaxing at a pool party/ cookout at the home of our gay boys basketball buddies this past weekend. I was chatting with fellow blogger Mar-la-ti-dah (check out her blog sometime – she’s fun!) when she asked me about the Fabulous Huss Brothers from Worsham Street in Texas. She’s not the first person to inquire about those little guys who brought me such joy while I was there. I’m always happy when people are interested in the brothers Huss.

    As the fickle finger of fate would have it, my friend Becky sent me pictures of her three sons this week so I am updating their profiles for everyone with the new images. Enjoy!

    Baby George is now 4 

    (with rescue dog Carolina)

    Oldest brother Oscar is 8

    and proudly holds a giant craw fish from their tank

    Dwight is in the middle at age 6

    with the sweetest smile for a soccer player

    Every Texas family loves a bluebonnets picture!

    This one was on my Mother’s Day card from the boys. It’s a picture that makes me smile but also gives me hope for the future in these tumultuous times. I love the Fabulous Huss Brothers and miss their daily afternoon visits as well as the porch chats with their mother and the other Little Women of Worsham Street. It’ll be no time until we see them again.