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Mortgage Lending: The Truth, the Whole Truth, and Nothing But the Truth?Ful
2008-03-10 12:59:00
If you want in-depth information on one of the most important issues facing the American economy today, read this article on mortgage lending in the SSRN’s Working Paper Series, co-written by ELIZABETH RENUART and my niece DIANE E. THOMPSON. ORGANIZATION: Social Science Research Network: Tomorrow’s Research Today TITLE: “The Truth , the Whole Truth, and Nothing But the Truth: Fulfilling ...
More About: Credit , Mortgage , Lending , The Truth

Hardworking Roses: abundance and generosity multiply like rose petals
2008-03-10 12:31:00
Janet with a sampling of Daniel’s Hard-working Rose s You’ll recall I recieved two dozen roses this Valentine’s Day. As it turns out, both bouquets were from one man, my sweetheart of yore, my dear-hearted friend of now, Daniel Holland, of Lake County in Northern California. As it turns out, Daniel ordered one dozen roses and Fortune ...
More About: Abundance , Generosity , Multiply

Love is a Place: Sister?s Ashes Find Natural Great Peace on Land She Roamed
2008-03-08 14:28:00
love is a place by e e cummings love is a place & through this place of love move (with brightness of peace) all places yes is a world & in this world of yes live (skilfully curled) all worlds Child and Hawk Dream by Judy Tart Please read my post on Love of Place: “Land Blesses and Embraces Sisters Ashes ” by clicking here.
More About: Peace , Natural , Great

Snowbound: Filling the Feeder (a new poem by Janet Grace Riehl)
2008-03-07 20:05:00
A foot of snow atop our bluff: Evergreen Heights, Jersey Township, SW Illinois. Mother, that which you filled and then emptied, we fill again as best we can. Your chair hold us at the wheelhouse hub, yet a glance windowward unfolds and holds worlds beyond. This morning’s world insulated in a snowy rug. Cardinal families flit-flash at the new-fangled feeders Daddy fills ...
More About: Write , Grace , Poem , Janet , Feeder

Blogging Basics 101: Getting Started and Keeping Going
2008-03-07 19:41:00
Go to either the Women Writing the West blog or the Independent Authors Guild Blog to read my take on blogging basics. It’s easy to get started, but it takes passion to stay going. Mission drives your blog to stay the course. This post on these two blogs for two writing organizations I belong to are adapted ...
More About: Blogging , Basics

Rubén Martínez ?Why We Fall For the Fakes? in L.A. Times illuminates curren
2008-03-07 16:18:00
“Ironically, our appetite for ‘reality’ fare has created an audience for the phony memoir,” says Rubén Martínez in today’s L.A. Times article “Why we fall for the fakes.” Click here to read the entire, excellent article.
More About: Fakes , Fall

Amazon?s Democratic Jungle: Case study, Wole Soyinka?s new memoir ?You Must
2008-03-06 20:30:00
First off, let me say I consider that the reader section on the Amazon book product pages are, for the most part, best termed as “comments” rather than “reviews”—which usually would be rather over-stating the case. Secondly, I am frequently appalled by the casual way in which readers in these comment sections reveal their ignorance, not ...
More About: Africa , Study , Democratic , Jungle

Medicine for Memoir Scandals: Truth or Consequences for Margaret Seltzer, a
2008-03-06 19:37:00
Tracking the Fallout of (Another) Literary Fraud By MOTOKO RICH Click here to read about the author of ?Love and Consequences? who confessed she “made up the memoir about her supposed life as a foster child in gang-infested South-Central Los Angeles, the focus turned to her publisher and the news organizations that helped publicize what ...
More About: Truth , Medicine , Scandals , Slate , Memoir

Chocolate of the Day: Dagoba Eclipse
2008-03-06 19:06:00
Dagoba organic chocolate, eclipse 87 percent cacao content, extra dark chocolate That’s what I’m imbibing (yes, imbibing) this morning with my tea…looseleaf black tea with condensed milk whisked in. The thing about these super-rich extra darks is that they go best with a beverage so they melt in your mouth. As the saying is in Ghana, “No ...
More About: Chocolate , Eclipse

Constance Terrell?s ?Textiles At Its Finest? show at Portfolio Gallery thro
2008-03-05 01:27:00
“ALL TIED UP (100% COTTON/ACRYLIC) is how I felt, when I was creating a new face for textile art, coming from the fashion world,” says Constance. “ALL TIED UP keeps me connected to where I have or have not been. It’s currently exhibited at LAMATH BUILDING, OAKLAND, CA. Portfolio Gallery would like to see ...
More About: Textiles , Show , Finest

Hal Manogue?s designed to bloom in love?expanding the Regenerative Living D
2008-03-05 00:33:00
A.C.E. Hal Manogue’s TM (Aware Connected Energy) For those Riehlife and Community of the Land (Susan Tweit’s blog) readers who’ve been intrigued by our Blog Duet on the theme of Regenerative Design/Living , hop on over to Hal Manogue’s “Living a Non-Ordinary Life in a Non Ordinary Way” for a thoughtful essay that expands this dialogue. ...
More About: Love , Bloom

Aaron Belz? Poetics of Distraction: A technologically hip way to publish ou
2008-03-04 21:28:00
Sketch of Aaron Aaron Belz –website & blog logo–copyrighted Riehlife readers last heard from Aaron on January 23rd of this year when we enjoyed his poem “Swan Song” written just for us! You can read it again under Write Pen! Aaron is a modern man of letters, a university teacher, poet,reviewer, essayist, and organizer of St. Louis’ ...
More About: Distraction , Publish

Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche on Mary Hynes ?Tapestry? program on CBC Radio tells
2008-03-03 17:39:00
The introduction to the interview reads, rather engagingly: If you were the reincarnation of a Tibetan warrior king, what would your life look like? Would you live alone, contemplating existence in a hidden monastery high on a mountain top? Would you be a figure like the Dalai Lama, with no family but for the millions who ...
More About: Radio , Mary , Program , Tells , Tapestry

William Steig?s Question as conversation starter: What Would You Rather Be?
2008-03-03 14:35:00
In today’s New York Times Connections section, Edward Rothstein writes a marvelous article: “Worlds Outfoxed by a Wily Inner Child” about the current exhibiton at the Jewish Museum (later to appear in San Francisco) titled ?From The New Yorker to Shrek: The Art of William Steig.” The catalog tells the story of from the artist?s ...
More About: Question , Starter , Conversation

Sorting upon the return home?Soyinka on my mind
2008-03-02 20:23:00
I have returned from a journey. This journey has moved me further along my journey. Winter Woods. Then creeks and ponds. Rolling Illinois borderlands. More winter wood flash past. Small Illinois towns where one could stop awhile and spend time in geneological research. I could say I got lost. I could say I missed the turn. ...
More About: Africa , Home , Mind , Return , The Return

Poets, Politics & Pakistan: ?Staying Safe: Signs of Attitude Change in My T
2008-03-02 20:23:00
I asked my friend Ernest Dempsey (pen name of Karim Khan) to write some personal notes about the recent Pakistan i elections. I was always so impressed that each time we corresponded, he was busily scribbling away on his poetry collection and other literary endeavors. His latest is inclusion in Howard Wu’s anthology “Random Thoughts,” one of ...
More About: Politics , Change , Signs , Poets

Wole Soyinka Symposia at SIU/Carbondale?Muse & Mimesis: Wole Soyinka, Afric
2008-02-28 20:35:00
Wole Soyinka So here I am at the Wole Soyinka Symposia at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, about as happy as a girl can be and still remain in her skin! The brainpower in this auditorium hooked up to electrical generators could solve the world energy ...
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Regenerate! Tweit-Riehl Blog Duet Continues?exploring
2008-02-27 22:05:00
Two weeks ago Susan Tweit and I opened a format I’ve termed a “blog duet” (a coinage for our exchange between blogs and mind-hearts). Susan’s blog Community of the Land focuses on spirit-infused ecology. My blog Riehlife seeks to gather and amplify village wisdom we can apply to our everyday 21st century conundrums. “Off She Goes ...
More About: Blog , Exploring

?Getting to Know You? blogging Meme?ta-da-ta-da??Getting to know what to sa
2008-02-27 21:19:00
Sing along, now, everybody, all together: “Getting to know you, Getting to feel free and easy When I am with you, Getting to know what to say” That’s the essence of the “Getting to Know You” blogging meme which Isabella Mori of Change Therapy has just tagged me to participate in. Poinsetta, December-child’s flower DECEMBER 12 characteristics…one for each month of the year. 1. ...
More About: Meme , Blogging , Hungry , Yvonne Perry

?The Second Mile,? Erwin A. Thompson?s novel offers an intimate look at the
2008-02-27 00:31:00
“Going the second mile” was a catch-phrase in our family, and comes from the Bible, Matthew 5:4 41 ?Whoever forces you to go one mile, go with him two.” [A Roman official could require any subject of the Roman empire to bear a burden, or carry a load for one mile.] ?Going the second mile? ...
More About: Offers , Thompson , Mile , Erwin

Riehl?s poem ?TREASURE CHEST? from ?Sightlines: A Poet?s Diary? tells fathe
2008-02-26 20:50:00
Janet Grace Riehl and Erwin A. Thompson, father-daughter writing team TREASURE CHEST by Janet Grace Riehl from “Sightlines: A Poet ’s Diary ” He labors in the grove of service. Remembers flat tires, repaired. Loans proffered for crises. Then his somber face glows with the light of a thousand-watt angel. Memories of good turns returned is a treasure he counts with care. His treasure chest of good deed ...
More About: Chest , Poem , Tells

?Veterans Voices Series?: Erwin A. Thompson?s Night Patrol story?transcript
2008-02-26 20:37:00
To read my father’s poem “Night Patrol” click here to access the Riehlife March 18th 2007 entry. To see Erwin A. Thompson tellling this story of bravery in action…matter of factly and with gentle humor…go to www.thetelegraph.com. Tip: To avoid problems in streaming this video, you may wish to press the pause button on the screen ...
More About: World War I , Story , Series , Veterans

World War II: Gripping Story of Erwin A. Thompson?s ?Down to the Wire? Nigh
2008-02-25 21:33:00
“Even with his body ravaged by shrapnel, Erwin Thompson managed to drag one of his men back to safety. He didn’t know it, but th man was about to return the favor. “Thompson, now 92 and living in Jersey County, remembers a time during World War II when he was put in charge of a night ...
More About: Story , World War , Wire

Nobel Prize-winner Soyinka Comes to Southern Illinois and St. Louis
2008-02-22 02:07:00
Wole Soyinka defies categories and boundaries: Scholar, poet, playwright, actor, human rights activist, Nobel Prize winner, former political prisoner. Born in 1934 in western Nigeria. He studied at Government College in Ibadan. In 1973, he earned a doctorate from the University of Leeds. Dramaturgist at the Royal Court Theatre in London in 1958 to 1959. He went back to Nigeria to study African drama, and taught at universities in Ibadan, Lagos and Ife. Since then, he has been a visiting professor at Cambridge, Sheffield and Yale universities. A prolific writer, poet and dramatist, Soyinka founded two theater companies, and has written more than 20 works so far. In 1986, he won the Nobel Prize for Literature at a time when, according to the Swedish Academy’s press release, he was “in his prime as an author.” His most recent publication is his 2006 autobiography, “You Must Set Forth at Dawn: A Memoir.” In addition to living in a world of letters, Soyinka ...
More About: Illinois , Louis , Winner , Southern , St Louis

“Hungry,” by Alethea Eason reviewed by 13-year old Emily Robbin
2008-02-22 01:00:00
Here are two links to learn more about the wierd and wonderful world of my friend Alethea Eason’s book “Hungry ”. HUNGRY by Alethea Eason 1) Click here to read a review of HUNGRY by Alethea Eason on Reader Views by 13-year-old Emily Robbins. This review was just picked up by Reuters. Way to go, Alethea! How does the world look from Chile where she has recently re-located? Find out on Alethea’s new blog 2) Also, read the Riehlife post on Alethea’s book in 2007.
More About: Year

Erwin A. Thompson?s new poem, ?Tears?
2008-02-20 15:53:00
My father loves womankind, and he is kindness itself to women. At 92 his current hobby is shepherding a family of adopted daughters through their tearful life moments…in extremely practical and tangible ways at times…in poetic ways at other times as in the poem we share with you today. This adopted daughter is my father’s ...
More About: Thompson , Poem , Erwin

?A Reason for Dying,? by Wilfred Bereswill, debuts Spring 2008, published b
2008-02-18 15:42:00
I met Wilfred Bereswill at a St. Louis Writers Guild talk featuring Qui XiaoLong, an author whose work I’m just coming to know and and admire. Qui spoke on Perspective and Distance, such as in his “Case of Two Cities” book (an Inspector Chen Cao book) Qui possesses that rare mix of charm, erudition, humor, ...
More About: Spring , Published , Reason , Dying , 2008

Wilfred Bereswill on ?China?s Spring Festival?Guo Nian?(Chinese New Year)?
2008-02-18 15:41:00
Wilfred Bereswill is an environmental engineer and author whose international travels take him regularly to China . His first novel, A REASON FOR DYING, a biological thriller, is due to be released by Hilliard & Harris on April 1st, 2008. Learn more about Wilfred Bereswill’s writing on his website and blog by clicking here. Wilfred wrote ...
More About: New Year , Spring , Chinese , Festival

40th Wedding Anniversary Hawaiian Tour for Gary & Patty Thompson (my brothe
2008-02-18 03:07:00
Forty years ago today (February 17, 1968, in Glen Ellyn, Illinois) my brother Gary Thompson and Patricia (Patty) Murrary wed to become Gary and Patty Thompson. They’ve stayed that way for 40 years. That’s no small feat in today’s fast-dissolving-of-everything world. They’ve founded a family of 3 children and 4 grandchildren (see Family Ties, below). Of ...
More About: Anniversary , Wedding , Tour

Erwin A. Thompson?s 1936 song ?Girl in the Little Blue Hat? coquettes again
2008-02-15 20:57:00
In 1936, when my father was 21, he wrote a song for Sherman Bowen’s younger sister, Lucille, that came to be titled “The Girl in the Little Blue Hat.” Lucille was sixteen when he composed the song, but had been perhaps eight-years-old when my father started dancing square dances with her at Ben Hill’s dances ...
More About: Song , Thompson , Erwin