Make America Great- er

I just watched the inauguration. And Donald Trump said that we ( as we the people) will not be ignored. Funny, too because I do not think congress actually listens to any of us. Sorry but Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell do not represent any of my thoughts. And they are leaders in congress.  I shut off CNN as the prayers started.

But there are three things that can be worked on this country to make America Great-er. Because I believe America is already great. Even with the our shitty history and current state of affairs. Maybe I am idealist and maybe I believe too much in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.

How to Make America Great-er:

First remember the words Thomas Jefferson wrote in the Declaration of Independence, "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." These should be our guiding principles.

Universal Health Care

Life. For some of us the ACA is not affordable. The deductibles and premiums are too high. And if we don't have health insurance,  we lose some of our refund. Here is a fix and it is universal health care.  I know it sounds SCARY, LIBERAL and SOCIALIST.  When it comes to government, the GOP like to claim they are fiscally responsible. If that is so then why does America spend more on healthcare then other nations with universal health care?

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Developement say, "the overall level of health spending in the United States is so high that public spending on health per capita is still greater than in all other OECD nations..."

Our current system is wasting money. So much for fiscally responsible.

Who will pay for it?

Obviously,  it is not free. ALL WORKERS pay Medicare tax. It doesn't matter how much you make. You are  16 and work part time, you are paying Medicare. You are a making six figures, you are paying medicare. Even self-employed people pay Medicare.

Currently, your share of Medicare tax is a set rate of 1.45% of income. Your employer pays 1.45%

How much is insurance taking your out of your paycheck?

Let's raise the Medicare tax to 5% for both worker and employer. These numbers are an example only but I hope to illustrate a point.

At 10.50 an hour/ 40 hours a week you make $420 gross before taxes. 5% is $21. $84 for a month and $972 a year you would pay into Medicare. That is you alone.

At $30 an hour/  40 hours a week you make $1200 gross before taxes. 5% is $60. $240 for a month and $2,880 a year you would pay into Medicare.

Again how much are your premiums?

I know someone who pays $9000 a year for employer offered insurance for a family.  His employer chips in additional  $6000 a year for the insurance.

With universal healthcare, YOU would be saving money and business will be saving money.

And think about it, you could go to the doctor without worrying about not paying the bills. You could get treatment for cancer without begging your family, friends, and strangers for money to pay for it. You could get the script you want to help you quit smoking.  Or get that fungus looked at and finally wear sandals again.

It's not scary, it is our right to life.

Fixing the K-12 Public Education System

There are some public schools which are awesome and there are some that are not. I know everyone is bitching about college costs. I know I feel it too, I am a college student and with an impending graduation, I will have more college debt than my house is worth. And I am going to pay on them because I signed  a paper saying I will. Plus, in addition to my creative writing degree, I am taking communication classes so I can put my degree to use.

When I was younger, I moved around a lot because my Dad had a job that was only available at certain businesses. Before the first move, I was in the same school district in PA from Kindergarten to a fourth of fifth grade. I moved from one district in PA to another in fifth grade and other then the people everything was pretty much the same.

Then I moved from PA to Delaware after fifth grade. In sixth grade, I went to an inner city school because my district participated in busing. In 1991, it was safe there were no shootings or anything but they literally had nothing except for one overhead projector and maybe a tv. The standards were much lower. In seventh and eighth grade I went back to the suburbs and the standards weren't any better. School was simple, in fact I did't have to do much to get an "A."

In 1993, we moved from Delaware to New Hampshire. And suddenly the standards were much higher. I actually had to work and do a lot of work. While at Merrimack, I took a lot advanced classes which brings us to 1997.

In 1997, we moved from New Hampshire back to Pennsylvania. After my new high school figured out what to do with my transcript,  I learned I had enough "credits" to graduate but I had to go to school because I need certain amount of classes. Quakertown was a hell of a lot easier. Not as much as Delaware but easier than NH.

I have no idea how to fix it. Here is what I believe the goal should be all schools should offer the standards. One student should not be behind in a district because he or she moves from a poor performing district. We need to look at what makes the good schools good and then each district needs to make policy that help achieve that goal. Kids in the inner city have to deal with violence and poor buildings. And this is different from kids who go to poor rural schools. There is not a one stop fix. There has to be one goal, to provide good education in good, safe schools.  We need to listen to people who come different schools and have experience in education and try out new ways to help the bad schools.

I know what I experienced while I was in school but I am not an expert on anything.

Take Religion out of Politics

Liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

Here is a big one, taking God out of Politics. We have the freedom of religion (you know in the First Amendment right before the Second Amendment). That means we also have the freedom of no religion,

How can a government rule if it caters to religion or even one denomination of Christianity or Islam or whatever.

People who are against same sex marriage say it is against God. Who are you to say?

Why is there this push for more religion. "No birth control- against my religion" but aren't you imposing  your religion on someone else? Maybe that person is a Satanist, atheist, Pastafarian what ever.

If God is real, than he will take of the judgement. That is not your duty.

The good lot of us follow laws because they are moral laws based on our society deems as right and wrong. We don't need a God or Gods telling us otherwise. Because it seems like religion is filled with contradictory statements.

For the government to be fair and impartial then it must govern without religion but what is right or wrong. And if congress would listen to us (and there are some that do) then we wouldn't be ignored.

Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. I believe in this, I always have believed in this. 

Into the Garden by JM Scott Free Until Jan 21 2017

Hey all, I just wanted to let you know Into the Garden: Acrostic Poetry Collection is FREE in all Kindle markets until January 21, 2017.  Why not grab a free copy, today?

Here is a free sample from the book, enjoy!

Elderberry

Ectoplasmic sunrise, bats lost in

Light, black leaves falling.

Dapper folk square dance to

Extinction. Stonehenge looms in fancy dreams.

Revive that night when the

Blue moon wore a halo, an

Eerie silence settled in the frosty fog.

Ready for what comes next?

Ravenous ravens and

Yellow bellied penguins fly together, strange happenings come tomorrow.

Sometime in the Middle of January

Hey all, I have been wanting to write a blog post for days now and I am not sure what happens. One is time itself is escaping me. There are days where I have no idea where hours just go. I have a post planned that I even did research for, I just need to sit down and write it. Of course, isn't that always.

I am slowing working on finishing the stories for my upcoming ebook, Sanctioned Shadows. I took this free flash fiction class and I have five flash fiction stories. The class said no more than 500 words, I took a bit of liberty with it but there are no stories over a 1000. I had this idea of writing flash fiction stories in the form of news releases but I have not done it yet.

Last term, I took my last fiction workshop and I thought I would be able to write more but I did not do that either. I think I am kind of hard on myself. This term I am learning about how to market my writing. So I made some changes to this blog from the header, to streamlining the categories now you can find what you are looking for easier.

There is always so much to do and I do have plenty of time but for some reason, I am always in the clouds or in lala land. And believe it or not, I have cut down my Candy Crush time a lot where I am down to playing it once or twice a day, which I find acceptable. I hate wasting time. Now I just need to cut my Facebook time down by fifty percent and my nap time down.

That's about all today, I will try to write more. I have a bunch of poems ready for posting and I want to either write a story or find one that is short, I may use one of new ones.

Till next time...

Derecho Makes an Appearance

Fixating on an over-sized wood
spider hiding in between the green nylon
rain fly and the gray tent, my eyes
open as hazy humidity
builds on the rocky pathway.

By noon, my clothes are drenched
from the absence of rain
burns on my skin
reach forbidden flesh.

The haze hangs crooked
over the hemlock
and something chirps
unseen, fire snaps and spits
male June bugs buzz
and slam around the LED lantern
they come uninvited
like Derecho

You take your freshly whittled
spear made from a dead tree branch
jab the juicy June bug
fire roast him
to see if he would POP.

Derecho lumbers
through the woods, rips
the sky open, plays with  high
voltage, exposes pink and violet
battle scars from warring
cold and warm fronts.

The tired, almost retired Derecho,
comes to camp in the valley nestled
next to the Susquehanna
River where he’s not
welcome to warm by the fire
that still burns.

The fire recedes,  the rain stops
clouds follow Derecho as he travels east
and fireflies blinkblinkblink
in between the rain fly and tent.

* According to NOAA, (http://www.spc.noaa.gov/misc/AbtDerechos/derechofacts.htm) Derecho are widespread windstorms that typically spawn severe thunderstorms and windstorms.

WOW Look a Survey!

Who loves filling out surveys? I know I do! And do I have a surprise for you... it's a survey.

One of my classes this term is to learn how to market my books/writing. One of the biggest and most effective ways is to find who your potential audience would be. And-  I have no idea but I have a starting point which is better than last week when I felt like I threw my stories in the air hoping for someone to catch it and love it.

So I created a survey, through Survey Monkey. It's ten questions and it will not take very long. It is also anonymous, your IP address will not be recorded. I am not selling the information but only using it to market my writing better.

If you have a few minutes, please take the What and How You Read Survey

Thank you.

Hello 2017

I don't know about you, but I am ready for 2016 to end. It has been one hell of a year for the world at large.  I don't need to rehash it out for you all because most of us lived it. Personally, 2016 was a pretty good year. We did a shit load of traveling: Washington DC, the Jersey Shore, Rocky Gap camping, and other trips. So for me, it was a damn good year.

I don't know what 2017 will bring, because as always the future is uncertain. I suppose that is not very reassuring but every year brings uncertainty and the only thing to do is wake up and just continue moving forward.

For me, 2017 will bring good things. I will finally graduate college. I get to go to the ceremony in May of 2017. My last day of classes is July 4, 2017 (and isn't that so fitting, so beautiful?). We will finally own our home. And who knows? Maybe I will find my place in this world... though I think I am starting to realize my place in this world. I feel like I am on the cusp of something- something big.

But I feel that there is a change in the world. Not just the US but the whole world. 2016 set the stage for something and I don't know what. Something is happening in the world. Something that will affect all of us. It's not paranoia but a weird feeling I can't seem to shake.

Lastly, I am saddened that I was not invited to read a poem at Trump's Inauguration. I know I am not "A" list talent. Fuck I am not even "B" list talent, I am more like "Z" list talent. I have given some thought (why? I don't know sometimes I like daydreaming about random events)

If I were asked to read a poem at his inauguration, I would do it, only if I could read,Pennies of a Nation. So here come the haters. I didn't vote for him. I don't care for his actions or language. However, I think this poem is important. I think it is important to share with the world. Because words matter. This poem matters. And I would read this poem at his inauguration because I want to share the message with him, with congress, with my fellow Americans, with the world.

Don't you think it would be some kind of olive branch if I was asked to read that poem?  I am more of a liberal minded person, I didn't vote for him, but I read a poem in spite of all that. Because I felt my words were important. And this is why I would do it.

Anyway, here's to 2017 and whatever you bring.  There's no turning back now.

Until next time... Happy New Year.

Ten Miles to Home

The snow storm wasn’t supposed to start until much later. But since when do meteorologists get the weather right?  Neal surveyed the emptying parking lot of last minute shoppers brushing the snow off their cars, as the  twenty-four hour seven days a week  discount department store began to turn off the lights. Happy employees darted from the glass doors. wishing Merry Christmases and throwing snowballs at each other. The coworkers from his store were already pulling away from the parking spots, leaving rectangle blacktop patches in the white snow.

While warming his car, he called his wife, Starling, who no doubt waited for him to call and say he was coming home.

“How bad is it?” he asked and turned on the wiper blades.

“It’s okay, Penn Dot just went by. But it’s still coming down pretty good,” she said.

“Well I’m leaving now.”

“I don’t know what the mountain is like, but the highway is supposed to be passable. Are you sure you want to come home now? Maybe you could wait?”

“Where Starling? Everything is closed.  Anyway I should be fine. I’ll make it.”

“Drive safe, love you,” she said.

“I will.”

He hung up the phone and plugged it into the charger. Slipping his used Subaru into drive he started into the parking lot toward the main road. He just bought the car this past summer, for a bargain. The salesman said everything worked, but it had not snowed heavy since he bought it. This would be the first actual snow storm. Neal thought about his first Subaru, a little hatchback that plowed through snow easily. He smiled a little at the memory and turned left onto the main road, which was snow-covered and tire tracks were already fading into new snow.

Neal made his way on the way and got behind a plow truck.  The road was mostly empty except for plow trucks,  a few SUV’s and a single  car. The snow pummeled the windshield from the pinkish sky. And the lights on the plow truck only a car’s distance away looked like snow covered Christmas lights. He took a deep breath, the car held steady and continued on driving twenty miles an hour.

Primrose Mountain was not a large mountain, it reached about a third of a mile above sea level. The road over the mountain was the main artery that connected the once glorious coal and logging towns to the more developed town in the valley. It was also one of the few dead zones on the east coast, no cell service until he reached Meridian. Thousands of people traveled over Primrose everyday for work. But tonight, there was no one else on the mountain. As soon as Neal left the safety of the plow truck, he was alone on  the black curves of the mountain.  The trees were covered in snow and looked hand drawn as if a child just decided to put trees in their snow picture. The roads were white and untouched. His four ways blinked casting an orange glow over the snow.   Just ten more miles and then he would be in the outskirts of Meridian. Ten more miles and he would almost be home.

The snow swirled and pelted the car. He dropped his speed to fifteen. The car started to slide a bit. He slowly corrected it, but it kept slipping the further he traveled up the mountain. Gripping the steering wheel tighter, he felt the car slip even more. Then from the blinding snow,  a deer stood in the rood. He was already going slow and let his foot off the gas.

“Come on! Go!” He said to himself. But the deer stood there.

As he turned the wheel to go around the animal, he lost his traction in the snow and he began to veer to the right. Neal tried to correct by drifting a full stop, and turning the wheel the other way. He misjudged the road. He had no idea he was already traveling in the center of the road. The car edged over the side mountain. It rolled over. Glass broke and splattered all over him. The air bags deployed as it turned over again. Then it stopped on its roof. His chest hurt. His nose gushed blood.

His body began to numb. His face. His fingers. His brain thudded and pounded. He thought about Starling and when they first met all those years ago in a snow storm. Their wedding day. The birth of their child. The Christmases where they were poor and could not spend more than ten dollars. To their lives got better over the years, enjoying vacations and traveling to new places. She always said she would be the one to go first. How wrong she was. What was she going to do? How will she handle his death? He should have got the larger life insurance policy.  His thoughts of Starling slipped away as he sunk into blackness.

It has been hour since he called. Starling paced the living room, constantly checking the time and the driveway. She would go out and stand in the snow looking toward the road, only to see nothing, no head lights or even the plow truck. There was silence all around her even the owls decided it best to stay snug. He should have called off, but the storm wasn’t supposed to start until after midnight. In fact up till almost four they were calling for midnight. Then at five, the clouds just opened up and spewed snow.  He had the Subaru. He should be here by now. She checked the time, she turned up the heat and went back outside until her feet were numb. Nothing.

Is he okay? What if he wasn’t? When should she call the cops? Would they care? Where was he? What if he died? What then? How would she tell their daughter? How could she possibly go on? She would have to though. What he did he say about his funeral; did he want one? She couldn’t remember.  Maybe their life together wasn’t always the greatest but she would never change it.

Neal started to come back from the darkness. His eyes were blurry, his face and chest still hurt.  Someone had undone his seat belt and tried to pull him from the car. Neal winced at the tugging. It was a man. A large man with a white beard. Of course it was white, it was snowing out. Neal couldn’t keep his eyes open and went to close them again.

“I wouldn’t do that, try to stay with me,” the man said and Neal opened his eyes again.

It must be a firefighter. But where was the flashing lights? The forest around was dark and snowy and the only lights came from the headlights. Some where he heard jingle bells. The fire trucks had to be on the road.  Maybe Penn Dot saw the tire tracks and called the fire department.

The man took him and placed him laying down on the back of something hard, something wooden. Neal blinked and let his eyes adjust to the faint light. The man wore a long red parka and was old, much older than Neal. He was in a sleigh and pulling the sleigh were two horses.

The man wrapped Neal in various blankets, warmth started to flood Neal’s fingers and toes.  The man took of his gloves and gathered snow from beside the sleigh. He made a ball and seemed to stare at it as if he were looking at something. Then without speaking, he tossed the snow ball over to the side and placed his cold hands on Neal’s body. Neal felt his blood start to move and flow. The pain in his nose seemed to vanish and his chest began to move up and down without pain. It was if this man were vacuuming all the pain away.

“Just rest now. I will get you home,” he said and went to the front of the sleigh. He put his gloves back on and slapped the reins against the horse’s backside. The slap resounded through the forest.

They moved swiftly through the woods.  The runners swooshed over the fresh snow. It almost felt like they were gliding across the snow. Or maybe even flying. The snow fell around them but it never seemed to stay inside the sleigh. The air was arctic and brisk but fresh and invigorating at the same time. He didn’t think about the accident or the deer in the road. He thought of nothing.

Two hours after Neal called, a bright light flashed outside and the power went out across the neighborhood. Starling’s heart sunk and she wrapped up in a sweater and rushed outside. Through the whipping snow, some neighbors started lighting candles as she could see the faint glow coming from their dark windows. Then in the distance, she heard jingle bells. Jingle bells? The bells came closer. She turned on her flashlight, which only cut a narrow beam in the snow and saw the glint of the horse’s eyes in the light down the road.

Then  the sleigh stopped in front of their small house. A large man with a white beard and red parka got out of the sleigh. He unwrapped Neal from the blankets. Neal sat up and looked around.

“Starling?!” He said and almost fell out of the sleigh. The man in the red parka caught him and helped him. Neal ran to Starling and squeezed her. Her wet tears touched his face.

“What happened, are you okay?”

“I don’t really know. There was a deer in the middle of the road and I went over the side,” he said in between kisses.

The man in the red parka got back into his sleigh. Starling went over and hugged, “how could I thank you? You saved him.”

“Anyone would have done the same,” he said.

“No they wouldn’t. Not in this weather,” she said. “Please come by tomorrow and have dinner with us.”

“Thank you, but I can’t. You take care of each other,” the man in red parka and said.

Starling went back to Neal as the man in the red parka slapped the reins against the horses and they pulled away. Within moments, the jingle bells fell silent and the only sound was the sound of snowflakes smacking into each other. Once the jingle bells faded, the power came back on and snow-covered Christmas lights flooded the dark street once again.

“Am I dead?” Neal asked still not believing what just happened since he left work.

“If your dead than so am I because this is real.”

Starling and Neal shared another a kiss and looked to the sky as a spot in the sky flashed like a camera.

“That guy looked like...” Starling started.

“Santa Claus.”