Mary Beth Writes

6/8/2022     

I didn’t know a Panoply of Dental Moments was coming my way this week, but such is life with teeth. One can brush, floss, slosh, and swish - but if one’s teeth want to crumble, they do. Yesterday I had my six-month cleaning. The hygienist said several times that I brush and floss beautifully. I was proud and thinking maybe I would give myself a “well-done” sticker when I got home. Then the dentist came in to do the check-up and said two fillings had cracks around them and needed to be replaced.

Oh hell. There was an open hour available to do this the next day, so I drove back. I don’t always talk out loud to myself in the car but when I’m anxious I do so there was some “you can do this, you got this” chatter. Then a woodchuck waddled across the road after which three deer leapt across the same road. They say a man can never step into the same river twice, because he will not be the same man and it will not be the same river and I thought about that yesterday, during that drive. I was a newly anxious woman and now the road had creatures.

Soon I was at my dental office that is kitted out to look like a log cabin. Why would dentists choose that? Are we supposed to feel cozy and calm recalling 19th century dental care that started with getting the person drunk and ended with pliers, screaming, and blood?

The dentist fixed my teeth. Wasn’t great. Wasn’t horrible. I was done in 40 minutes whereupon the front desk people said the total would be $560.00. (This was just for the fillings. I’d paid for the cleaning the day before.) I may have sworn out loud.

Prices are going up like crazy everywhere. We came through a pandemic and we are supplying a war and CEO-and stock-price driven monopolies are outright fleecing us because they can. Dental practices are probably making up for lost business. I bet some of the elements in the filling material as well as tools are from complicated places. Worldwide shipping is nuts. So here we are.

I don’t know how families on modest incomes are going to afford dental care.

I came home and read a library book for three hours. For dinner last night Len drove out to buy a hot fudge sundae for me.

Ice cream for dinner was my silver lining.

I read this tweet from a Michael Herriot: “Serious question for white people: What do YOU mean when you say “woke?”

Do you think of yourself as ‘woke?’

I think for most of us, if we claim any “wokeness’ at all, we probably remember life experiences where we were not in charge, where we were disrespected, intimidated, scared, or badly used. We remember where we were vulnerable and anxious.  

Being woke grows, I think, out of a deep and respectful understanding  that confidence and safety are not birthrights.

Here is a small way to use your wokeness.

My state senator and rep are Republicans who win because of Wisconsin's blithering gerrymandering. Such as: In 2012 there was a 430,000 majority of Democratic votes over Republican votes, but Republicans won 60 out of 99 senate districts because of gerrymandering.

BUT: Many elected officials have political issue surveys at their websites that are skewed to make you say that you support their talking points. Take a few minutes to look at the websites of your officials. If they have surveys, take those surveys using your “wokeness.”

Next time an elected official says, “The majority of voters in my district want …. “and then they state something that seems suspicious to you – quite likely they are quoting from their own partisan-slanted survey.

You can do these surveys often. You have to sign in with your name and address, but no one in their offices is going to comb through everything to see if a constituent fills it out once, or once a week. Political website surveys are not legal documents, they are a gimmick they use in order to look as if they are “communicating with their constituents.”

This: “Art is born the moment you move a molecule intentionally. There is art and nature. How you eat, sleep, drive, walk, and talk is a declaration of your awareness, an intentional change to express, confront, or cope with life. Art. Mindfulness creates value and brings virtue to art.”  This was a tweet from Clay the Rude Scot.

I am in my annual push-pull contest with my yard. What should I plant under the hydrangeas in front? I planted the marigolds from my nephew’s Boy Scout sale, but marigolds are not fancy. Is this okay-enough or should I think of fluffier flowers and then drive out and buy them and then spend an hour crawling around in there (an ant colony bit me last year) planting them?

I replanted many beet seeds over the weekend; replanting seeds the robins and chipmunks ate. Dang critters. And then I spent $10 at the dollar store buying cookie cooling racks to cover the incipient seeds. Will this work? Are the birds going to eat the Nasturtiums seeds I planted? Should I try to make pinwheels out of something around here? Len said I can use his baby outfit (see photo of him in this suit) to make a small scarecrow. Hmm.

Are you moving molecules intentionally in your yard or deck or porch or window? Did we know we are creating art?

 

 

Comments

Our dentist is sending out estimates for work that they say we need; estimates good for 60 days only, I got one, my husband got one and a 65 year old friend who has never even had a cavity now needs a root canal. In 2008 I was a law office manager, we had a few dentists as clients. In times of economic stress, people do not go to the dentist or hairdresser. My guess is our dentist is prepping for hard times ahead. I also worry about how regular folks are affording gas, food, electric, etc. Two guys I know in the building, repair trades say they are extremely busy but it is work for second home owners, primarily. These are often retirees who depend on stock dividends. Nothing good comes from this big economic divide between the haves and have nots. If you have a coupla extra bucks, donate to your local food bank. Peace
Mary Beth's picture

Exactly. We have to give, write letters to politicians, pay attention, then give again. This is a weird time and the rich are absolutely getting richer.

Thank You!!!!

Yes, thank you! "Liberty and Justice for all" is hard work, and takes action. Patricia
Mary Beth's picture

Being a citizen in a democratic republic is not a free ride... And FYI, I also noticed GardenPat is missing from that blog we both follow.

I guess I was far off track when I thought of the state of being "woke" as open to change, open to differences and being able to see through political bulls_it storms. Maybe we all have a different interpretation. Coming home from my daughter's house one town over last night, I saw four cottontails. Yes, the creatures are out and about here in Massachusetts too! I had a similar experience with my dentist. Sadly, he told me most of the work we need at my age (60s) is to repair the old work which apparently doesn't last forever. I'm starting to think I need a separate savings account just for dental work. Even with insurance the dental bills just keep coming. What a cute picture of Len! Funny how some babies when they grow into children and then adults keep looking the same throughout life. Len is one of those people. Maybe they look more youthful than the rest of us. Lucky them if that is so.
Mary Beth's picture

Len is one of those people who looks younger than he is - cynical on the inside, cute on the outside, and strong as the Polish salt miners from which he descended. .

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Y is for Yellowstone

9/27/2023

Back in February I asked you to give me topics to write about that would correspond to the alphabet. Sometimes several of you sent ideas for one letter and sometimes I wrote about all of them (I’s and S’s) Here we are at letter Y for which your suggestions are Yummy Food and Yawns. The word yawn absolutely makes me yawn; no way I could write about that - I would yawn for hours. I worked on Yummy Food but could only find a scolding voice about Americans eating too much sugar. Bah. True but not interesting.

So, I gave Y a go again. Y is for?

"I was Scott Simon's teller."

9/22/2023

First of all - Thank you to those of you who came to the Wisconsin Writers Association zoom gala last night. I HAD received an email a week ago which said I would be reading my whole story. Cutting it in half while I was reading was awkward! It was still a happy event for me and the other writers. Thanks for being there! 

X is for Xeriscape

9/20/2023

Xeriscape is pronounced ‘zeer-eh-scape’ and it means landscaping with little to no irrigated water. Readers in the west already know about this. Those of us who don’t live in arid or desert places need to wake up to the incredible resource that water is - then begin to accommodate ourselves to “water all around and beneath us all the time” is no longer our reality. Nor is it our right. We’ve got to get smarter and do better.

W is for Wonder

9/13/202

To whomever suggested Wonder - Thank You!  ‘Wonder’ has been bobbing in my mind like a frog in a pond.

However, I have FOUR suggestions from you guys for X - but I do not want to write four X essays. These are the suggestions:

1.) X signature substitution

2.) xylophone on a string pulled by a toddler

3.) xenophobia

4.) Xmas. 

If you have an opinion respond with the one you would like me to attempt. I will choose whichever X gets the most comments.

There will be no gerrymandering in this election.

GNTL - NAMI

9/7/2023

Grownups Noticing Their Lives

NAMI

Most of you know about my former weird and lovely job of coordinating an employability skills program for Huber-qualified inmates in the Racine County Jail (that’s a mouthful). Early on I realized that most of the people I would work with were people with 1.) huge addiction problems, and 2.) underlying and over-the-top and to-the-side just lying around mental health issues.

V is for Vocabulary

9/6/2023 

For those who are new here - This year I am writing about topics, in alphabetical order, that were suggested to me by readers. Sometimes this is hard! 

IRTNOG

My cousin-in-law Dave has some powerfully thorough avocations (for fun and profit he earned a PhD in biochemistry; you will notice this in his list). This year, among other pursuits, he has been collecting words which have appeared in our culture since 1945, which was the year he also appeared in our culture.

Tag Cloud

9/11 17 minutes 500 Words A-Z AARPtaxes AAUW abortion Acadia accident Accountable Advent aging Alaska anniversary antibiotics antlers apples appointments Arrows art Ashland August Augustine aunts baby Badlands balance Baldwin Barbara Barkskins Beauty Becky Becoming Esther Berry birthday bistro BLM Blue BookReport books boy scout Bread BrokenDays BuyAngry Cabeza de Vaca Cahokia calendars Canada canoe cat romance cats cello Chicago China Choosing Christmas cilantro Cinnabuns circus climate change clouds Clowns clutter Colonialism comet ComfortZone CommonSense community consumerism Cops Corvid-19 Courage Covid-19 Crazy creditreport creosote CrimeShows danger DarkRiver death Debate December DecisionFatigue decluttering democracy dentist depression Destination Today Detroit Didion disasterprep dogs dollhouse Dreams Duty Easter eBay Echoes Eclipse election EmilyDickinson eschatology Esquipulas exit polls eyes Fable FairTrade family farmer Fata Morgana ferns firealarm Fitness Five Flatbread Flexible flu Food Pantry Fort de Chartres frame Franc FrancGarcia friends frugal FrugalHacks Frugality frustration Ft.Ticonderoga fungi fusion Galena Gannets Garden GarfieldParkConservatory Gaspe genius geode GeorgeFloyd gerrymandering ghosts gifts girls GNTL gorgons goulash GovernorThompsonStatePark Graduation grandkids granola groceries Guatemala gum guns Hair happiness HaveYouEver? hawks healthcare Healthinsurance hearings heart heaven HelleKBerry heroes hike History home HomeRepair Honduras Hope HowCrowGotOutofJail humor hurricane Ice Cream idiosyncrasy igloos impeachment Innkeeper Instincts integrity InternetPrivacy Interview InviteMe2Speak James Baldwin Jan 6 Janus jewelry JoyceAndrews Judy JulianofNorwich Jump justice Karen kites ladder Lady Lamb LangstonHuges LaphamPeak laundry LeeLeeMcKnight lemming Len Light Lincoln Little Women LockedOut Loki loneliness LouisArmstrong Love Ludington Macaw macho Manitoulin MargaretFuller Maria Hamilton Marquette marriage Marsden Hartley masks Mayan MayaWorks meme Memories men Middlemarch MilesWallyDiego MindfulChickens Mistakes MLK moon Mother MothersDay mounds mouser movies museums must-haves Mustapha NAMI Nancy Drew Newfoundland New Mexico New York City Nomadland nope observation OBUUC Ocotillo OnaJudge ordinary OscarRomero osprey Outside oximeter Parade mayhem PastorBettyRendon Paul Hessert PDQ Penny persimmon photos Pi Pies pineapples poetry Preaching privacy procrastination Protest QE2 Quern quest Questions Rabbit holes racism reading recipe recipes recommendations Remember RepresentationMatters Reruns responsetoKapenga Retirement rhubarb Ricky rime RitesofPassage romance Rosemary Ruether Roses Roti Ruth SamaritanWoman Sanctuary Sandhillcranes Santuario de Chimayo SaraKurtz SaraRodriguez satellites ScottSimon sculpture Seasons Sermon ServantsoftheQuest sewing Shepherd Shontay ShortStory shoulder sick sickness Slower snow Social Security SofritoBandito solstice South Dakota SpaceShuttle spirituality spring square feet staining stars stele Stereotypes stories StoryStarts stream monitoring stress Survival swim Talent taxes teenager thankgsgiving Thanksgiving TheBridge TheMaid ThePerpetualYou therapy ThreeBillBoards Three Thing ThreeThings Three Things TidalBore TimeBeing toddler Tom tortillas Trains travel Traveler Tubing turtle Twilight Bark Tyrone Ukraine Ulysses Grant Umbrella UnrelatedObservations Up North urgency vacation vaccine Valentines vanilla Vietnam vision VivianWokeUpDrowning Vocabulary vole volunteer WalkingAndSeeing Wampanaog war WarsanShire weather weaving Webs wedding whines WhyAttendChurch Wiley Willa WillaCather Wisteria Won! Wonder words Xeriscape Yellowstone
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