With Christmas just around the corner, here’s a delightful short story and some information about a holiday tradition by fellow author and blogger Alice Massa. This was posted on December 16th, which would make today the seventh day of Posadas. Are you intrigued? Well, read on to learn more.
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On this first of nine nights of Posadas, I am sharing with you one of my favorite short stories (a genre which, as my regular WORDWALK readers know, I write and post only rarely). In Mexico and many other Spanish-speaking countries, as well as in parts of the United States, Posadas is the religious celebration or festival that commemorates the journey that Mary and Joseph took from Nazareth to Bethlehem.
Several days ago, we celebrated the 31st anniversary of the signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act. To commemorate this, here’s fellow author and blogger Alice Massa with a little ditty she wrote, set to the tune of “God Bless America! Enjoy!
Marking the 31st Anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)
by Alice Jane-Marie Massa
Thirty-one years ago, when the Americans with Disabilities Act was signed by President George H. W. Bush on July 26, 1990, I had moved to Kalamazoo, Michigan, with my first Leader Dog Keller. Before the onset of the fall semester, Keller and I were learning the walking routes around the campus of Western Michigan University, from where I earned my second master’s degree one year later.
This year on the afternoon of July 26 (Monday), I gathered with a committee of ten authors who are blind. Each of these interesting and creative authors has written and published or self-published one to five books of various genres and styles. I thought this gathering was a superb way to commemorate the thirty-first anniversary of the ADA.
To commemorate Independence Day, July 4th, here in the United States, I’m sharing fellow blogger Alice Massa’s poem, expressing gratitude for her family’s ability to immigrate to this country during the earlier part of the 20th century. Since most U.S. citizens, if not all, are descended from immigrants, I can’t think of a better way to show patriotism. If you live in my country, have a safe and happy Fourth of July.
What does the game of musical chairs have to do with container gardening? Well, read this delightful post from fellow blogger Alice Massa and find out. You might be inspired to start your own container garden.
One of the great advantages of a container garden is periodically being able to re-arrange the containers. As I move the fifteen to seventeen containers of my little garden, I compare this enjoyable summertime activity to Musical Chairs. Do you remember the game Musical Chairs which we used to play at birthday parties or other childhood parties? Well, my weight-lifting exercise of the summer is lifting and moving the containers of my garden.
Each warm season, I like to add something new to my little garden. This year, the “something new” is a container of zinnias which I started from seed–right before the cold snap of May. Although the sprouting took a bit longer than expected, the zinnias have quickly grown and thickened to be strong plants. How eager I am for the blooms to remind me of my maternal…
Thanks to Joan Myles for inspiring this feature. Just in time for Thanksgiving, this week’s blogger bio comes from Alice Massa, author of The Christmas Carriage and Other Readings of the Holiday Season, which I reviewed here. I met Alice years ago through Behind Our Eyes, an organization of disabled writers to which I belong. Since I’ve known her, she has provided me with a lot of support and inspiration. Here’s what she has to say in her own words.
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Profile
Growing up in the Hoosier hills of west-central Indiana, Alice Massa has always cherished family, dogs, reading, and writing. From a rural grade school with only 88 students to Clinton High School where her graduating class included 104 students, Alice was blessed with teachers who gave her a strong foundation in grammar and punctuation. With BA and MS degrees from Indiana State University, as well as a second master’s degree from Western Michigan University, Alice taught for 25 years—the most recent 20 years at Milwaukee Area Technical College from where she retired in June of 2011. After years of reading and evaluating the writing of her students, Alice is now sharing some of her own writings through this blog. When Alice sits at her computer desk, her amazing guide dog Zoe is lying nearby. Long walks with her Leader Dog Zoe, a black Labrador/golden retriever mix, have generated many ideas for writing endeavors, some of which will appear in this blog.
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Unfortunately, Alice’s beloved guide dog, Zoe, passed away unexpectedly several years ago. She has another guide dog now, Willow, who has also inspired her writing. You can learn more about Willow and Alice’s previous guide dogs and read some of her delightful poems and memoirs on her blog.
By the way, for those of you who use the National Library Services for the Blind and Print Disabled, The Red Dress is available for download from their site here. No matter how you read it, please be sure to review it wherever you can. That goes for all my books. Thank you for stopping by. Stay safe, happy, and healthy.
When Eve went to her high school senior prom, she wore a red dress that her mother had made for her. That night, after dancing with the boy of her dreams, she caught him in the act with her best friend. Months later, Eve, a freshman in college, is bullied into giving the dress to her roommate. After her mother finds out, their relationship is never the same again.
Twenty-five years later, Eve, a bestselling author, is happily married with three children. Although her mother suffers from dementia, she still remembers, and Eve still harbors the guilt for giving the dress away. When she receives a Facebook friend request from her old college roommate and an invitation to her twenty-five-year high school class reunion, then meets her former best friend by chance, she must confront the past in order to face the future.
My Corner 