Elise Sereni Patkotak

Watching the debacle in DC that is supposedly our government functioning in our best interest, I find it amazing that Native Americans across the country have not risen up and told all of us to get the hell out because we’ve not only despoiled their land, seas and rivers, but now we’ve just become one huge embarrassment. I thought this after hearing a commentator opine that nothing will happen in DC that will actually be helpful between now and the next election because neither party wants to give the other party any edge or advantage. Way to go, people. Let

I was getting dressed to go to a fundraiser for our local public broadcasting station. I took out the green plastic bag that held the clothes in which I will be cremated given how much they initially cost when I had to buy them for a wedding. It was the only grown up part of what I had available. My shoes were walking store shoes because the others hurt my feet. And since these shoes are a little big, I wear heavy socks to fill the space while telling myself they won’t show because of the length of my pants.My

When I was young, I dreamed about the day I’d retire and be able to sleep in every morning like I once did in my early teens before my mother found me a job. Now I’m old, semi-retired and guess what… yep, I wake up every day between 7 and 8 and can’t get back to sleep. Sometimes I wake up at 3 AM and read New York Magazine cover to cover before my body is even slightly interested in going back to sleep. On those days, if I’m lucky, I can sleep in until 9.

Life is simply not

Saw Bill Clinton on Letterman a few nights ago and haven’t been able to get the interview out of my head. He may have been a lousy husband, but he has an amazing mind and was the last really good president we had. Too bad he can’t run again.

I saw them in the store. Each fig was carefully set into a little depression in the plastic container that held them. Each fig was perfect… same size, same shape, same color. My mind raced back to my childhood. Mrs. Letizia is standing in my dad’s store holding a fig from her fig tree. She has cut it into four pieces so we can each have a taste. In the city, fig trees didn’t produce a lot so you shared what they provided so everyone could have a taste. I remember putting that piece of fig in my mouth and

Class warfare.  It’s the latest campaign buzzword. Try to have any reasonable discussion of our financial troubles, huge federal deficit and sinking middle class that includes asking the rich to kick in a few more bucks and you are accused of class warfare.  Yet somehow, the fact that about 400 families in America now control 50% of its wealth is not seen in the same light.

So if I have this correct, it’s class warfare when any attempt is made to have the very wealthy pay an incrementally small amount of their incredible wealth to keep America financially sound. But

Of all the idiots running for the Republican presidential nomination, I always thought the battle for first place was between Michelle Bachman and Rick Perry, with Rick Santorum pulling in at a strong second. But I must say that Herman Cain is rapidly closing the gap and may soon overtake the front runners.

How can corporations be people if they never have to go to the bathroom? And crapping all over us doesn’t count.

Winter tires and flannel sheets on my car and bed respectively. Let the cold commence.

Whenever I’m embarrassed by something American politicians are doing, I just have to think about my ancestral homeland and wonder who Silvio Berlusconi is doing and I feel better.