“Buddy, do you know what this song is about”?, JR says to me as I begin my morning F-150 climb up Ochs highway. “What buddy? (As I get choked on last night’s toothpaste) What, the song “beat-it” is about?”, I serve back to him with my morning hack, “Buddy, this song is about the Illuminati!” He says back to me with a great deal of certainty, “Huh?”, I say back in my best “what chu talkin about Willis” voice, “Listen buddy, it’s about the Illuminati, you know buddy, Jay-Z and Beyonce belong to the Illuminati”, I turn into Broad Street
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As I’m driving up Lookout Mountain with my “buddies” this morning, I’m awe struck by how beautiful my lengthy mountain driveway is; how “privileged” I am to live up here; and how I’m reminded of the many folks among me who never experience such a beautiful serene setting as they go home after a hard long days work. Though I have truly come to understand some folks socioeconomic fears of what others might think or portray of them if they were to move to Lookout Mountain. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying Im not special; I’m just saying
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“Jerry look, you just gotta figure out a way to get along with this contractor in Hilton Head and get out of him what you need because no ones saying y’all have to be best buds, you just gotta get the job done before the client comes at me raising hell”, I say back to Jerry, my head elevator technician,  in my best 1998 “coaching” voice. You see, Jerry, the winner of my “best elevator mechanic of 1998” award isn’t looking through my telescope, he’s looking through his binoculars; and although he can’t abide my contractor in Hilton Head SC,
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“Jo, do you think I should’ve given Jerry the raise he asked for?”, I say back to Jo as we are sitting in my 1998 office on Main Street, several hours after my “meeting” with one of my best, but oldest home elevator mechanics. “look sweetie, I don’t want to ever Michele, ever appear as though I am telling you what to do, but you’ve got to get a grip on things around here! Michele, look at all those home elevator jobs on your board (Jo frantically points to the board on my wall where I keep the names of
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“Now Buddy tell me again where you heard about this illumanati business?” I say back to JR, as we go past where I normally turn to go towards my house but I need to keep driving so we can keep talking this morning, “Ok buddy listen, here’s the deal, the Illumanati is this secret society of rich people and they tell us that its ok for men to wear purses and to dress like girls and to have sex with other men. See buddy, Beyonce and Jay-Z belong to the Illumanati now and Michael Jackson belonged to it too buddy,
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“Buddy look, you’re doing that the wrong way, here let me show you”, I grab the clippers out of JR’s left hand and snip the hydrangea bush planted in the side yard at Meggo’s house on Lookout Mountain, TN. “Buddy why’d you snip it at an angle and how’d you know where to snip it at?”, Jr says back to my ponytail head as Im leaning down grunting and huffing, trying to keep my balance in my flower garden, Yard work is for young people, skinny people or short people. Ooh and by the way, so is baseboard cleaning, “I
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“Ms. Peterson, I’m sorry but I can’t talk to you, I’m preparing for an important meeting, therefore I have to let you go “, Barry says back to my assertion that I am “somebody”, “Barry, look,  I got it, I know you’re an important guy at an important place during an important time,  but here’s the deal, so am I, so are my friends and so are my family who own and live in my “Chinese drywalled” houses”, I say back to Barry as I pause to catch my breath, “and all I want you to understand is this isn’t
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“Buddy?”, JR asks me, as we leave Meggo’s house to head over to my cottage at the Fairyland club, “Yes buddy, what’s up?”, I say back to him, as I turn down my radio, “Why’d you lie about Meg’s dog buddy and when are you gonna tell me about what you found out about the Illumanati?”, JR says back to me with earnest in his voice and a little bit of intellectual shyness, Now about this time in my day, it’s time to have lunch, so I decide to take my buddies to our favorite Mexican restaurant; where the salsa
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“Ms. Peterson, I’m sorry but I can’t talk to you, I’m preparing for an important meeting, therefore I need to let you go “, Barry says back to my assertion that I am “somebody” this morning, “Barry, look, I got it, I know you’re an important guy at an important place during an important time,  but here’s the deal, so am I, so are my friends and so is my family living in my “Chinese drywalled” houses”, I say back to Barry as I pause to catch my breath, “all I want you to understand is this isn’t a competition
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I was sixteen when I participated in my first abortion.  I have participated in as many as seven abortions over the last thirty years, either physically-directly or emotionally-indirectly. I’ve only actually been to two abortion clinics across Tennessee and Virginia; one was in Bristol, and my other was actually my first health clinic in Knoxville TN.  You see back around nineteen eighty-six a friend of mine came to me with the news that she might be pregnant but she wasn’t sure yet, and could I help her figure out how she’d know, and what on earth was she going to
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