KEKA'S BLOG
Keka
- Location
- Arizona, USA
- Birthday
- March 10
- Bio
- I'm a former reporter for both the Chicago Sun Times and Arizona Daily Star, published author and optioned screenwriter who spent 8 years on the Hopi reservation as wife of a Hopi artist, and over 20 years as a teacher and administrator.
MY RECENT POSTS
- Boomer Heaven: Age Against
the Machine
May 07, 2012 04:05PM - Why Obama Could LOSE: Wake
UP, Everybody!
April 23, 2012 05:12PM - For Trayvon and Emmett: My
"Walking While Black" stories
March 21, 2012 03:23PM - Bits and Bobs--March, 2012
March 16, 2012 05:06PM - For Whitney: "Sleep little
darlin' do not cry..."
February 19, 2012 04:37PM
MY RECENT COMMENTS
- “When I finally drove
across that bridge a couple of
years
ago, I was
enthralled!…”
2:46PM - “You sent me to someone
else's essay about your
photo
essay...and I came right
bac…”
May 10, 2012 11:45PM - “Leslie, he is the man
indeed--and elsma...no doubt!
We just
seem to be aging
mor…”
May 09, 2012 05:01PM - “I've heard K.D. Lang's
version--it is silky smooth
and
evocative to be sure.
But…”
May 09, 2012 01:46PM - “No problem Kathy--OS has
been kinda nuts today! And I
LOVE
the comment,
so...twi…”
May 08, 2012 04:19PM
Boomer Heaven: Age Against the Machine
I spent this weekend watching Styx and Michael McDonald. And if that’s not Boomer Heaven nothing is.
But, I’m not going to talk about the music--or...not just the music. I want to talk about "my g-g-g-generation." If you're part of it, you know wha/… Read full post »
Why Obama Could LOSE: Wake UP, Everybody!
I came home a few days ago to find my daughter--who is usually true to her paternal “Don’t worry, be Hopi” roots in temperament--seething.
I mean, fighting mad. But unsure where to direct all/
… Read full post »Donna Summer does the "Working Girl Beep"

Me, back when I heard that beep 'way too often...
I’m not going to comment on the 911 calls, the police negligence or the firestorm that followed Trayvon Martin’s death.
I’m just going… Read full post »
Bits and Bobs--March, 2012
A Beautiful “Non-Denominational” Prayer of Thanks for Kids and Grownups, too
My baby girl, her father and I sang that song every night as she was coming into consciousness in her early years.
It’s a Raffi tune, but we found it, sung by a woman who… Read full post »
Blurry, shaky cellphone snippet:
James “JY” Young (Styx), my spiritual survival “guide”
(Yes, that’s me squealing)
I was too sad/mad to write about Whitney the day she died.
See, I have friends who knew her back when she
… Read full post »Soul Man Michael McDonald's REAL Love(s)

Michael McDonald and one of his REAL loves, daughter Scarlett
Pop quiz. What does this...
…have to do with this:
Comment below before reading on. I really want to hear my OS friends wax poetic about this one.
Now for the story behind… Read full post »
Open the Door: Some New Year's Day "Soul Food"
I got this from a friend named Barbara Hall who is facing the battle of her life this week. A battle for her life, which could very well be the last battle she fights in Earth School.
She sent it to all of the people who love… Read full post »
The Baryshnikov Nutcracker: teachable mother/daughter moment
I recently noticed while channel surfing that there had recently been a Nutcracker ballet competition hosted by Debbie Allen and Nigel Lythgoe (So You Think You Can Dance).
The latter convinced me to watch a couple of the versions via OnDemand.… Read full post »
Sacred Flash Cards--Divine Intervention
Pres. Roosevelt watches a katsina dance at Walpi (Hopi) in 1913
I’ve been thinking about this since the final installment of my “Common Cold Chronicles” because I know that my “woo-woo” spiritual side may seem incongruous to a lot of folks who otherwise enjoy… Read full post »
Writing for my Life: The Common Cold Chronicles, Last Words
The lyrics I clung to for solace...
My “unintentional vision quest” began with a young doctor who misdiagnosed one of the most dangerous allergic reactions a body can have as a “common cold.” And I’ve talked about the the anger, terror, pain and the… Read full post »
Writing for my Life: The Common Cold Chronicles, Pt. 3
For those of you who are new to this saga, the "syndrome" is a particularly violent allergic reaction to the gout… Read full post »
Writing for my Life: The Common Cold Chronicles, Pt. 2
In the first installment of this sad saga, I explained how two ER doctors misdiagnosed my potentially fatal allergic reaction to allopurinol as everything from a cold to “contact dermatitis.”
I am typing this at 2 a.m. because I no longer sleep more than one or two ho… Read full post »
Writing for my Life: The Common Cold Chronicles, Pt. 1

A short while ago, I wrote about a battle with gout that had just begun. Lots of wonderful people wrote back to express concern, so I attempted to comfort them with an update that said I had found a great doctor who was putting me/
… Read full post »Fighting for My Life: "Come and get your LOVE"
When I last "spoke" to you this was just getting serious. What has happened to me since sent me to the ER three times to no avail, and when I explain how dangerous my situation became after that...well...let me just say that I'm happy to be alive… Read full post »
Exploring the "Infinite Abyss"

Happens in all those “hero’s journey” movies screenwriting gurus suggest their students emulate.
The hero(ine) stumbles on or over some kind of “glyph” or other illogical or even irrational hint s/he cannot decipher. But s/he does … Read full post »
At Odds and Wit’s End: Family is Messy Business
I have never done one of these “bits and bobs” posts before. But as my life is definitely something of a “Picasso in progress” just now, all I can do is offer some updates and little interesting things I’ve done and found and discovered. … Read full post »
Better Than Bingo--Move Over Mr. Buffett

Typical Stock
"Screener"
I’ve got the “bug.” Bad.
You see…I opened a little bitty Scottrade account on a whim. Just a few hundred, nothing big, to see how the other half live. On a Lilliputian scale.
And now, I’… Read full post »
Henry and Me: Dealing with "The Rich Man's Disease"
The "Psychotic Bastard" and Wives
They tried to make it sound almost…like a privilege, this gout* thing.
The “rich man’s disease,” they called it when I hobbled into Urgent Care with my unaccountably swollen and aching left foot. And then they p/… Read full post »
Why I NEVER miss So You Think You Can Dance
I watch this show every year. I've watched it get better and better and better and now...it wins dozens of Emmys and dancers who previously would never have considered competing to be on or choregraphing for a TV show are standing in long lines and begging to have that chance.
Some… Read full post »
Superlungs: Terry Reid Forever!
I think I must’ve been, like…15 or 16 when I first heard Terry Reid wail. It was when he opened for Cream in 1968, I think.
He was all of about 18 or so. Just this little scrawny English kid—beautiful scrawny English kid, though. Still, we… Read full post »
Ruminations: Albert Brooks’ 2030 and the Great Decline
Fourteen or Fight from Wild in the Streets
Sorry Albert. I’ve seen this “movie” before.
It was called Wild in the Streets, and yes, that’s Richard Pryor on drums in the first clip and screaming, “Amend, amend, amend” in the gallery… Read full post »

My London summer "home away from
home"
Bless Google Earth…there it is: 48 Lancaster Gate, London W2 3NA, UK.
It all changed there. My whole life. My outlook on life. In fact, the rather prosaic life I’d been living gave way to the fast lane/… Read full post »
Cry Happy Tears: Say Ladeo, by Bobby McFerrin
I don't have anything to say that can match what this song with few real words says all by itself. Listen as "...a song becomes a thousand songs..."
If it makes you cry...that's a GOOD thing...
The Roger I knew...with producer Russ Meyer
Okay, let’s go there, finally.
Why does Roger Ebert “tweet” my posts?
Easy but sincere answer? Damned if I know.
Not so easy and scarier answer? I think he still remembers that tiny littl/… Read full post »

Gulliver: My Oprah Replacement Therapist
I had tried to think of ways to get out of this thing all week.
This "thing" was an Epona workshop designed to teach volunteers at Equine Voices Rescue & Sanctuary to handle their most traumatized rescues.
And I… Read full post »
Salon.com