Listen to your detractors. You can sometimes learn more from the honesty of someone who is not trying to be your friend.

Think for yourself. "Consider the source" is generally good advice, but even bad sources sometimes make good sense.

Question everything at least once.

Learn from others, learn fro… Read full post »

If you are wondering just how insane things have gotten around here, let me share this with you. I am apparently guilty of making "calm" and "measured" criticisms. I am also a "conscience-less sociopath" as evidenced by the fact that I failed to "lose [my] composure." (I am also "utterly dishonest"… Read full post »

 I am concerned.

People come to Open Salon for all sorts of reasons, but nearly all of us are here to write. You may want to be a writer (whatever that means to you) or you might just want to communicate something in writing (opinions about politics,… Read full post »

copyright 2009 Susan Mitchell - all rights reserved

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There's no doubt that America is defined primarily by its people. It is a deservedly positive view of our nation, because we have managed to take a melange of people and cultures and make of them something approaching a unified whole—or at least a population that gets along well enough… Read full post »

The feathered dinosaurs heard that your birthday commences in just a few short hours.

They send their best wishes, or at least their loudest ones. It can be hard to tell.

We all hope you have a nice birthday cake. I'm sure a certain troll also hopes that… Read full post »

In case you have ever wondered, my avatar is a self-portrait. I took it 2 or 3 years ago now and have been playing with it every since. It's sort of my logo, if you will; to the degree that we are all "brands" now, it is the public image of… Read full post »

She means it. Pet her tummy and nobody gets hurt.

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Roses are delicate and fragrant, light and gentle. Except when I get my hands on them.

 The many different tools for editing digital photographs can lead to endless hours of time wasting for someone like me. "Hmmm, wonder what this would look like if I added a lot of purple?"… Read full post »

By the way... if you don't want the ad glaring at you while you post a comment, and you don't want to get an ad blocker for your browser, click on "post comment" then scroll up until the ad disappears and the comment… Read full post »

If you are not already reading The Consumerist you should go give it a look.

They are beholding to no one as they are an arm of the Consumer's Union, the same organization that publishes Consumer Reports. The screen shot above shows their take on the recent Facebook controversy.… Read full post »

Since I was diagnosed with breast cancer, I’ve fielded a lot of questions about it. One of the most frequent is, “How was your cancer found? Did you have a lump?”

I understand why people ask. They are hoping for an answer that will reassure them. She found a lump.… Read full post »