Sweetpea’s Garden

Spring’s Child At Heaven’s Gate

This is all I can write at the moment…
Heather is my granddaughter,
I want her to be remembered as vitally alive.

angel mystical

Spring’s Child
At Heaven’s Gate

Heather, a bright, colorful
feathery flower.

Bright, like the sun.
Warm, like a summer
breeze.

Then came Autumn

On a misty night

The Celtic Queen of the Wind
Young, lovely, vibrant
arose to take her place
in the sky.

Now shes an angel of light

A twinkling star in the night sky

Heather, now a dancer in

a faraway fairyland.

Erika and Patrick’s child

A loving daughter,
a loving sister. A doting
mother. A loving friend.

Queen of the Wind
You are still the child
I once held in my arms.

With all my love,
Grandma

Heather 19-2019. Heather, a woman with many skills and talents.

A dedicated student, studying public health nursing.

A talented artist.

I will always remember her … a wonderful woman, a wonderful mother- a loving mother. Heather, friendly, outgoing – no-nonsense person, but she definitely cared about people.

A #Paramedic, she also served #MilitaryService. #Airforce Radio Frequency Transmission Systems Technician at United States Air Force.

Extremism and Accountability

Let us remember to love our neighbors as ourselves
and respect the dignity of every person.

Let us remember: A child doesn’t understand things like love, human decency.
A child knows nothing of hatred, bigotry, homophobia, prejudice.

Earlier today I re-read the GOP statement noted in the 2016 RNC platform. “Reaffirming the Constitution’s fundamental principles: limited government, separation of powers, individual liberty, and the rule of law.”

“We denounce bigotry, racism, anti-Semitism, ethnic prejudice, and religious intolerance.” Therefore, we oppose discrimination based on race, sex, religion, creed, disability, or national origin and support statutes to end such discrimination.

Regarding violations of personal integrity and other human rights. Addressing Homophobia: “Homophobia, in any of its manifestations and expressed by any person, should be exposed as a public health problem and a threat to human dignity and human rights.” – World Health Organization.

LGBT people are not the spawn of the devil: Being LGBT is not a belief system, a philosophy, or a doctrine. My family members and friends ask for equal dignity in the eyes of the law.

The Constitution grants them that right.

Discrimination has everything to do with hostility: The county needs to adopt clear and defined positions regarding the protection of human dignity. The county needs to adopt clearly defined actions for the prevention and control of homophobia as a public health problem that negatively impacts the enjoyment of civil, political, economic, social, and cultural rights.

Non-Discrimination Laws

Tennessee: Sexual Orientation: The term “sexual orientation” is loosely defined as a person’s pattern of romantic or sexual attraction to people of the opposite sex or gender, the same sex or gender, or more than one sex or gender. Laws that explicitly mention sexual orientation primarily protect or harm lesbian, gay, and bisexual people. That said, transgender people who are lesbian, gay or bisexual can be affected by laws that explicitly mention sexual orientation.

Tennessee: No state law prohibiting employment discrimination based on sexual orientation and 0-25% of state population is protected from discrimination based on sexual orientation through local ordinances.

Tennessee: Gender Identity: “Gender identity” is a person’s deeply-felt inner sense of being male, female, or something else or in-between. “Gender expression” refers to a person’s characteristics and behaviors such as appearance, dress, mannerisms and speech patterns that can be described as masculine, feminine, or something else. Gender identity and expression are independent of sexual orientation, and transgender people may identify as heterosexual, lesbian, gay or bisexual. Laws that explicitly mention “gender identity” or “gender identity and expression” primarily protect or harm transgender people. These laws also can apply to people who are not transgender, but whose sense of gender or manner of dress does not adhere to gender stereotypes.

Tennessee: *No state law prohibiting employment discrimination based on gender identity and 0-25% of state population is protected from discrimination based on gender identity through local ordinances.

Sevier County Commission: Mr. Hurst was never forced to remain silent on his views on LGBTQ people; nor was he asked to support equality.

Mr. Hurst’s remarks were his choice: they are preconceived, intolerant, damaging, detrimental, harmful, unfair, narrow-minded. Clearly hostile.

Mr. Hurst took the time to exploit his power and position to reveal a personal opinion – an opinion that is homophobic in nature.

Fostering respectful daily interactions between persons of different sexual orientations enriches everyone, it clearly promotes constructive, and peaceful ways of living together.

For some silly reason, I can’t help but thinking Mr. Hurst’s views are part and parcel of many citizens of Sevier county.

Does this county generally exclude LGBT people? Discrimination is not the way to make America great! The only way to make America great is to enact ordinances protecting everyone, including LGBT people from discrimination.

Mr. Hurst wasn’t forced to remain silent on his views on LGBT people or asked to support equality.

Mr. Hurst voluntarily exposed his homophobic views in a public forum. Hostile remarks- of
Homophobic nature should not be rewarded. Mr. Hurst should not be allowed to remain a voting board member of the Sevier County Commission.

Remembering Someone I Never Knew

Remembering Someone I Never Knew

My great grandfather lived twenty-eight years.
His life and destiny: husband, father, soldier, farmer.
His farm, family and the fields were the sum and total of his life.

All memory of his life and family have vanished.
He exists only in books of records.

I search him out because he is a link in the family chain.

He fathered my grandfather, who fathered my father- who fathered me.
Surely that alone must warrant the search.

Who was he, this man. This husband, father, soldier and farmer.
What bought him joy? What disturbed his rest?
Was he kindhearted and generous, or mean and miserly?

From sunrise to sunset everything in his world connected
him to the soil beneath his feet.

The world and perhaps living life beyond the boundaries of the farm
were secondary to his role as son, husband, father and farmer.

Is this the life he chose; was marriage and farming and fatherhood
expected but not wanted? Did he dream of a different life?
What cut his life so early? Fever – Injury?
Who stood beside his grave and grieved his passing?

No matter, without this life and those who were before him,
I would not be here. From his life I am here.

There is no portal to view the time and place where I too will shed
my cloak of skin, or know who will grieve — or remember that I too once lived.

I Look back at the events that shaped my life I see how
I rushed to marriage and motherhood as expected.
And found in each both sorrow and joy.

My vision and avocation also differ.

The dry powdery earth beneath my feet is far different from the moist,
rich soil plowed by my great grandfather.

Yet, if I sowed the same seed as my great-grandfather planted.
it would still bear the fruit of its kind.

Each seed meets its own destiny.
Not every seed falls on fallow ground.
Every seed does not bear fruit.
The seed itself becomes food of another.

He is my history. I am one facet of his life.

Every life has meaning, promise, and purpose.
His life is my search.

My search- his life, and a chance for both of us to live again.

Why should I fret and fume today because no one knows of him?
Am I not his great-granddaughter?

Am I not a grandmother myself?
Rachel – 2003

He left a widow and two children – a son – and a daughter.

Remembering – – SLAUGHTER, b 1846 Pope Co IL – Parents unknown.
Union soldier – death 1849- unknown illness – after his return from
service as military guard: His task- guarding Confederate prisoners
Arkansas.
His gravestone – once unreachable – lost in weeds, grasses, and thorny bushes – was located – in 2006.

In Memory of The Many

“Memorial Day was born out of necessity. After the American Civil War, a battered United States was faced with the task of burying and honoring the 600,000 to 800,000 Union and Confederate soldiers who had died in the single bloodiest military conflict in American history.” Family loyalties were torn- Family against Family and Neighbor against Neighbor.

Present Day
One Nation – One Flag

Lest we forget those who
fought for liberty-justice

In Memory of The Many

Today, we Recognize the Brave.
Respect the Forgotten.
Remember the Lost.
Honor the Unknown

Some came home – whole in body, mind_ Spirit
Some came home brokenhearted-Injured.
Some came home missing limbs.
Some came home missing friends.

In Honor of All
For those died in the field:
The unknown, the lost_
forgotten.

Though you now abide in the
Grand Silence – your sacrifice
is remembered.

We are Free … Because of the Brave
This is a day for memories. Where
we were – what that horrific
battle represented.

Today is not for presidential speeches.
parades – beer fests, BBQ’s, or
celebrating the beginning
of summer vacation _
National sports
games.

This is a time for reflection…

After the horror of the days of a war long past
This is a day to express our common grief
of that particular war – Perhaps a
day to reflect on the healing
for our nation. There is a
sickness hovering … there
is a lust for greed – for
power.

Am I alone in hearing the
the beat of the drums
of war?

Am I alone-in my fear that we will
be forced to revisit the very cause
of the great rift in our nation
that left the many hundred
thousands – to their destiny
– Grand Silence

I fear we are called again to
fight for justice liberty, civil –
human rights… Can this
fight be avoided?

Thank You

The words are inadequate expression of
our sorrow. Your brave legacy lives on –
If only briefly in our tears.

The Sound of Freedom
The thrumming of our heart,
our memories_ tears.

If one member is honored, all rejoice together with it.—1 Corinthians 12:26

The Government Was Never Meant to Become The Family Guardian. Period.

Democracy has all but vanished due largely to the bizarre, foolish and reckless directives drafted, endorsed and supported to meet the preferences and priorities of the ultra conservative biblical priorities of the Republican Leadership.

The President and the Republican party have abandoned their promise of being accountable to the American people to the Constitutional System, Limited Government, Separation of Powers, and the Preservation of the rights of the people which were intended to be preserved; uncompromised for future generations.

Women have the right to vote: Before 1920, few politicians paid any attention to the issues affecting women, but all of that changed when the 19th Amendment was passed. The 19th Amendment guaranteed that women could influence government decisions by voting.

That being said: Women are no longer the property of their husband. That being said Women are not the property of the United States Government.

Let’s discuss the Republican led endeavors to impose upon or interfere with the Constitution’s fundamental principle of an individual’s liberty and/or privacy.
Something is seriously wrong when Republican held state legislatures are interpreting laws as written by Congress to suit individual privately held religious priorities.
We are not personal chattel – Or State Property if you will; property to be bought, traded, bartered, regulated and sold.
Something is seriously wrong when the language of legislation is deliberately written to intentionally menace, subdue, discourage restrictive indeed to and punish her. This is a direct threat- this is judgmental. It is demeaning. Legislation like this deems women are chattel.
Something is seriously wrong when women are particularly singled out by Republicans to become targets – subjected to hate campaigns, threats of violence_subjected to punitive-restrictive attempts to criminalize our private and personal reproductive rights.
Religion, Patriarchy and Biology: Patriarch is a title. A male, a ruler- often authoritarian. Often a tyrant – who oversees, denies or grants rights – the choice of a mate, the circumstances of the mating and who shall occupy and govern a woman’s daily life and home, and how youngsters will be raised.

Continue reading “The Government Was Never Meant to Become The Family Guardian. Period.”

Beyond the Skin and the Mask

Love is without form; an indefinable manifestation
of the exquisite compassion of the heart, an inner
essence of unique and remarkable capabilities
that circulates throughout the body through
the thin thread of red running through
our veins.

Man is always in a state of becoming:
love transitions us from the old to
the new, reaching out_ in and to.

Love envelopes, unfolds, transcends.
It’s inconsistent, illogical, indefensible:
evolutionary, revolutionary;
undeniable. Ever evolving.

Love doesn’t bind or limit or know
of gender attractions.

Illogically Love grabs hold of us;
by its very nature it holds on
to see us through the dark
night of the soul

Love is greater than words
from the lip, sweeter than
honey and wine

‘Lovers don’t suffer love
They savor it’

heart-flame — ‘Love doesn’t bind or limit…’

The Animal Farm – another version

The Animal Farm – Pennsylvania Avenue
Old McGrump Had a Farm – Ei- ei- oh

Old McGrump is a mean old Bastard –
Always walking ‘round his farm
with a riding crop in hand.

He’s a nasty old fart, who always expects everyone
to kneel and bow – and take his shyte
without a whimper.

Everyone, the old bastard said, is
equal_but, he said, some are more
equal than others.

On his farm, he keeps a cow, a sow,
a bat_ quite a few rats,
and his shrew.

a few young bucks, creepy crawlies
and a snake or two.

Old McGrump keeps his chickens,
turtles, and dinosaurs on a short
leash. Keeps his wife tucked
away in a tower.

Old McGrump, The Falsifier:
He’s always right. (Except when he’s wrong,
but he’s never wrong.

He always tells the truth – (except when he lies)
He denies he lies…But – he lies.

Once upon a time, he kept a girl to make his huckleberry
pies; a southern gal who tried to sell his lies.

From time to time he calls on
Pastor Grimm for prayer or
two – Grimm is looking forward
to the rapture –

Old McGrump calls in favors from Faux News
and Putin too. They’re all looking to make a
happy dollar or two.

“Screw ’em, old McGrump said- Goodnight old friends…
Screw ‘em good… McPence nods and waits…

McGrump, once in bed -Satisfied with his plans – (he doesn’t realize
that cankers of death have already taken his soul;) ‘I’m the winner,’
the old sybarite sighs. He dreamt of windmills, walls, sanctions,
crowns empires, and victories. He believes he will live forever.

Old McGrump rules with harshness and force:
He never thinks beyond himself_ never thinks of
the hate – the hurt – the devastation caused by his extremist
actions.

How his actions have devastated the Union. How his
directives sabotaged justice_ and destroyed domestic
tranquility. How he’s failed to provide for the
common defense. Failed to improve the well-being
of the nation. — Devastated the blessings of liberty.

The world is not a safe place. How can it be when our
liberties, freedoms, and avenues to justice are
being stripped away day by day?

Aided by his cows, sows; his vampire_ his rats, and a shrew.
His young bucks, creepy crawlies, and snakes – his
chickens, turtles, and dinosaurs -all expect
him to become emperor of the world.

crown — *McGrump thinks* *he will live forever – Ah, but …*McPence … waits in the wings with
dreams of his own.

Everyone Should Be Treated Fairly

**We are one_ we are all sacred.**
**We are all worthy.**

 To My LGBT family and friends

You have the right to experience
unconditional love.

I stand with you as a friend and ally  
 
I see the goodness in you_  
I love you_ 
bless you_ 

You are loved, wanted, needed. 

You have the right to be seen - 
have your voice heard. 

You have a place- you have a purpose.  
You have the right to feel safe and cared
for in your family home. The places
you shop, study, play_ pray. 

You have the right to speak up, 
the right to be seen 
the right to be heard 
treated with care
kindness_
 respect.

I want you to know this- deep in your heart... 
I want you to know  you are cared for. 
I want You to know  you are needed. 
I want you to know You are wanted. 

No one has the right to tell another person how they should feel: 
You have the right to express feelings of affection to 
your lover, husband, wife

You have the right to health care. 
You have the right to marry your sweetheart.
 You have the right to safe housing. 
You have the right to job security. 

You have the right to feel safe and secure on the street, 
in a shopping mall; at your work, on the bus… 
those places you eat, sleep, play,
 worship_study. 
*