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Lula Harp

~ one girl's journey into cooking, crafting and self discovery

Lula Harp

Tag Archives: writing101

Dear Memphis Drivers

17 Thursday Sep 2015

Posted by Lula Harp in Blogging

≈ 9 Comments

Tags

blogging201, driver, law, Memphis, open letter, TDOT, writing101

I want you to know one thing. You SUCK!

You think that’s it’s normal to cut across three lanes to make a right turn. I’m fairly certain you have no idea your vehicle comes equipped with blinkers. Everyday I get on the road with you, I fear for my life.

The first three months I lived here, you nearly killed me three times. Why, WHY, would you think it’s okay, or even a good idea, to drive down the freeway with a refrigerator standing in the back of your truck without having it tied down? Did you know that the common practice is to move over a lane when you see a car coming onto the freeway, and not speed up?

Ok.  Pop quiz…  If you are driving up a hill to turn left and there is a stop sign at the top of the hill before the turn,

You…

A) Stop, then turn when the road is clear
B) Speed up, move into the oncoming lane, and fly around the car stopped at the stop sign.

This is just a thought, and this might sound crazy, but you STOP. What the hell were you thinking when you sped around me?! Was your trip to Walmart that important? Or were you about to miss the finale of the Bachelor?

Did you know that there is a LAW that if you are driving slower than the normal rate of traffic you must be in the right hand lane? Clearly this slipped past you, because this seems to be the norm around here!

Just do one thing for me and I’ll leave you be.  Please, Please, Please… Hang up the PHONE!

Sincerely (starting to rethink her career as a NASCAR driver),
Driving Miss Daisy (Insane)

 

Taking a left turn to Albequerque… I still need your votes on my poll… Let me know how YOU are going to help me find a fella

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What’s in a word 

16 Wednesday Sep 2015

Posted by Lula Harp in Blogging

≈ 13 Comments

Tags

blogging201, curse words, inflection, Interjections, language, meaning, Schoolhouse Rock, words, writing101

This post has been rolling around in my brain for a bit and it is finally coming to fruition in response to a comment I got last week.

How much power do we give to words? We let them make our day, they make us smile or laugh, some make us cry, and some even ruin our day. Our inflection, tone, and timing make a tremendous difference in how our words are perceived and interpreted. One of the drawbacks to blogging, and writing in general, tone and inflection have little bearing on the words and their delivery.

Our writing has rhythm and flow, we know from reading an author what their general mood and themes are. But unless we hear them speak their words, we cannot hear their intended inflection. We can impose our own intentions on their written words and we often do.

So, why do we give so much power to as a single word? In my family, there’s a particular word my mother doesn’t like. We don’t say that word around her. Instead we substitute another word that we know has the same implied meaning. It has this implied meaning because we’ve made it so. This new word has no connection to the old word other than the meaning we have attached to it.

A lot of this is generational. A lot is societal. Some words just get a bad rap. I had a coworker who hated the word moist. My towel is moist after I shower. My skin is moist if I get caught in the rain. I have no idea why this particular word bothered her.

Words change meaning over time. In 1160 Anglo-Norman, Old French, and Middle French gai expressed happy, carefree, and cheerful. It changed spelling and meaning over time, but primarily meant noble, beautiful, excellent, fine, showy, and disposed to joy. Slowly other meanings began to show up. A prostitute was referred to as a gay lady in 1795 and in 1879 had been used to refer to a brothel. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the use of the word gay to refer to a homosexual wasn’t used until the 1920’s.

I recall in a communications class from college, we talked about the meaning we give inanimate objects. A table is a table only because that’s the word we have assigned and associated with that object. That object could be called sharon. Kids, could you please set the sharon so we can eat. I threw my mail on the sharon when I walked in the door. We had sex on every surface from the sofa to the kitchen sharon.

Do you recall Schoolhouse Rock? There was a song about interjections where Reginald got a shot. “Interjections (Hey!) show excitement (Yow!) or emotion (Ouch!). They’re generally set apart from a sentence by an exclamation point, Or by a comma when the feeling’s not as strong.”

Well… We can use any words to show those feelings of emotion. Reginald used the word ouch when the doctor gave him a shot, but what if he said door or jonah. JONAH!! It means whatever we assign to it.

Being offended because I called the table sharon or saying you hurt my jonah feelings makes no difference. The words are just that… Words. We chose to attach the meaning and emotion to them. We chose to be offended by them or not. They are just another way for us to express ourselves.

So y’all have a gay jonah day!

Do not link to this video if you are offended by words.

 

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Summer lovin’….

15 Tuesday Sep 2015

Posted by Lula Harp in dating

≈ 8 Comments

Tags

blogging201, dating, Nora Ephron, old fashioned, online dating, online dating site, pick up lines, Summer bachelors, writing101

Summer bachelors, like summer breezes, are never as cool as they pretend to be.

-Nora Ephron

 

I’ve recently signed up for an online dating site. Wow. These boys are not a very creative lot. Complimentary, but not creative.

 

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A friend once told me that my profile needs to be a sales pitch. I’m selling myself. We do that every day, whether consciously or not. What we wear, how we smell, and how nice we are to other people.

But to put myself in writing, to describe myself in such a way that a total stranger will find me interesting enough to want to meet me, that’s a toughie. I’ve worked on my profile for quite some time. Writing, editing, paraphrasing, rewording, polishing, and finally publishing. I let two good guy friends read it. One that knows me too well and one that wants to know me better. Both gave it a good thumbs up. I let #2 pick the final pictures I posted with my profile. #1 took a couple of them, so his opinion is subjective. Not that either really can be objective. I don’t think I ever take good photos. I always look like Rudolph with my red nose. But all of the photos I posted, I will concede, do not suck.

 

In general, I object to online dating. I would much prefer to meet my prospective fella in the wild, the old fashioned way. At the grocery store, at the dog park, or in a traffic accident. That just isn’t the way we do it anymore. They won’t speak to a girl in public any more than I’ll ram my car into you because you are cute.

 

So… My friends, I’m giving you a choice.  I think you have gotten a sense of my irreverence in reading my blog.  If you have any questions on my thoughts, please see this earlier post on dating.

Check back next Wednesday, for your assignment.

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Always a student

11 Friday Sep 2015

Posted by Lula Harp in Blogging

≈ 18 Comments

Tags

analytical, college, learning, liberal arts, quotes, school, Study, teaching, toolbox, twitter, writing101

To say I was a poor student when I was in school, would be an understatement. I’m certain now I had ADD. I was bored. I wasn’t interested in anything they were teaching. I couldn’t focus on any goal despite all the prizes and bribes my parents offered.

When my mother was here recently, we had some good chats. I don’t recall how this particular conversation came about, but we talked about how much I didn’t enjoy school. She said something about how I was always reading. My response was, I was reading what I wanted to read and not what I was being made to read.

There was never a question if I was going to college. It was implied, assumed, a given. There was no option, as there seems to be now. I went. I drank. I went to football games. I occassionally went to classes. I never studied. It wasn’t until my junior year I made some decent grades because I was finally taking classes that were interesting, not just mandatory to make me a well rounded human.

For years, I fumbled around professionally. What in the hell are you supposed to do with a liberal arts degree? English and art. Sure, I can carry on a conversation with a wall. Great! You’ve just been pigeon-holed into sales! I hate selling. No. Ok. But I will admit, because I have the gift of gab, I was kinda good at it.

It has only been in maybe… the last ten years or so, that I’ve discovered some things about myself. Evidently I’m quite analytical. I’m really good at research. I’m a good project manager because I’m task oriented. I had NO FUCKING IDEA!!! Really… The first time I friend of mine said he liked how I worked, I had no idea what he was talking about. Then when he explained, I was stunned. What are you talking about?! I am not organized. People are doing this just because I asked/told them to?! What?!

It’s amazing the things we learn about ourselves when we aren’t looking, aren’t being force fed the status quo.

I have a woman in my circle of friends. I won’t call her a friend despite the fact I have regular interactions with her. She really is a sweet woman. But holy moly, she is dumber than a box of rocks. In my day job, I teach kindergarten (not really… but sort of), and I will say the same thing to this woman 3 or 4 different ways and she still can’t figure out what I’m trying to communicate. This is where I step back. Take a deep breath. Analyze what I am saying. Try and figure out where the holes are. It’s always the same answer. Her.

To quote Meg, I have to learn where to put this bag of fertilizer, so as not to stink up the whole place. I have to learn how to cope with this situation. Learn one more skill. Find another tool in my toolbox.

Now where is that darn toolbox?

Today’s #writing101 assignment was to pick a tweet and run with it. What did it make us think of?  My last few posts have been more stream on consciousness. Just pulling a thread and seeing how it unravels.

I’d love to hear your thoughts, so please leave a few.

https://mobile.twitter.com/thisisEJKoh/status/420362403180597248

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around the world and back again

10 Thursday Sep 2015

Posted by Lula Harp in Blogging

≈ 13 Comments

Tags

culture, luck, map, Mississippi, palate, south, thoughts, Travel, writing101

I was in such a hurry to leave the south all those years ago.  I almost forgot why.  When I came back, I thought I was coming to a city with some character and culture, and not just another small town like the one I left behind.

The palates here are unrefined.  The vision is narrow.  The ideas are limited, and the creativity is stifled.

I forget how much I’ve seen and done; how much I’ve tasted and experienced.

I have to remind myself every day.  I have been so lucky and so blessed.

 

map wp writing101

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treasure every day

08 Tuesday Sep 2015

Posted by Lula Harp in Blogging

≈ 8 Comments

Tags

bee, Carpenter Art Garden, catnap, emoticons, graffiti, Memphis, mural, treasure, writing101

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painting a mural
painting a mural
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Every day is a treasure

That brings untold pleasure

Of which we cannot measure

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What’s in a name?

08 Tuesday Sep 2015

Posted by Lula Harp in just a thought

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

blogging, I write because, names, NPR, school, writing, writing101

I went to school with a guy named Chris Scott. That was his first name and his last name. Chris. Scott. The whole time we were in school from first grade through our senior year, I always call him Chris Scott.  In my head he was never just Chris. Finally our senior year of school he said to me, you know you can call me Chris. But I never could.

Lula Harp is kind of the same way. While I am Lula, in my head I’m not just Lula.

Lula Harp was born out of creativity and a need to have a creative space to share my ideas, creations, thoughts, conundrums, and adventures. I have always been crafty. For years I had a small business in the basement making soap, lotions, and pretty smelling things. Ultimately I felt very limited by the name I had chosen. It suited me well for some time, but it ran its course. I spent months trying to find a new name. I heard a story on NPR, and Lula Harp as you know her here, was born.

I write because I love playing in the kitchen, in the garden, with my camera, and with whatever shiny object catches my eye. This place gives me somewhere to record my experiments. This is my special place, where I can hide behind a lens if I want or spew my guts out. I write because it helps me stay focused, centered, and quiets the constant noise in my head.

While I haven’t seen him in years, and have no idea where life took him, I still think of him as Chris Scott.

Lula Harp

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365project about town bacon baking Blogging Blogging University books breakfast cocktails community cooking dating dinner garden girlfriends grilling just a thought Memphis photo challenge photography pizza Portland recipes restaurants Toast Tuesday Uncategorized vacation wordless wednesday words work

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