Diary of a Low Budget Superhero

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Mary stopped for lunch on her way back to New Jersey.
(Photo: Mary Katherine)

My Super-Talented Family Members: JoAnna Lombardi (Painter)

Stevie Happy Sunday, dear fine readers. I was thinking. I am lucky enough to be surrounded by incredibly talented artists. And I haven't really written about them! What, why not! So today I'm going to dedicate a little time to doing just that. First up—my mom, JoAnna Lombardi . My beautiful and talented mom started painting in her forties. First watercolors, then oils. Lots of blues and R&B musicians—she painted Stevie, Jimi, Billie Holiday, and commissioned by me, Boy George. Now she's in her seventies! And still beautiful and talented. She took a hiatus from painting for, I think, 12 years or so? My brother and his lovely wife started a family, and my mom was preoccupied with the kids. Her painting studio got turned into an awesome playroom. I don't get to visit often, but I drove down once when Fernando Fox ("Nando") was little. We played ALL DAY in that playroom. I had a blast. He's beautiful. He's growing up so fast, and now there's a b...

...Because, That's Why (Regarding The Absence Of Politcal Posts This Time Around)

"But you used to write about politics..." Yeah. At one time I did, yeah. Here in Blogger, back to 2012. You can find all those passionate, researched entries by searching on "politics" in the search field. In my Diaryland blog , I have essays from the 2000, 2004 and 2008 elections--that is to say, from the Hanging Chad to the Provisional Ballot to (sweet relief) YES WE CAN! I don't have any entries from 2020 to July 2025 , when I just didn't have the mental fortitude for writing. I can't do it anymore. I don't have the best mental health, for one thing, and while I am better than I was ten years ago , I have to take care of my mental health every single day. Every. Day. Plus I had a stroke, most likely caused by high blood pressure, so focusing on this stuff is the last thing I need right now. I learned to walk and talk again, but don't have use of my right hand. And thirdly, and I cannot stress this enough, I have said all I have to say...

To Blog or Not To Blog (And If So, Where?): A Round-up of blogging platforms

There has been some talk on Facebook and Reddit in recent weeks about blogging--whether it's still relevant, who is doing it, and what is the best platform. Well! It just so happens that I think it IS still relevant (obviously), and I have tried out a bunch of blogging platforms myself over the years. Some others I haven't tried personally, but I follow blogs on them, and have formed an opinion on their look and feel. Here's some personal observations... Diaryland Diaryland is the OG blogging platform. That's where I started i n 2000. I would probably still be blogging on Diaryland, but for some issues with it. I'll get into those in a minute. An upside to Diaryland is there's still a strong community. You log in there's hundreds (thousands?) of blogs, sorted by most recently updated, and most bloggers display a list of favorite Diaryland blogs. Another upside to Diaryland is it's simplicity--there are exactly twelve templates to choose from. They haven...

Yes, I UnFriended You "Over Politics"

No, I Do Not Feel Bad About UnFriending Okay, I've been sitting on this one for years, partially due to the PTSD, troubling lack of focus and struggle with writing in general, and partially due to uncertainty on whether or not I'm even right. But no...I'm right. I was wrong to question myself about this, but first thing first: what do we mean by "over politics" anyway? In the parlance of our times your "politics" comprise and embody your beliefs and principles as they pertain to governance, both abstract and in particular. In the abstract, your support for "small government" makes you "conservative" by definition and on this hill you stand strong. You may hold beliefs that government has no business messing in your personal life, citing "it's a free country" and so forth. In particular, maybe you believe you shouldn't be forced against your will to sign up for any health insurance, or vaccinate your childre...

Little Baby Face: One in Ten Thousand Microtia Babies

These things are good: ice cream and cake a ride on a Harley seeing monkeys in the trees the rain on my tongue and the sun shining on my face These things are a drag: dust in my hair holes in my shoes no money in my pocket and the sun shining on my face * Roy Lee "Rocky" Dennis (December 4, 1961 – October 4, 1978 ) Though people asked the question with varying degrees of directness based on age, familiarity and tact, at its core it was always the same question: what's wrong with her? For many years I let my mother answer, and then later when I grew more self-assured I would handle these inquiries myself. At first I would reply echoing the same words my mother had always used in her explanation, after all I had heard her say it a thousand times. "Michelle was born with one ear. The doctors are fixing it." ...

I Signed Up For Fucking Instagram (I Regret It Already)

View this profile on Instagram Michelle DiPoala (@ superlowbudge ) • Instagram photos and videos So you guys. I tried for an hour to log into Instagram on my iPhone. I can log in with the browser on laptop and iPhone, but not the app. After changing the password twice (because “incorrect password” was the error message), I tried Instagram Help, I Googled for answers, I watched YouTube videos, I tried everything suggested by everyone. Reinstall the app, restart the phone, clear the cache, etc. Then I checked Reddit. Reddit always knows and… Instagram screenshot of other suckers Oh. Well that’s just great. The screenshot shows the first few Redditors with this same issue—I stopped counting at 25 posts. Nobody commenting had any solution. Especially the guy saying the only solution is to buy a different phone. Excuse me? Thing is, I just signed up for Instagram tonight, it’s a brand new account. The only reason I signed up is because a person I want to contact...

I Googled Myself (Yes, Again) And This Is What I Found This Time

Mark Daniel Korvin Now here's the thing. I don't do this for any kind of ostentatious putting-on of airs. I'm not vain at all. Just the opposite. You can ask my psychiatrist. Or my therapist. No, I am occasionally Googling myself to see if Google has had any sweet sweet mercy on # Blogger and indexed our # blogs at all. Because we would really like Google to index our blogs. Lack of blog indexing is a frequent topic of discussion in certain web forums. Also Reddit. It's so frustrating, you guys. I've been blogging for 25+ years. I write about a variety of topics from a Gen X point of view. Women's issues. Immigration. Equality. Civil rights. Race relations. LGBTQIA issues. Donald Fucking Trump. Class warfare. Nazis. Guns. God. Depression. Anxiety. Music. Local music. Movies, especially horror movies. Comedy. Shopping. Thrifting. Cooking. Writing. I don't use AI. I have no dead links. I signed on with a marketing company for a few years so I had a k...

The Star Wars Holiday Special : Merry Gen X'mas

Long ago in a galaxy we 40-somethings refer to as "childhood," we built a cherry Kool-Aid world with rad high tech toys like Lite Brite, Etch-a-Sketch, and Slinky...a popular (*cheap*) birthday present. Imagine every one of us rug rats fighting over a toy you play with on the stairs . We made our own fun, too. Get a pair of tube socks and you could slide across the linoleum, or shuffle out some sweet static on the shag carpet. I'm sayin', a kid in 1970s America could make a pretty good time out of not-much, because we had a ton of not-much. There wasn't much on TV either, so you watched your favorite shows, which aired weekly on specific nights. There was one TV and four channels, so there were fights over who got to pick until bedtime, then the adults watched boring shows ( Dynasty, Flamingo Road ) followed by the news, until the TV went off overnight. I don't mean the TV got turned off...I'm saying the broadcast transmitter shut down its signal an...

Currently Listening: SONGS IN THE KEY OF LIFE (Stevie Wonder)(1976)

Songs in the Key of Life was one of my favorite records practically my whole life. From the age of 7 I'd say. My parents have great taste in music. My favorite is Side Four--it's a double album. Isn't She Lovely Joy Inside My Tears Black Man Ngiculela - Es Una Historia I Am Singing If It's Magic As Another Star I want "If It's Magic" played at my funeral. Damn, Stevie.

Losing Your Religion? Consider an Upgrade!

A Short Primer for the Spiritually Conflicted If your thousands-of-years-old religion's definition of "decency" requires you hold hands in fellowship with others so you can hate better, as a group, then you will definitely encounter a great many problems navigating 21st century America. If you have been casting about for guidance out of the God quagmire, this primer is for you. D espite mankind's tendency towards marginalizing ("othering") itself, in modern society this practice is beginning to look stupid, and even devout Christians are starting to question the "rightness" of hate in the name of God. The colloquial term for this emergent cognitive dawning is "woke." Though loud, the voices that continue demanding religion reigns over law are diminishing, leaving mostly red-faced zealots, con artists and madmen still preaching hellfire, beatings and jail for perfectly nice, normal people who are merely try...

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