Am also getting wonderful responses for the poem "Best of Times & Not Such Best of Time" I posted on a Paris bookstore FB group re my response to the non-acquittal of the T-man. This, after two not-so-nice replies said "no politics, who cares about your opinion...site is just for books;" I replied with rather long explanation (with book names & authors) that sans political, religious, philosophical, educational, gendre, shade, age & general locale & circumstances authors landed on Earth in, there would be no books. Continue reading

A hot, humid, August, 1946 night in northern Mexico, just south of Juarez. Thunder clouds threatened rain, but no rain fell. The men were dead. Shot through the head or heart or first through the testicles. But it was too late for the woman. She died in the arms of one of the men who’d come to save her. Now, the only two left standing, they who had done the shooting, wrapped the woman in a clean blanket and buried her beyond her garden where the wild red poppies grew. THE TROUBLE IN ARAGON VALLEY, (c.) cjcarroll www.lulu.com/spotlight/cjcarrollbooks Continue reading

America, America... Cry, America, cry. Wake then, mirror then, find truth within, Try, America, try In the light the lie dies And truth lives, but today I cry. Claudia J. Carroll 2.13.2021 Continue reading

Out of chaos, comes the light: gratitude for the least of things taken for granted opens a channel for more; kindness towards others who try to be of service to you is an exchange of life-force Continue reading

PHOTO OF THE ACTUAL ROSE ISLAND: GAMBALUNGA CIVIC LIBRARY, RIMINI, ITALY The real life story behind the 1958 to 1967 construction of Rose Island by a young Italian engineer is best reported by Steven McIntosh, Entertainment Reporter for BBC News, in December, 2020 https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-55092341 Other details are found at https://www.wantedinrome.com/news/rose-island-a-true-and-incredible-italian-story.html... Continue reading

OLD DUMPLING & THE RAINY DAY, SHMADIGGLE & THE IMAGINATION ASTEROID and MISSY MOUSE & THE ROCKET SHIP are fun, fantasy stories for children ages 6 to 10, about characters living in alternative universes, alone or with family members other than moms & dads. http://lulu.com/spotlight/cjcarrollbooks Continue reading

Want to contact me re my new blog & FB group: Marking Time on Planet Earth? Copy & Paste: E-mail:mailto:cjcarroll.taos@yahoo.com Want to order one of my books: www.lulu.com/spotlight/cjcarrollbooks Want to tweet me? twitter.com/cjcarroll Want to visit my positivity FB page: Marking Time on Planet Earth? https://www.facebook.com/groups/237208374660276 Continue reading

Another inspiring Netflick: "The Dig": England on the verge of war with Germany, a young, wealthy woman, dying, enlists a self-made archeologist to dig the largest of several mounds on her property; greed kicks in when the discovery is made, and then the dig completely covered over when the war begins.https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-suffolk-55847541 Continue reading

Yongding Village, Taiwan: September. Today is my first day with the teachers at Yongding School, site of my mountain top teaching experience for this coming year. What I’ve learned thus far: I will get fit. Ability to climb stairs, thousands of them, ought to be a priority for a year in Taiwan. Continue reading

Introduction to Olders duction to “Olders.” Old Dumpling and the Rainy Day is a sci-fi fable for children and adults of all ages; about youngers and olders who befriend one another and dream of far away places, and why it’s a good idea not to steal other people’s ideas nor... Continue reading

THE FOLLOWING IS FROM 'INDIAN COUNTRY TODAY': "A Tlingit illustrator is the winner of the 2021 Caldecott Medal, one of the most prestigious awards in children’s literature:" by Aliyah Chavez Indian Country Today (https://support.indiancountrytoday.com/) "The American Library Association announced winners of the nation’s outstanding children’s books this week. At the... Continue reading

Excerpt 4: Taos, NM, 2000 something: Tony drained his beer. As the DA, he wasn't much skilled at being a book editor, but he was a skilled listener. “Claudia, I don’t think the kids here in New Mexico would give a damn about real neo-Nazi stuff. They don’t know a Zionist from a Zuni. But if somebody successfully morphed Zionism with the shit they think they are suffering from, with the U.S. or with Anglos, they could be convinced to do some destruction I think.” For now, he wouldn’t tell Claudia about the swastikas, the running crosses, spray-painted on the canyon wall. Or that several tribal/nations had banned the use of their own "running crosses", stolen in the late 1920ies by Hitler and his mob. Continue reading

Shmadiggle loved to ride in the Pop-Tops. They made wonderful humming sounds as they whirled around. But today, even as much as she wanted a big piece of Giggle Pie, she wasn't going to Central City. And she didn’t even want to go to Amusement Asteroid and play on the Silly Slides. She sat down on her bed again and tried to think of someplace to go, someplace far away from Xiggle where she could forget all about the Xiggle Jiggle Championship. Maybe she would think about it some other time. But not today. The Championship was tomorrow, and she was sure she couldn’t win it. So why try? Continue reading

A blog, like life ...but easier to edit than life.....For now, I'll post excerpts of my books/ and likely I'll review a few/ and opinionate a time or two/ So thank you in advance dear reader-friend/ for now just coffee-up or pour a glass and read a bit, then but go to: (you know, to buy my own writes) www.lulu.com/spotlight/cjcarrollbooks Continue reading

EMERGING: A digital interpretation of the new 2021 Biden/Harris multicultural administration and reflection of the "real" America. via cjcarroll.typepad.com Continue reading

EMERGING: A digital interpretation of the new 2021 Biden/Harris multicultural administration and reflection of the "real" America. Continue reading

T-man: The Alchemist, "The Roman Forum" Reality Show Producer & Heil Dear Leader by "True Believers." Oh...wish I had an agent & a book publisher. But you, dear FB & Twitter friends, must endure (or delete): Do the identities in my post fit the description of anyone you know? Continue reading

https://www.azlyrics.com/.../thetimestheyareachangin... Exhausting watching the news, but I do (being alone, have that option) The Rachel Maddow Show and Brian Williams particularly - sane, thoughtful, researched. I wish the current formats were not so much 3 minute bytes with "guests", but I understand the need to present not only diverse opinions,... Continue reading

The sculpture: mine, done in a Harvard art studio metal class sometime that fall. The art instructor forbid me to show this and other sculptures and assemblages focusing on 9.11 - he wanted his students to "feel safe." "If this were the 1960ies, I responded, I'd set these up in Harvard Yard!" Continue reading