December 2016 Poetry Section

Merry Christmas

Mistletoe
Evergreen trees
Ribbon
Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer
Young and old waiting all year
Christmas cookies
Hot cocoa
Red Sacks
Ice skating
Stars are angels a top the train
Tinsel
Merry memories with family and friends
A search to find the perfect gift for the naughty and nice on your list
Silver bells ringing in the snow

Silver Bells

Sounds of the season.
In the dark a sound of hope
Love to hear them ring
Vanished only when the ringing stops.
Everlasting symbols of the season!
Ring with cheer
Bell of beauty
Evening under the stars
Lovely
Lasting not loud
Serenity even in a snowstorm!

To My Love

You give me hope that can float!
You make my heart happy.
You make me feel like a butterfly who is bright who soars above all clouds!
These are the gifts you give to me at the holidays and beyond!
These gifts have no price tag or dollar value!
These gifts cannot be bought, sold or exchanged!
These gifts will be treasured forever!
These gifts make me feel rich with only a penny in my pocket!
All I want is you!

How to Balance Your Relationship With Your Work

Author: Chelsea Mulligan, The Dating Game

Millennials struggle with two things: relationships and finding a decent job. To be successful in both can be challenging but there are ways to make it work – I promise!

For starters, do not force anything! Being happy with your job and relationship should be effortless. You cannot force something to happen if it’s not meant to be, whether that be finding a new job to find that happy medium, or ending a relationship in hopes of finding new beginnings. If you are content in both areas, here are a few ways to continue your growth:

Texting should not be priority during work hours

Yes, a “have a good day” or “good morning” text is appreciated, but do not feel like you need to text throughout the day. You must understand that there is a time and a place for everything. Millennials seem to have this idea in their heads that if you do not answer back immediately or hold a conversation that everything is doomed. Please, I beg of you, please get over that assumption. Tough love: If you honestly feel that you need to be talking to and entertaining someone else while working, you are not your first priority – which *gasp* is a bigger problem than seeing your message was Read.

For the eight hours that you are at work, you should strive to be the best employee you can be. It is hard enough feeling appreciated at work, so stressing about succeeding at work while answering a text message back in a timely fashion will make your mind go into overdrive. It can also make you slip up at work if you are more concentrated on your texting than your assigned tasks.

If it were my guess, the conversation you would have with your significant other wouldn’t even be that interesting. It would probably consist of you both saying that you “can’t wait to get home,” or that you are extremely tired and wish you were still sleeping. Am I right?

Meet for a meal

Depending on distance, meeting for lunch is a good idea. It can be exciting to see each other in a time frame in which you normally don’t see each other. It can also come off attractive to see each other in “work clothes.”

Meeting for lunch can definitely set the tone for that evening. You can discuss if you would like to do something after work or relax on your own. It is a great compromise to see one another without being forced to watch either The Bachelor or Monday Night Football later that night.

Because your time together during a lunch break is limited, it should lead to good, steady conversation considering you have about 40 minutes together until you return to your desk. Not only is this meeting a stress reliever that gets you away from work drama, but seeing the person you care about for a short period is a nice pick-me-up in the middle of the day.

Limit the complaints
Isn’t it amazing how each and every single one of us hates being at work – but the second we get out, it’s the only thing we talk about? Take note of that and try not to chew your significant other’s ear off by telling him or her what Craig did in the meeting or how annoying Jane’s eating habits are.

You should be able to confide in one another about “work drama,” but try to shorten the story and the problems. Do not do this every single day after work. I repeat, do not do this every single day after work. If you find yourself complaining about your job every single day, it’s time to find a new job.

Finding the balance of maintaining a happy relationship and a successful job can consist of trial and error, but you should only be working hard at one (if any, and my opinion would be the job). If both seem to be rocky, a fresh start entirely is a great idea. Both a relationship and a job should compliment one another – not battle for which is more important. At the end of the day, this is your life.

Dating Advice From ’80s Rom Coms

Author: Kerrin Frappier, The Dating Game

Romantic Comedy films don’t sweep up accolades during awards season, but viewers have enjoyed simple “girl meets boy” stories for years! Often dismissed by critics, they are loved by movie-goers – including this movie fan.

The last 30 years could be considered the golden era for romantic comedies with the release of When Harry Met Sally, The Wedding Singer and Valentine’s Day. The 1980s saw an uptick in the number of romantic comedies produced and signaled a renaissance for the genre. It’s easy to see what makes these films so well-loved – who doesn’t want a sweet story with a chance meeting and an (eventual) happy ending?

As the mantra goes, popularity does not equal quality or substance. That said, I believe that if you look beyond the sugary shell, the inner layers of romantic comedies – especially those of my beloved ’80s – are rich in texture with just the right amount of flavor. You can learn a lot from watching two people fall in love in 90 minutes, and I’m here as your guide through such lessons.

Never sacrifice your own identity for anyone – from Pretty in Pink (1986)
Pretty in Pink is an age-old tale of lovers from different social classes. Andie (Molly Ringwald) is a ambitious teenager taking care of her unemployed and unmotivated father following her mother’s abandonment. Blane (Andrew McCarthy) is a rich playboy surrounded by a group of snobbish friends and posh cars.

While both characters are clearly attracted to one another, their separate bands of friends are unhappy with the connection between them. Blane eventually finds the expectation of his “popular” world too much to bear and follows his friends’ advice about distancing himself from Andie. Rather than remain bitter about her failed relationship, Andie decides to go alone to her senior prom wearing a dress of her own creation.

Blane redeems himself at the end of the film after having been influenced one too many times by his friends. Unlike her high school paramour, Andie has a style all her own. She is driven by what she feels is right and what feels good to her. Just like Blane, movie-watchers should take note of Andie’s fearlessness and self-assuredness.

The unexpected might be just what you need – from Moonstruck (1987)
When widowed Loretta (Cher) accepts her fiancé Johnny’s (Danny Aiello) proposal for marriage, she also becomes responsible for inviting his eccentric and estranged brother, Ronny (Nicholas Cage), to the wedding. While Loretta finds security with her fiancé, she finds fire (literally, the man works at a bakery) in Ronny.

Though she tries to deny the sparks between them (even slapping Ronny across the face after a declaration of love), Loretta must decide between what is safe and what feels right. Her intentions to marry Johnny then conflict with what frightens her the most – that true love exists and she is deserving of it. If your plans fall through, you must always believe that something else is waiting for you – and accept that there may be difficult choices to be made in order to live the life that is right for you.

Love Conquers All – from The Princess Bride (1987)
Have I mentioned this is my all-time favorite movie? It’s a comedy-romance-swashbuckling-tragedy-adventure set in a faraway land long long ago and it is wonderful (though my family disagrees…pay no attention to them). I could go on all day about how much this movie (and the book it was adapted from) has to teach us but as Mandy Patinkin’s character states “there is too much..let me sum up.”

The princess (Robin Wright) is a reluctant bride whose one true love was supposedly murdered by pirates. When they are finally reunited, she must make the agonizing decision to marry her betrothed in order to save her darling Westley’s (Cary Elwes) life. She resigns herself to a life without love so that the one person she cares for can be spared.

Westley forgives Buttercup (That’s her given name. Really.) for promising to marry the corrupt Prince Humperdink (Chris Sarandon), and why shouldn’t he? She had the courage to keep going when she thought her one true love was dead! She went into the fire swamp with him and nearly died! She stood up to her lying fiancé and would not let his power or anger intimidate her! The other lesson to be learned from this movie is that love is truly a partnership, and success depends upon the effort of both parties. From cooking dinner to fighting off rodents of unusual size, teamwork is essential to any relationship.

Anything worthwhile takes time – from When Harry Met Sally (1989)
On the outermost layer of this romantic comedy is the fallacy that men and women can never be exclusively friends. On the inner layers, you will find that the tale of two friends (played by Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan) is actually a simple story of timing. Timing is perhaps the most important ingredient in the recipe of our lives – and it has to be just right. Both Harry and Sally go through several relationships throughout the course of the movie only to come back to each other. Some might say this was a failure of timing on their part, but I think the sweet ending (just the way we like them) proves that love is well worth the wait.

Follow your heart – from Say Anything.. (1989)
Lloyd Dobler (John Cusack) is my ideal man. He’s passionate about everything! From “the sport of the future” (kickboxing) to “looking for a dare to be great situation,” Lloyd does everything with an unwavering sense of optimism (until his heart is ripped to shreds, more on that later). When he falls for the beautiful and brainy Diane (Ione Skye), Lloyd tries to prove his worth to her overprotective father (John Mahoney) who distrusts him completely, labeling him a “distraction” from his daughter’s goals. Diane takes a cue from her father the moment she feels things are getting too serious between them.

Though initially heartbroken, Lloyd finds the strength to forgive Diane and spends a night outside her window, a love song blaring from his boom box (one of the best romantic scenes from any ’80s movie). Many of us have felt the pressure to succeed and when coupled with new feeling of attraction and love, the situation can become almost unbearable. While there is certainly nothing wrong with chasing after your ambitions and using your powerful brain, your heart needs use too, and its instincts should be followed in combination with logic and planning. Be like Lloyd, not Diane…sorry Diane.

So maybe you thought that all you could get from romantic comedies are false expectations about love; that it would be easy and there would be fireworks and pop ballads playing every time you sit close to your partner. Romantic comedies have a lot to teach us if we only look past the endless kisses in the rain and the last minute airport dashes (let’s face it, TSA has put the kibosh on that one). Love may not always play out like it does on the silver screen, but we can try and learn from the many mistakes made by the star-crossed lovers of 1980s cinema.