On Vapors, and Vapers

April 26, 2017April 26, 2017 ~ Kana Smith ~ 9 Comments

Last week CBS This Morning hosted a lexicographer from the Merriam-Webster dictionary, talking about the malleability of language and the ongoing task of incorporating new words into the dictionary. Although prescriptive grammarians (unlike descriptive ones) would have you believe that our language and its rules are static, nothing could be further from the truth. (Sure, I … Continue reading On Vapors, and Vapers

What Paper Plates are For

April 14, 2017April 18, 2017 ~ Kana Smith ~ 2 Comments

There's a TV ad for an antidepressant that features a paper plate on a popsicle-stick handle with a smiley face sketched on it... Various people are holding it up in front of their faces, which (behind the paper-plate-smiles) are unhappy, disengaged, or entirely expressionless. That ad speaks not only to the experience of Depression, but also to … Continue reading What Paper Plates are For

Taking Out the Trash

February 23, 2017February 23, 2017 ~ Kana Smith ~ 7 Comments

This week I volunteered to help out a church acquaintance with some cleaning and reorganizing of her house. She's a single mom with numerous health problems and two active young boys, and she babysits an infant who's now mobile enough to require baby-proofing of the house---and she was finding the project overwhelming. I won't lie: I found the project … Continue reading Taking Out the Trash

Exorcism by Ink

January 24, 2017January 24, 2017 ~ Kana Smith ~ 17 Comments

I've exorcised a number of demons through the use of ink. No surprise for a writer. But this week exorcism-by-ink took a different twist. A couple years ago I foolishly married a person who turned out to be a liar and a cheat (and also already-married!) and unfortunately I had already let him scrawl his name across … Continue reading Exorcism by Ink

Changing My Story

January 4, 2017January 5, 2017 ~ Kana Smith ~ 5 Comments

Sometimes the really simple stuff is the hardest to get my hard head around... How is it, for example, that I can have a goal and know what it is and face no real impediments---yet it doesn't materialize? When there's not some external obstacle, why don't I get that goal accomplished? Well, it all comes down to ME, … Continue reading Changing My Story

Don’t Be JAFO

January 2, 2017January 9, 2017 ~ Kana Smith ~ 2 Comments

I said a probable goodbye to a dear friend today. Pat just had a massive stroke; he's in a coma on life support and not expected to make it back to us. Knowing that he wouldn't be talking to me (but who knows, might be able to hear me) I stopped at the hospital today … Continue reading Don’t Be JAFO

If God Acts as Travel Agent, Don’t Argue the Itinerary

December 8, 2016December 12, 2016 ~ Kana Smith ~ 6 Comments

I dreamed last night that I was back in Safe Haven, the psych-facility where I recently spent ten days, and the dream felt comforting. The place is well named. My cell phone was one of the things I missed most in there---not for calls, but for Google (I hadn't realized how many things-a-day I look … Continue reading If God Acts as Travel Agent, Don’t Argue the Itinerary