Beth Mann's Blog
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Jul.27.2012
Most of my life, I've waited for my mentor to come along. You know, that magical, mystical (and hopefully hot) elder who would gently yet firmly instruct and guide me down the yellow brick road of life.
But alas, nobody. Sure, some great teachers, but no wise man with a white beard and stern...
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Jul.13.2012
In the movies, I’m at my dying aunt’s bedside, a band of loving cousins surrounding me. I’m singing a song she used to sing with my mother and other aunts and uncles a long, long time ago. When they’d sit around the kitchen table, harmonizing, laughing and simply embracing life. And I,...
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Feb.11.2012
Some musicians are a little too smart for their own good. They're not bad or anything. Just could stand a little lightening up occasionally. A little...self-serious, perhaps. This is because they "smarted the fun out of music."
WARNING! Do not defend the band to us or you'd be seriously...
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Jan.27.2012
I walk by the house on my way to the beach every day. It's a massive, faceless house but it overlooks the ocean. And here, that means everything.
Last week, I noticed several cars parked in the driveway. Very nice cars. Black, sleek, tinted windows. For diplomats and rock stars....
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Jan.27.2012
A final blow to the head and he was out cold, face down, glistening drool seeping from his cracked, nicotine-stained lips. And I was the one who did it. I warned him that I would. That I could. But he didn't listen. He should have.
When we arrived at the hot springs in the Nevada desert...
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Jan.25.2012
It doesn't take much to excite me at this point of the winter. It's cold, dreary and desolate at the Jersey shore and I wear pajamas and my "suicide robe" (as I affectionately call it) entirely too much. Teeth are brushed only if they're lucky. And one day last week, I actually...
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Jan.06.2012
“Are you calling me a liar?” I asked the stone-faced 20-something cashier.
“No, I’m just saying that lots of customers tell us a price is cheaper than it is."
“So you are calling me a liar. The cabbage is 69 cents a pound. Check it if you don’t believe me. But don’t question my honesty.”
“I can...
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2 comments
Dec.10.2011
Click on funny NJ map to enlarge.
Jersey. No, not like the show The Jersey Shore. That bears no resemblance to the South Jersey existence I'm tethered to. Mine is the Jersey shore that's entering a long winter, where a handful of weathered locals sit at dimly lit bars,...
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Nov.25.2011
WARNING - THIS IS NOT MY FAVORITE SHOT!
I'm 45 and one of my closest friends is 24. Life is strange like that. They say politics makes strange bedfellows, but so does living at the Jersey shore. As a single woman, I'm surrounded by ready-made families who can sometimes see me as a threat - or...
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Nov.19.2011
And maybe there are seasons. And maybe they change. And maybe to love is not so strange. - Dan Fogelberg, To the Morning
I'm going to give away the punchline: I fell in love with a rock star after developing a long-term online relationship. Why beat around the...
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Oct.25.2011
Please take a moment to read a piece very near and dear to me. It tells the tale of two friends who drift apart and come back together just in time. Thanks to Red Room and Gina for offering me this opportunity.
"I'm not sure why you stopped talking to me. It happened slowly, like rust. There was...
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Oct.21.2011
The dollhouse? He broke my dollhouse too?
In my early 20’s, I naively thought someone had to hit you to constitute an abusive relationship. I didn’t know that breaking all of your shit was also a form of abuse. And that’s what Bill did. He broke all of my shit.
Looking around the old...
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3 comments
Sep.12.2011
So you have a cell phone? Okay, well good for you. I do too! Fancy, isn't it? But remember, there are some rules to remember when using that spiffy telecommunication device of yours in public:
1. You're not special because you have a cell phone. Small children and homeless people...
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5 comments
Sep.01.2011
I’m looting my neighbor’s garden. Looting light, I would call it. Everyone has been evacuated and I’m one of the few remaining at the Jersey shore during Hurricane Irene. I grab a few ripe tomatoes, a batch of heady oregano. It’s all going to drown tomorrow anyway.
God, it’s so...
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8 comments
Aug.19.2011
This town is so empty. Even the breeze feels empty. A dead, lukewarm breeze.
Walking down the bleak, sun bleached streets, I wonder if there’s any life here at all. A few people peek through windows, then quickly draw their curtains.
Why did I come here? Because I...
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Those who dream by day are cognizant of many things which escape those who dream only by night. In their gray visions they obtain glimpses of eternity, and thrill, in waking, to find that they have been upon the verge of the great secret. ~ Edgar Allan Poe”
About Beth
I'm an artist and writer with over 15 years of expansive creative history, including experimental theater, producing my own darkly comedic TV show entitled Thrush TV and writing for various publications and websites.
What else? I'm cute. I live on an island....
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