Because sometimes…

you make the mistake of sharing something that bothers you (international media announcements of the Nobel Peace Prize for Economics Winner Esther Duflo and her husband — there, fixed it), but your Facebook friend decides that you haven’t shared your concerns in the right format, so you give up on justifying your right to an opinion and whip up a snarky retort in Photoshop instead.

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Fake news article. Design/ photo: Suzanne Skaar, 2019. Full text below. All rights reserved.

It’s only Wednesday.

 

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Descriptive Text for my friends who may be relying on screen readers:

 

EXTRA! EXTRA!

Local Stay-at-home Mom Shares Link on Facebook Without Verifying 30 Additional Sources First

Earth blows up next day.

[Photo of Suzanne being tackled by her daughter. Caption:] Pictured above: Panic on the streets.

Local mother Suzanne Skaar (who claims she has an identity outside being a parent but has not provided any evidence of this) took a break from entertaining her seven-year-old on Tuesday, October 22, 2019 to share a post that “irked [her] based on [her] own experiences working with men on collaborative projects.” After she shared the post, she included links to other articles on this same topic.

This afterthought was not enough to prevent panic on the streets.

Experts agree that, before sharing an opinion, regardless of confirmation that she was not paid for this opinion, she should have at least prepared a bibliography in advance of hitting the share button. As of press time, however, she had still failed to convene a committee to perform a proper peer review.

“It’s my fault,” Skaar admitted. “I should have known to stay away from social media until I had a thesis ready to attach to the post.”

Authorities have not taken any actions as of yet. When asked for comment, an unnamed (Continued on A4)

 

Write Anyway

I took a break from working on projects this morning. I was really motivated, but I forced myself to take a break for health reasons. Then the doubt seeped in. I caught myself questioning myself, and I knew the self-criticism was without merit. But I lost a little steam.

I dawdled on Facebook, when a post sparked a need to look through some old belongings I hadn’t touched in years. In the process, I found my copy of On the Road by Kerouac, which I had thought was lost. Inside the book, there was this postcard from my writing mentor, Ray Kelleher. He wrote it in 1996 explaining he would be gone and when he would be back, and ended the card, “Write Anyway! Be-bop lives.”

 

He died several years back. I didn’t learn until well after the fact. Sometimes signs from him pop up. Like this.

I’m back at the computer. I’m sharing because there’s probably others who need a kick from the other side to get back to working on what you love, too.

 

Be-bop lives,

 

Suzanne