The Two Takes

Actual image of the author learning about the new Netflix series. Hi! We're bringing you an extra post this week because He-Man can't wait. Enjoy! His Take: You remember that cartoon you watched as a kid? Well, it’s back. And it’s not for your kids, it for you. You right now, not you as a kid, This past weekend at the annual Masters of the Universe-centric Power Con (yes, there’s a convention for everything) Netflix announced via the guy the media goes to for everything comic book/geek related, Kevin Smith, that it will produce a new Masters of the Universe cartoon that picks up right where the 80’s cartoon left off. As a huge Masters of the Universe fan, I was thrilled at this announcement. After I stopped clapping (I was gonna write “doing cartwheels” but I’m 46 years old and weigh 250. I’m not kidding anybody) I took a step back and took a closer look at this news. Unfortunately, I found some things that I was less than thrilled with. First, the announced series w...

Her Take:  Just for the record, it was my co-blogger’s idea for me to write about photography this week. My ego won’t let me pretend otherwise. He said he’d love to read what I’d write about photography and learn what it takes to make a good picture. Those are nice things to say and I appreciate him, even though it made me a little self conscious to not know if had anything worthwhile to say. I told him that if he wanted me to write about a hobby, maybe it should be a piece about laying awake at 3am worrying about something stupid I said in 1997. I know WAY more about that.  (This is both tongue-in-cheek self-deprecation and absolutely true.) With that said, what I know I CAN do is tell you some of the things I’ve learned about photography over the last 2 years that I’ve been something like a serious hobbyist.  That’s fair, right? #1 Cameras aren’t as smart as you are, so they need help.   So, listen, our brains are crazy cool, right? When you l...

His Take: Okay, this was supposed to be a piece of fiction this week, but I’m not really feeling it. Of course, I’m not sure what the world will be like when I retire, so technically this IS a work of fiction. But then again, aren’t they all? Come hell or high water, when I return it will be to Rapids. With a little luck, I might be there sooner than later. Anyways, when I get there, I want to work for a couple years, actually. I feel like I owe the city of Wisconsin Rapids something for giving me the best upbringing a kid could have. It was there that I learned what’s right and what’s wrong, my beliefs about the world outside and most importantly, the right AND wrong way to be a friend.  Yeah, a lot of that was taught to me by my family, but every other person-whether Pastor, teacher, or store clerk had an effect on me. Largely by their kindness and decency. Except for some people. Ugh. Am I right? So, I DO owe the city a little something. I’m hoping to repay it’s kindnes...

Her Take: If there’s one thing I would change about myself, without question, it would be the fact that I cry too easily. It makes me feel silly and fragile when I don’t want to be either of those things.  Well, ok, I’m ok with being silly when It’s my choice, but I hate feeling fragile. You know what it’s like; when every nerve ending feels raw and exposed and you go through the day feeling like the slightest wind, or touch, or word will make you crumble into a pile of crumbs and someone will come along and sweep you away? There’s a time for someone (Me. I’m talking about me, not shaming you.) to feel that way, when it’s normal and expected, but it’s no way to go through life.  Last week I drove through my town and saw tree after tree, and limbs, and signs, and light poles, and all manner of things that had the audacity to be standing straight on the morning of July 20th, 2019 shoved to the ground. Each road I drove down, block upon block of my little town, wa...