Breaking Social Norms: Growing Up in Different Environments - A Mother-Daughter Conversation

Andrea and her daughter discuss growing up in different social environments, the challenges of small-town living, and the importance of speaking your mind. Gain insights into breaking social norms and embracing diversity in this mother-daughter conversation.

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Breast Cancer Didn't Stop Her: Fitz Koehler's Journey to Staying Strong and Uplifting Others"

"Despite the challenges Fitz faced with her diagnosis, she remained active and vibrant throughout her treatment. Her story is a powerful testament to the healing power of exercise and positivity. As Fitz herself puts it, “Cancer doesn’t define me; I define cancer.”

Fitz’s story is one of resilience and determination in the face of adversity. Her experience is a powerful reminder that cancer doesn’t mean the end of an active, fulfilling life and that a positive attitude and a commitment to staying active can make all the difference in the world."

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Entering a new life, finally.

I have finally gotten a divorce. Most of my friends have asked me why I waited so long. My answer was always,” I'm trying to do the right thing.”

It turns out I wasn't. All I was doing was dragging out the inevitable. I knew it was over seven years ago. Why didn't I move then? Cuz, I'm a dumbass. For the last five years, I've been nothing but a roommate.

It's been almost two months since I forced her to leave, and I am happy. Now I can search for someone that actually likes me and I can like back.

The grief and heartbreak has passed long ago but the paperwork is now complete.

Thank God.

Experimentation with light

Many of you know and a bunch of you don’t know that Photography and Filmmaking are actually all about light when it comes to the image. Light is the key to making an image look great. Not enough light and the image is noisy and the colors will look strange, the sharpness of the photograph will be terrible making the image look grainy. In film/video it’s even more of a problem. The sensors our camera use today is light years beyond what was available just ten years ago but even still, they aren’t even close to the old celluloid film and much less, the human eye with its big grey central computer with the far superior AI built into every model.

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Filming a Zero Budget Movie in the year of the RAT

My God, where do we start? First, this is the year of the RAT, doesn't that make you feel better? No? I suppose it wouldn't. We have Civil unrest, Government intervention in society, and a Virus that is just as mysteriously as it is potentially fatal. It wouldn't be all that bad if it weren't for the fact that we aren't even halfway done. To make things even more difficult for someone like me, filming has all but completely stopped. Not just the Hollywood big budgets, even the local news has their reporters doing their segments from home.

I had planned on filming a neat little film this year in the spring when it wasn't too hot. Those plans are out the window as it is ninety-two degrees today. I think the humidity is almost 100 percent today, also—awful filming weather. Everything tends to overheat on a day like today, from the actors to the cameras, they just don't like it.

Being in Arkansas, no one is forcing us to stop what we are doing because of the "outbreak" but, since we are good folks down here in the South, we do as we are asked. Well, most of us do anyway. Not because we are slaves to the government but because we are friendly. We generally respect our neighbors in my part of Arkansas. Yeah, we do. Some of my friends that live in NWA might not see it that way, but I do. I have lived in many places in my life; for the most part, if you want to be left alone to do your own thing, NWA allows you that opportunity.

The downside of that is everyone is used to doing whatever they want without consequences from the community. Leaving us a little more narcissistic in our actions. Like someone that shows up for one day of filming and then never again because they are "busy." That's just not how filming works. You have to see the project through to the end, or you beach everyone involved in the project, and it is ruined. It happens when trying to have a party or putting together a picnic; the self-absorbed life becomes what is more comfortable and known. I get it. Even I have succumbed to that myself.

Since it is difficult in the best situations to get a low to no budget film made in the best of times, what will it take now!?

One thing that I wish would happen is that the film community in NWA pull together and get something done as a community. To this point, NWA has suffered from the hands of elitism amongst its directors and filmmakers. At least it seems that way to me. For what reasons are we all separated? Why do some believe that others are out to steal their work? Why do some think they can't work with someone because of points of view? Why do some believe that a lack of a "real" camera precludes someone from being any good? Or worse, someone doesn't share a specific political point of view, so they can't be worked with on a Film.

THAT'S ALL NONSENSE!

We are all filmmakers with stories to tell. I make films for the sake of the film, not the purpose of my point of view or politics. I am a good filmmaker, and I am proud of my accomplishments. Still, there isn't a planet in the solar system where I would refuse to work for someone because of some petty difference. Again, it's about the film.

With that being what it is: I am still looking to make a film this year, with or without help from anyone.

On the brink of friendship; "A man and a Cardinal".

Until he returned. This time he was sitting in one of the trees that are near my front porch. Further away, but still glaring at me intently. I looked his way, and again he fluttered away. I thought, "ok... this is kind of fun." Admittedly, I was super bored, and the thought of being attractive to a wild Cardinal was intriguing. But he left again, and that should have been the end of it. It wasn't.

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I might have had Corona, or I didn't. All I know is that it sucked.

If you haven't paid attention to my Facebook feed (you probably didn't, and that's ok.), you would already know that I was extremely sick this winter. My symptoms are quite familiar to almost all of us now. It started one day with an unbearable sore throat that came out of now where. One minute I was filming products for the company I work for, and less than thirty minutes later, I could not swallow. My chest began to run with crud, and breathing became somewhat tricky. I went home and found that I had a mild fever, and the coughing started. It was a dry, hard cough.

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