Giving Thanks

What are you thankful for?

The 5, 6, 7 dishes you get to choose from for dinner today? The egg nog? The pie? Maybe you're thankful for the opportunity to put your feet up and order Chinese food.

Working today? Be thankful for the job and the double or triple overtime pay. I've gone from no job to the choice of 3. I'm thankful.

Be thankful for the big and the little things. Great and small. Expressing joy and gratitude attracts more to be joyous and grateful for.

A Home For My Nude Men

My Bare Men photo series features 7 men, ranging in ages 22-51 in art, editorial and erotic nude images sharing moments of joy, release, ecstasy, vulnerability and angst. It is also a book.

"Cover Boy", Bare Men, Abigail Ekue Photography

I'm currently seeking a place to exhibit and it's been a uphill battle. Any rejection I've received has been about the content of the photos, not the quality of the images, the level of my work etc. I've been told numerous times, "I/we love your work, we just can't show that here", the reason given being the clientele or they feel it's too raw.

My Personal New Year

I celebrate my Personal New Year today. My Solar Return.

All day I can't help smiling from ear to ear when I hear the newscaster announce the day and date on the radio - Thursday, November 15.

Whoo-hoo!

My vision board consists of post-its on my wall. I add and subtract as needed. I've never had an "official" board, but I always make lists or write notes, have certain themes that recur in my journal entries and things I wish for constantly.

This year I will continue to exercise, learn new skills (je suis etudient francais pour quand je visite Paris), push past my comfort zone and fears, live by my moral code; be my authentic self. I also have a million dollar check to cash as a reward for following my dreams. Yes, travel is on the board too.

The past few months, Buddhism has been popping up all around me. I realized there are parts of that philosophy that I am familiar with. I started my new year celebrations by visiting a Buddhist center. A friend was gracious enough to show myself and a friend around. It coincided with the solar eclipse new moon.

I'll use synchronicities as guides. I will remain aware of them, open to them and proactive with them. Two minutes after my solar return, I received an email about the release of an erotic photography book. They continue.

I might add that at the moment of my return, I noted it in my journal and continued doing something I truly enjoy -- eating.

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50 Shades of Rope Burn

I watched the trailer for Fifty Shades of Chicken earlier this week. I enjoyed the narration. I enjoyed the eye candy. As a writer who tackles different genres and styles, I'm glad that there's a market for a cookbook for what I think is the most common of meats -- all sexed up.

You know my stance on food, enjoyment and sex, already. Plus, I love to laugh. I've delved into kink and BDSM only a handful of times; I've relinquished power for play and art.

He's Too Short For Me

He answered my ad, which was more of a rant on folks going online to meet people then never actually meeting.


He told me he was "quite young", in his 20's. In any capacity, I avoid them. But since this wasn't a date-date, I was my usual open-minded, adventuresome self. I sent the message, "Quite young"? Oh boy. But I'm not looking to date so I guess it's ok." I could go for some witty banter and a drink. What I did like was that he chose the place and time. I have declared to no longer deal with lazy men -- you ask me out then have a plan if I say 'yes'.

Presidential Election 2012 - Voting in Brooklyn, NYC

Brooklyn voters wait in line at the polls

I arrived at P.S. 6, on Snyder Avenue in Brooklyn, at about 2pm on November 6, 2012. The above photo is what I was met with. The line was about 2 blocks long. Thankfully it was moving swiftly. But the closer I got to the front of the line, the less we moved. I heard from a few people who made their way past us after voting that things were not orderly on the inside. Certain district tables were completely empty while others were backed up.

Voters wait at poll site PS 6, Brooklyn, NY, Election day 2012

Lower Manhattan, NY Post-Hurricane Sandy

CAAAV Hurricane Sandy relief effort in Chinatown, NY

 

On Friday, November 2, what turned out to be hours before power was restored to most of Lower Manhattan, I took a second trip to see what was going on and how residents were managing in the New York neighborhoods of Chinatown and the Lower East Side, TriBeCa, Battery Park and the Financial District 5 days after Con Ed had cut power below 34th Street.

Residents search through donated clothing

Abortion and Uterine Politics

Abortion is a violent act? A woman shouldn't be able to have an abortion after being rape because that would be more violence? Pregnancy as a result of rape is what God intended? Abortion is as immoral as slavery?


If abortions are restricted or made illegal again and we return to the days of knitting needles and hangers, that will be violent. Pro-lifers killing doctors who perform abortions, bombing clinics and terrorizing their patients with Photoshopped images, that's violent.

Random Communications During Hurricane Sandy

Park Slope, Brooklyn, NY, October 30, 2012, the morning after Hurricane Sandy

On Monday, October 29, 2012, Hurricane Sandy made landfall in New Jersey. The  post-tropical superstorm (it was no longer a hurricane at that point) had joined forces with a Nor'easter and was generating blizzards, torrential downfalls, winds up to 100 miles per hour and very impressive and destructive storm surges, which were made even worse by the full moon, along the Eastern seaboard of the US.