Saturday, April 27, 2019

The Elegance Of Mueller's Report

This article was originally published on Medium as The Elegance Of Mueller’s Report

Standing back, surveying the social and political landscape unfolding before me, contemplating Robert Mueller’s report on the Trump-Russian collusion drama, still playing in national publications, online and print, I find myself awed by the elegance of how Mueller has managed the challenge put before him.

The report he has crafted can serve Congress, the American public and other powers that be, for the good, in the days, weeks, months and years ahead in many ways.

Certainly, the bi-partisan polarization that has hog-tied our nation, in recent decades, is breathing hot and heavy, as instantaneous reactions, fill online, broadcast and print spaces.

But does this necessarily need to be the enduring result of Mueller’s report?

Coming up slowly into the realm of articulation, I discover that reverence is what the report calls up in me, as I make room in my mind — and — my heart to absorb the significance and the magnitude of what has been carefully placed before us, as a society, now so embroiled in controversy and chaos that it is hard, these days, to find a place to be quiet, within oneself and with the world around us.

Mine is a social systems’ approach, entwined with perspectives having to do with human evolution and personal and collective transformation. Thus I am inclined to consider not only immediate impressions, turning them into appropriate next steps, but to, also, puzzle over hypothetical, longer term applications, seeking certain, desired outcomes.

So I am asking myself, not only what am I to make of this Mueller report, as it comes hot off the presses, but what, precisely, do I see as its future benefit to our evolution as a respected and powerful nation, spinning out what I know of it, now, and the significance it might hold for us farther down the road a bit.

Like many others I adjust to upheaval and chaos, finding them, presently, the norm. Yet it is order I seek, unity with all things of nature. Constant disorder is much too taxing to foster the optimum ways of doing and being that make life meaningful.

I remember how I experienced the debt ceiling debates of 2011, between Obama and his administration and Congress. I recall, getting to a point where I strongly resented the drama surrounding that situation.

I thought to myself that I had voted for my Congressional representatives, thereby delegating responsibility to them to manage our national finances. Yet what I was witnessing was the equivalent of a schoolyard fight, with one gang of kids bullying another, some aggressively, some passive aggressively, creating a daily battle until, finally, they were spent, the crisis abated.

Similarly, the Trump-Russia drama has kept this nation of people on tenterhooks for more than two years. Now we have, with Mueller’s report, a great amassing of information, backed up by substantial details.

Is this not enough for our leaders, to whom we have delegated certain responsiblities for running this country, to now take up the reins and guide this substantially-funded cache of data into its proper channels, for some form of reasonable resolve, whatever that may be?

Or, must we, now, spend the next two, plus years, analyzing what has already been evaluated, ad nauseum?

In Mueller’s report I see order emerging out of the chaos and corruption Donald Trump and his administration have made of our national heritage.

Mueller and his team have given us facts-based information on this.

What a gift they have given the American people: details, facts and figures for establishing meaningful dialogue, among ourselves, should we choose it — not endless debate, as if we are all Monday morning quarterbacks!

The Mueller Report has provided an opportunity that can open up fresh conversing for us, among ourselves, as friends, family and neighbors and as constituents, while our elected representatives take what has been handed them, through the report, to promote forward movement for our country, beyond the drama of the 2016 election that was over, going on close to three years!

When Congress works together for the collective good of the people, regardless of sexual orientation, color, creed, ethnicity or country of origin, balancing needs with practicalities, offsetting the power of the few by providing for the many, this is achievable.

Light that shines out of facts, as a foundation for meaningful discussion, dialogue that can bring about solutions to problems, bridge-building across rivers of discord.

Anticipating the potential, future impact of having the detailed facts we now have, I want to see them turned into some kind of positive, long-range change in our society.

Be that across the neighbor’s fence, at the local coffee shop, in civic gatherings and meetings and beyond.

We do have enough in this report to use its fact-finding, prudently, as an opportunity to come together, in some meaningful ways and go beyond polarization.

The Nixon-Watergate scandal and the Clinton-Lewinsky affair have shown us how our nation views potentially impeachable offenses. Both have taught us much that has been often discussed, as we moved through the Trump-Russia investigation.

What can we have learned from this brouhaha, about ourselves as a nation of people of varied opinions, that will enable to manage presidential conflict of interest problems, such as we have recently been through, with less upheaval, should similar incidents arise in the future?

Certainly, there is much to be learned.

 I have a neighbor who has become quite dear to me. Living up in the mountains as we do, folks on our road are not wont to have block parties, celebrating Memorial Day or the Fourth of July, as they did in the small Ohio town in which I was born. Nor are they estranged from one another, as were the residents in the suburban Maryland area in which I raised my children.

After all, power outages, such as we have up here, and even more so a flood disaster like we experienced last year, causing road closures and a limited ability to get to even the nearest grocery story for months, can and do draw diverse people together, in times of natural disasters.

My neighbor, who I will call Dave, for privacy’s sake, is a taxidermist, living on close to fifty acres of his own hunting turf, up here in the mountains. Obviously, Dave is a pro-gun advocate though a firm believer and adherent of gun safety who has taught, even his wife and children, how to use guns, carefully.

Me — I want only gun control with guns as far away from me as possible.

Still Dave’s view has opened my eyes to considering the possible future place of guns in my life, from a different vantage point than I had held previously. Might I even consider owning one, I now ask myself?

Dave is definitely, even defensively, pro-Trump. I am a registered Independent, formerly a Democrat who does not like or approve of Trump. Again, it is easy to see how Dave and I might be at crossroads.

But there is a bond between Dave and me.

Both of us deeply love home, family and the historical lands upon which we have built our lives up here in the mountains.

Dave and I don’t want to fight over our diverse viewpoints and be at odds with one another.

Prior to Mueller’s report, but after Barr had released his preliminary statement, Dave wrote me an email expressing his strongly held viewpoint that certain criticisms of Trump and the Trump-Russian drama were totally “delusional” and “collisional” on the parts of the Democrats.

I agreed with Dave on some things, having to do with this subject. Suspecting, however, we might not continue to see eye to eye, should we continue to develop our discourse. Agreeably we halted our discussion. What might lie ahead, neither of us was inclined to explore further.

Might not Mueller’s report, now, provide Dave and I with enough added, factual, non-partisan information that we can expand our dialogue on the society we live in and the politics and policies that govern so much of it?

I would hope so, as Dave is one of my favorite people, up here in the mountain, to expand my thinking on a variety of things, such as what do we do about the bears that are raiding our trashcans.

And has anyone yet seen the copperheads, this year?

Such topics give meaning to our lives, day to day, in this neck of the woods.

Yet our greater society and politics matter too.

So what is in our best interest, Dave’s and mine, as neighbors hanging out, now and then?

And, yours and mine, short term, midterm and long-term, as we take our next steps into the future, post Robert Mueller’s Report On The Trump-Russia Investigation?

On my end, I can assure you I do not wish my days and nights to be spent, tuning into the drama Mr. Trump creates!

Nor that of Republicans, Democrats and the media, all of whom have a vested interest in holding the American people hostage to their special interests.

Monday, April 22, 2019

Today On Medium: Anastasia's First Published Article


Well, Dear Readers, 

I said I was going to do it -- start expanding my writing and publishing -- and, now I have.

Here is a link to my very first published article on Medium...

The Elegance of Mueller's Report

Please let me know how you like what may be a slightly new style for me, in the service of sharing, with a wider audience, the knowledge, perspectives and wisdom I've been accruing these many years past.

Post a comment on this site or write me at: MountainWomanRj@aol.com

Coming soon....

Anastasia The Super Sleuth Coaching and Consulting on ebay.

Friday, April 12, 2019

Another New Book Into Progress Popped Up In Me Today


Now that makes three new ones, plus the seven I have in the waiting: three that are my Random House Trilogy -- and -- four more in various stages of draft, from after I was able, with seven !!!!! eye surgeries, to retrieve my lost eyesight.

Shall I just keep writing book manuscripts and never publish, like riding forever on the MTA?

No, indeed! Not if I can help it!

Obviously, there are lots of tales to be told on this topic, "Anastasia and her books in progress."

Maybe we can take the subject up on a forthcoming Anastasia The Storyteller Radio Show, with multiple broadcasts moving into the creating stages, even today.

Where to go next? 

What is the priority here?

Seems like keeping lots of balls in the air will have to do, until one or another moves into the top place.

Nonetheless, creative projects are pouring out of me, these days, as the heretofore bound, but beautiful energy stored inside of me from holding back my personal #MeToo tales of several male oppressors, is being released on a daily basis, turning lead inside of me into 24 karat, pure gold!

I highly recommend the flow, springing out of one's underground storage, unleashed in the speaking of truth to power, as mine is coming forth!

Maybe that's what's most important here, after all!

The liberation of one's heart and soul, yearning for expression!

Maybe prioritizing is not what's key, just now. 

Anyway, here is a sampling of what is now being put into motion, emerging out of my released storehouse of creative energy:

1. New Horizons Truth Or Dare GAME; 
2. New Horizons Truth Or Dare Movement; 
3. New Horizons Beyond Gender Tyranny Initiative; 
4. New Horizons Possible Human, Possible Society Study Reboot; 
5. Anastasia The Storyteller Radio Shows; 
6. Anastasia The Super Sleuth Storefront Coaching and Consulting, coming soon to ebay.

And more. 

Obviously, with all of this, we, at New Horizons are in dire need of volunteers, now,  and into the foreseeable future, with all this coming into form.

So, keep New Horizons in mind, if you have volunteer hours to spare. 

In the meantime, my dedicated New Horizons Board Members will manage as best we can. 

But it sure is a lot. And we are not so many.

So, please remember us, if you’ve hours to donate.

Today’s addition to my present treasure chest of manuscripts, in progress, is drawn from my recent article, Reflections On Speaking Truth To Power, working title to be –


A Woman’s Reflections On Speaking Truth To Power

Now about the publishing.

Truth be told, my biggest dream is for Random House, my former publisher....., who, like myself, has put a great deal of time, money and energy into those three books of mine that did not come out due to my losing my eyesight... to either:

1. Rediscover me, as they did in 1988, and, again, offer me a hefty advance plus a ghost writer; or 

2. For me to assert myself, under the most favorable conditions, with an offer of my own to them, enticing as possible to attain #1.

Alternatively, might I consider some of what is now called hybrid publishing where an author does not get an advance and needs to lay out monies for editing and marketing and so forth?

We will see. 

I’ve been talking to one such publisher who, in fact, keeps nipping at my heels, hoping for a lucrative publishing contract from me, while I keep them at bay, insisting I’m not yet ready to move forward with editing and publishing, as I am still in the research stage.

However, TODAY, with my last article, I think I have just moved myself out of my initial research stage into manuscript development. 

In fact, today, for only the second time in recent months (and years), since I, by necessity -- and -- with an enormous sense of loss, needed to put The Middle East Crisis In My Backyard aside, due to the central character in that book, Rabbi Morris Kosman, passing away and my being asked, by his family, to let sleeping dogs lie on the subject of the book, a local Jewish/Muslim controversy in which he was key.

I did, as requested on the matter. 

And have been unable until today (and several months ago with this announcement) unable to figure out where else to go with my book writing/publishing energies, a major deprivation for me. 

Nevertheless, since 1988 when Random House sought me out (Imagine that! Every writer’s dream!) book writing has become so much a part of my body, mind and spirit that I have often felt bereft without “a manuscript in progress,” as if one of my arms was missing.

I think now, however, I am getting close to intent, again, on writing a completed book and publishing, as soon as I can.

Which of the recent three, will it be? 

Or will I, first, discover I am pregnant with quads before I get all the way down into one.

I’ll keep you all posted. 

However, book writing is a long-term effort so don’t expect much very soon.

Wednesday, April 10, 2019

Reflections On Speaking Truth To Power


Links under construction.

For readers who are struggling, in hopes of finding the liberation and peace I have created for myself, from their own "speaking truth to power," challenges, please feel free to contact me at Anastasia The Super Sleuth Coaching and Consulting for your personal guidance in my very special way that includes, always transforming the Dark into the Light.

I am standing back today, watching and pondering many things.

I am seeing things I like and others I don't.

For example, I LOVE women speaking truth to power!

I LOVE others, especially men, listening respectfully and responding positively to this feminine putting of oneself full front.

And, I LOVE it when justice and a balance of power comes of this, particularly between men and women.  Woman to woman and man to man is good too!

I am disheartened by those who would minimize a woman's courageous acts that require stepping out from customary norms.

In this regard, the recent Joe Biden "sexually inappropriate behavior" upset seems to have become a factor, today, in taking my personal optimism down a notch or two. 

Reflecting on this situation, as I find myself distracted from having a productive workday today, I am asking myself…..

What does speaking truth to power really buy in the end?

How much is a woman's freedom, body, mind and spirit worth?

What is the actual "Cost of the Quiet?

For oneself? For the good of the whole?

What difference, for the good of the whole, does truth telling actually make?

It can be so incredibly liberating and empowering to speak truth to power, especially if one has held back, previously, from doing it, even if one's oppressor/power abuser tunes a person out, retaliates or even humiliates you, provided...

…enough people in your village, community etc hear and affirm you!!  

Stand by your side as you manage repercussions, from within yourself and from without.

And above all else, there is the matter of the chaos you had been managing within yourself, built of the emotional distress you'd been carrying, fearful of sharing what you had been holding back, now released, freeing you to settle into a greater clarity and calm within yourself.

Your just reward due. This enhanced well-being of yours.

I know!

I have lived both sides of it now, the buried and hidden chaos and confusion, fortified on the inner level by undue strength -- and now the settled, increasing clarity, calm and resilience I find building within me, with the room I have now freed up inside myself where once there were secrets.

Most importantly, I have learned, at a much-expanded level, how very much truth-telling is essential to my well-being. And, with it, the respectful and responsive listening to my truth by others.

I have grown this wisdom of mine, konmarie-- ing my life of the clutter of untold tales of male power-abusing me, since I found those hidden documents that set off my Ethics Complaint, last year, taking action on them without a moment’s hesitation, determined to do whatever I needed to get out from under the "Cost of the Quiet" I had been paying, an undeserved debt, accruing interest, year after year without my even realizing I had contracted myself for it.

Thus, long before I knew of Marie Kondo I had already discovered sparks of joy in the clearing away, as the ordeal of my Ethics Complaint of last year unfolded with a full liberation from that hidden story, put by the wayside.

But why so long to get to this place, I ask myself, occasionally? 

I’d been holding those documents for close to thirty years.

But of course I know the answer.

So -- thank you to all the women who had the courage to confront Harvey Weinstein. You are the main answer!  And those of you who continue to come forth. And, of course, #MeToo, paving the way for a more liberated social norm than previously.

You paved the way to a liberation I could not have attained on my own.

Now with the dam unlocked, the waters of my deeper self flow more freely, gaining momentum in daily life. And I realize there is much to say, yet unsaid, by me.

By all of us who have not until now been able to speak truth to the power of male oppression in its many forms, sizes and shapes.

So maybe tomorrow I will have more to say.

And, soon I will have another new article to present.  

My outpourings on this subject, speaking truth to power and other related issues, have only just begun.

Maybe I will title tomorrow’s piece “The Issue Of Joe Biden Creating Chaos Rather Than The Order And Stability Some Of Us Have Looked To Him To Lead Us To.”

Even as a registered Independent I had been considering him to be my choice.

Now I don't know.

We’ll see. The theme is very much on my mind. 

But I am, still, trying to regain my balance from my recent car accident.

Wednesday, April 3, 2019

The Irony Of New Horizons Infamous “No Abuse” Rule


Read two postings on New Horizons infamous "no abuse" rule  --

1. My (Anastasia) personal tale of the story behind the development of New Horizons "no abuse rule; and 

2. About New Horizons infamous "no abuse" rule, its perameters and some of how it operates in "Joe Biden --- Lucy Flores Drama Brings New Horizons Infamous "No Abuse" Rule To The Fore."

New Horizons infamous "no abuse" rule is so simple, innovative, impactful -- and -- even groundbreaking, in action, that every home, relationship and family should have it!

Absolutely free for the taking!

That is until to attempt to make it work!

For that you need the guidance and support of Anastasia, The Super Sleuth, Coaching and Consulting.

Try it, if you dare!