http://www.reinventingherself.com <em>After Working almost 10 years for the Oakland Tribune, </em><strong><font color="black"><a href="http://www.francinebrevetti.com">Francine Brevetti</a></font></strong> <em>was laid off with 27 other journalists on July 11th, 2008. She and her colleagues were among thousands of journalists nationwide who've lost their jobs in 2008 as newspapers were downsized. This is what she has been doing about it. Francine's articles can be found on her Website at </em><strong><font color="black"><a href="http://www.francinebrevetti.com">www.FrancineBrevetti.com</a></font></strong> Tue, 10 Jul 2012 20:58:59 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Recently my friend Bob Hansen invited me to a monthly dinner at one of San Francisco's chapters of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, Post 4618. Held in Chef Hung's on Clay Street in Chinatown, this was a gathering of mostly Chinese -American veterans of the Vietnam war; there was one ... http://www.reinventingherself.com/?p=336 The first Monday of every month the Naval Order, a U.S. Navy heritage society, www.NavalOrder.org, gather at Capp's Corner in North Beach, San Francisco. These old soldiers/sailors hail from World War II and all the other conflicts this country has been engaged in since. So you can imagine a room full of ... http://www.reinventingherself.com/?p=331 This morning I was listening to NPR as their broadcasters took turns reading sections of the complete Declaration of Independence. It was very moving, hearing all of the complaints the colonists lodged against George III in that document. But at the same time the colonists were lambasting their king for inhumane ... http://www.reinventingherself.com/?p=326 June 7, 2011 I have a service dog who is the love of my life, Lola. I adopted her when she was already getting on in years; it's been 5 1/2 years now so she's pretty darn old. She's becoming less predictable and sometimes nasty as time goes on. So you ... http://www.reinventingherself.com/?p=322 I had run out for an errand that I thought would take me about half an hour. I felt under pressure to do so quickly because I was busy with a project. On my return trip I sought out the bus stop on the corner of Market Street and Cyril Magnin; ... http://www.reinventingherself.com/?p=320 Writing Regularly, All writers and writing teachers tell you to write a little bit every day. They urge you set aside a time daily that is your religiously kept ritual for writing, whether it's 15 minutes or half an hour or longer. Lord knows when I start teaching writing very soon I ... http://www.reinventingherself.com/?p=314 The night before the burial of my mother's ashes, I slept very badly. My dog and cat were restive also. I woke up depressed. I was sure that I would lose control of my emotions at Tecla's grave. I reached into my drawer for pantyhose and picked a pair that did ... http://www.reinventingherself.com/?p=302 I visited my mother on January 2, 2011. She was in the hospice ward of The Heritage, eyes closed, not responding to my voice or my touch. Totally out of it. Was this what it is to be comatose? She looked like a shriveled little mushroom, pathetic. I sat next to ... http://www.reinventingherself.com/?p=308 Yesterday was mother's 99th birthday. I went to her birthday party at The Heritage. The three social workers did a great job in making it festive but it was anything but for me. Her nurses had spent half an hour on mamma's dress and makeup. Their efforts were overdone and garish. Sitting ... http://www.reinventingherself.com/?p=295 Almost a year ago I started writing my autobiography. Not willingly. I'm doing it because I want to teach others how to do it so I have to walk the line. It's really hard for me.  It's hard because I don't want to remember bad times and negative emotions and yet ... http://www.reinventingherself.com/?p=293