Not necessarily the biggest all time fan of punk (although the Ramones "I Wanna be Sedated" rocks), but I AM a fan of ANYONE whose "hill to die on" is Freedom of Speech! Keep rocking brother - headed to play drums for our church's praise band (not quite "punk" but if everyone is there, we can bring it!)
Thanks much, braddah! It was worship bands that first attracted me to church ~ and my pastor says the same thing. Some say Jesus was a punker, rebelling against the Pharisees. I see their point. ✌️🤎🤙
Keith, when you are in the Ozarks next, holler at me and we'll hit the Current River! https://doctorschierling.com/?s=Current+River And then you can play with us on Sunday morning. Could be interesting - would definitely be fun! It's kind of a hillbilly's slice of Maui - ha!
Small world, Keith. Lake of the Ozarks is a pretty crazy place today. When we go to the river we typically run the stretches where the tourists are sparse. It is the definition of getting away from it all. BTW, if I find out you came to Missouri without contacting me, I might have to send Guido after you!
Takes all kinds. To this day, the worship music is my LEAST favorite part of church, but unlike most folks, I have deep emotional scars (mostly self-inflicted) from my mom being the organist and choir director at our church for my entire childhood.
I hate to hear that Meddling. Our organist is the sweetest little widow you'd ever hope to meet - probably in her mid-80's. She makes our church's organ hum, though. The unfortunate reality is that when this generation of organ players are gone, there is no one coming up to take their place. Praying that God will heal those scars. God bless.
The first instrument I ever learned to play was the organ! Simon and Garfunkel nonstop. 😆 I was the Christian weirdo in middle school because I could play the organ. Lol
Fascinating! My grandmother's church had a massive pipe organ (Lord knows how long ago that church was built! They don't built them like that anymore.) and that organ inspired my love of the sound of an organ.
I miss the days of "real music", not this modern MP3 compressed crap played on tiny little earbuds or worse yet cell phone speakers which have to be the worst speakers ever invented.
Glad I never got addicted to drugs, quitting smoking was the hardest thing I did, that was bad enough. I can't even image how hard drug addiction was to overcome.
Kudos to you! I agree with tobacco. I quit smoking in 1999, but chewed tobacco from the mid-80s until last fall. Still doing the Zyn nicotine pouches but guess what? New studies show nicotine may prevent Covid. 😱😆
I quit smoking in 1991. I heard that about nicotine and covid. I'm not going to start smoking to prevent covid. I have not had covid, so it doesn't seem like much of threat anyway. I'm sure I will get it someday, I don't worry about it.
From on Senior Gen Xer to another (also née 1966), damn glad to meet you! You seem like a super cool guy, and I’ve always appreciated YOUR wit and insights 💗. Thank you for sharing!
Thank you sooo much, for this, and especially for all your wit and spot-on commentary here on SS (including to many of Jenna's pieces). Your insight is much appreciated.
Great spotlight, Jenna! And thank you, Keith, for sharing with the class! ♥️ I plan to purchase your book and read more about you and your life’s experiences.
Will follow and I am ordering your book. I “treat” addiction (they do all the work) & have had my own struggles with alcohol. My patients in recovery are my favorite. They all share that trait of seeing through BS. Sometimes, I wonder if that is why they drank or used. I look at my compliant friends and envy them sometimes. They don’t live in reality.
So nice to hear your story, Keith! We have similar paths except I am not at the ‘senior’ end of Gen X as I’m a 1967 baby. 😉 Congrats on your sobriety! Speaking from experience, I know how hard it is but living free is vastly underrated. 🙏💛💛
Checked out your memes on the Maui link and I’m in stitches! Love your sense of humor.
Aww, thanks so much! Maui Insight has been a pleasant surprise. I have some of the most hilarious stories from responses. Follow us on Facebook (Maui Insight group); you'll see some avid followers commenting often. Apologies in advance for all the safety cone references. They're our unofficial state bird. 🤗
Keith is aware that Hawaii had authoritarian lockdowns and wanted forced vaccination, isn't he? After all, this ain't Magnum P.I. country (club) anymore.
Oh I lived it ~ and wrote about some of it in my book. Also, it seems my shadowbanning on Facebook began with criticism of the then-Lt. Governor who is now Hawaii's esteemed grand ruler, its new king, if you will. He's not a real doctor but plays one on TV whenever his party asks. A real orders-taking ghoul. I think he has a forked tongue but can't get myself to look that closely.
By the way, the billionairres who fund the No Kings shit have it called No Dictators in Hawaii. It seems too many locals or long-timers wouldn't actually mind having a king, after all.
"A real orders-taking ghoul. I think he has a forked tongue but can't get myself to look that closely."
Rumor has it they have a jaxzene for that 'forked tongue' disease (as it's rampant within the political class, and worsens as politicians age), but for some reason the FDA is afraid to have the biotherapeutic compared to a negative control for fear the potential adverse effects might result in an even worse outcome.
Thanks for the introduction to Keith , Jenna! He is certainly a fascinating writer and a good example of the interesting fare you present to me each morning! Your site is the high point of my day!
Haha your Maui Insight stuff skirts so close to what COULD be true - I love the cell phone zombie sign. That should be a thing all ove!
Great to "meet" you here Keith - I love being able to get the backstory for people I've only ever known by name. So glad you've landed where you feel at home, and sharing the inspiration of your journey to sobriety.
I'm not expecting many to come join us, but I offer it as a refuge in case Substack falls to tyranny and we need a place to stay in touch with each other.
Thanks for that, John! I just "applied." TBH I won't check it often/ever (I'm already overwhelmed and already nearly weaned off FB and IG) but I love the idea as a backup! :)
Yes, MeWe is not for everyone. It's not for the fame seekers like Instagram who want a million followers. It is for those of us that love free speech though! It seems like all the major sites thrive on censorship. FB ticked me off with Covid when my opinion was silenced. Shadow banning is evil! Even though I stay on IG to remain in contact with models, I feel like on IG I'm "talking to the wall" as almost nobody sees my posts. I gave up posting anything intelligent there.
I've never heard of "Pickax". I did a search and found both https://pickax.site/ (social media) and https://pickax.com/ which also seems to be social media.
pickax.site sounds like an alternative to Substack.
What I love about MeWe are "groups" - with MeWe you join the groups that interest you, thus automatically gathering together common interests, allowing for group level moderation (or lack thereof). Groups form small social communities... sort of like subscribing to Jenna's articles - no getting lost in the mass of humanity screaming for attention.
As we are now drawing people to MeWe... I should point out there are two very different ways you can make your profile:
Public - the whole Internet can know about you
Private - for those of us wanting a bit lower profile and privacy on MeWe
There are a lot of other settings you can tweak to control who can message you (cut down on those damn bots and scammers) and who can see your posts.
Groups come in a few flavors, primarily:
Public - listed on the public directory, easy to find, can be very busy, can be full of bots and scammers
Invite Only - hidden, you literally have to know and be invited by the owner or admins of the group. This is great for keeping up the "quality" of a group, but also means small, quiet groups.
I should also point out that I've been on MeWe for eight years now. I love it. It's my Internet "home". I find it *far* better used via a computer browser than a phone app!
Thanks, Heather. You're welcome to visit any time (I have angels here helping). We need the visitors, still recovering from the fires and the government. 😬
I know. I watch YouTube videos about all the bs still going on. I wrote 3 posts about Maui and all the destruction back in 2023. Praying for you guys always. Thanks for the invite! If I get there again, I'll be sure to look you up.
Keith - first, I so enjoyed hearing your story. I’m sorry for what you endured with the fires on Maui. God bless you.
The first born of my twin brothers lives on the Big Island in Kona. Never had a chance to visit him before we became estranged which is going on 5 years now. He and his twin had been treating our unvaccinated sister horribly. The last straw was when he was throwing a surprise 50th wedding anniversary party for his wife. He told my sister that Hawaii would not allow the unvaccinated (invite came in October of 2021) to enter. When I investigated, I found that they indeed were able to enter HI if they had a negative PCR test. He asked me if they would get vaccinated since he would be paying their airfare. I angrily told him absolutely not.
It still pains me to this day. Prayer is what eases that pain.
Keith, love your writing, I’ll be picking up your book. I volunteer by doing frequency work (like Reiki) for the homeless, addicted and recovering at a local “soup kitchen” community. I’m the tail end of the boomers & feeling ancient here 😳. Miraculously survived the 70’s without addiction. I understand sex, drugs and rock-and-roll and use the phrase with my community to reflect understanding and compassion. I believe the drugs were a bit gentler then or maybe it was higher guidance or my choices.
Thanks Jenna for sharing Keith with the family here.
I'd love to learn more about your frequency work! Also, I spent a year working for and with the homeless. Just before landing on Maui, in fact. You might appreciate this:
A sample of my volunteer work from an “interview” which I didn’t know I was being interviewed. The gal sat with me a few times and had some amazing experiences. Although, it’s not “work”, it is Love.
Not necessarily the biggest all time fan of punk (although the Ramones "I Wanna be Sedated" rocks), but I AM a fan of ANYONE whose "hill to die on" is Freedom of Speech! Keep rocking brother - headed to play drums for our church's praise band (not quite "punk" but if everyone is there, we can bring it!)
Thanks much, braddah! It was worship bands that first attracted me to church ~ and my pastor says the same thing. Some say Jesus was a punker, rebelling against the Pharisees. I see their point. ✌️🤎🤙
Keith, when you are in the Ozarks next, holler at me and we'll hit the Current River! https://doctorschierling.com/?s=Current+River And then you can play with us on Sunday morning. Could be interesting - would definitely be fun! It's kind of a hillbilly's slice of Maui - ha!
My ex-wife and son live in Ozark, Missouri. My first jet ski ride was on Lake of the Ozarks. I might just take you up on that one day. 🤘🤘🤘
Small world, Keith. Lake of the Ozarks is a pretty crazy place today. When we go to the river we typically run the stretches where the tourists are sparse. It is the definition of getting away from it all. BTW, if I find out you came to Missouri without contacting me, I might have to send Guido after you!
Takes all kinds. To this day, the worship music is my LEAST favorite part of church, but unlike most folks, I have deep emotional scars (mostly self-inflicted) from my mom being the organist and choir director at our church for my entire childhood.
I hate to hear that Meddling. Our organist is the sweetest little widow you'd ever hope to meet - probably in her mid-80's. She makes our church's organ hum, though. The unfortunate reality is that when this generation of organ players are gone, there is no one coming up to take their place. Praying that God will heal those scars. God bless.
The first instrument I ever learned to play was the organ! Simon and Garfunkel nonstop. 😆 I was the Christian weirdo in middle school because I could play the organ. Lol
Folk masses were the worst in my church growing up. I like the wall organ music puts up. I’d rather dream when I hear church music not clap and sway.
Oooh interesting thought
Fascinating! My grandmother's church had a massive pipe organ (Lord knows how long ago that church was built! They don't built them like that anymore.) and that organ inspired my love of the sound of an organ.
I miss the days of "real music", not this modern MP3 compressed crap played on tiny little earbuds or worse yet cell phone speakers which have to be the worst speakers ever invented.
Mad props to your sobriety, Keith!
Aww! Thank you. It's the single hardest endeavor I have ever attempted. 💪
Glad I never got addicted to drugs, quitting smoking was the hardest thing I did, that was bad enough. I can't even image how hard drug addiction was to overcome.
Kudos to you! I agree with tobacco. I quit smoking in 1999, but chewed tobacco from the mid-80s until last fall. Still doing the Zyn nicotine pouches but guess what? New studies show nicotine may prevent Covid. 😱😆
I quit smoking in 1991. I heard that about nicotine and covid. I'm not going to start smoking to prevent covid. I have not had covid, so it doesn't seem like much of threat anyway. I'm sure I will get it someday, I don't worry about it.
Thank you. I have *never* worried about Covid. It's the flu just with a much-better PR team. Probably Edelman.
From on Senior Gen Xer to another (also née 1966), damn glad to meet you! You seem like a super cool guy, and I’ve always appreciated YOUR wit and insights 💗. Thank you for sharing!
Thank you sooo much, for this, and especially for all your wit and spot-on commentary here on SS (including to many of Jenna's pieces). Your insight is much appreciated.
Great spotlight, Jenna! And thank you, Keith, for sharing with the class! ♥️ I plan to purchase your book and read more about you and your life’s experiences.
Aww thanks so much, Laura!
Just purchased! 😘
“I would drop killa memes there, too, but Substack doesn’t allow that with comments (yet).”
But you could restack her posts with memes and comments!
Oh man thanks a lot. Not sure I'll ever be able to get any work done now. Might be too big a squirrel to chase. 🤣
Hahahahahaha We wait with anticipation 😆👍
Nice to meet you Keith! And I love your story! You speak to as why we love Jenna too!
Excellent read. I’ll check in on Maui Insight from time to time and thanks for the link.
We lived on Oahu for 40 years and still have kids and grands there. We grew tired of the noise, traffic and people. So many, too many people.
I’m glad you enjoy Maui. My Mom lived in Ulupalakua for a time and it was lovely there.
We’re now in northern Maine, possibly as far as one can get from Hawaii, and I am happy here. As Maui did for you, this move has restored my soul.
Different strokes and all that.
Wow, what an incredible story, thanks for sharing! (My dad's from MA, btw; I'm still a diehard Red Sox fan). ✌️🤎⚾️
Ditto that re: Maui Insight. Gave me a good laugh and got it bookmarked for regular check-in.
Oh, I definitely found my tribe here. 😂😎
Absolutely! 😇
🤣🤣🤣😎
Will follow and I am ordering your book. I “treat” addiction (they do all the work) & have had my own struggles with alcohol. My patients in recovery are my favorite. They all share that trait of seeing through BS. Sometimes, I wonder if that is why they drank or used. I look at my compliant friends and envy them sometimes. They don’t live in reality.
Nice to meet you! A younger GenX (1970)
Wow, thanks so much, Molly! I'd be very interested in your feedback to the book. Always appreciate perspectives from "insiders." Keep in touch?
So nice to hear your story, Keith! We have similar paths except I am not at the ‘senior’ end of Gen X as I’m a 1967 baby. 😉 Congrats on your sobriety! Speaking from experience, I know how hard it is but living free is vastly underrated. 🙏💛💛
Checked out your memes on the Maui link and I’m in stitches! Love your sense of humor.
Aww, thanks so much! Maui Insight has been a pleasant surprise. I have some of the most hilarious stories from responses. Follow us on Facebook (Maui Insight group); you'll see some avid followers commenting often. Apologies in advance for all the safety cone references. They're our unofficial state bird. 🤗
It’s funny. Here on Oahu cones seem to run away all on their own. Peeps take/steal anything not nailed down.
Where I live, they also take the nails.
Peeps here sabotage certain streets with nails from time-to-time.
Well, for most things that's true on Maui, too. Though for some reason, cones seem exempt. Peculiar. 🤔🤷♂️😆
Keith is aware that Hawaii had authoritarian lockdowns and wanted forced vaccination, isn't he? After all, this ain't Magnum P.I. country (club) anymore.
Oh I lived it ~ and wrote about some of it in my book. Also, it seems my shadowbanning on Facebook began with criticism of the then-Lt. Governor who is now Hawaii's esteemed grand ruler, its new king, if you will. He's not a real doctor but plays one on TV whenever his party asks. A real orders-taking ghoul. I think he has a forked tongue but can't get myself to look that closely.
By the way, the billionairres who fund the No Kings shit have it called No Dictators in Hawaii. It seems too many locals or long-timers wouldn't actually mind having a king, after all.
https://mauiinsight.town.news/g/kahului-hi/n/34034/state-announces-new-12-tier-pandemic-re-opening-strategy
"A real orders-taking ghoul. I think he has a forked tongue but can't get myself to look that closely."
Rumor has it they have a jaxzene for that 'forked tongue' disease (as it's rampant within the political class, and worsens as politicians age), but for some reason the FDA is afraid to have the biotherapeutic compared to a negative control for fear the potential adverse effects might result in an even worse outcome.
Speaking "tongue and cheek" of course.
Thanks for the introduction to Keith , Jenna! He is certainly a fascinating writer and a good example of the interesting fare you present to me each morning! Your site is the high point of my day!
“Chip” Cordell
Haha your Maui Insight stuff skirts so close to what COULD be true - I love the cell phone zombie sign. That should be a thing all ove!
Great to "meet" you here Keith - I love being able to get the backstory for people I've only ever known by name. So glad you've landed where you feel at home, and sharing the inspiration of your journey to sobriety.
Aww, thanks so much, Bridget!
Another *great* spotlight! Thanks Jenna! Love these!
It's great to "meet" you Keith! Yet another wonderful perspective on the world! We are the "silenced majority"!
Once again, let me plug our MeWe group "Substack Friends":
https://mewe.com/join/substackfriends
I'm not expecting many to come join us, but I offer it as a refuge in case Substack falls to tyranny and we need a place to stay in touch with each other.
Thanks for that, John! I just "applied." TBH I won't check it often/ever (I'm already overwhelmed and already nearly weaned off FB and IG) but I love the idea as a backup! :)
You have been approved! 😇
Yes, MeWe is not for everyone. It's not for the fame seekers like Instagram who want a million followers. It is for those of us that love free speech though! It seems like all the major sites thrive on censorship. FB ticked me off with Covid when my opinion was silenced. Shadow banning is evil! Even though I stay on IG to remain in contact with models, I feel like on IG I'm "talking to the wall" as almost nobody sees my posts. I gave up posting anything intelligent there.
Just applied (justjuju) ☺️
Gotcha!
Thank you for accepting my application. Hope to fit it in to my reading but thankful there will be somewhere else to find sanity, just in case.
Has anyone tried Pickax? It’s another community for free speech enthusiasts. I joined because Dog (meme Lord imo) switched over.
I've never heard of "Pickax". I did a search and found both https://pickax.site/ (social media) and https://pickax.com/ which also seems to be social media.
pickax.site sounds like an alternative to Substack.
pickax.com looks a lot like Twitter.
What I love about MeWe are "groups" - with MeWe you join the groups that interest you, thus automatically gathering together common interests, allowing for group level moderation (or lack thereof). Groups form small social communities... sort of like subscribing to Jenna's articles - no getting lost in the mass of humanity screaming for attention.
Thanks much, John! I'll explore MeWe, when I have time free from truth-bombing on SS!
Cool, let me know if you want any tips.
As we are now drawing people to MeWe... I should point out there are two very different ways you can make your profile:
Public - the whole Internet can know about you
Private - for those of us wanting a bit lower profile and privacy on MeWe
There are a lot of other settings you can tweak to control who can message you (cut down on those damn bots and scammers) and who can see your posts.
Groups come in a few flavors, primarily:
Public - listed on the public directory, easy to find, can be very busy, can be full of bots and scammers
Invite Only - hidden, you literally have to know and be invited by the owner or admins of the group. This is great for keeping up the "quality" of a group, but also means small, quiet groups.
I should also point out that I've been on MeWe for eight years now. I love it. It's my Internet "home". I find it *far* better used via a computer browser than a phone app!
Nice to get to know you. Glad for you that you're sober. I love Maui it's my fave island in the world, envious of you for living there.
Thanks, Heather. You're welcome to visit any time (I have angels here helping). We need the visitors, still recovering from the fires and the government. 😬
I know. I watch YouTube videos about all the bs still going on. I wrote 3 posts about Maui and all the destruction back in 2023. Praying for you guys always. Thanks for the invite! If I get there again, I'll be sure to look you up.
Keith - first, I so enjoyed hearing your story. I’m sorry for what you endured with the fires on Maui. God bless you.
The first born of my twin brothers lives on the Big Island in Kona. Never had a chance to visit him before we became estranged which is going on 5 years now. He and his twin had been treating our unvaccinated sister horribly. The last straw was when he was throwing a surprise 50th wedding anniversary party for his wife. He told my sister that Hawaii would not allow the unvaccinated (invite came in October of 2021) to enter. When I investigated, I found that they indeed were able to enter HI if they had a negative PCR test. He asked me if they would get vaccinated since he would be paying their airfare. I angrily told him absolutely not.
It still pains me to this day. Prayer is what eases that pain.
Keith, love your writing, I’ll be picking up your book. I volunteer by doing frequency work (like Reiki) for the homeless, addicted and recovering at a local “soup kitchen” community. I’m the tail end of the boomers & feeling ancient here 😳. Miraculously survived the 70’s without addiction. I understand sex, drugs and rock-and-roll and use the phrase with my community to reflect understanding and compassion. I believe the drugs were a bit gentler then or maybe it was higher guidance or my choices.
Thanks Jenna for sharing Keith with the family here.
I'd love to learn more about your frequency work! Also, I spent a year working for and with the homeless. Just before landing on Maui, in fact. You might appreciate this:
https://youtu.be/sr5yjBmUmsM?si=yHeXvNS4i3A3-HB0
A sample of my volunteer work from an “interview” which I didn’t know I was being interviewed. The gal sat with me a few times and had some amazing experiences. Although, it’s not “work”, it is Love.
https://www.ashevillepovertyinitiative.org/12baskets
Yes! Thank you for sharing. I volunteer at an org very similar.
https://www.ashevillepovertyinitiative.org/12baskets