Author Archives: Liza Blue

Marketing Unplugged: Super Foods

Posted on September 15, 2017 by Liza Blue

Going to the grocery store can be a dreary chore, so I reframe the trip as a contest of wills between me, the wily consumer, and marketers, eager to suck me in with their coveted eye-level shelf-space, flashy packaging and … Continue reading →

Posted in Marketing Unplugged | 2 Comments

The Dumbest Player on the Hockey Team

Posted on August 31, 2017 by Liza Blue

Last month Nick and I spent 36 hours in the clutches of the Marquette General Hospital in the Upper Peninsula, Michigan, investigating his fleeting episode of chest pain, which turned out to be nothing more than a flush of heartburn. … Continue reading →

Posted in Pot Pouri | 1 Comment

Lists: Reasonably Flat Surfaces That Could Be Used for Forced Idleness Advertising

Posted on July 11, 2017 by Liza Blue

The airport experience is nothing but sequential moments of forced idleness. As we stand numbly in security lines or fidget at the gate, our weary eyes dart around looking for stimulation. Marketers have obliged. Every available surface is slathered with … Continue reading →

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Only to Find Gideon’s Bible

Posted on June 12, 2017 by Liza Blue

My family rarely stayed in hotel rooms when we were kids, so when I first saw a Gideon Bible I thought that it had been left by a previous occupant named Gideon. I thought nothing more of it until 1968 … Continue reading →

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Mind Trip

Posted on June 8, 2017 by Liza Blue

Driving makes me drowsy, so I am anxious as I contemplate my solo drive from my writer’s retreat in Montpelier, Vermont to my home north of Chicago. On most long drives, I wisely stop for refreshing naps. Once a wavering … Continue reading →

Posted in Pot Pouri, What I Did | 1 Comment

In the System

Posted on March 29, 2017 by Liza Blue

I sat in the windowless bowels of O’Hare Airport waiting for my face-to-face Global Entry interview. Nick had urged me to sign up not because I deserved recognition as a trusted traveler, but solely to bypass TSA and immigration … Continue reading →

Posted in Nature, What I Did | 1 Comment

People Sitting in Front of Me: The Man with the Sun-Damaged Skin

Posted on March 10, 2017 by Liza Blue

The train trip across the Southern Alps of New Zealand was billed as five solid hours of verdant alpine meadows dotted with high country sheep interspersed with braided rivers descending from glaciers. Yes, I did get occasional glimpses, but I … Continue reading →

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Lists: Four Misnomers and One God’s Honest Truth

Posted on February 20, 2017 by Liza Blue

Misnomers 1. Daylight Savings Time In the late 1950s I was eight years old, a time when my mother routinely told us to clean our dinner plates because “children were starving in Armenia.” I did not grasp this logic … Continue reading →

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5 Best Idioms Using the Word Shit

Posted on February 2, 2017 by Liza Blue

Every language is enlivened by its array of idioms and my impression is that English is particularly well-endowed, perhaps because Shakespeare played for our team. I have collected dictionaries of idioms, including specialized references, such as idioms of the army … Continue reading →

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Podcast: 5 Best Idioms Using the Word Shit