Blog – Sue Wilson Creative

Living & Learning

Why Is Portland So Liberal?

20 Jul 2021

When you move or even vacation in another city, you find yourself wanting to learn about the area. At least I do. I find the history of the places I visit enlightening, interesting, and sometimes sobering. Such is the case with Portland in particular, and Oregon in general. Over these 7+ years [...]

Music

Because You Don’t Like It Doesn’t Mean It Isn’t Good

15 Mar 2021

I rarely watch awards shows, but I really enjoyed the Grammys last night. The day after any awards show, I see a lot of opinions, often negative, expressed on social media, and it reminds me of the on-going debate about the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame every induction season, (“that’s [...]

The Journey From Guilt to Gratitude

26 Dec 2020

When my late husband got his cancer diagnosis, we both felt shock, fear, and an instant sense that everything that seemed important only an hour ago, just…wasn’t. At least that’s how I felt, and that’s how he later said he felt. But I guess there is really no way I [...]

#BlackLivesMatter

All Lives Matter: I’m ashamed to admit, this used to be me

7 Jun 2020

I wrote a blog a while back about how sharing any kind of opinion that might stir controversy on social media is hard for me. I’m one of those “I don’t want to offend people” types and used to think no one’s opinions are changed by a social media post anyway. I [...]

I Admit It, I’m a Slacktivist

6 Jun 2020

Note: This blog was originally written and posted in August of 2018. Posting again in light of recent events Slacktivism is a relatively new term for “feel-good” measures in support of an issue or social cause that doesn’t take much effort. After reading about the phenomenon, [...]

Music

The Acoustic Escape: Freedom Through Creativity

23 May 2020

There’s a lot of chatter these days about infringements on our freedom. There’s no doubt a lot is out of our control when it comes to the virus and the inconveniences of staying safe. No one loves all this mask-wearing and social distancing, in addition to other safety guidelines [...]

ResearcHERS: Women Fighting Cancer

12 May 2020

The movie Hidden Figures tells the story of three African-American women who worked behind the scenes as “computers” to solve problems for engineers and others at NASA. These women were as smart, or smarter than many of their male counterparts but because they were women, and [...]

Communication

Well-intentioned Comments

15 Apr 2020

Has this happened to you? You are feeling sad, scared, or vulnerable. You share those emotions, and the response you get is not what you expect. You may not be able to recall the exact words someone said or what the well-meaning piece of advice they gave was, but you remember how it made you [...]

Coping through the Corona-era: Music Helps

3 Apr 2020

I know I’m not alone in searching for ways to get through this. I’ve been doing my best to be positive, and yet, as I scroll through social media, too much positive can be downright annoying, because it’s not real. Sometimes I have a “we got this” “it’s [...]