Would you like to know how many people have visited this page? Or how reputable the author is? Simply
sign up for a Advocate premium membership and you'll automatically see this data on every article. Plus a lot more, too.
I have 9 fans: Become a Fan. You'll get emails whenever I post articles on OpEd News
E.T.SIMON ... Keeping the Bio Real and Transparent ...
E. T. SIMON is more often like a transplanted palm tree from the land of Santiago de Cuba where she was born to a Cuban, Tulane University, lawyer educated father and, a Mississippi, mother, great-granddaughter of American Revolutionary War hero, Brigadier General Andrew Pickens who is credited with the victory against the British in the Battle of the Cowpens. Although at times, E.T. Simon is more like, the fruit of the pecan of her Mississippi grandparents pecan farm of long ago, or even like the Sycamore so firmly rooted in the Florida Peninsula. As such, the daughter of bi-cultural, bi-lingual parents, E.T. Simon navigated the bi-cultural ties, bi-lingual shores of her birth, while learning to appreciate Cuban and Southern cuisine and cultures, from a very early age.
At the age of 15, two years after her mother's death, she dreamt about running away from her home to join the , "Bohemians" of the 1950s in New York's Greenwich Village and become a writer. She did not. In 1961, at the age of 18 her father sent her across the pond to her mother's family in Mississippi in an effort to keep her from falling prey to Fidel Castro's repressive agents who were on her trail for her opposition to Fidel Castro.
Bumpy rides, or not, In 1976, E.T. Simon, after twelve years of part time studies, with in-between times-off for parenting, obtained her B.A. in English with a Major in Literature and a double minor in Psychology and Philosophy. In 1985 she obtained her Master's Degree in Counseling and in 1987 her License in Marriage and Family Therapy.
Her quest to pursue a MFA in Creative Writing was derailed when a stuffed shirt Chaucer Literature Professor graded her paper on The Prioress Tale short of the A she needed to establish her credentials in the MFA Creative Writing Program, even while receiving the support of the Academic Dean who told her with a certain urgency, "don't stop writing. You'll find a way."
Prior to pursuing her graduate studies in counseling, Ms. E.T. Simon joined a Creative Writing Group where she honed in on some of the art and craft of writing and had the pleasure of attending poetry readings by Tess Gallagher, Denise Levertov, Rutabaga Rose and others.
Following her 1985 graduation, Ms. E.T. Simon proceeded to work as a counselor/family therapist until 1998 when, following surgery, she became a near recluse and has remained a near recluse for the last twelve years or so.
It was during those years that she worked as a counselor/family therapist that Ms. E.T. Simon learned that grief is a powerful agent which often contributes to the derailing of families; that human hearts can bury grief for generations and generations with the grief popping up unexpectedly as a symptom anywhere, sometimes even in someone else further along in the generations.
Ms. E.T. Simon also learned that when careful unearthing of buried grief happens and a person is enabled to truly grieve the pain of a loss they have been holding on to for years, then rebalancing of the derailment takes place and true healing occurs.
Writing is a lifelong love of E.T. Simon's, and whether she kept her writings buried in dusty drawers, or shared them with university professors, writers' groups, editors, or published them, the writer's flame burns undying in her. The flame of truth also burns in her along with the need to stand up for the underdog, of which, today, she finds herself to be one. This blended well in her throughout her years of computer activism for peace and social justice.
E.T. Simon's articles have been published under the name of TERESA SIMON-NOBLE, the pen name of ELENA DUMAS; and at times, under the additional pen name of SKYAGUNSTA, or SKYAGUNSTA PICKENS, both of which are a direct reference to her great-great-grandfather Brigadier General Andrew Pickens who was named "Skyagunsta," by Native Americans who came to appreciate him as a man of conscience. Please also know that whether the articles have been signed with one name, or another; with a pen name, or another, the writings have always come straight from my heart, my perception, and my core values.
In other words, it has always been me, and only me, writing the articles.
(3 comments) SHARE Monday, October 3, 2011 The Mystery of a Trickle Down Economy
The mystery of a trickle down economy is that in addition to being a ruse, it turns into a poop party on the receiving end.
(11 comments) SHARE Tuesday, September 27, 2011 The Impudent Boldness of Barack Obama
Obama's Impudent Boldness in telling Congressional Black Caucus Leaders,"Stop Complaining. Stop Crying." Is a Clear Chastisement of Maxine Waters and Other Leaders who express concerns over Obama's alliance with the Republicans.
(3 comments) SHARE Monday, October 11, 2010 Catch 22: An Exercise in Powerlessness
In Florida these days you must prove beyond a doubt that you are the same licensed driver that you have been for years before the DMV will renew your current license. It is all an invasion of privacy. When did this lunacy begin?
(1 comments) SHARE Friday, October 30, 2009 The bestiarii (gladiators) vs. Greed
Insurance companies are the new beast,the United States Congress is the new Roman Coliseum, Greed is the new faith, Dr. Margaret Flowers, Dennis Kucinich and every voice raised in favor of Universal Healthcare are the new bestiarii a/k/a Gladiators
(4 comments) SHARE Sunday, July 30, 2006 The Bush White House Piano Player
The Bush White House Piano Player keeps playing her score to an audience that refuses her applause.
(1 comments) SHARE Saturday, October 9, 2010 Write About What You Know. Keeping it Real.
This article is about life in this neighborhood which has, like many other neighborhoods in the United States, I am sure, been incredibly abused by a down turn economy.
(3 comments) SHARE Friday, December 23, 2011 Pot Shots and Other Stories
Just trying to sort out the broken pieces brought to us courtesy of the BushObama Administrations.
(7 comments) SHARE Monday, April 13, 2009 Obama's Unlimited Travel to Cuba for Cuban-Americans
Obama's open policy of travel to Cuba opens up a floodgate of memories. This one is connected to my departure from Cuba and to the bay which nurtured me for 18 years.
(2 comments) SHARE Saturday, September 24, 2011 If Only I Were A Quick Thinker On My Feet
My friend filled with right wing information believes the Muslims want to come and take over our country.
(2 comments) SHARE Saturday, July 22, 2006 A Mournful Mood This Morning
My thoughts drift out to those under siege by the firepower of bombs, rockets, missiles, gunship-deadly force of any kind raining in on any of the warring sides. Armaments built to kill life and line the pockets of the military/industrial complex men and women with money. With the serene notes of the Chopin music playing inside my house, I wonder who soothes the dying...
(1 comments) SHARE Friday, October 9, 2009 The politicians have forgotten. The people have not
Love flows people to people, person to person.Perhaps LOVE will touch a politician who will then touch other politicians. Congress has forgotten. The people have not.
(2 comments) SHARE Wednesday, December 23, 2009 The Shattered 2009 American Dream Or A Sack of Coal
"... all you have to do is contemplate a single grain of sand, and you will see in it the marvels of creation," Paulo Coelho - The Alchemist.
Our politicians have forgotten to contemplate the simple grain of sand. All they can see is greed.
(1 comments) SHARE Wednesday, October 9, 2013 Sleepless in South Florida
Sleepless in South Florida -- Read Book? Have cookies and milk? Come to computer to process thoughts...Are these the tools that might help one on a sleepless night? Especially when the underlying cause might be anxiety over the political landscape of the land.
(1 comments) SHARE Friday, October 16, 2009 Ripple Effects Travel Far and Wide
As congress and the president refuse to pass or even to listen to the need for Universal Health Care for All, will Barack Obama contribute any of his Nobel Peace Prize money to the care of Florida's latest burn victim who family is facing a walloping mount of health care bills?
(2 comments) SHARE Wednesday, December 30, 2015 At The Dentist's Office on the Eve of New Year's Eve
This is the story of a dentist with a true compassionate heart AND a gifted hand to really give a painless experience while at the dentist's chair.
(1 comments) SHARE Thursday, May 11, 2006 The WOW Syndrome of the Bush White House
How interesting, and yet, how not at all surprising, that George Herbert Walker Bush happened to be in Washington, enjoying the perks of the White House, which he often does, as if to fulfill some megalomaniacal dream of power and control of his, on the same weekend that the Kafkaesque Bush White House kicked Porter Goss out of the CIA
(2 comments) SHARE Friday, March 2, 2007 Immigrant Daughter
There was no CNN out there, then. There was no LOU DOBBS This Week Program, then.
There were no immigration laws here, then, when William Pickens and his wife Margaret stepped on the shores of this country ... which 'for much of its history ... allowed unrestricted immigration ...'"
SHARE Monday, January 22, 2007 Always Suited in Black
Unlike Benito Juarez who labored to protect the rights of people, Alberto Gonzalez labors instead to take away the rights of others.
SHARE Sunday, February 4, 2007 The Insertion of Homeland Security into Super Bowl XLI
The Insertion of Homeland Security Measures into Super Bowl XLI is a Bush ploy to instill fear and a dress rehearsal for the police state Bush is unleashing on this country.
(7 comments) SHARE Monday, January 8, 2007 Cindy Sheehan's arrival in Cuba...
A woman of humble heart and high stature, Cindy Sheehan has vowed to pursue an agenda of peace and of holding the Bush administration accountable for their crimes against humanity.
(3 comments) SHARE Monday, December 11, 2006 O, the Billy Gloat was out bleating again!
The Bush Family knows that if truth is allowed to stand they would never get to hold power power in their hands--therefore, they serve us a long list of rescuers and deleterious charaters who serve us a constant disfigurement of truth in their efforts to enhance the Bushes, their dynastic empire, and their power grabs.
(4 comments) SHARE Sunday, October 29, 2006 This Was Never Supposed to Happen Here.
This was never supposed to happen here, that a bilogical father and former president would one day support and endorse with "every fiber of his being" the lying, cheating, stealing, murdering of innocent people his son has seen fit to commit.
(4 comments) SHARE Friday, July 14, 2006 No Sage Advice or Calming Words from Bush the Warmonger
Saying that, "Every country has the right to defend itself from the killing of innocent life and terrorists who want to stop the progress of peace," George Walker Bush-stokes the fires of war.
SHARE Monday, February 19, 2007 Two Funerals and a Baby Shower: Reflections on the Changing Face of America
On the way to a baby shower, I was reminded that Bush has turned the words, Federal Police, into unfriendly shadowy words which give rise to a reminder of the derailing of our country, as perpetrated by George Bush, Dick Cheney, Condoleezza Rice et al ...
(3 comments) SHARE Wednesday, February 22, 2006 The Revolution Has Begun!
Senators and Representatives of all stripes in each party realize that they can, and must, say, NO, to Bush.
(3 comments) SHARE Saturday, May 20, 2006 When everything else goes
Where will you be when Bush takes the last drop of liberty away
(1 comments) SHARE Monday, February 20, 2006 Not Everything Must Be Okay With Mr. Whittington
God speaks in mysterious language some friend told me long ago, and even Pope John Paul II, on his travel to Cuba in l998, wondered out loud if the misty rain befalling the island on his departure, may, in any way, be connected to MaryÂ’s sadness over his departure from the communist island.
SHARE Tuesday, June 27, 2006 Feeding Fire To Bush's Furnace of Fear
Is Chairman King governed by the use of reason, or by the panic process? Or is he just stoking the fires to Bush's furnace of fear?