What I Learned from Associated Content Content Producers This Week: November 5-12

As a mother of five, Ron Masters article on how one teenager figured out how to grow up at a tough time in his life is a beautiful story., set in Turkey of all places on a military base many years ago.

E Harmon's Halloween costume slideshow was enchanting, interesting and amazing. How she and her husband became the Wild Things for Halloween is so cool! She has a future in Hollywood costuming! Sure makes my gypsy costume look boring.

Catherine Spencer has discovered a new bird and writes about it with tongue in cheek humor that just made me smile the entire time.

I really am clueless about much modern pop culture, and the only reason I know who Robert Pattinson of Twilight fame is, is because my 19 year old read the books and talked to me about the movies. So when I saw Rebecca Carroll's article on how Robert Pattinson Stinks, I was prepared to agree that he acting stinks. But..that isn't exactly what she meant.

There were real tears shed this week on Associated Content and around our country as we watched the horrifying events at Fort Hood. At a time when our Commander in Chief is struggling to define our mission in Afrghanistan, knowing that his decision will send young men and women to their death, the deaths there strike an even harder chord in our hearts. And this week is especially hard for us as we honor our veterans and soldiers on Veterans Day. There were so many wonderful tributes and Veterans Day articles, but I especially liked Lori Lane's touching tribute.

Tiffany Topper speaks about the difficulties of being a military wife in such a honest way. With everything that has happened this week, it's an article that enlightened me greatly on those feelings.

Speaking of sadness, Allene Newberg Bilodeau's poem broke our hearts to read, telling us once again we see that the best writing comes only from the heart. Every mother here wept as we read her tender memory to her deceased son.

John Myers wrote two articles this week that I really liked. The one was seriously questioning the protestors against healthcare. The second was how to do a Turkey Dance with kids. Hmm..which issue is more important to me? The Turkey Dance of course. It was hysterical and I actually plan to use it with my Creative Dramatics drama classes for k-2!

We all read lots of travel articles here; a lot of us have probably written some of them. Nancy Miller wrote one this week on our national capital, Washington DC. The novel slant she used was so fun to read, tying five great movies with Washington DC as their locations. Cool writing too!

And with Christmas around Associated Content looking like a shopping mall, I needed to read Karen Gros's beautiful Christmas poem on the true meaning of Christmas with the perfect images for anyone feeling overwhelmed by the commercial aspects of Christmas.

Veterans Day is past. Thanksgiving preparations are being finalized, Christmas rush is beginning and the New Year awaits. May each of you have a blessed week of writing, thinking, and working. And most importantly, make sure you walk away from your computer and hug your child while you can, snuggle on the couch with your husband and laugh with your friends. It's easy to get caught up in the pop news, the sad news, the news that makes us mad and the news that makes us laugh.

But reading about it won't change any of it. The only thing you can control in your life is how you conduct your life and love the people in it.