I'm Gina Smith

Why would one blog about their miseries, and not just their winnings?

If sorrow would not talk it would die." Serbo-Croatian proverb.

And this, in short, is why I blog about not just the "news that's on my mind" as the site says, but also the sad stories in the news and the ones in my life. I blog the odd news, the crazy stuff, the tragic stories that affect me deeply. I love the fun stories and the great illusions Steve Wozniak sends me and the poetry and song lyrics to post.

But sorrow. To blog about it. To You Tube about it. To twitter. (Yes, I do.) I understand the girl who went on Facebook to talk about her attacker -- if sorrow can't talk, it will die. When it dies, you go empty inside.

And I really think we need all our emotions -- even sorrow -- to live humanistically and with empathy. I love that term "ahimsa" -- do no harm. Yet there is so much harm and sorrow, as the previous story shows.

Good night from California.

A new feature: Yugoslav quote of the day..

Talking to my friend Al, a Croat who is an editor at the San Francisco Chronicle, I realized that with the former Yugoslavia in pieces, someone ought to preserve these quotes. I consider myself a Yugoslavian, because my mother grew up there when there was a whole, strong Yugoslavia united by Tito. And I was born when that was the case.

But I'm digressing.

Today's quote:

Tko kupuje sto mu ne treba, prodavat ce stro mu treba.

In English, roughly: He who buys what he doesn't need will end up selling it.

In other words, skip Walmart.