about

I’m Coco, the lady in charge here at The Shiny Butter Blog. 

I’m a mouthy, tender-hearted tree hugger, rocking curly hair and low blood pressure. I’m here to bring levity to the seriousness the world heaps on you, but not without backtalk, clarity, meaning, and tomfoolery for you, too.

Yes, like the front page says, this blog is the love child of Buck-the-System and Go-with-the-Flow.  

I tell stories, I get serious, and I also make light of a whole lot of things all in one lil’ ol’ website—

Because life may be as serious as a country song, but what’s the point if life is nothing but worrying, analyzing, serious-ing, scowling, hand-wringing, arguing, and looking over your reading glasses at people. Let some other website get you worked up and give you no remedy or respite.

Four little tidbits

• I got a degree in architecture back when pencils were a thing. 
• In addition to this blog, I write poetry (for real) and will eventually have a website for that. 
• Coco is my nickname (and my stage name when I emcee now and then). I also show up in a few places as Citizen Coco (@CitizenCoco).
• Lo and behold, in my late 50s I’ve taken up pole dancing. They call it “pole sport” nowadays, but still. My abs have never looked so good. More on this soon!

So!

Here’s some of what to expect at The Shiny Butter Blog

• System-bucking, strongly worded opinions on the general state of things. Like this post.
• Handy advice on timely subjects. Like this.
• Tomfoolery, because I know for a fact that ridiculousness is damned useful for living a good life, so here you go.
• Sometimes I just need to talk, and I’m glad you’re here to listen. Here‘s an example of that.
• Beaucoups* of peace-loving, tree-hugging, woo-woo, and freak flag-flying. Here‘s some of that.
• Irreverence and back talk. Like this.
• Straight-up Southern common sense and expressions sprinkled hither and yon—that comes from being a Southerner from the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains in Virginia in the US. I now live in eastern NC. 
• Long sentences and run-on sentences.
• Made-up words.
• Cursing (even though I can assure you I was raised to know better and have the pearls to prove it.)
• Click here to find out what “Shiny Butter” even is and also to find out the Shiny Butter backstory.

You’re in the right place if…

• You’re hankering for a not-necessarily-predictable take on all manner of things.
• You like variety in a blog. 
• You’re smart but not stuck up about it. 
• You’re a little all-over-the-place yourself and thought you had to put all these different parts of your personality in their “responsible” and “appropriate” boxes. Well, no ma’am, you do not; no sir, you do not. 
• You’ve always been the openminded sort, maybe even the hippie-type, but lately you aren’t so sure about labeling yourself (liberal or otherwise, really) and also think the US Democratic party has lost its ever-living mind (which maybe even breaks your heart a little). But it’s not like the other “side” makes any damned sense either. It’s possible you feel a little lost these days. 
• Now you’re at the point where you’re starting to realize that labeling people is the exact opposite of world peace. As is de-humanizing (and downright demonizing) people whose beliefs are counter to yours—yet more “opposite of peace” crap someone is peddling to us!
• You’ve washed your hands of looking for a hero or putting anyone on a pedestal because it’s dawned on you that no human is all that different from you, even if they do appear to have their shit together or be connected to all the right people or have a bunch of money or a very good job, plus good shoes. You’re more like Shania Twain these days when someone flashes their credentials and connections and nice things: “That don’t impress me much.”
• You’re looking for an intelligent place to land… but you’re also like, “Define intelligence.”
• You don’t want to talk about news and politics all the time.
• You think goofing off is mega important. 
• You’re sick to pieces of the stereotypes and assumptions and us-and-them and good-guys/bad-guys and you’re-either-with-us-or-against-us bullshit because you know for a fact that all that crap is nothing but distraction.
• You’re hip to woo-woo stuff like, ahem, the law of attraction, ’cause yeah, it’s true: we create our own reality. And as a mask-less man buying a 24-pack of Milwaukee’s Best at The Piggly Wiggly in the spring of 2020 told me, “It’s all in what you believe.”
• You’re starting to notice that we humans are at a crossroads and experiencing an awakening in this life on this planet at this time.
• You’re okay with a buck-the-system vibe laced with hippie stuff and also a touch of the snark and tomfoolery.
• You understand the problem with living in your own echo chamber and therefor don’t bail out as soon as you disagree with me—or I disagree with you. You’re not looking for someone to sign your doctrine—and vice versa.  
• You’re the live-and-let-live type.

You may not be in the right place if…

• You’re opposed to long or run-on sentences.
• Or made-up words. Or cursing.
• You’re a pessimist.
• You’re the judge-y type.
• You want everyone you follow to be just like you. 
• Your mind is made up on most everything.
• You don’t like butter.
• You think Miracle Whip is a suitable substitute for mayonnaise. And by mayonnaise, I mean Duke’s.

So listen, grab your iced tea, spiked or not, I don’t care, and sit a spell. We’ve got some catching up to do.

Love you, mean it, glad you’re here, MWAH~

Coco

*Beaucoups is a Southern word. It’s clearly corrupted French, oops. It’s pronounced “boo-cooze,” and it means “many” or “lots,” as in, “I have beaucoups of made-up words on this blog, but aren’t all words made-up words at first anway?”

p.s. Duke’s is the superior mayonnaise, in case you didn’t already know that.

p.p.s. There are posts on this blog that are old. I’ve updated many with a little note at the top. I’ve not gotten rid of them all because I don’t want to hide that I’ve come a long way in some departments. As in, hello, 2016 US election, thanks for throwing the final match on the fire that consumed my loyalty to any politician, “leader,” party, or dogma. Shiny reader, don’t fall for the hype out there. None of it. 

p.p.p. s. My given name is Suzanna. I was named after my great-grandmother—that’s her picture below. Please do not call me suzanne.