There is the grinding down, as we circle through the whirlpool,
before we are spit out into a new world. I feel stretched and thinned out. Effaced.
We are working on the new world. We are birthing it
together.
Monday, November 2, 2020
Sept 14 2020 - Monday - a note from the near past.
November 2 2020 - the Day Before
...not that we will get much closure about the election on Nov 3rd. But ...well, it's all we can think about. Will the Deposed Maniac try to claim victory and hold onto the presidency if he's ahead Tuesday evening -- and then try to end the ballot count? Then I will take to the streets, because all votes must be counted. Besides, races aren't always called on Election Day -- that's a convention brought about by media and the ability to predict an outcome. Back in the day, it would take weeks to tally the vote and get the results to the Electoral College. We will Protect The Results. Absolutely.
We are restless, hearts thrumming
like the hummers
roaring in and out of the purple sage.
We are haunted by 2016 - when we felt the time was right, that we were in the sweet spot to have a woman president to continue a more just society. Now we are grimly hanging onto our hearts, crossing our fingers, gnawing our nails, working to propel a woman Veep. These four years have changed us - all of us, We are a different nation, in many ways, with a new respect for health, for justice, for a government that works for the common good.
Today, I watch a patch of pelicans, brilliantly white with black wing tips, wheel across the sky, determined and steady. That is us, the Determined Ones. We're not extremists, seeking to bash heads or run candidates off the roads, using intimidation, bullying, falsehoods and lies to secure the election because we can't run on our record, because we have nothing to offer the country but more chaos and ineptitude. We use steady inexorable persistence to make headway against injustice, writing batch after batch of postcards, 10 or 20 at a time, to remind voters of the power of the vote, of their voice.
Friday, October 2, 2020
Sept 13 2020 - Saturday.
 |
| Picture by Buddy Poland from Heather Cox Richardson's post Sept 13 2020 |
Taking a cue from Heather Cox Richardson today, from - because I'm exhausted just thinking about all the levels of chaos going on. And HCR stated it all so well in her post from today, which I quote in it's entirety. :
"Lots of people are tired right now. Indeed, the whole point of the constant stream of chaos coming from the administration is to exhaust us to the point we will stop caring what Trump and his supporters do.
But have you noticed that reporters are increasingly calling out the administration's lies, and people are increasingly articulating what they want the world to look like, rather than what we are currently enduring? Famously, "in the midst of chaos there is also opportunity."
Here's a little inspiration for those of you for whom the chaos is
obscuring the opportunity: Wilhelmina Smith of the highly-regarded Salt
Bay Chamberfest, a small non-profit performing arts organization in
Maine, playing her cello-- somewhat unexpectedly-- in the light of a
late-summer afternoon.
https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/september-13-2020
This in the midst of the horrendous fires in Ashland, Oregon and Butte County, California - (again)
But we soldier on, right?
Tuesday, September 22, 2020
Saturday, September 19, 2020
Tuesday, Sept 8, 2020- Smoke and Fires, No Mirror Needed
(apologies for lack of continuity here)
Overwhelmed by the sadness of the smoke and fires.
22 days of Spare The Air alerts doesn't even begin to describe the constant presence of smoke and fire. It's like a deep winter season in a way, when snow and ice kept us housebound and indoors, only this is excessive heat and too much smoke. Exercise becomes an indoor activity: yoga or tai chi on a good day.
For others, the fires force them to flee, leave everything behind, stare into an uncertain future.
Woke today to an oppressively oily-yellow light, the sun a weak red disk behind a high screen of smoke from a fire somewhere else, perhaps the Wallbridge Fire flare-up that sparked evacuation orders again around Guerneville and Armstrong Woods State Park. Thick blankets of smoke, reminding us that fire has destroyed homes and lives and livelihoods elsewhere. I hear now that this smoke is from fires in Mendocino. There are or have been fires, I think, in every county in the North Bay, this past month. And now the Sierras are erupting in fire, with courageous helicopter rescues of flame-trapped hikers and firefighters and citizens of all stripes and ilk.
A visit to the National Weather Service Twitter page has me saddened beyond relief -- satellite views of the sea of smoke settling into the inland valleys. Insane waves created by the heat and wind. Historic wooden train trestle in Yakima, Washington a gridwork of flames. And Southern California not one whit better.
Thursday, September 17, 2020
Tuesday, September 15, 2020
Wednesday Sept 9 2020 - Drawing Cricles, Under Tangerine Skies
Drawing Circles - many of them, 170,000 of them, in fact, to try to understand what a number that big actually is. Calming, but with intent. There's a beauty in both the practice and the result, if drawn with focus and purpose. In John Green's podcast, The Anthropocene Reviewed, Episode # 24 he reviews The Works of Art of Agnes Martin and Hiroyuki Doi - she of the color fields and geometric grids and he of the many many circles. And then this response, which loops into the act of drawing, an attempt to understand the magnitude of a number like 170,000 -- which by now has reached 180,000 and for sure, will eclipse 200,000. That is, the number of folks in the US who have died from this pandemic. Each circle is a life, encircled by family, friends, work, projects, art.
Woke to weird tangerine skies, a thick layer of smoke held in place by fog above it and no wind to speak of. Not so hot today, but oppressive in spirit. Small flecks of grey-white ash drift down to sprinkle the tomato plants, coat the tables, obscure the views of hillsides and mountain. Thick enough on the cars to write "VOTE" on them, leaving fingertips black.
Meanwhile, others are fleeing their burning houses.
Monday, September 14, 2020
Monday, Sept 7, 2020 - A Labor Day with Postcards and pictures
Petaluma Postcard Pod and Petaluma Arts Center teamed up to send postcards to voters in Florida and Kansas with a Labor Day Postcard (Socially Distanced) Picnic. Great success, even under pink-tinted skies and high heat. Over 1,000 PAC postcards sent out to voters --whoooiee, mamas!
 | ||
| A Trio of Postcard Pod Wranglers: Nancy, Alice and Sue. |
Tuesday, September 8, 2020
Sept 6, 2020 - Sunday Statement
Thinking of these past six months, of 2020 in general.
I'm not able to concentrate, my attention is as scattered as spilled rice; I'm as jumpy as a cat on a hot tin roof. If it's not the specter of COVID-19, its the wildfires and the acres and acres of smoke that lid the sky, or the extreme heat that keeps us behind windows and doors. It's the wobbly state of our Democracy; it's the sense that danger lurks everywhere, seen or unseen. And yet the tomatoes ripen, the sunflowers burst open in praise of the sun, the little birds bathe in the water dishes with abandon and pleasure.
Perhaps this discordance is the hardest to bear.
Sept 5 & 7, 2020 - Military Woes for Benecdict Donald -- Veteren's Lives Matter, Too.
Stories from The Atlantic, "Trump: Americans Who Died at War are Losers and Suckers" by Jeffrey Goldsmith, on Sept 3, 2020
and the follow up Everyone knows its True by Robert Frum from Sept 7, 2020.
Pretty damning -- and depressing-- if you ask me.
Direct URLs if links above are broken.
- https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/09/everyone-knows-its-true/616138/
- https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2020/09/trump-americans-who-died-at-war-are-losers-and-suckers/615997/
- https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/04/us/politics/trump-military-vote-democrats.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/04/us/politics/biden-trump-soliders-insults.html
And this list of over 50 points and items, stolen from a Facebook post, shared by a friend.
As Frum states in his article, very few people from the military are defending him and even fewer people talk about any instances of kindness or campassion.
Why are troops turning away from Trump?........
Maybe because...
• In May 2020, the White House ended National Guard deployments one day before they could claim benefits
• The Trump admin seized 5 million masks intended for VA hospitals.
Kushner distributes these masks to private entities for a fee, who then
sells the masks to the government. ( I think that is technically called graft)
• Trump fired the captain of the USS Theodore Roosevelt after he warned
superiors that COVID19 was spreading among his crew. The virus
subsequently spread amongst the crew.
• After Iran's retaliatory strike, 109 US troops suffered brain injuries. Trump dismissed these as "headaches"
• On July 20, 2017, in room 2E924 of the Pentagon, Trump told a room full of Generals, "You’re a bunch of dopes and babies"
• Pardoned multiple war criminals, which stomped on long standing
military values, discipline, and command. Trump has no military
experience (May&Nov, 2019)
• Trump mocked Lt. Col. Vindman for his rank and uniform. He threatened
said purple heart officer, resulting in the Army providing him
protection
• Trump’s Chief of Staff worked—in secret—to deny comprehensive health coverage to Vietnam Vets who suffered from Agent Orange.
• There is a facility in Tijuana for US veterans that Trump deported.
Wounded war vet, Sen Duckworth (D) marked Veterans Day 2019 by visiting
this facility
• Russia took control of the main U.S. military facility in Syria
abandoned on Trump’s orders. Russia now owns the airstrip we built
• On Oct 7, 2019, Trump abruptly withdrew support from America's allies
in Syria after a phone call with Turkey's president (Erdogan). Turkey
subsequently bombed US Special Forces.
• Trump sent thousands of American troops to defend the oil assets of the country that perpetrated 9/11
• In Sept 2019, he made an Air Force cargo crew, flying from the U.S.
to Kuwait stop in Scotland (where there's no U.S. base) to refuel at a
commercial airport (where it costs more), so they could stay overnight
at a Trump property (which isn't close to the airport). Trump’s golf
courses are losing money, so he's forcing the military to pay for 5-star
nights there.
• In Sept, 2019, Pentagon pulled funds for military schools, military
housing funds, and daycare to pay for Trump's border wall.
• In Aug, 2019, emails revealed that three of Trump's Mar-a-Lago pals,
who are now running Veterans Affairs, are rampant with meddling. "They
had no experience in veterans affairs (none of them even served in the
military) nor underwent any kind of approval process to serve as de
facto managers. Yet, with Trump’s approval, they directed actions and
criticized operations without any oversight. They wasted valuable staff
time in hundreds of pages of communications and meetings, emails show.
Emails reveal disdainful attitudes within the department to the trio’s
meddling."
• Veterans graves will be "dug up" for the border wall, after Trump
instructed aides to seize private property. Trump told officials he
would pardon them if they break the law by illegally seizing property
• Children of deployed US troops are no longer guaranteed citizenship.
This includes US troops posted abroad for years at a time (August 28,
2019)
• On Aug 2, 2019, Trump requisitioned military retirement funds towards border wall
• On July 31, 2019, Trump ordered the Navy rescind medals to prosecutors who were prosecuted war criminals
• Trump denied a U.S. Marine of 6 years entry into the United States for his citizenship interview (Reported July 17, 2019)
• Trump made the U.S. Navy Blue Angels violate ethics rules by having
them fly at his July 4th political campaign event (July 4, 2019)
• Trump demanded US military chiefs stand next to him at 4th of July parade (reported July 2, 2019)
• In June, 2019, Trump sent troops to the border to paint the fence for a better "aesthetic appearance"
• Trump used his D-Day interview at a cemetery commemorating fallen US soldiers to attack a Vietnam veteran (June 6, 2019)
• Trump started his D-Day commemoration speech by attacking a private
citizen (Bette Midler, of all people) (reported on June 4th, 2019)
• Trump made his 2nd wife, Marla Maples, sign a prenup that would have
cut off all child support if Tiffany joined the military (reported June
4th, 2019)
• On May 27, 2019, Trump turned away US military from his Memorial Day
speech because they were from the destroyer USS John S. McCain
• Trump ordered the USS John McCain out of sight during his visit to
Japan (May 15, 2019). The ship's name was subsequently covered. (May 27,
2019)
• Trump purged 200,000 vets' healthcare applications (due to known
administrative errors within VA’s enrollment system) (reported on May
13, 2019)
• Trump deported a spouse of fallen Army soldier killed in Afghanistan, leaving their daughter parentless (April 16, 2019)
• On March 20, 2019, Trump complained that a deceased war hero didn't thank him for his funeral
• Between 12/22/2018, and 1/25/2019, Trump refused to sign his party's
funding bill, which shut down the government, forcing the Coast Guard to
go without pay, which made service members rely on food pantries.
However, his appointees got a $10,000 pay raise
• He banned service members from serving based on gender identity (1/22/2019)
• He denied female troops access to birth control to limit sexual activity (on-going. Published Jan 18, 2019)
• He tried to deport a marine vet who is a U.S.-born citizen (Jan 16, 2019)
• When a man was caught swindling veterans pensions for high-interest
“cash advances," Trump's Consumer Financial Protection Bureau fined him
$1 (Jan 26, 2019)
• He called a retired general a 'dog' with a 'big, dumb mouth' (Jan 1, 2019)
• He increased privatization of the VA, leading to longer waits and higher taxpayer cost (2018)
• He finally visited troops 2 years after taking office, but only after 154 vacation days at his properties (Dec 26, 2018)
• He revealed a covert Seal Team 5 deployment, including names and faces, on Twitter during his visit to Iraq (Dec 26, 2018)
• Trump lied to deployed troops that he gave them a 10% raise
(12/26/2018). He tried giving the military a raise that was lower than
the standard living adjustment. Congress told him that idea wasn't going
to work. Then after giving them the raise that Congress made him, he
lied about it pretending that it was larger than Obama's. It wasn't.
• He fired service members living with HIV just before the 2018 holidays
• He tried to slash disability and unemployment benefits for Veterans
to $0, and eliminate the unemployability extrascheduler rating (Dec 17,
2018)
• He called troops on Thanksgiving and told them he's most thankful for himself (Thanksgiving, 2018)
• He urged Florida to not count deployed military votes (Nov 12, 2018)
• He canceled an Arlington Cemetery visit on Veterans Day due to light rain (Nov 12, 2018)
• While in Europe commemorating the end of WWI, he didn't attend the
ceremony at a US cemetery due to the rain -- other world leaders went
anyway (Nov 10, 2018)
• He used troops as a political prop by sending them on a phantom
mission to the border and made them miss Thanksgiving with their
families (Oct-Dec, 2018)
• He stopped using troops as a political prop immediately after the
election. However, the troops remained in muddy camps on the border (Nov
7, 2018)
• Trump changed the GI Bill through his Forever GI Act, causing the VA
to miss veteran benefits, including housing allowances. This caused many
vets to run out of food and rent. (reported October 7, 2018)
• Trump doubled the rejection rate for veterans requesting family deportation protections (July 5, 2018)
• Trump deported active-duty spouses (11,800 military families face this problem as of April 2018)
• He forgot a fallen soldier's name (below) during a call to his
pregnant widow, then attacked her the next day (Oct 23-24, 2017)
• He sent commandos into an ambush due to a lack of intel, and sends
contractors to pick them up, resulting in a commando being left behind,
tortured, and executed. (Trump approved the mission because Bannon told
him Obama didn't have the guts to do it) (Oct 4, 2017)
• He blocked a veteran group on Twitter (June 2017)
• He ordered the discharge of active-duty immigrant troops with good records (2017-present)
• He deported veterans (2017-present)
• He said he knows more about ISIS than American generals (Oct 2016)
• On Oct 3, 2016, Trump said vets get PTSD because they aren't strong
(note: yes, he said it's 'because they aren't strong.' He didn't say
it's 'because they're weak.' This distinction is important because of
Snopes)
• Trump accepted a Purple Heart from a fan at one of his rallies and
said: “I always wanted to get the Purple Heart. This was much easier.”
(Aug 2, 2016)
• Trump attacks Gold Star families: Myeshia Johnson (gold star widow), Khan family (gold star parents) etc. (2016-present)
• Trump sent funds raised from a Jan 2016 veterans benefit to the
Donald J Trump Foundation instead of veterans charities (the foundation
has since been ordered shut because of fraud) (Jan, 2016)
• Trump said he has "more training militarily than a lot of the guys
that go into the military" because he went to a military-style academy
(2015 biography)
• Trump said he doesn't consider POWs heroes because they were caught.
He said he prefers people who were not caught (July 18, 2015)
• Trump said having unprotected sex was his own personal Vietnam (1998)
• For a decade, Trump sought to kick veterans off of Fifth Avenue
because he found them unsightly nuisances outside of Trump Tower. 1991
• Trump dodged the draft 5 times by having a doctor diagnose him with bone spurs.
• No Trump in America has ever served in the military; this spans 5
generations, and every branch of the family tree. In fact, the reason
his grandfather immigrated to America was to avoid military service.
Monday, September 7, 2020
August 30, 2020 - What We're Listening To, What We're Watching To Get Through
Took a very informal survey of a small group of buddies about how we're getting through this. Here's what we're watching and listening to:
TV -- to watch; shows, comedies, stand-up comedy. In the interest of keeping this list tangle-free, I'll let you folks do the googling to find them.
-
Better Things
- TV show, comedy, drama, Sam Fox, a single-mom with three kids in LA.
- Sebastian Mancuso — stand-up comedian
-
James Gaffigan
- stand-up comedian
- Mrs Maisel
- TV show about a comedian. Exuberant, set in the 50s and early 60s. Great cast, fast pace, dancing galore, keep an eye peeled for Suzie..
- Hannah Gadsby
- stand-up comedian
- Tig Natarao -both her standup comedy shows, but especially
One Mississippi, her 2-season show.
- Vera -- British Detective show at its best!
- Endeavor - prequel to Inspector Morse. So watchable!
-
California City - Podcast from LA List.
- Very Presidential by Ashley Flowers
- Ologies by Alie Ward \
- Fearology, Part 1 and 2 -- highly recommended
- Crime Junkies
- Invisibilia - early seasons are the best.
- The Moth
- This American
Life
- Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me
- Room Twenty Cold
- Everything is Fine
- Rumble Strip - (Vermont)
- GirlTrek
-
Ideas — CBC Radio Show
(anything from the Canadian Broadcast Corporation, right?)
Saturday, September 5, 2020
Sept 5, 2020 - Saturday
The start of another wave of heat for the Bay Area -- triple digits predicted inland, away from the water. Probably high 90's here, near San Pablo Bay. Maybe the 80's for San Francisco -- which is near the top for them. Over 100 in Petaluma?
Large orange moon last night, waning a few days from full looking like a deflating pumpkin, soft on one side, drooping about halfway up from the horizon. A faint smell of old campfires drifts through our open windows.
It' s funny how the body knows a hot day will be here and prods us awake not long after dawn to prowl and pad around in the bigger rooms, seeking
more water, seeking movement, as if it already knows a siesta is in the
works for the long hot afternoon. Best time to curl up with a New Yorker, that early morning hour of a hot day, when sleep evades us, when the couch calls, when kittens play with our feet and end up purring near our armpits. This is wha I read today - and I think it tucks up into one article some of the complexities of this past spring and summer, when pandemic and racism collided.
A Transit Worker's Survival Story
https://images.app.goo.gl/EcaUUkzJBdyHz8JE7
Sept 4, 2020 - Friday - One more for the books.
Listening to SFJAZZ at Five -- a short online concert posted by SFJAZZ from previous concerts, to kick off the weekend. Tonight Dee Dee Bridgewater is doodling all day, smoothing the edges of these anxious weeks with a voice like mellowed, triple-malt Scotch.
Took a trip into a yarn shop, this afternoon; oh my, so difficult to only look, not squish, fondle, twirl the ply, hold against the neck to test for softness. All sorts of lovely little project bags, many designed for tagging along with the knitter, where-ever they go, down the long hall from living room to TV room, for instance, or from inside knitting chair to patio, when the smoke clears -- which reminded me of the Japanese wrist bag I so admired many years ago and attempted to make. Hmmm.
Almost finished with a lovely soft gray cap -- to make this a Three Hat Pandemic. Not sure this will be the last, either.
Cool muted air comes in through the screens, a tinge of woodsmoke still. I don't think anyone is barbequeing, but ... maybe? More likely it s the
Drumpf and the media is making a big deal aboug Nancy Pelosi's hair cut? This is all Drumpf has on her -- the incident about her hair salon? If she was set up or not And what's with this Crazy Nancy business? Lying Donny can't be bothered to treat anyone with any kind of respect. It's all about the name calling. Like a five-year old. Just can't wait to get his big fat mouth locked up. Seriously.
I mean, really, this is someone to admire?
Sept 3, 2020 - Thursday - Thoughts While Walking Through a Very Quiet Campus
Haven't been on campus for months, more than six months, in fact. Have to make an appointment with SSU authorities, not just to get on campus, but to be scheduled to go to a particular building. Only ten people allowed in any one building at a time, to allow for good social distancing. Masks required, of course.
Felt so good to go somewhere and do something. Met with a friend and co-worker, who recalled coming to campus after the first few months of SIP to find the weeds chest-high, everything looking abandoned, like a ghost town. Today, the grounds keeping is back under control, the lawns mowed short and the garden areas at least pruned. But no one is strolling around, the parking lots have 20 cars in them apiece, the library is closed, cafes shuttered. Teachers come in one at at time to prepare for their online classes or grade or design and prepare labs and discussions to be done online. A few lab classes are being held in-person, ones that just can't be done at home. But most of the dorms are now shut down. Over the summer, some of the buildings housed quarantining patients and families; some of the homeless were housed here, too. But once the semester started, they couldn't keep all those populations in one location, so the homeless and quaranteeners had to go elsewhere.
Its's quiet, spooky, as I walk from my car to meet my friend and then walk off campus for coffee - large buildings, big grounds, few people. Lots of birds, little goldfinches emboldened to flit amongst the seedheads close to the path, ignoring the me. I'm the only one on the sidewalks. A Twilight Zone flavor to it.
Stephanie and I talk of our families, and the stresses, and the realities we all have to deal with, grandchildren, grown children, ailing parents. All the plans put on hold, the family hunkered around the house, sharing meals again, talking about the Viet Nam War era we parents lived through, the experiences of the returning war veterans, conscientious objectors, the protests that always held an edge of violence.
What we don't talk about: the craziness of this election, of the Tweeter-in-Chief. Of his behavior. How he belittles everyone because he has no other way to consider them. He knocks the police officers involved in the Jacob Blake shooting, calling them out for "choking" while firing at a man simply trying to close his car door -- as if the goal is to shoot to kill always, like a video game. He is signaling that it is okay for Americans to shoot to kill other Americans, he's laying the ground work for violence in the streets. This is a betrayal; it is the talk of a traitor to American ideals. (Even the Trumpian Apologist, Laura Ingraham who was interviewing him at the time, was shocked - she tried to give him a way out but Drumpf just doubled down, as if he didn't even understand or care how his words would be received.)
We can't wrap our heads around a President who states that a voter can send in a signed Absentee Ballot, i.e; voting by mail, and then go to the polls to vote -- again. Is this fella telling people to (illegally) vote twice because he's so clueless he doesn't understand what he's saying? Is he so inarticulate he can't explain what he means? Or is he trying to create so much confusion in the voting process that he can call it tainted and not abide by the decision, should he lose. Another traitorous action; he should be prosecuted.
We don't say it, but we think it: Lock Him Up. For a long, long time.
Going back to the pandemic, here's the argument for speaking softly and wearing a big mask, from the podcast Social Distance, posted on Weds Sept 2 2020 Why Herd Immunity Isn't A Strategy
Wednesday, September 2, 2020
Sept 2,2020 - Wednesday
The world is drenched in a pink light these days, sun filtered through the ash of woodsmoke, of fire along the coast, burning through the wooded canyons, the meadows of bunch grass, of oat grass, chasing the Tule elk to bellow against the waves, sending the elk to crash the cow-fences, gallop past blistered cars and firefighters in their thick yellow armor against flames and gasses and fury.
The pink light lingers over the green lawns for weeks, backlighting purple sages, tall yellow sunflowers in the afternoon. Apricot-tinted light in tree-shadows, in the corners behind the patio and lawn chairs. We don’t go out so much anymore.
The pink light of dawn shadows, the pinkish yellow light of the late afternoon, glazing the pepper tree, the big red ball of the sun sliding down behind the purple-hued hills. This is the burning world right now, drenched in flames, suffused with ash.
Tuesday, September 1, 2020
Sept 1, 2020 - Tuesday -
Trying to stay current on this blog is never-ending. I'm going to have to break chronologyand start a new trail from here, and fill in the past month or two as I have time and energy. Because I want to keep the record going, even if a fractured record.
Today has been a low-smoke day, at least here in Santa Venetia. Still, the sun set blood red and the full moon rose up orange and sulky.
Some fires are out, like the Meyers Fire in NW Sonoma County, others still rage on, though containment grows. The looming skies of smoke and ash has everyone spooked and skittish. Even the owls were squabbling in the trees last night. And then we know of the loss of home and hearth -- or of the disruptions of evacuations.
We are riding on rails of instability, no longer convinced they will hold. But we grip tight anyway, willing them to bend toward justice.
August 22, 2020, Saturday - Matt Herron Remembered
Matt Herron. Adventurer, explorer, champion. Who heard the call for "good trouble" and heeded it, knowing it would be neither easy nor always safe but still quite necessary.
He had stories to tell and told them well. He had that spirit of adventure, ready to meet any challenge. We didn't get to hear all the stories.
We met Matt and Jeannine Herron about a year ago, shortly after we moved across the street from them, out here in the marshland. He was always working on his glider, a flying machine folded into a slim canister-like trailer that covered the width of their house when parked along the curb. Which was whenever he wasn't flying it. But he flew it whenever he could.
We remembered our neighbor this Saturday by driving to China Camp and pulling over at a popular fishing and hangout spot, outfitted with a bench and a small tin pail labelled "put your butts here". The air was hazy, thick with brown-grey smoke from the Woodward Fire out in Pt Reyes that had been burning all week. We wore masks against the ash particulates as much as against Covid-19.
We tossed a bouquet of dahlias, sunflowers and purple sage wands into the waters of San Pablo Bay, knowing his equal affinity for water as for air, having sailed with his young family for a year and a half to Africa and back. And this was after he went to Mississippi with his cameras to photograph what became known as Freedom Summer. No lack of danger then, challenging the entrenched dulture, the authorities, the sheriffs.
His pictures of the Selma march stand as a testament to the uprisings against violent repression. Then there were the adventures with Green Peace, demanding that whaling ships obey the whaling treaties. He and Jeannine were warriors on the front lines. We were only just beginning to hear the stories -- and now his books and pictures stand as totems to a life lived challenging authority, challenging the structures of our culture. This is only a snapshot, a mere paragraph about a life as richly lived as one can imagine. I know I didn't capture it all -- but you can read more about him below - articles, discussions and books.
Books: Mississippi Eyes
The photographs and stories of five photojournalists in Mississippi documenting the fight for Civil Rights on several fronts.
A discussion of some of Matt's most well-known photos -- with images. You know some of these photos, I I'll wager. If not, now's as good a time as any to get familiar with them. Includes the distinction of who waved an American or a Confederate flag in the South, a relevant insight to today's struggles.
Two other books The Voyage of the Aquarius and the The Quilt: Stories from the Names Project, photographs by Matt Herron.
August 15 USPS Deliver De Mail Depose DeJoy
Unrest and unruliness about the changes imposed by the new U.S. Postmaster Louis DeJoy, a crony of the Orange-headed One. I just can't resist the title. But I am also dismayed at this attack on an institution that is an essential part of American life and culture. We will remember in November. You betcha.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-postal-service/protesters-slam-u-s-postmaster-outside-his-home-amid-mail-in-worries-idUSKCN25B0Z7
Friday, August 21, 2020
August 20, 2020 - The Democrat National Convention
I thought the DNC was a kind of triumph -- taking an unknown, unwelcome situation and building the convention back better. It's the best convention I've ever watched -- not that I've seen that many becuase unless you are a Poli Sci wonk, conventions can be long and boring. I do remember hearing them in the background on the radio, my parents keepoing track of things, back in the day when the outcome wasn't assured in advance.
But the DNC 2020 was a convention of another character - lively, engaging, crafted more like an awards show with a tight sense of timing, mixing up taut, well-crafted speeches by the politicians invested in the process with montages of people-zooming-in-fro home sharing their support and stories. It was a very effective and well-thought out effort introducing voters to the Democrat Party and its general platform for the Nov 3, 2020 election, incluiding a strong indictment of Drumpf, whose incompetence and lack of leadership, his disinclination to be a leader rather than a boss, has endangered all our lives in many different ways: climate change disasters, epidemic, destruction of the ACA -- all of it geared toward re-election by his base, rather than genuine care for what is best for the country and all its peoples.
Visually engaging, well-paced, inspiring, surprising -- it was the perfect fodder for folks who have been kept close to the house, or who have been working too hard and taking too many risks. The Democrat Party took what looked like a disaster and re-imagined it, investing in media experts to craft a presentation of high caliber. They didn't dither around; they knocked it out of the park. And I think it represents how they would govern too - taking stock of the disasters that surround us and bringing us back better. (ha! like how I worked that in?)
I do feel like I know Joe and Kamala much more now -- and certainly with more intimacy than any other candidates during an election. TV is an intimate medium and their experts took full advantage of that, bringing us into their lives. I think the approach was rather brilliant and I hope we never go back to the old-style convention-hall conventions again.
Wednesday, August 19, 2020
June 18, 2020 - Thursday. Van Jones Speaks
Van Jones, the writer, speaks about police brutality and George Floyd, in an excerpt I originally found on TaraBrach.com.n An exceptional piece, Van Jones talking about this miracle of the protests and reactions. That a black man was murdered and everyone cares. And the nuance around why that is a miracle.
I know much of my own need and desire to march, to protest, to share the Black Lives Matter slogan is that I want to physically show to the world that I do care, that I'm disgusted by the white supremacists. The presence of my body on the street, I think, means something. Actions matter. I'm so worried about this nation's slide towards the acceptance and enactment of racism. Thie ignorance of what racism is, how it operates, what the system does to all of us.
More from him: Van Jones (about) and Rebuild the Dream
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
The conversation continues -- with More on Black Birders Week June 18 2020
http://vanjones.net/about/
https://www.youtube.com/user/rebuildthedream
June 17 Wednesday How Strange to See The Path in the Woods
A Poem on Oddness
You again, he said... how to see, strange
paths diverge across the wood, he said
so strange, wind pushes trees upside down.
How to see the woods for the trees, he
said, you see? So strange, the path
didn't diverge, it split.
Again, they came to the wood, he and
she. Strange to see how the path
emerged, didn't diverge, didn't submerge.
He said, she said, submerge, re-merge,
up-end again. Strange to see the path
again, how trees becomes woods.
How to see you again, he said, strangely
making the path lead out of the woods
footfall by footfall, ax chop by beaten blade.
She said, strangely, the path makes itself
again and diverged to re-emerge on the
verge. Of being.
by Lakin Khan
by Lakin Khan
June 15, Monday, 2020 - Tulsa Rally: Rubbing Salt into Old Wounds.
Sheesh and Jiminy Crickets. Drumpf plans to have a rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on Juneteenth --what a disgustingly racist play that is. Steve Miller will write his speech, I've heard. That despicable guy needs to be shown the door. And I don't need it to be a terribly polite move, either.
Tulsa, where one of the deadliest race massacres ever occurred, when the thriving black community was destroyed almost over night through fire, riots and murder. This is no coincidence and even if the start of the rally was pushed back by a day, the innuendo is not lost on us. (The Tulsa History Museum has a write up of the events. and the Black Wall Street Times has an editorial about the HBO mini-series Watchmen which is based on the events in Tulsa. )
And that's not the only thing wrong with the rally. Covid-19 still runs rampant around the land; this is no time to have a face-to-face rally of thousands of people, many of whom don't believe in wearing masks or taking precautions. Tulsa isn't too happy with this plan, as they struggle to contain and manage the disease.
But I've heard a rumor -- there's a link flying around encouraging folks to sign up for two tickets to the rally and then of course, not go. It's kind of a K-Pop thing. The idea is to siphon the tickets away from Drumpf's fans, making for a smaller crowd. Ingenious! The best part is that the tickets are free, so no loss there. I have heard that the rally is sold out and that they are building an outdoor stage to handle the crowd.
Hmmmm.
Links about the Massacre
https://www.tulsahistory.org/exhibit/1921-tulsa-race-massacre/
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/what-happened-99-years-ago-in-the-tulsa-race-massacre
https://theblackwallsttimes.com/2019/10/21/the-realness-of-watchmens-1921-tulsa-race-massacre-scene/
June 14 Sunday - Hooray for Libraries!
Libraries will be open! Well, kind of --- but hooray, anyway!
Nothing
indoors yet, which I miss to no end. Libraries have always been a refuge for me, especially when new to a town. It would usually be the first place we went to in a new town. It would be a place to explore, yet familiar, with kind people nearby who loved to read as much as I did, who offered as much interest and guidance as I could tolerate, who didn't remark on my awkwardness or newness around there. But hey, enough about the past.
After these past months of inaction, our books stacked up all over,
there's finally curbside service. We can pick up holds that we've placed through the online reservation system, a
privilege of access that not everyone has, although folks can phone in, if they can't get online. It's not the same as browsing the stacks, but at least it can be done.
We can also drop off our mini-towers of books in
bins at one library in the county (Novato), which will hold each bin for a day or two, letting contaminants wither away before librarians unpack and return books to home libraries and their shelves. I
have at least a tower-and-a-half waiting to go back. You'd think I'd read all of
them, with all this time on our hands, but not really.
I've found it difficult to read. I'm too immersed in the anxieties of this dangerous world to want to read about it -- and too worried and anxious to drift too far away from it, to be able to be seduced into the fictive dream of a novel or short story. I find myself impatient with books. TV shows: detectives, British procedurals, whacked comedies, they kind of fit the bill these days -- outrageous, engaging - and short. We can watch one - or two - or three, whatever our attention span is, as we wait this disease out. Plus the side-benefit; knitting as we watch.
But this re-emergence of the libraries, even if only tentative baby steps, feels like we are beginning to crawl out from this Pandemic Hibernation.
Friday, August 14, 2020
June 13, 2020 - Graduation in Cars.
This year, the high school graduations were held in cars - each kid and family in their
own car, decked out in school colors (ribbons, balloons, signs), driving to the high school parking lot, lining up and getting the diploma through the car window. Their houses decorated to the nines, with large proud signs for their
grads - there's no other way to celebrate, no place for a party, no Project Grad night. Did they Project Grad Zoom? Or
were they stuck hanging out with the same set of folks they've been quarantining with - little brothers, parents, maybe a grandparent or two.
Oh lord, that would be a night, eh?.
In the neighborhood, one young girl stood alone in front of her garage, dressed up and spiffy, music blaring from the speakers deep in the house, as her family, friends, maybe even teachers, drove by, stopping across the street, trunks and back doors opening for the dad or brothers to collect boxes and bags decorated with balloons and wild ribbons while she stood there and waved and smiled. She had lots to smile about, her acceptance to UC Santa Cruz painted on the garage door, along with "So PROUD of YOU." But graduation night was always about being shed of your family for so many glorious night hours, out with schoolmates, whether you liked them or not, doing what all we won't mention but remember for decades.
This will be the shared experience of Graduation 2020, though - sequestered with family, Zooms and Facetime with friends. standing in the driveway, spotlighted by glancintg headlights as the sky deepens into night.
Pretty sure there'll be attempt at car-parties or something like that; everyone driving to some remote parking lot or country hangout - and if they aren't necking and kissing like they want to, then they are at least yelling and laughing and dancing on their own little square of pavement, yearning to touch ...but nervous, too.
How will we re-engage with the world, eh? One doctor, Amita Sundar, has a few ideas about what she considers safe enough theses days.Tennis makes the cut and smaller social circles. And not much else.
https://slate.com/technology/2020/06/advice-on-reopening-activies-er-doctor.html?utm_source=pocket-newtab
Tuesday, August 11, 2020
June 12, 2020 Friday - A hike out at Pt Reyes. Finally.
The State Parks are finally open and we took a long lovely hike at Drake's Estero, the first one out at Pt Reyes National Seashore in it seems like forever. At least several months. Weather was delightful and traffic light all the way out to the coast. We did use the pit toilets -- but boy howdy, there were the cleanest I've ever seen those toilets to be. Cleaner than most gas station toilets, in fact. Wind scrubbed, plenty of ventilation, a key factor in preventing the spread of Covid-19. And, I noted, no flushing. That's on the plus side, right?
 | |
| The play of rivulets across the flats. |
There's that magical sound of wind in the trees, the play of the breezes and sun on the tidal flats. So many birds, pelicans, blue herons, a troupe of youngsters getting the hang of mudding, and best of all, an otter!
There were several other hikers, pairs mostly, and we all had the courtesy of wearing our masks as we approached or passed each other. We waved briefly in greeting, nodded out heads, said a brief hello, but no one lingered to trade pleasantries or share about birds or weather. Though we did exclaim Otters! to a group with young children and pointed up the trail to indicate where we had seen one, wandering across the mud flats to the open water. We were too far to get a good pic, but you can just see the characteristic otter-shape against the greenish mud in the image to the left.
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| A brief gloss of the complex history of the different groups of peoples. |
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| Wild flowers all over! |
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| Heading back. |
Saturday, August 1, 2020
Friday, July 31, 2020
June 11, 2020 - Sarah Cooper OMG
The Guardian interviews Sarah Cooper, who lip-syncs verbatim-audioscripts of Drumpf's speech. I can't unsee this, unhear it.
Sarah Cooper --with links to the video-tweet "How to Medical," wherein UV light in the body and disinfectant become Drumpf's treatments of choice against COVID-19.
Lordy, lordy --- it's the only way I can listen to anything the Orange Headed Tweeter says.
"How To Medical" by Sarah Cooper
p.s. Check them all out.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/may/14/trump-lip-sync-video-memes-sarah-cooper-tiktoks-interview
June 10th, 2020 - What we might carry forward
What habits, what thoughts, what deeds will carry forward?
I'm curious about which of our many new 'Rona Habits we will take with us into whatever new future beckons. Will we avoid handshakes altogether - or rush back to gladhanding again, so eager to press flesh, to acknowledge another's existence? Will we become a country that casually dons masks when colds and allergies strike, doffing them when jogging at the beach?
Today I joined a friend for a long Socially Distanced walk. She told me that her brother-in-law, her sister's husband, had died two nights ago of a sudden heart attack, standing up from the tv chair, collapsing, gone. My friend's impulse was to book a flight to Oregon to be with her sister, to be the strong aunt for her two nieces and their children, to cook and organize and help with the funeral.
But the thought of traveling, of public bathrooms, of the lines in airports, of sitting so close to others on the plane, of walking past others down the aisle, of contact with the family, whom she hadn't seen for three months, of having to quarantine for two weeks before getting to hug her sister. Will these continue to be the thoughts and processes of our future?
Browsing the outdoor garden section at Ace resembled the past. But not touching something unless I intended to purchase it, never putting something back on the shelf; that's new now and may become habit. Washing my hands the minute I return to the house, before I touch anything else. Ordering takeout rather than sitting down in a restaurant.
Planning short trips - go to one store, one destination and return home, rather than the longer routes I used to design. In the Before Times, if I was going to the gym on the other side of town, I'd hit several places along the way: Acre Coffee, perhaps, or Trader Joe's and the Pet Store or Lombardi's for BBQ chicken for dinner. I'd go to the Farmers Market and drop in at Ace or the Dandy Market for spices. No longer. Now I fit all my trip between bathroom visits, which must be taken at home. Even if public bathrooms are available, would I even use them? Not yet.
Monday, July 13, 2020
June 9 2020 "Birds of North America" by Jason Ward
Jason Ward's "Birds of North America" --- check out his work, published well before the Cooper video went viral. Christian Cooper makes a few appearances in this episode, but there are many informative episodes in the series. Love the bird-nerdy talk, the trees, the great videos of the spotted birds, which helps my own process of identifying birds. And the shared knowledge of birding. Most excellent!
Interview from WBUR
https://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2020/06/09/black-birder-racism-cooper
June 8 2020 2020 - Bacon Bits; Video Links, Black Lives Matter
Happening so fast
all I can do is take notes
fingers scrabbling over laptop keys
Here are some videos that say it like it is.
by Jelani Cobb
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Direct Links in case the ones above are broken
Kimberly Jones
Trevor Noah
Mayor Muriel Bowser
June 7 "Poem for Amercia" by Jane Hirshfield, read by Amanda Palmer
Posting here below an excerpt from Maria Popova's most excellent newsletter Brain Pickings which if you don't know it already, you must investigate. This excerpt from early June hosts Amanda Palmer reading Jane Hirshfield's poem "Spell Against Hatred," as well as quotes from Annie Dillard. ~ Lakin Khan
Spell to Be Said against Hatred: Amanda Palmer Reads Poet Jane Hirshfield's Miniature Masterwork of Insistence, Persistence, and Compassionate Courage
FROM BRAINPICKINGS, JUNE 2020, by Maria Popova
It is especially in times of uncertainty, in tremulous times of fear and loss, that the curtain rises and the minstrel show resumes — a show of hate that can be as vicious and pointed as the murderous violence human beings are capable of directing at one another, or as ambient and slow-seething as the deadly disregard for the universe of non-human lives with which we share this fragile, irreplaceable planet. "We don't know where we belong," Annie Dillard wrote in her gorgeous meditation on our search for meaning, "but in times of sorrow it doesn't seem to be here, here with these silly pansies and witless mountains, here with sponges and hard-eyed birds. In times of sorrow the innocence of the other creatures — from whom and with whom we evolved — seems a mockery."
How to end the mockery and the minstrel show is what poet Jane Hirshfield — one of the most unboastfully courageous voices of our time, an ordained Buddhist, a more-than-humanitarian: a planetarian — explores in "Spell to Be Said against Hatred," a miniature masterwork of quiet, surefooted insistence and persistence. Included in the anthology Dear America: Letters of Hope, Habitat, Defiance, and Democracy (public library) alongside contributions by Jericho Brown, Ellen Bass, Naomi Shihab Nye, and Robin Wall Kimmerer, it is inhaled into life here by musician, activist, fellow more-than-humanitarian, and my darling friend Amanda Palmer.
https://soundcloud.com/brainpicker/spell-to-be-said-against-hatred
SPELL TO BE SAID AGAINST HATRED
by Jane HirshfieldUntil each breath refuses they, those, them.
Until the Dramatis Personae of the book's first page says, "Each one is you."
Until hope bows to its hopelessness only as one self bows to another. Until cruelty bends to its work and sees suddenly: I.
Until anger and insult know themselves burnable legs of a useless table.
Until the unsurprised unbidden knees find themselves bending. Until fear bows to its object as a bird's shadow bows to its bird. Until the ache of the solitude inside the hands, the ribs, the ankles. Until the sound the mouse makes inside the mouth of the cat. Until the inaudible acids bathing the coral.
Until what feels no one's weighing is no longer weightless.
Until what feels no one's earning is no longer taken.
Until grief, pity, confusion, laughter, longing know themselves mirrors.
Until by we we mean I, them, you, the muskrat, the tiger, the hunger.
Until by I we mean as a dog barks, sounding and vanishing and
sounding and vanishing completely.
Until by until we mean I, we, you, them, the muskrat, the tiger, the
hunger, the lonely barking of the dog before it is answered.
Friday, July 10, 2020
June 6 2020 Pondering the Protests
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| A sign of these times Curfews, protests, coronavirus data, parks re-opening. |
Lot of young people involved this time, yay! We need them to be engaged, we need them to vote.
People are pissed OFF about so much and this historic racial injustice has resonated with the injustice of the Administration's lack of response to the pandemic, their willingness to simply discard our lives. This is nothing new to black or brown Americans, of course, but now everyone gets to feel some of the sting of such disregard. And we want the powers-that-be to know and care about these injustices. Hooray for all the shared materials and links on how to be an Anti-racist.
People are not working or working very little. Students aren't constrained within a school. Folks and families have time on their hands. They can get to a march, they can read literature and articles by black authors, they can watch movies and documentaries that explicate the dynamics.
As I remember it, one of the forces at play in the 60's riots were the high numbers of unemployed young folks, especially young men and particularly in the industrial east and mid-west cities. The steel mills were closing, releasing thousands of young men, many who were black, for whom this job secured their economic place in the social order. Perhaps the young white men from the steel mills were able to get other gainful employment, but I'm thinking that for young black men, this was much more of a challenge. At any rate, there were a lot of young men of all persuasions in their late teens and twenties suddenly with a lot of "leisure" time. And now we have students who aren't in school, families who aren't working, jobs that can be done flexibly from home. Now people have the time and ability to protest - and they do so responsibly, too, with proper distancing, wearing masks, not whooping or hollering so much.
Tuesday, July 7, 2020
June 5 2020 - Black Birders Week!
Pretty sure you have heard of the infamous Cooper Incident in Central Park, in which Christian Cooper, a black naturalist, asked Amy Cooper, a white woman (no relationship) to leash her dog, as required in that part of the park, so as to not disturb the birds he was observing. The white woman couldn't believe that he was just observing birds and threatened him and his personal safety by calling the cops. This is not an isolated risk for black scientists conducting field research.
And so, Carina Newsome and other black scientists organized Black Birders Week. Running from May 31 - June 4, this is to educate the non-POC folks about the risks and dangers black birders and other field scientists encounter just trying to do their job or follow their interests; enjoy their love of the outdoor world, pursue a hobby: birding, jogging, geology.
Check out all the links to learn more --
BlackAFinStem - Instagram ....The Source
Various Interviews and Articles
From the Short Wave Podcast (NPR's daily science podcast) - Black Birders Week https://www.npr.org/transcripts/869052336
Interview with Corina Newsome (co-founder of Black Birders Week)
BlackAFinSTEM ...Nature on PBS
"Pelicanology" from the podcast Ologies by Alie Ward - with links to other Black Scientist groups.
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