Extraordinary heroes . . .
Monday, January 19, 2026. It's the Moon's day . . . and it is a new moon as the earth is hiding the sun's light. One might think the sun is hiding from TulseyTown today as Winter takes hold. Forecasts indicate a cloudy day with moderate to strong Northerlies holding temperatures to near freezing all the long day, with a slight chance for some snow. Milder conditions return tomorrow. Snow is forecast likely for Friday and Saturday.
People are wrong to say that we have no heroes left. Just as they have always been, they are all around us, choosing to do the right thing, no matter what. As a reminder, today is Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. – Heather Cox Richardson, in Letters From An American, 1.19.26..
This week could become an extraordinary moment in American history....Trump seems to be on course to become the first President to direct the use of U.S. military forces against American citizens during peacetime. – Joyce Vance, The Week Ahead, in Civil Discourse, 1.19.26.
Today is the birthdate of Paul Cézanne. Born in 1839, Aix-en-Provence, France, he challenged all the conventional values of painting in the 19th century
Dolly Parton is 80 today. She was born in 1946, Locust Ridge, Tennessee.
Janis Joplin, another singer/songwriter from outside the box, was born on this day in 1943, Port Arthur, Texas, as well, a home town for me for a few years during my teaching years. In her short time, she was often called the original queen of rock and roll.
And, the poet Edgar Allan Poe was born on this day in 1809, Boston, Massachusetts.
A correct view of human nature must be rooted in a recognition of our ongoing relationship with the anima mundi, of how fully our lives are entangled with one another, with the stand of oaks, the night herons, the marginalized, the brokenhearted. – Francis Weller, Notes On Living Through Uncertainty, in The Marginalian.
All My Heroes
All my heroes slain by a culture
they dared occupy as a truly
free person in love with everyone.
My culture demands everything
and everyone fit into a compartment –
a defined box not to be stepped beyond.
Artists, poets, musicians, painters,
seers, prophets calling for justice
from a platform of love
even when sounding like rage
have never been beyond those
with eyes to see, ears to hear.
We can get beyond where we are now
but we cannot prescribe nor predict
what lies beyond the horizon.
We could act from the Truth of Love
with the awareness of the risk implied
by trusting one another.
That day will come. But the price
will be high and we are still arguing
about who will pay the greater share.
The real heroes live now among us
and will not be recognized
until they've left us.
That's how frightened we are
inside the boxes we continue to build
for everyone, including ourselves.
– jab
That said, there will come a light on a clear blue morning.
A stranger inside us . . .
Sunday, January 18, 2026. It's Sol's day . . . and after a bone-chilling cold start to the day, Southerlies return to TulseyTown. Forecasts indicate a sunny afternoon near 50º.
In the mailbox today . . .
Today is the birthdate of A.A. Milne, born in 1882, London, England. He was the originator of the immensely popular stories of Christopher Robin and his toy bear, Winnie-the-Pooh; It's also the birthday of Cary Grant, born in 1904, Bristol, Gloucestershire, England; Kevin Costner is 71 today. The Academy Award laureate was was born in 1955, Lynwood, California; and Mark Rylance is 66 today. The multiple award laureate actor was born in 1960, Ashford, Kent, England.
A howl of frustration on the part of a mad dictator. – Heather Cox Richardson, in Letters From An American.
Its time, again, for “good trouble.” – Robert Reich, Sunday Thought, 1.18.26
Prayer For An Invitation
I pray for you, world
to come and find me …
I pray to understand
the stranger inside me ...
– David Whyte, “Prayer for an Invitation,” published in The Bell and The Blackbird, Many Rivers Press, 2018.
Celebrating forgetfulness . . .
Saturday, January 17, 2026. It's the Satyr's day . . . Strong Norterlies make for a blustery cold day in TulseyTown. Sunshine will share itself with a few clouds and low 40's. Wind chill this morning was in the 20's. By evening forecasts indicate the chill to be in the teens.
When you realy “don't know,” , , , what happens?
Enlightenment isn’t something we march toward, and one day, somehow, we grab it. Enlightenment is the ending in yourself of that hope for something other than life being as it is. . .now. – Charlotte Joko Beck, “Just Snow, Just Now,” Tricycle.
Today is Benjamin Franklin's birthday. He was born in 1706, Boston, Massachusetts.
The term military-industrial complex was first used by U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower in his Farewell Address today in 1961.
The calmness of television new anchors is teaching all of us not to feel the horror we are witnessing. – David Ignatow, “A First On TV (for Walter Cronkite).” The complete poem, originally published in Poems 1934–1969, Wesleyan University Press,1970, is available online only on audio.
The madness of King Trump. – Heather Cox Richardson, in Letters From An American.
A society must assume that it is stable, but the artist must know, and he must let us know, that there is nothing stable under heaven. – James Baldwin in The Price of the Ticket, reckoning with the immense creative process that is humanity,
And, today is the birthday of William Stafford. The poet – on my very best list – was born in 1914 Hutchinson, Kansas.
At the Un-National Monument along the Canadian Border
This is the field where the battle did not happen,
where the unknown soldier did not die.
This is the field where grass joined hands,
where no monument stands,
and the only heroic thing is the sky.
Birds fly here without any sound,
unfolding their wings across the open.
No people killed—or were killed—on this ground
hallowed by neglect and an air so tame
that people celebrate it by forgetting its name.
– William Stafford, “At the Un-National Monument along the Canadian Border” is from The Way It Is: New & Selected Poems. Graywolf Press 1998.