The calendar begins to say summer . . .
Wednesday, May 20, 2026. It's Odin's day . . . Rain and clouds are in the forecasts for the next ten days for Green Country and TulseyTown. Storm chances range from 20 to 30%. The sun appears to have taken a holiday until July 4th.
Thank You, Stephen Colbert. – Robert Reich
A nationwide coalition of district attorneys has come together to protect polling places from federal agents sent to carry out voter intimidation. – Miles Taylor, at Defiance 5.19.26
Almost as good as a pardon. – Joyce Vance, in Civil Discourse.
Yesterday was the 8th wedding anniversary of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.
Just As The Calendar Began To Say Summer
I went out of the schoolhouse fast
and through the gardens and the wood,
and spent all summer forgetting what I'd been taught --
two times two, and diligence,
and so forth,
how to be modest and useful, and how to succeed
and so forth.
By fall I had healed somewhat, but was summoned back
to the chalky rooms and the desks, to sit and remember
the way the river kept rolling its pebbles,
the way the wild wrens sang though they hadn't a penny
in the bank,
the way the flowers were dressed in nothing but light.
– Mary Oliver, “Just As The Calendar Began To Say Summer,” from Devotions, Penguin Books 2020.
The buzzzz . . .
Tuesday, May 19, 2026. It's Tiw's day . . . A rainy day in Green Country. Morning thunderstorms give way to strong Northerlies and cloudy skies this afternoon. Forecasts for TulseyTown indicate tempertures falling throught the day into the 50's by sundown.
To be a writer is to write: To struggle through writing and editing, through periods where there is no inspiration. To outsource it to a machine or another person is a lie. A falsehood. A fraud.
Joyce Vance and Andrew Weissmann discuss the liars among us on Civil Discourse. A worthy half hour.
This week, the U.S. Senate will stage an argument so absurd it will be talked about for a thousand years. – Miles Taylor, Definance, 5.18.26
Trump's GOP is now a criminal enterprise. – Robert Reich, No Purpose But, 5.18.26
The United States of America was not founded as a Christian nation. The Founders were quite clear about that. Was not, is not. – Heather Cox Richardson, in Letters From An American.
Today is the birthday of Malcolm X, born in 1925, Omaha, Nebraska.
And, Blues musician Taj Mahal is 84 today. Born Henry St. Claire Fredericks Jr. in 1942 Harlem, New York. He grew up in Springfield, Massachusetts.
A queen bee buzzing its way in the streets of New Orleans.
The consequental “this.”
Monday, May 18, 2026. It's the Moon's day . . . A mid-80% chance for thunderstorms is in the forecasts for Green Country overnight tonight. Ahead of the storms, TusleyTown is to feel strong Southerlies beginning in the near 90º cloudy afternoon.
Some of the most consequential international work in America happens nowhere near Washington.
You can see it in play for yourself if you move your butt quickly: late this morning — Monday, May 18— at the OU Schusterman campus near 41st and Yale here in Tulsa. Richard Shackleton, the new British Consul General will be the guest of former Tulsa mayor Rodger Randle's Town Hall and public-policy series. The event starts at around 11:30 a.m. Doors open at 11. Apologies for the short notice. The event is free and open to the public. Find the main parking lot and look for direction signs (so I'm told). I'm indebted to my intellectual brother-from-another-mother, Ray Pearcey for this announcement.
The week ahead. – Joyce Vance, in Civil Discourse.
The madman in charge. – Robert Reich, Sunday Thought. 5.17.26
Today is the birthday of Bertrand Russell. The Nobel Prize philosopher was .born in 1872, Trelleck, Monmouthshire, Wales.
St. John Paul II was born on this day in 1920, Wadowice, Poland. Head of the Roman Catholic Church, from 1978 to 2005. He was the first non-Italian pope in 455 years.
And it's the birthdate of one of the major influencers on the development of modern architecture, Walter Gropius. The architect, educator and director of the Bauhaus (1919–28), was born in 1883, Berlin, Germany.
The actress, comedian, entrepreneur Tina Fey is 56 today, born in 1970, Upper Darby, Pennsylvania .
Three-time winner of the Academy Award for Directing, Frank Capra was born on this day in 1897 Bisacquino, Sicily.
And, today in 1980, Mount St. Helens in Washington state erupted in one of the greatest volcanic explosions ever recorded in North America.
Practicing “just this.” – Fr. Richard Rohr, Meditations, The Center for Action and Meditation.