The ghosts of Matt Brady . . .
Friday, March 28, 2025. It's Frigg's (Freya's) day . . . a cloudy, Springtime rainy day for TulseyTown.
This is the human situation: We often see others through our prior experiences and expectations. We are so mesmerized by these ghostly images that we don’t really encounter each other. Memory ghosts can be so dense and murky that we can’t see through them, forming a protective shell that makes us feel disconnected from life. – Tim Burkett, Zen In The Age Of Anxiety, Shambhala, 2018.
Today is the birthday of novelist Nelson Algren. The multiple award laureate was born in 1909 Detroit, Michigan
Another literary laureate, Russell Banks shares this date. The poet, novelist, and short-story writer (The Sweet Hereafter) was born in1940 Newton, Massachusetts
[T]he goal of those currently in power was never simply to change the policies or the personnel of the U.S. government. Their goal is to dismantle the central pillars of the United States of America. That is exactly what they are trying to do. – Heather Cox Richardson, in Letters From An Amercan, 3.27.25.
Trump understands his vulnerability: The rule of law can still hold him accountable. That’s why he’s attacking it on all fronts. That’s why it’s so important that the lawyers are pushing back. – Joyce Vance, in Civil Discourse, 3.28.25.
[T]he more Trump’s policies hurt his followers, the more likely they are to cling to him. – Chauncey DeVega, in Salon, 3.27.25
Mat Brady's Ghosts
Xmas trees – the furry-skinny General Douglas kind –
lying on the ground in the flat fat cold rain
like dead soldiers waiting to be identified;
like dead soldiers ordered into cord-rows waiting
to be claimed by a child,
a mother, a dad, a friend,
a wife, a lover.
Anyone.
Anyone: Their claim would make it worthwhile –
All the waiting and lying around in the flat fat cold rain;
all the ordering into rows,
even the anonymity –
even the like dead soldiers death.
– james allen bethel, “Matt Brady's Ghosts,” Halloween Songs, in search of a publisher.