“The witch of November”

In Freya's mailbox this lovely Fall morning in Okieland . . .

The stuff of banana republics: a menu for the end of democracy.

We all know the story about Ben Franklin emerging from the Constitutional Convention and telling a woman who asked what type of government they’d created, “a Republic, if you can keep it.” The 2024 election is the moment where we find out if we can. If Trump wins in 2024, we lose the Republic. That’s not drama, and that’s not overstatement. That’s what Trump is promising. – Joyce Vance in a must read post.

Today marks the 540th anniversary of the birth of Martin Luther. The German theologian was born on this date in 1483 Eisleben, Saxony, now in modern Germany. Aided by Gutenberg's new printing press, Luther set in motion the Protestant Reformation in 16th-century Europe and forever changed Christianity.

In 1975, the “Witch of November” came early as The American freighter Edmund Fitzgerald sank during a storm on Lake Superior, killing all 29 aboard. The event prompted Gordon Lightfoot to write and record his now famous ballad.

On this date in 1969 The American children's TV series Sesame Street debuted on the National Educational Television network (later PBS). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sesame_Street

And, the poet Vachel Lindsay was born on this date in 1879 Springfield, Illinois

Abraham Lincoln Walks at Midnight

It is portentous, and a thing of state

That here at midnight, in our little town

A mourning figure walks, and will not rest,

Near the old court-house pacing up and down,

...

It breaks his heart that things must murder still,

That all his hours of travail here for men

Seem yet in vain. And who will bring white peace

That he may sleep upon his hill again?

— Vachel Lindsay (poem in public domain)