Giant footsteps . . .

t's Odin's day. And, speaking of giants, its the day of James Baldwin's birth. The novelist, essayist, and activist author was born on this day in 1924 Harlem, New York.

As we walk The Way, let us not look up so much at the destination, high above in the mist, but carefully place one foot in front of the other. – Andrew Olendzki

After yesterday's post re: “More Yang bias in the historical record . . . no surprise” I opened a new email that extended the screed. It was posted by Aeon on the historial marginalizion of women in analytic philosophy. It could be applied to any conceivable arena of human activity. Not to beg the issue (beat another dead horse?) but...as we know “history is writ by them who done the hangin,” meaning in our time “white male academicians.” That said, the matter for contemplation is who are all those folks on the margins and why are they there?

What is it that we don't know that our ignorant/unrecognized biases has marginalized? I think this question drives the explosion of the narrative memoir . . . if not this blog.

My bones sense that the combination of quantum computing and AI is likely to rewrite everything we think we know. Which might be a good thing. Or not. Which is a much longer essay than even the Aeon post. https://aeon.co/essays/the-lost-women-of-early-analytic-philosophy

“What matters is the transformative power of metaphor and the stories we tell ourselves about the arc and meaning of our lives. . . .To survive trauma one must be able to tell a story about it ”
― Natasha Trethewey, Memorial Drive: A Daughter's Memoir

Go Tell It on the Mountain – James Baldwin, whose birthday was celebrated yesterday.

Said Mrs. Blake of the poet:

I miss my husband's company – he is so often in paradise.

Of course the path to heaven doesn't lie down in flat miles.

It's in the imagination and gestures with which you honor it.

– Mary Oliver, “The Swan,” The House of Light, Beacon Press; Later Printing edition (April 8, 1992)

Surprise! No suprise . . .

In Tew's Day's mailbox . . .

More Yang bias. . . no surprise. . . in the historical record.

Today is the 205th anniversary of Maria Mitchell's birth. The first acknowledged female astronomer was born on the island of 1818 Nantucket in Massachusetts. See also, Maria Popova's feature in The Marginalian

Before examining the complicated flotsam and jetsam notes left in the eddies:

Best to learn how to read the love letters

send by the wind and rain

the snow and moon – Zen master Ekkyu

A book must be the axe for the frozen sea inside us – Franz Kazfka, Letter to Oskar Pollak (27 January 1904)

Speaking of frozen seas: Herman Melville was born on this day in 1819 in New York City.

[We are] to listen to the cloud floating by and the wind blowing by.

Everything is alive and has its own consciousness. – Lakota elder Tiokasin Ghosthorse

Advantage: Earth

With a full moon pending on this Moon-day, a cloud cover over TulseyTown is holding temps down this morning ahead of a promised return of even more heat this afternoon — and the A/C has quit while the laundry beckons. Magic is called for.

Today is the birthday of J.K. Rowling. The British author of the "Harry Potter" series was born in Yate, near Bristol, in 1965.

"Mother Jones"was born 186 years ago today to a tenant farmer in 1837 Cork, Ireland.

Every moment by moment instant is a series of miracles, but we’re so used to them that we call them everyday things. – Hans Christian Andersen

When we defy nature, it rarely works to our advantage: Essay on the evolution of The Watercourse Way (my title for Jeff Krasno’s post today) .

The Way cannot be told,

Lao Tsu told, said only in simile

and only as Yang –

one true metaphor.

The Way, the is-ness, of things

“is” as water flows.

Water flows in one direction:

Its direction.

— jb