Music, for many ears …

It's Freya's day . . . and, appropriately, Yang continues under Yin's influence to deconstruct the patriarchy …

Taylor Swift reclaiming the term "childless cat lady" … deftly mocked what scares and enrages MAGA men most: women who don't care what they think. – Amanda Marcotte

The MAGA crowd is fragmenting into flotsam and jetsam after Trump's disastrous “debate” with Harris. The increase in voter registrations after Swift’s endorsement of Harris is reportedly bigger than what we saw after the Dobbs decision in 2022, and who would have thought Marjory Taylor Greene would fall in the “more restrained” category? – Heather Cox Richardson, Letters from An American.

Notable birthdates today

The author of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and James and the Giant Peach, Roald Dahl was born in 1916 Llandaff, Wales.

The “father of bluegrass,” Bill Monroe was born in 1911, Rosine, Kentucky.

Composer Arnold Schoenberg was born in 1874, Vienna, Austria.

Quietly in a Wild Place

If you sit quietly

in a wild place and listen,

you may hear a poem,

the same one written

for millions of years.

Without rhyme nor words

sung in a harmony

bringing any human witness

to tears.

– jab

What is love asking?

It's Thor's day . . . Summer heat makes an encore for us in Okieland. We don’t seem to be applauding.

The imagery of the 9/11 attacks remains indelible, even as yesterday, which marked 23 years since a cloudless morning in New York became a nightmare that shook this country to the core and altered the fate of millions around the world.

By 2pm yesterday, Taylor Swift’s endorsement of Harris/Walz prompted 337,826 people to start the process of registering to vote. – Heather Cox Richardson, Letters from An American.

Today in 1940, the cave at Lascaux was discovered. Since its discovery the cave and its drawings have been deteriorating, in spite of and arguably caused by conflicting human attempts to save it while monetizing it.

Breaking the silence.

What is Love Asking from Us? Reflections on Palestine and the Bodhisattva Path with Tara Brach & Gabor Mate. Speaking truth is not taking sides.

Swiftly flows the Watercourse

It's Odin's day . . .

Re: yesterday's post brought this in today's mailbox from Mirabai Starr:

We are drifting away from the safe shores of organized religion and we are drifting in droves...we are no longer in the mood for religious language and not falling for their absolute proclamations. And yet, we are not giving up ... We may be deconstructing the institutions, but ... In increasing numbers, we are daring to name ourselves: we are spiritual but not religious.

There is no mountaintop. There is no yogi. There is only beautiful you, taking out the compost and changing the tire, paying your internet bill and submitting your business plan. The to-do list is written in a secret code. If you look closely, you will see the divine name forming in the smoke rising from the very thing you didn’t get done. Spirit is everywhere, permeating everything. – Mirabai Starr, Ordinary Mysticism.

[T]he circumstances for studying philosophy in a college or university setting are in the midst of great change, if not dying out altogether. – Joseph M Keegin

In case you were wondering this morning . . . On a “happiest” list of the 50 states, Okieland ranked 43rd.

And, immediately after last night's “debate,” Taylor Swift instagrammed her 280,000,000 (no, that's not a typo) followers that she was going to vote for Kamela Harris and Tim Walz.