Throwing rocks at a falling sky…
Saturday, February 22, 2025. It's the Satyr's day . . . and TulseyTown will rise above freezing in about half an hour at 11 a.m.
Would it make more sense if I paid less attention to the news?
Documenting the Trump disaster. – Heather Cox Richardson, in Letters From An American.
“If you think I’m overreacting and sounding the alarm too soon, consider this: It took the Nazis one month, three weeks, two days, eight hours and 40 minutes to dismantle a constitutional republic. All I’m saying is when the five-alarm fire starts to burn, every good person better be ready to man a post with a bucket of water if you want to stop it from raging out of control.” – Illinois governor J.B. Pritzker, cited by Ms. Richardson further documenting the ongoing destruction.
In contrast, consider that the first President of The United States of America, George Washington was born on this date in 1732, Westmoreland county, Virginia.
And, the first woman Pulitzer Prize laurate for poetry, Edna St. Vincent Millay, was born on this date in 1892 Rockland, Maine.
The courage that my mother had
The courage that my mother had
went with her, and is with her still:
Rock from New England quarried;
now granite in a granite hill.
[…]
Oh, if instead she’d left to me
the thing she took into the grave!—
That courage like a rock, which she
has no more need of, and I have.
– Edna St. Vincent Millay, “The courage that my mother had” from Collected Poems. 1954.
The loving gift . . .
Friday, February 21, 2025. It's Frigg's (Freya's) day … and the Arctic grip on TulseyTown for the past several days is easing. Forecasts indicate a 32º day with lots of sunshine. The downside: lots of melting is likely to set us up for black ice with well below freezing tonight.
Gift yourself a little no-thing-ness somewhere in each day. All your creativity arises from there.
The books or the music in which we thought the beauty was located...was not in them, it only came through them … For they are not the thing itself; they are only the scent of a flower we have not found, the echo of a tune we have not heard, news from a country we have never visited. – C.S. Lewis
Today is the 118th anniversary of W.H. Auden's birth. The poet, playwright, critic, and librettist, who remains generally considered as the greatest English poet of the twentieth century, was born in 1907 York, England.
It's also the birth date of Anaïs Nin. The French/American diarist, novelist and short story writer was born on this day in 1903 Neuilly, France.
The More Loving One
Looking up at the stars, I know quite well
That, for all they care, I can go to hell,
But on earth indifference is the least
We have to dread from man or beast.
How should we like it were stars to burn
With a passion for us we could not return?
If equal affection cannot be,
Let the more loving one be me.
Admirer as I think I am
Of stars that do not give a damn,
I cannot, now I see them, say
I missed one terribly all day.
Were all stars to disappear or die,
I should learn to look at an empty sky
And feel its total dark sublime,
Though this might take me a little time.
– W. H. Auden, “The More Loving One,” from Homage to Clio. Random House.1960.
Sea changes . . .
Thursday, February 20, 2025. It's Thor's day … and TulseyTown is still covered with a hard freeze. The mailbox was near frozen shut at dawn when the temperature was 3º with a wind-chill at -12º below. As I write at 10 a.m. the sun is out but the day ahead is forecasted to reach only 21º. My porch and sidewalk need a shovel for the postal service. Maybe tomorrow before I venture out.
Today, in 1872 the Metropolitan Museum of Art opened in New York City. “The MEt” is the largest and most comprehensive art museum in New York City and one of the foremost in the world.
In 1877 Tchaikovsky's ballet Swan Lake had its premier performance on this date by the Imperial Ballet in Moscow.
And today in 1902 Ansel Adams was born in San Francisco. Hands down, he was the most important landscape photographer of the 20th century.
The past week has solidified a sea change in American—and global—history. – Heather Cox Ricardson at Letters From An American.
Islands of Coherence in a Sea of Chaos
...Small areas of coherence have the potential to shift an entire system toward a higher order, so that even in turbulent environments, small groups or initiatives focused on positive change can inspire a wider transformation...Poet and author Clarissa Pinkola Estés, who famously said, “We were born for these times,” also says, “One of the most calming and powerful actions you can do to intervene in a stormy world is to stand up and show your soul. Struggling souls catch light from other souls who are fully lit and willing to show it.” – Lynne Twist, Wednesday Wisdom, Soul of Money Institute.
Our Real Work
It may be that when we no longer know what to do
we have come to our real work,
and that when we no longer know which way to go
we have come to our real journey.
The mind that is not baffled is not employed.
The impeded stream is the one that sings.
– Wendell Berry, “Our Real Work,” Standing by Words. North Point Press. 1984.