Some of us have to go far out into the world.
Sunday, May 25, 2025. It's Sol's day . . . with rain and lots of it. Forecasts for TulseyTown indicate possible storms all day today, and tonight, ending mid morning tomorrow. Moderate Easterlies repeating swings from upper 70's to overnight low 60's. Ah, Spring in Okieland. Hidden Treasure
Hidden Treasure
You are the treasure. And the veil hiding it. – Rumi
You and I are placed in this world of hatred, violence, anger, injustice, and oppression to help transform it, transfigure it, and change it so that there will be compassion, laughter, joy, peace, reconciliation, fellowship, friendship, togetherness, and family. We are here to bring others out of exile. – Michael Battle, in Meditations, The Center for Action and Contemplation.
Regarding transformation:
Today is the day in 1961 that U.S. President John F. Kennedy, in a speech before Congress, committed the United States to land a man on the Moon “by the end of the decade.” The feat was accomplished eight years later in 1969 by Apollo 11.
The space opera set “a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away,” George Lucas' film Star Wars premiered today in 1977. It quickly became one of the most successful and transformative multimedia franchises in entertainment history.
Sir Ian McKellen turns 86 today. The multiple laureate British stage and film actor was born in 1939 Lancashire , England.
On this day in 2011 after 25 seasons, the final Opra Winfrey Show was broadcast. The show made Winfrey one of the most influential personalities, not to say the richest woman in the U.S.
Today is the birth date of Bill Robinson. The stage and film dancer known as “Mister Bojangles” was born on this day in 1878, Virginia.
Sometimes A Man Stands Up During Supper
Sometimes a man stands up during supper
and walks outdoors, and keeps on walking,
because of a church that stands somewhere in the East.
And his children say blessings on him as if he were dead.
And another man, who remains inside his own house,
dies there, inside the dishes and in the glasses,
so that his children have to go far out into the world
toward that same church, which he forgot.
—Rainer Maria Rilke, from Selected Poems of Rainer Maria Rilke, translated by Robert Bly, Harper Collins, 1981.
Does anybody even care?
Saturday, May 24, 2025. It's the Satyr's day . . . Lots of rain from thunderstorms are underway this morning in TulseyTown, as I begin the blog build. Forecasts indicate an on/off pattern of storms bridging the morning with the afternoon when moderate to strong Easterlies are to maintain 50/50 chances into the evening and into tomorrow morning with mid 70's.
All the mail this morning was soaking wet, but still readable ...
Once, an old fish met two young fish and asked “So, how’s the water today?” and the young fish responded, “Water? What's 'water'?”
Regardless of whose lips are moving in MAGA world, they're all lying, ignorant, and in denial of the damage they're doing even to themselves. —Heather Cox Richardson posted late last night in Letters From An American.
Bob Dylan is celebrating (perhaps, if celebrating is the correct term) his 84th birthday today. Labeled by many as the Shakespeare of our times, he was born in 1941 Duluth, Minnesota.
Novelist Michael Chabon turns 62 today. The author of Wonder Boys was born in 1963 Washington, D.C.
Poet, translator, essayist, playwright and Nobel laureate Joseph Brodsky was born on this day in 1940 Leningrad.
And, today in 1626, Peter Minuit bought the island of Manahatta.
Three Angels
Three angels up above the street
Each one playing a horn
Dressed in green robes with wings that stick out
They’ve been there since Christmas morn
[…]
In this concrete world full of souls
The angels play on their horns all day
The whole earth in progression seems to pass by
But does anyone hear the music they play
Does anyone even try?
– Bob Dylan, “Three Angels,” recorded by Big Sky Music, 1970.
O you chaotic moon . . .
Friday, May 23, 2025. It's Freya's day . . . and moderate Easterlies continue to bring clouds and thunderstorm chances – about 40% – to TulseyTown this afternoon and another mid 70's day. The weatherfeather indicates a 70% liklihood of storms this evening and tonight.
The Supreme Court by a 4-4 decision yesterday left in place a lower court ruling in a case involving taxpayer dollars to directly fund religious schools -- meaning that the lower court's rule finding such funding unconstitutional will stand. The religious right and Christian-nationalist organizations believed that this was their best opportunity to drive a stake through the heart of our secular school system. But this outcome means that the separation of church and state in our public schools is safe… for now.
Highlighting a truism: In the United States, racism has always gone hand in hand with the concentration of wealth among the very richest people. – Heather Cox Richardson, in yesterday's Letters From An American.
The author of the classic children's book Goodnight Moon: Margaret Wise Brown, was born today in 1910 Brooklyn, New York.
It's the birthday of Edward Norton Lorenz, born in 1917 West Hartford, Connecticut. He penned chaos theory, one of the 20th century's most revolutionary scientific ideas, sometimes known as "the butterfly effect: "Does the flap of a butterfly's wings in Brazil set off a tornado in Texas?" From my take on chaos, the answer would have to be: maybe. You’d have to be in two places at once with an impossibly long ruler. It could be said that chaos created Lorenz since his discovery of it was, in his words, “by accident.”
And its the birthday of Jane Kenyon. The poet was born in 1947 Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Briefly It Enters, and Briefly Speaks
I am the blossom pressed in a book,
found again after two hundred years ....
[...]
I am the one whose love
overcomes you, already with you
when you think to call my name ....
– Jane Kenyon, “Briefly It Enters, and Briefly Speaks” from The Boat of Quiet Hours, Graywolf Press, 1986.