The distrust of educated independent minds . . .
Saturday, August 2, 2025. It's the Satyr's day . . . Northeasterlies are forecasted to bring back some sunshine amidst some clouds over TulseyTown today. A cool morning and warm afternoon.
You think your pain and your heartbreak are unprecedented in the history of the world, but then you read. [Then you discover] that the things that torment the most [are] the very things that connect [us] with all the people who are alive, who have ever been alive.”
―James Baldwin, quote from a profile interview for LIFE magazine, published in 1963.
… while the job numbers have looked good, in fact the economy has been weakening for months . . . Predictably, Trump lashed out. – Heather Cox Richardson, in Letters From An American, posted last night.
Isabel Allende turns 83 today. The sometimes “magical realist” novelist was born in 1942 Lima, Peru.
Mary-Louise Parker is 61 today. The multi laureate award winning actor was born in 1964, Fort Jackson, South Carolina. She's a product of the North Carolina School for the Arts.
Today is also the birthdate of Peter O’Toole. Another laureate award actor, he was born in 1932, Leeds, Yorkshire, England.
And, it's James Baldwin's birthday. The essayist, novelist, and playwright was born in 1924 poverty-stricken Harlem, New York.
“It is very nearly impossible to become an educated person in a country so distrustful of the independent mind.”
―James Baldwin, essay in The Creative Process, UCLA, 1963.
Praising art monsters . . .
Friday, August 1, 2025. It's Fria's (Frigg's) day . . .A good four-hour visited rain TulseyTown this morning. Forecasts indicate Northerlies with cloudy and much cooler conditions throughout the weekend and for the first few days of the coming week before the heat dome returns.
Nearly everything we are taught is false except how to read. – Jim Harrison
Novelist Herman Melville was born on this day in New York City (1819
Keeping track of Trump's narcicissm. – Heather Cox Richardson, in yesterday evening's Letters From An American.
A tragic moment for the judiciary.-- Joyce Vance, Civil Discourse, 7.31.25.
Happy U.S. birthday, Colorado.
In Praise of Art Monsters. – Sophie Strand, in Make Me Good Soil, 8.1.25.
Another Country
I love these raw moist dawns with
a thousand birds you hear but can't
quite see in the mist.
My old alien body is a foreigner
struggling to get into another country.
The loon call makes me shiver.
Back at the cabin I see a book
and am not quite sure what that is.
– Jim Harrison, "Another Country" from Dead Man’s Float. Copper Canyon Press, 2016.
Joy is coming . . .
Thursday, July 31, 2025. It's Thor's day . . . Much cooler days are under way in TulseyTown. Moderate Northerlies brought light rain to the morning and are forecasted to maintain cloudy skies until tomorrow evening. A preview of September? Heat indices are indicated to be in the 90's along with high humidity. The heat dome is to return Tuesday.
“Publishing a book of poetry is like dropping a rose petal down the Grand Canyon and waiting for the echo.”
― Don Marquis.
J.K. Rowling turns 60 today. The Harry Potter author was born in 1965 Yate, Gloucestershire, England.
A fave of mine, poet and novelist Kim Addonizio turns 71 today (gasp!). The born in Washington, D.C. (1954).
. . . six months into the second Trump administration, on the sixtieth anniversary of the law that symbolized the modern American state by establishing Medicare and Medicaid, it’s clear we are indeed in a revolution designed to destroy the government we have known in favor of the radical right-wing government envisioned by those who wrote Project 2025. – Heather Cox Richardson, in Letters From An American.
How we lose it all. – Robert Reich, What fascist control looks like. Online, 7.31.25.
A “you're welcome” note to Okieland from Gavin Newsom’’…
California sent $83 billion more than they received to the federal government.
That means red states that receive more than they send rely on California for critical dollars from the federal government that help fund education, healthcare and — apparently — this new tax break supported by Oklahoma Republicans.
This isn’t the people of Oklahoma’s fault. It’s irresponsible Republican legislators and governors like Stitt who are so used to California paying for their necessities, they decide to give the money they have to rich folks instead of investing in their people and their needs. You're welcome, I guess... Gavin Newsom, from an email left over in my mailbox over the past weekend.
It is worth recalling that Oklahoma voters – that would be some of your neighbors and maybe even you – are responsible for putting the present governor and legislators into office.
Some events are better experienced than explained. Take soul. Your joy is your job. And yours alone. – Samantha Thornhill, “38. Shedding The Old.” The Academy of American Poets, 7.31.25.
. . . if you swam across a river under rain sang
using a dildo for a microphone stayed up
to watch the moon eat the sun entire
ripped out the stitches in your heart
because why not if you think nothing &
no one can / listen I love you joy is coming
– Kim Addonizio, “To the Woman Crying Uncontrollably in the Next Stall.” Now We're Getting Somewhere. W.W. Norton, 2021.