Old School . . .

Tuesday, October 28, 2025. It's Tiw's day . . . Strong Northerlies and rain are in the forecasts for TulseyTown today and tonight with a cool afternoon in the upper 50's.

Collapsollogy: A reading list. – Sophie Strand, Make Me Good Soil, 10.27.2025

Robert Reich raises an interesting question: Is Elon worth it? 10.28.25

Speaking of billionaires: Microsoft founder Bill Gates turns 70 today. He was born in 1955 Seattle, Washington.

It's John Locke's birthdate. The English philosopher and inspirer of both the European Enlightenment and the Constitution of the United States was born on this day in 1632, Wrington, Somerset, England.

Two years after Locke was born, Harvard University was founded in 1636 Cambridge, Massachusetts, about 16 years after Pilgrim's landed near Plymouth Rock.

The Statue of Liberty was officially dedicated on this day in 1886 New York harbor.

Kite

...a poem is a kite without a string –

flying above all that would insist

on extending fear from some wherever

to some other place claiming freedom.

– jab

Fooled by darkness . . .

Monday, October 27, 2025. It's the Moon's day . . . waxing in the darkness. Easy breezes maintain cloud cover over TulseyTown today, with upper 60’s this afternoon. Colder with Northerlies and more rain likely tomorrow.

It may be that when we no longer know which way to go we have come to our real journey. – Wendell Berry

We have to let go of the belief that what we can see and touch and name is more real and more relevant than what’s not visible. – Vanessa Zuisei Goddard, “Signs of the Unseen” Tricycle, Winter 2024.

Only about 5% of the universe is made up of visible or "normal" matter—this includes everything we can see, such as stars, planets, and galaxies. The remaining 95% consists of dark matter (about 27%) and dark energy (about 68%), which are both invisible and detected only through their gravitational and cosmological effects – Astronomy, September, 2025.

Three poets share today's birthdate . . .

The poet Dylan Thomas was born on this day in 1914 Swansea, Wales; Sylvia Plath was born in 1932 Boston, Massachusetts; and Katherine Harris Bradley, was born in 1846 Birmingham, England. She wrote under the pseudonym Michael Field.

Winning in the face of terrible times. – Robert Reich, Sunday Thought, posted 10.26.25

The Week Ahead – Joyce Vance, Civil Discourse.

Joyce Vance and Heather Cox Richardson join online this afternoon at 4pm Eastern.

Embracing the uncertainty makes physicians better. – Zoe Cunniffe, “Learning Not To Know,” in Aeon, 10.23.25

I would like to learn, or remember, how to live...I don’t think I can learn from a wild animal how to live in particular..but I might learn something of mindlessness, something of the purity of living in the physical sense and the dignity of living without bias or motive. – Annie Dillard, “What A Weasel Knows,” in Maria Popova's Marginalian, 10.14.25

"Waste no more time arguing about what a good man should be. Be one!" – Marcus Aurelius

Are we gonna be fooled again?

Goodness speaks amid spite. . .

Sunday, October 26, 2025. It's Sol's day . . . The rain of the past few days in TulseyTown have begun to ease, as have the winds. Forecasts indicate a 50/50 chance for more showers on this cloudy day with low 60's this afternoon.

Do not doubt your own basic goodness. In spite of all confusion and fear, you are born with a heart that knows what is just, loving, and beautiful. – Jack Cornfield

Here’s Joyce Vance's Sunday Morning Wrap-up, in Civil Discourse.

What are we doing? Heather Cox Richardson wants to know in her Letters From An American.

In other doings . . .

The Erie Canal opened today in 1825.

Hillary Clinton turns 78 today. She was born in 1947 Chicago.

Gospel singer Mahalia Jackson was born on this day in 1911 New Orleans.

Today is the 144th anniversary of the infamous gunfight at the O.K. Corral in 1881Tombstone, Arizona.

Requiem – David Whyte, Pilgrim, Many Rivers Press, 2012.

Prayer

It doesn't have to be
the blue iris, it could be
weeds in a vacant lot, or a few
small stones; just pay attention,

then patch a few words together

and don't try to make them elaborate,

this isn't a contest

but the doorway into thanks,

and a silence in which
another voice may speak.

– Mary Oliver, “Prayer,”in Thirst, Beacon Press, 2006.