Almost human . . .
Friday, March 27, 2026. It's Freya's (Frigg's) day . . . Cloudy, strong gusty Northerlies may bring a stray thunderstorm to Green country today. Forecasts for TulseyTown indicate a chilly afternoon in the upper 50's.
When “purpose” gets reduced to “passion,” “job title,” or “grand destiny,” it stops being valuable, and starts becoming unreachable. There’s no deadline for becoming who you are.
The inner child, with the inclination for loving-kindness, lives on within each of us.
The Kennedy Center is giving Bill Maher the Mark Twain Prize in a ceremony on June 28. Notified of the award to come, Maher remarked ““I’d just like to say that it is indeed humbling to get anything named for a man who’s been thrown out of as many school libraries as Mark Twain.”
The bedfellows: Wealth and politics. – Robert Reich, A Deeper Logic. 3.26.26
Quentin Tarantino is 62 today. The multi-laureate film writer, director, and producer was born in 1963, Knoxville, Tennessee.
Mariah Carey is 57. The five-octave popular singer was born today in 1969, Huntington, New York.
Julia Alvarez turns 76 today. The poet, novelist, essayist was born in 1950 New York City.
And, Pulitzer Prize poet Louis Simpson was born on this day in 1923 Kingston, Jamaica.
American Poetry
Whatever it is, it must have
A stomach that can digest
Rubber, coal, uranium, moons, poems.
Like the shark it contains a shoe.
It must swim for miles through the desert
Uttering cries that are almost human.
– Lous Simpson, “American Poetry” in The Owner of the House: New Collected Poems, 1940-2001. BOA Editions, Ltd. 2003.
Myths, treason, and cats on roofs . . .
Thursday, March 26, 2026. It's Thor's day . . . the heat dome remains over Green Country. Forecasts for TulseyTown indicate a record-setting hot day in the 90's with strong, gusty Southerlies after noon.
The genuine path of unminding is not a religion for the immature – Zen Master Fen-yang.
The suspicious timing of trades in S&P 500 and oil futures on Monday about fifteen minutes before Trump announced his team had been negotiating with Iran—although it hadn’t—has raised public accusations of insiders trading on national security information and thereby endangering Americans. – Heather Cox Richardson, in Letters From An American posted for today.
Liability judgments and warning labels are not enough to protect children from becoming addicted to social media. – Robert Reich, substack, 3.26.26
More birthdates of note . . .
Erica Jong is 84 today, born in 1942 New York City. Since Fear of Flying, Jong has written 20 more books — nonfiction, fiction, and poetry.
Richard Dawkins is 85 born in 1941, Nairobi, Kenya. He is a British evolutionary biologist, ethologist, and popular-science writer who emphasized the gene as the driving force of evolution and generated significant controversy with his enthusiastic advocacy of atheism.
Nancy Pelosi is 86 today. She was born in 1940, Baltimore, Maryland.
It's also the birthdate of the first woman to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court, Sandra Day O’Connor. She was born in 1930, El Paso, Texas.
Mythologist Joseph Campbell (The Hero’s Journey) was born on this day in 1904, New York City.
American dramatist Tennessee Williams was born today in 1911, Columbus, Mississippi.
And, Robert Frost was born in 1874, San Francisco, California He was the most highly honored American poet of the 20th century, receiving the Pulitzer Prize for poetry four times.
Good Hours
I had for my winter evening walk—
No one at all with whom to talk,
But I had the cottages in a row
Up to their shining eyes in snow.
And I thought I had the folk within:
I had the sound of a violin;
I had a glimpse through curtain laces
Of youthful forms and youthful faces.
I had such company outward bound.
I went till there were no cottages found.
I turned and repented, but coming back
I saw no window but that was black.
Over the snow my creaking feet
Disturbed the slumbering village street
Like profanation, by your leave,
At ten o’clock of a winter eve.
– Robert Frost, “Good Hours,.” This poem is in the public domain.
I couldn't forget Béla . . .
Wednesday, March 25, 2026. It's Odin's day . . . Strong Southerlies are to bring record high temperatures to Green Country today. The forecasts for TulseyTown indicate windy, clear, sunny skies and mid 90's. Gusty winds are in the forecasts through Friday, turning Northerly Friday morning.
Everything’s miraculous if my heart is open enough and I’m present enough to receive it. – Mark Nepo
Good news for us: Creatives keep being born:
Gloria Steinem is 92 born March 25, 1934, Toledo,Ohio. She famously said “A woman without a man is like a fish without a bicycle.” A leading feminist spokesperson since the mid-20th century, she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2013.
Elton John is 79. He was born in 1947, Pinner, Middlesex, England.
Sarah Jessica Parker is 60 today born in 1965, Nelsonville, Ohio. She’s won six Golden Globe Awards and two Primetime Emmy Awards. Time magazine named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2022
Aretha Franklin was born on this day in 1942, Memphis, Tennessee, Considered one of the greatest vocalists of the 20th century.
And it's the birthdate of Flannery O’Connor. The novelist and short-story writer was born in 1925 Savannah, Georgia.
It looks like Trump tried to “fix” the stock market. And, if so, it might even have been treason.
“Insider trading” is one thing. It is illegal. But exploiting confidential information about national security for private financial gain is something else again. It puts profit-making above Americans’ safety. – Heather Cox Richardson, in Letters From An American.
“Fixing” the stock market matters. There’s a word for it. It’s called corruption. – Robert Reich, “Trump’s Graft, Insider’s Grift” substack 3.25.26
The 2026 midterms are shaping up as a referendum on exactly this kind of corruption. Trump and his cronies are leaving a paper trail for future prosecutors. So much so, it's like they want to go to prison. – Miles Taylor, Defiance, 3.25.26
Oh, I almost forgot: Today is also the birthday of Béla Bartók. The Hungarian composer was born in 1881, Nagyszentmiklós, Austria-Hungary now Romania. His Concerto for Orchestra is a staple of the standard concert repertory.