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The subject line's from a Willow Branch Song by Ch'ien Ch'ien-yi (1582 - 1664; translated by Irving Yucheng Lo). The full verse:


A crescent moon hangs on the tip of the willows,
New leaves are like eyebrows, the moon's like a hook.
Wait till the moon is round and reflected in a mirror
To lift from my eyebrows ten thousand layers of grief.


I generally try not to be around people the week of St. Patrick's Day. It's the anniversary of my mother's death, and today is the anniversary of Mama Nancy's death, plus even years outside of pandemics it's mid-term and not-quite-close-enough-to-the-end-of-the-quarter and almost everyone is so tired of winter and more than a little frayed.

Taking the whole week off wasn't feasible this year; to stay logged off on Wednesday, I worked until 4 a.m. that morning, and I'll be marking 40+ pages of proofs this weekend as well. But it did feel good and right to do some deep cleaning that afternoon, which included tossing out scraps of paper with topics I'd meant to blog about, but the moment(um) had faded (George Clooney's love of writing/receiving letters, contemporary songs about dementia/memory loss, the Megan Rapinoe/Sue Bird feature in GQ . . .).

Nashville journalist Natasha Senjanovic has an invitation for y'all:


You can hear me talking about bao and Duolingo and reading "Climb" at https://www.bestofpossibleworlds.com/audio.

Also recently published: "Truth and Dare," at Autumn Sky.

Finally - written ten years ago, and published the following spring:
On Embodying an Asian Fantasy


Measured Extravagance is out of print, but if you'd like a copy, send me proof of a donation ($6 or more) to NAPAWF, Tupelo Pres, or Postcards to Voters, and I'll beam a PDF to you.
This entry was originally posted at https://zirconium.dreamwidth.org/173113.html.

meme

Apr. 15th, 2020 07:57 pm
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Via [personal profile] kirbyfest, [personal profile] kass, [personal profile] antisoppist, and others...

1. Are you an Essential Worker?

No.

2. How many drinks have you had since the quarantine started?

1 bottle of chardonnay
5/6 bottle of Bordeaux
2 beers
1/3 bottle of Louisa's Liqueur ("Louisa Nelson was a woman of remarkable strength and character. . . .")

3. If you have kids... Are they driving you nuts? n/a

4. What new hobby have you taken up during this?

There still aren't enough hours in the day.

5. How many grocery runs have you done?

5? If counting from around the Ides of March. We are down to one scant cup of soy sauce and no mirin, and I ate the last apple this morning, so I cannot put off donning the face mask much longer.

6. What are you spending your stimulus check on?

It will be split between part of a mortgage payment and the fee charged by our new estate lawyer to get our wills and directives updated. (See #15.)

7. Do you have any special occasions that you will miss during this quarantine?

The plans canceled so far through July would fill a whole entry.

My birthday is next month, and I hadn't planned to host a party anyhow (because of rehearsals for Grand Magnolia), but I'm still thinking of ordering an almond cake from Sweet 16th, even though I might end up freezing 3/4 of it.

8. Are you keeping your housework done?

I'm able to tackle more of it because I'm home all day (and because I'm less okay with all the dust and grime now that I am), but done? Cue fit of derisive laughter.

9a. What movie have you watched during this quarantine?

Saw You Gave Me a Song: The Life and Music of Alice Gerrard Monday night, courtesy of the Southern Circuit Film Festival.

9b. What are you reading right now?

Good Omens and The Graham Kerr [aka the Galloping Gourmet] Cookbook

9c. What video game are you playing?

I consider Duolingo a video game. Diamond League, my dudes!

10. What are you streaming with?

YouTube/DailyMotion/Vevo, Spotify, and Hoopla (thank you, Nashville Public Library)

11. 9 months from now is there any chance of you having a baby? Oh hell no.

12. What's your go-to quarantine meal?

Fried rice, with ketchup and a scrambled egg added to whatever odd tasty bits can be scrounged from the fridge and the yard.

13. Is this whole situation making you paranoid?

It's not paranoia if they're really out to get you.

14. Has your internet gone out on you during this time?

It's periodically flaky, especially when I'm juggling both home and work connections.

15. What month do you predict this all ends?

"All" being the pandemic, or broad "safer at home" measures? Being deeply cynical, I suspect social restrictions here in the South might ease up by summer solstice or even earlier -- resulting in the curve roaring up three or four or even more times before people truly finally register (if indeed they ever do) that it's not going to end until enough of us cooperate with scientific realities and enough policymakers get their heads out of their asses for an effective vaccine not only to be developed but manufactured and distributed in sufficient quantity to inoculate the general population regardless of socioeconomic means. Which I'm guessing will be more than 18 months out, and given how such things often take far longer than hoped for, it would not surprise me if it takes 36.

All that said, I'm still mulling over whether to continue my membership at the Y. I'm leaning towards no, because I imagine that I will feel for a long time like I'm unnecessarily tempting fate every time I use the pool or sauna or shared equipment, and it's going to feel less safe walking alone across downtown given how many more people are now in dire straits. But I am so much better about pushing myself when I'm a regular at their classes. I am also admittedly reluctant to cancel since I would have to pay a new joining fee if I ever wanted to return, and I wouldn't get the discounted rate I have now, and who knows what their offerings will be once things get back to some pretense of normal. But that is bad math on my part -- the new fee would likely not exceed two months of what I pay now, and the full rate not exceed the total otherwise wasted on two or three years of minimal use. And moreover, pressuring myself to resume going to the Y before I truly feel safe there because it's paid for is the sort of daft thing my brain doesn't need to be doing to me.

(So, yay meme for nudging me into spelling all this out instead of the half-baked dithering I'd applied to the situation thus far.)

16. First thing you're gonna do when you get off quarantine?

Get a haircut and a massage. (Yes, there are people I miss, but it's not like I saw them every week or every month pre-pandemic, and I'm not a hug-my-colleagues gal.)

17. Where do you wish you were right now?

I was supposed to be sea-kayaking near Charleston right around now. (Though I'm also side-eyeing the hotel's email, sent last week: "We thought you would have rebooked by now...")

18. What free-from-quarantine activity are you missing the most?

Swimming laps and English country dancing and waltzing. And right now I don't know if I will return to any of those after the pandemic ends, although in English maybe it will become okay to wear gloves outside of formals.

(I mean, I probably will. I can be as stupid as many people when it comes to disregarding risk because the prospect of missing out becomes too much to bear. But I also don't lack for other diversions -- or, for that matter, obligations. And there's also working to help save the republic . . . )

(Not incidentally, my stats as of Monday: More than 1300 postcards sent since mid-2017, including 123 for Jill Karofsky (Wisconsin Supreme Court). Plus additional cards sent in response to recommendations from Americans of Conscience, plus some self-initiated messages and calls in reaction to other feeds and sources.)


19. Have you run out of toilet paper and hand sanitizer?

No, although the current stash of TP is on the scratchier side than what we usually keep on hand.

20. Do you have enough food to last a month?

No. I like fresh produce and meat (and general variety) too much (just ask my friends in Detroit who had to put up with me craving salad when we were hitting dive bars). Although I also have trouble resisting sales, which is ironically why we have a good supply of paper towels and wipes (both purchased pre-lockdowns), along with three boxes of Hamburger Helper, a huge bag of tulsi leaves, and other testaments to past bouts of impulsiveness and ridiculousness.

This entry was originally posted at https://zirconium.dreamwidth.org/163223.html.
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Today's subject line is from painter Bee Sieburg, in the March 2019 issue of Asheville Made.

Pre-physical distancing, the plan for today was to participate in a vocal clinic, with the combined choirs of First UU Nashville and UUC Huntsville working on "I've Been 'buked" and two other pieces for tomorrow's service.

That didn't happen, but there's an IG video of Alvin Ailey dancers dancing in their own spaces (some with doggies!) to "Buked." So that's a fine thing.

Debbie Allen made the full video of her IG class available. Dancing to it is definitely on my list for next week.

Today's pleasures included receiving notes from other dancers, cooking (pancakes; lamb (the last of the shabu-sliced bowlful I bought earlier this week) and sugar snap peas; turnip cake (modified) and broccoli), and napping. I also picked yet more shingles out of my yard (plus some debris from my neighbor's), scraped paint flakes off the patch where I'm hoping to sow some zinnias, and scrubbed various surfaces. And now it's time to write more postcards.

This entry was originally posted at https://zirconium.dreamwidth.org/161782.html.
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Today's subject line is from Rick Bragg's essay about Atlanta traffic in the May 2018 issue of Southern Living, which also talks about blood pressure as a metric for measuring gridlock: "I think this city has sent more truck drivers to the cardiologist than Little Debbie."

My predictably ornery subconscious devoted my two most recent REM cycles to (1) me playing harpsichord at a crowded expo, and (2) me managing all the logistics of a work-related party. Neither dream was relaxing, but considering I went to bed thinking of guillotines, I should be grateful that they at least didn't feature my own death. No, I haven't been insider trading, but I can't help recalling that intellectuals ended up on the wrong ends of guns and blades during the French Revolution -- U of C made me read Michelet three times -- and the Nationalist takeover of Taiwan. My Aunt Cherry lectured me at length during a phone call some years ago about all the people murdered on Chiang Kai-Shek's watch, including scholars, which is among the reasons why she refuses to speak Mandarin if she is talking to someone who can understand English, Japanese, or Taiwanese.

That said, I've been working on my Mandarin this week, since Duolingo has it and I have relatives with whom conversations aren't going to get very far if I don't get functional in it. I'm about to reach checkpoint 1 in that course, and just passed checkpoint 2 in French. I took a break from Spanish this week since it's tied to work.

Trying to tame the reflux cough means I'm eschewing booze, caffeine, citrus, mint, onions/garlic, spicy dishes, and chocolate at the moment (least successfully with the last two), so when I stopped at Sweet 16th yesterday (which is currently allowing only 5 customers at time in the store, and there was no one at all at around 1 p.m.), I bought a bandana to make up for the cupcakes I'm not currently indulging in. (Plus, I'm going to need more head coverings if physical distancing stretches out beyond a few more weeks. I'm relieved that I no longer have to renew my driver's license in person, even though it means being stuck with the current photo for another half-decade...) Lunch was the pimiento cheese sandwich I picked up from there, plus hot and sour soup from stuff on hand: chicken bouillon, shiitake mushrooms, thin-sliced lamb, Taiwanese spinach, and black vinegar. Dinner was more of that plus a made-in-USA Chinese sausage.

It's not Good Friday yet (which is when one should get to planting, according to the late great Jace Burch's granny), but it was so sunny yesterday that I went ahead with sowing some lettuce, radishes, and peppers. (The seeds for the first two date from 2014, so who knows if anything will sprout...) I also moved four jonquil bulbs from the back room to the future hellebore bed, in hopes of them doing better cushioned in mud than resting on top of pebbles and water. Bates Nursery is open, so today's mission includes fetching a carload of dirt.

The World Is Moving

Over in the Triangle, VAE is hosting an auction of toilet paper art for NC artist relief. So I grabbed my pens and markers and came up with the above. You can bid on it and other originals at https://e.givesmart.com/events/h0V/i/_Auction/atKl/ if you feel so moved. ;)

This entry was originally posted at https://zirconium.dreamwidth.org/161347.html.
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spread from GOOD TROUBLE

. . . fierce, universal, nonviolent, openhearted, deeply rooted RESOLVE . . .

Spread from Mark Noxon's GOOD TROUBLE: LESSONS FROM THE CIVIL RIGHTS PLAYBOOK

This entry was originally posted at https://zirconium.dreamwidth.org/157970.html.
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Not really, of course - I love cities with the fervor of a bluestocking who grew up in a county without a public library. That said, I have belatedly come across Emma Stone's lip-sync of Blues Traveler's "Hook" (starts at 1:55 in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLBSoC_2IY8) and, yeah. (And her take on "All I Do Is Win" starts at 5:40.)

I've been binge-watching Lip Sync Battle clips. The gateway was Tom Holland's Umbrella. Other favorites:

The Rock: Shake It Off
The reactions to Matt Iseman channeling Cher (1:42)
Julianne Hough: I Just Had Sex
Taye Diggs: Let Me Love You
Big Bird: I Gotta Feeling (I don't even like that song...)
Lupita Nyong'o: Bailando

Part of the fun has been finding out the names/performers of songs I first encountered at the Y, including Booty, Low, and "M.I.L.F. $" (and it is also funny that some of the raunchiest songs I know are being taught by unapologetically devout Christian women. They are good teachers, and I am more than a little torn about one of the classes being in conflict with English country dancing).

Speaking of Not Really Safe for Work content, I dove into Deadspin's "Why Your Team Sucks: 2019 Tennessee Titans" this afternoon. The Titans were leading 17-13 in the 4th quarter when I opened the tab ... and ended up losing 19-17. Ooof. I love my city, but some of the vicious jabs directed at it are called for. (I'm nodding especially at "full of racists feigning as libertarians." The language of my tweeps turned a particularly vehement shade of blue on Friday when our new mayor-elect declared that "Nashville cannot and will not be a Sanctuary City.")

Also, Deadspin gives every team in the NFL the treatment. I am looking forward to pairing some of the others with a bourbon or beer some other rest day. (These days I seem to be most invested in are the Titans, the Eagles, and the Bears, in that order. Then there's the teams-friends-care-about-that-aren't-the-Patriots-or-Steelers-or-Packers tier, featuring the Lions, the Saints, the Panthers, the Browns, and the Vikings. Then there's the teams-I-may-add-to-this-list-even-if-they're-the-Patriots-Steelers-or-Packers corner, where I'll be paying attention to whomever has the cojones to hire Ryan Russell or Kaep.

Before returning Good Trouble: Lessons from the Civil Rights Playbook to the library, I snapped some hasty last-night shots to share with y'all bit by bit over the next few weeks. (The link will take you to the publisher's page, which contains a better-quality sample of the artwork.) The author is donating all proceeds to The Center for Popular Democracy.

Today's glimpse:


"...if you wonder what you would've done if you were alive during the civil rights movement, remember one thing: YOU ARE."

This entry was originally posted at https://zirconium.dreamwidth.org/157871.html.
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Since last night, I've been living with the urge to howl holy hell at North Carolina.

What has helped: cranking up the volume on my car stereo and singing along as it plays "Stand" over and over. (That chorus!)

The Nashville Public Library is ordering copies of Good Trouble for its collection.

Team Tug of Warhol (War-HAUL!) was not victorious, but we were valiant, and apparently provided a good deal of entertainment for our colleagues back at the ranch via Facebook Live (as well as those who joined us at the park, where it was 91 freaking F at noon).

It's been an intense day. I dreamt at length about my late honorary mama and her family last night. I was up at 6:30 a.m. for an early meeting. A training session for our upcoming Native Women Artists exhibition included a viewing of The Indian Problem, which -- god _____, Tennessee. Gdi, North Carolina. I followed church class with ten minutes on the erg at the Y. I'm looking at the Road Scholar catalogue that just arrived -- Honorary Mama had suggested doing one of their trips together, and while that never happened, there's at least one that another honorary relative might be up for.

But first, bath and bed. And reinforcing that figurative breastplate.

This entry was originally posted at https://zirconium.dreamwidth.org/157603.html.
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Today's subject line is prompted by a statement by Pomo Indian artist Susan Billy, whose baskets will appear at the Frist Art Museum this fall: “As the baskets got smaller, people asked me what I put in them, and I realized what I put in them is intention.”

I am raising money for the Cumberland River Compact as a member of the TSRA dragon boat team. No contribution too small! https://crc.kindful.com/dragon-boat-2019/peg-duthie.

Tonight the sky was dark when I got home from the gym. It is still very much summer -- at the Y, the instructors were pulling down shades to ameliorate some of the heat and glare -- and yet, staring at the stars and the silhouettes of treetops tonight, and now sipping on cider -- fall is but a handful of weeks away.

This entry was originally posted at https://zirconium.dreamwidth.org/155822.html.
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Since Good Omens is trending hither and yon, this seems a good time to note that Nanny Ashtoreth sales at BPAL raise $$ for the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund and the Orangutan Foundation UK.

I have a fond memory of wearing this scent: I was in a corporate elevator with a handsome stranger who, after a floor or two in polite silence, suddenly burst out with "What is the perfume you're wearing? It smells fantastic!"

Also in the realm of "escapades fandom is somewhat responsible for," here are two clips of me singing Mika's #IWantYourIceCream to my Nashville Public Library and Kentucky Horse Park rubber duckies: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=99ii0W0Z5Kw (for a [profile] mikasounds video challenge, and to make some of you laugh).

==

In other news:
Jen Hoffman on perseverance: https://americansofconscience.com/writes-future/

The Godwin of Godwin's Law on concentration camps.

Not gonna lie: it's disheartening that yet another candidate for whom I wrote postcards has lost (Ryan Terrell in Florida). But I shall write some more postcards to get out the vote (in FL, coincidentally), and Jen has actions/scripts for protecting the vote. And I just saw the Pirke Avot quotation Paula and I have both invoked a number times embedded in a longer extract attributed to Brooks McCall:


The Talmud states, "Do not be daunted by the enormity of the world's grief. Do justly now, love mercy now, walk humbly now. You are not obligated to complete the work, but neither are you free to abandon it."


This entry was originally posted at https://bronze-ribbons.dreamwidth.org/416866.html. I see comments at DW, IJ, and LJ (when notifications are working, anyway), but not on feeds.
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Fic rec: [personal profile] marginaliana's Ink on Skin. Anne of Green Gables.

I have two new posts at Vary the Line, on Mary Oliver, Camille T. Dungy, and Langston Hughes.

Working on getting the vote out in Miami: https://postcardstovoters.org/2018/12/13/vbm-fl/. So glad to see Jennifer Boysko's win in Virginia.

This entry was originally posted at https://bronze-ribbons.dreamwidth.org/415908.html. I see comments at DW, IJ, and LJ (when notifications are working, anyway), but not on feeds.
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[Subject line = quote from Peter Mayer's "Blue Boat Home"]

standing bow

Paddleboarding season is underway (as in, my summer pass at Percy Priest Lake). The gauge hit 96 F yesterday, and I spent most of yesterday's session in the water rather than on it, swimming and floating and enjoying both raindrops and a rainbow. Today's social included a poodle named August, pivot turns, and back flips (not by me, but fun to admire).

Since I won't be back on the water for another 4-6 days, I'd like for a soaker to soften the ground so I'm not fighting the Tennessee clay when I get around to planting the three rosebushes I brought home right before Memorial Day (instead of the straw bales I'd planned to pick up):

IMG_1063

This week's Americans of Conscience checklist includes phone scripts (for speaking to policy-makers against discriminating against people with pre-existing conditions, among other issues, and a five-day Immigration Game Plan) and addresses for card-writers.

This entry was originally posted at https://bronze-ribbons.dreamwidth.org/415015.html. I see comments at DW, IJ, and LJ (when notifications are working, anyway), but not on feeds.
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Tonight's subject line comes from the first line of a letter Elizabeth Bishop wrote to Robert Lowell on April 1, 1958. It was actually a sunny day here, but I liked seeing the phrase just now, as well as the pleasure of peeking at a letter written sixty years ago (replete with frustration about a worker stealing apples and singing awful songs, a snotty jab at my beloved Ciardi, and kinder talk of work and mental health, along with paragraphs on babies, birds, books, and cities).

It would have been nice to go singing, shopping, or simply walking/biking around in the sunshine, but my body was tired, my brain fried, and my kitchen filthy, so I put on a nightgown when I rolled out of bed and have spent the day moving slowly between chores and diversions. I wrote a postcard poem and postcards to voters:

postcards

I abandoned my plan of trying a new recipe with the chicken thighs in the fridge; instead, I tossed them into a pot with bay leaves (from my big sister), carrots (that had been in the fridge for weeks), a yam (that had been on the counter for weeks), the dregs of a jar of pasta sauce, and garlic (from Penzeys) and let it all stew for a while. Tomorrow I may add lima beans and an onion, but I may also just let it sit some more, as there will also be two services to sing in and tax paperwork to tend to. Plus I'd like to paint my nails and retouch my hair and sleep for about a week more before heading back to the office. Wishes, horses, la la la.

The timing is not right for me to sign up for The Iteration Project Partner Program, but it sure sounds cool.

This entry was originally posted at https://zirconium.dreamwidth.org/148016.html.
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Tonight's letters to my senators were about how the money spent on the dictator-in-chief's golf trips could have fed thousands of homeless veterans.

I just printed a copy of this women's march sign to mail to my honorary mama (language NSFW): https://twitter.com/irishrygirl/status/954865689868816395

Actions for introverts:
Postcards To Voters: https://postcardstovoters.org/
Americans of Conscience: https://goo.gl/3T4hru

This entry was originally posted at https://bronze-ribbons.dreamwidth.org/414073.html. I see comments at DW, IJ, and LJ (when notifications are working, anyway), but not on feeds.

that kind

Nov. 27th, 2017 10:58 pm
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I have a new post up at Vary the Line, featuring pumpkins and angry riffs prompted by Anne Sexton: http://www.varytheline.org/blog/2017/11/27/that-kind/

Some other time, I might write about the recent day a girlfriend and I spent in Florence, Alabama, where we visited Rosenbaum House, Alabama Chanin, and FAME Studio. Good eats at the Chanin Factory, and some scribbling there as well.

The factory also had a BIG rack of free postcards, and a stack of Doug Jones brochures right up front. So I grabbed one of every blank card of Alabama origin, and spending part of tonight writing yet more postcards to voters: http://postcardstovoters.org.

This entry was originally posted at https://bronze-ribbons.dreamwidth.org/413641.html. I see comments at DW, IJ, and LJ (when notifications are working, anyway), but not on feeds.
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[The subject's line from "We Shall Not Be Moved." A Mavis Staples recording is playing while I type.]

Postcard to Alabama


http://postcardstovoters.org

Election Day is Tuesday, December 12.

This entry was originally posted at https://bronze-ribbons.dreamwidth.org/413239.html. I see comments at DW, IJ, and LJ (when notifications are working, anyway), but not on feeds.
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[The subject's line from "We Shall Not Be Moved." A Mavis Staples recording is playing while I type.]

Postcard to Alabama

http://postcardstovoters.org

Election Day is Tuesday, December 12.

This entry was originally posted at https://bronze-ribbons.dreamwidth.org/413239.html. I see comments at DW, IJ, and LJ (when notifications are working, anyway), but not on feeds.
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For the second night in a row, my evening plans got borked by logistical fail, but there are worse fates than sipping rosé while listening to Mark Knopfler singing "Sailing to Philadelphia" (about Jeremiah Dixon) while writing postcards to get out the votes for Ellen Geisler (Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court):

https://postcardstovoters.org/
http://etsy.me/2yjJtB8 (discounted postcard-stamp combos)

This entry was originally posted at https://bronze-ribbons.dreamwidth.org/412871.html. I see comments at DW, IJ, and LJ (when notifications are working, anyway), but not on feeds.
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A local radio station has been playing an ad with Mavis Staples the past couple of weeks. Which in turn reminds me of the Ysaye Barnwell workshop I participated in a couple of Junes ago, which included improvising verses to "Ain't Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me 'Round."

==

From Bill Penzey's latest e-blast:

One of the things I admire most about conservatives is their sincerity in their belief that they take responsibility for their actions. As Lincoln said, we can all be fooled some of the time; there is no shame in that. The trick is to not fall into the crowd that can be fooled all the time. What matters is what you do next; you can dig your heels in and become what you've stood up against your whole life. Or you can simply make amends and move on.


==

Resources:
https://5calls.org/
https://jenniferhofmann.com/home/weekly-action-checklist-democrats-independents-republicans-conscience/
https://calvinslist.org/

This entry was originally posted at https://zirconium.dreamwidth.org/143987.html.
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Today's subject line appeared in yesterday's newsletter from Bill Penzey, who posted "an open letter to America's CEOs about our experiences in facing right wing calls for boycotts," which can be read here and has received 47,000 likes to date.

Hubbard squash seeds

I roasted some Hubbard squash seeds tonight, along with the rest of the squash, an aging potato, and a spaghetti squash, serving some mashed squash with kielbasa. Earlier today I fried pancakes and eggs and baked a loaf of whole-wheat bread. I'm sipping chai brewed with some spices from the aforementioned Penzeys.

Another Asian American East Nashvillian who knows music and food is Alex Wong, who's donating the first month of his Patreon proceeds to Puerto Rico. Some of you may recognize him from Vienna Teng's tours.

I was so tired this morning that I went back to bed after the pancakes, and I'll be turning in before midnight tonight since I'm singing tomorrow. I've become a tad amused at how singing and dancing -- my bolder activities, if you will (timid performances serve no one well) -- actually keep me in line, since I try to get adequate rest and am cautious about consuming caffeine and other potential inflammatories before significant gigs or gatherings.

This entry was originally posted at https://bronze-ribbons.dreamwidth.org/412491.html. I see comments at DW, IJ, and LJ (when notifications are working, anyway), but not on feeds.
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The subject line is from P!nk's "What About Us":

]

September 17 is Constitution Day in the United States.

  • My friend Katy boosted the signal on the "We the People" jewelry by Slow Factory (proceeds to the ACLU, hoop earrings become available this Monday): https://slowfactory.com/


  • A certain medal pin collector tried to drag Kaep for not mentoring guys in the hood. That sound you hear is New York and Tampa clapping back:







  • I've given the NYT pieces of my mind at least twice this year, and link to them probably less than 1/8 of what I used to, because [profane rant redacted here], but the wedding section remains a guilty pleasure, in part to glimpse how other connections are made:


    "Melissa you’re going to like this guy," she recalled Amanda Lynch, a former Harvard roommate, telling her. "He has the preamble to the Constitution tattooed on his back."


  • At the New York Public Library (which will star in a documentary that comes to my town next month), there are people meeting monthly to write out the Constitution by hand. [NYT]


  • Andrew Johnson


  • Tennessee's Andrew Johnson was a very, very, very flawed man, but when I first learned about him (in my US Presidents coloring book), what the one-page biography stressed was his profound love of the Constitution, and how he was buried with a copy of it under his head.


  • political cartoon

    This entry was originally posted at http://zirconium.dreamwidth.org/143610.html.

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