May this celebration mark another chapter of prosperity, with abundant jobs, democracy, freedom, and human rights. I cherish and honor each one of you for your individual efforts in making America the way it is.
I had to prepare a special newsletter for you. I welcome you to celebrate with me in a different way in my newsletter wall.
They MUST! I’m confident they WILL! Young people have to see SCOTUS stripping away the rights their parents have enjoyed for years, they must be ready to fight for gun laws so their future children won’t need to participate in active shooter drills as they have, they see that ignoring climate change isn’t an option...they will ROCK the VOTE!
Don’t let them take Independence Day. It’s all of ours because it is this nation’s founding creed—self evident that all of us were created with absolute equality in the eyes of nature and nature’s God. It’s a covenant, sealed in blood, not a “contract” as the Constitution is. Celebrate what truly makes America exceptional—that idea expressed in that covenant.
They may not take it, but they have sullied it, in ways that have been shocking to me for about 20 years now, deliberately and with malice. Hang on Joe, we need you like never before
Hey Jeri, it’s a historical fact that charlatans and worse have draped themselves in the flag. The Klan marches in the 20s, the American Nazi Party rallies in the 40s, the John Birch Society gatherings in the 60s, and Trump shamelessly hugging the flag onstage at one of his spectacles all make us want to retch. Same with religion. How many thieves and murderers have invoked the name of Jesus over the millennia? I’m still a Christian, and I’m still a patriot who proudly displays the flag.
ran from the Pharisees, but still an American who bas no use for those who disparage and still pretend to love. Not only pretend to love, but deliberately use it to spread hate.
Yes, I too am unsure concerning how to feel about July 4th.
Much as I’m filled with dismay about the precarious state of Democracy in America and drift toward authoritarianism, I convinced myself a few hours ago that our glass is half full rather than half empty, that we are a work in progress.
That's a good point - we're still a work in progress. It is the dialectic at work, 2 steps forward, 1 step backward. Our task is to ensure that it does not crash and burn, ending the experiment begun here: one person, one vote, majority rule. The first ever peaceful transfer of political power in the world took place in March, 1801 when John Adams (Federalist Party) surrendered the presidency to Thomas Jefferson (Democratic Republican Party.) Adams and Jefferson were bitter political rivals.
I appreciate that you introduced the concept of dialectics and set expectations for that long process in terms of steps forward & backwards.
I also appreciate that you conveyed and reminded me about the novel concept of “peaceful transfer of power,” which began in 1801 when John Adams surrendered the presidency to Thomas Jefferson.
As you know, the concept of dialectics entails a “method of examining and discussing opposing ideas in order to find the truth.”
It profoundly worries me that the dialectical process of searching for truth has been abandoned and rejected by those who label well established facts as “fake news.”
This tactic of portraying facts as untrue, is dishonest propaganda.
Much as the term “gaslighting” has come into vogue and therefore been a tad overused, thus diluting its impact, “Gaslighting” is precisely what Trump and his MAGA minions are doing to the country.
Aside from influencing & polluting public opinion with an endless assertion of toxic Big Lies, it is the proximate cause of sabotaging “peaceful transfer of power.”
In my opinion, Gaslighting 2.0 and 3.0 are manifesting in the “anti-woke” agenda, which is metastasizing and mutating into book banning, ESG prohibitions, crazy legal theories like “the independent state legislature”- thankfully & miraculously repudiated by SCOTUS last week.
As if the constant 24/7 news (noise) feeds weren’t already overwhelming for discerning political minds, let alone the minds of less discerning minds and the minds of those who don’t even attempt to discern, such as those whose filters just allow news of sports or other topics in their comfort zone, the ultimate Gaslighting opportunity (threat) is presented by Artificial Intelligence, in my opinion a runaway freight train, the reins to which are not being held by responsible parties.
The above litany is a clear & present danger to “peaceful transfer of power,” which you so astutely and presciently identified as the kernel of Democracy.
Am I wrong?
Please talk me off this ledge, from which I see dystopia at our doorstep.
Sadly, Steve, I do believe that we are on the "ledge." There are those who "don't know what they don't know" because as you've referenced, they buy into the claim of "fake news" being propagated by Fox, OAN and Newsmax. But, why shouldn't they be gullible? There is precedent for them believing unsupportable claims, and in this regard I have in mind their religious beliefs. So, how to get through to them that they're being manipulated by the wealthy who have siphoned $30 trillion out of the economy since Reagan's term in office, resulting in their continued economic decline and a potentional state bankruptcy not far down the road? [Thomas Frank, "What's the Matter with Kansas."]
After various posts the past couple of days, and reading some of the words of the Declaration of Independence, of Lincoln, and of FDR, I am more cheered and determined than before. America and the holiday belong to Americans, not fascists.
So true. That is why , in part, I recomend all to get Timothy Egan's book, "A Fever in the Heartland." What is going on right now is not a case of first impression. Egan's book is riveting.
I will confess that sections of "A Fever" brought me to tears. Madge's death was heart breaking. What she did had significant repercussions for which we are the beneficiaries, yet I doubt that she is found in any of the history books. It is to Timothy Egan's credit that he gave her death the treatment that he did and which she so much deserves.
I can’t think of a time in American history when a large majority of the population felt good about almost everything — except maybe in the 1950s when lots of people kept their eyes closed.
But yesterday and today the it rained hard and cleared up five times. Both days it was clear enough in the evenings to shoot off fireworks over the bay. I love fireworks. An hour last night and another one tonight. On the beach I can get close to them and have the heavens exploding in six colors right over my head. Happy Birthday America!
There are enough of us who care, many of us brought together by HCR. If we keep at it we will succeed at ridding the country of the current form of political cancer. Enjoy the summer.
'A third of the country’s people live in households making less than $55,000. Many are not officially counted among the poor, but there is plenty of economic hardship above the poverty line. And plenty far below it as well. According to the Supplemental Poverty Measure, which accounts for government aid and living expenses, more than one in 25 people in America 65 or older lived in deep poverty in 2021, meaning that they’d have to, at minimum, double their incomes just to reach the poverty line.'
'America Is in a Disgraced Class of Its Own'
March 16, 2023 (NYTimes)
By Matthew Desmond
'Mr. Desmond, a sociologist at Princeton, is the director of its Eviction Lab and the author of “Poverty, by America” and “Evicted.”
'Programs like housing assistance and food stamps are effective and essential, protecting millions of families from hunger and homelessness each year. But the United States devotes far fewer resources to these programs, as a share of its gross domestic product, than other rich democracies, which places America in a disgraced class of its own on the world stage.' (NYTimes) Link below is gifted, thanks to Lynell's generosity.
Two years ago, here in central Florida, I was going into town taking a rural road, where some really, really low cost housing is located. I came upon a scene where the sheriff was present, evicting the residents of the home, all their furniture and belongings piled up in the yard. How can it be that we have this problem, that even in the cheapest of dwellings we don't have a way to avoid disasters like this. That I didn't stop to offer help haunts me still.
I just read this report you referenced in the NY Times, Fern. Holy Smolies. We may all have a part to play in eliminating poverty, but the one sure place we can do it is at the polls. That $33 trillion debt that the U.S. has went right into the pockets of the large corps and wealthy individuals. With the right political structure we can take it back and redistribute it - legally. We've simply got to get involved, get voters registered and then get them to the polls on election day. It's not an easy task when tens of millions buy into the lies promulgated by Fox, OAN and Newsmax. But, what's the alternative?
Please go to www.turnup.us/ very effective nonpartisan voter reg and turnout org run by Harvard students nationwide; Forbes magazine rated it as the top VR student organization in the country
Great. I signed up and am sending it to our country Democratic Party group. I have always felt that we were not doing enough on the college campuses. I am eager to see how we can utilize their organization and activities.
Thanks Richard: I’m working daily with this remarkable group of Harvard students. They are brilliant in their use of paid nonpartisan appeals thru social media to register/vote in order to approve or save pro-abortion reproductive health, effective gun control measures, and climate change rules particularly in light of the record setting temperatures in the global heat wave! They concentrate on registering/turning out 18 to 25s, 25 to 35 women, and suburban women 35 to 44 who recent polling confirms are worried about the health of their daughters! They are all endangered by the push in Congress to enact a nationwide abortion ban! Terrific nonpartisan work but they need our tax deductible contributions in order to get the job done— folks, please respond generously at www.turnup.us/ Many thanks!
Ira, can you imagine this: a young couple are planning on starting a family when the wife is impregnated by a rapist. And, she's forced to carry the pregnancy to term. What does that do to their lives? One in twenty rapes results in a pregnancy. There are more than 463,000 reported rapes in the U.S. annually. Somehow we must win this fight against "Talibanizing" American females (girls included.) the students definitely deserve our financial support. We've already put them $33 trillion in debt.
'Our nation is a work in progress, as it has always been, but there is a whole new generation stepping into the fray.' ___Heather Cox Richardson, July 4th, 2023
'View Big Red Lighthouse'
'Holland's beloved and popular "Big Red" lighthouse, which stands proudly at the south side of the Holland Channel, has a long and rich history dating back to the first structure built on that site in 1870. Currently the lighthouse is owned and maintained by a non-profit lighthouse commission and is Michigan's most photographed lighthouse.'
'Over the years, "Big Red" has taken on a life of its own, popular with painters, photographers, beach-goers, and boaters. There's nothing more relaxing than sitting in the shade of a tree, and watch the river empty into Lake Michigan, while the red sentinel stands guard on the opposite shore.' (Holland Area Visitor's Bureau)
There is something mystical about Light Houses as they serve as lonely beacons. Big Red falls in this category. It’s easy to see how it draws people to it. One of my favorite movies is HALF LIGHT starring Demi Moore who encounters voices from the past and danger while visiting a light house.
Yes, that’s what I’m hoping Heather Cox Richardson and others will read and ponder. Heather had no idea what featuring Big Red for the Fourth would reveal. I
It would have been wrong of me not to bring this up.
A small but interesting way to access Big Red. The beach around the lighthouse is public. So people with boats go around and use this way to go there for all of us. My husband and I go to Holland State Park and are able to see the boats moored by the beach. Appreciating these families doing this.
Local access to the lighthouse and beach is very limited. Maybe if you go to my website and read some of my posts. And also about my life journey, it might make more sense of where I’m coming from. Holland was settled about 1846. Chief Waukazoo and his people lived here in the winter and Traverse City in the summer. Because of President Andrew Jackson and the Indian Removal Act they bought land so they wouldn’t be forced to go on their own Trail of Tears. There’s much written about why they left and went to North Port.
I was very involved with my first husband in American Indian justice issue. So I am very aware of how little we really know about how we got the land to be America upon and with.
So when Heather posted this photo of Big Red, I realized it would be wrong of me to not inform her readers that there is no access.
It would help me if I had a better understanding of where you’re coming from too.
In the end, we all want the peoples of this world to be at peace working together with their diverse perspectives.
You have not offended me at all. I do not know the area or history of 'Big Red' as you do. I was just sharing some information about the place highlighted in the stunning photo Heather posted. So, no agenda on my end. In the future, your ability to timely provide the context of your subject to readers in a clear and succinct way will, I think, attract interest.
Watching A Capitol Fourth tonight, I’m struck by how often we pray for divine protection in our patriotic music. Yyet so many who do so would elect a proven liar and thief to the highest office in our precious land. I just don’t get it. I’m so thankful to be an American.
Yes! Just put this piece of information together from an excellent piece on MSNBC tonight. This opened up the way for Rush Limbaugh and the Fox network ratcheting up propaganda while purporting to report the news.
Thankfully we still have a free press but only if we support independent journalism and local news.
Better actor than I gave him credit for, but he had Michael Deaver and Peggy Noonan as PR guru and speechwriter. And of course, he had Nancy. Been waiting for someone to write about Nancy’s influence, going back to Hollywood days. Me thinks she created Ronnie, the political animal.
In one of the bands I play in we play “American Duality” (“My Country ‘Tis of Thee” and “America the Beautiful”). To help with phrasing, I recite the words in my head as I play the music on my tuba. For “America the Beautiful” I sing a combination of verses 2 and 4: “o beautiful for patriot’s dream that sees beyond the years; Thine alabaster cities gleam, undimmed by human tears. America, America, God mend thine every flaw. Confirm thy soul in self control, thy liberty in law.”
I take comfort in those words, and firmly believe that America the Beautiful should be our national anthem.
Ally, I went to Fort Snelling National Cemetery on Monday to visit my parents and late husband’s gravesites. There were several funerals going on and during one of them, they played just one verse of America the Beautiful (along with Taps and Amazing Grace. Kinda perfect.) I’ve been humming them all ever since.
Thanks for reminding me of the beauty of the words of that verse. God mend our every flaw!
Thank you, from a native Michigander who hasn't been back to the shores of Lake Michigan since we honeymooned in Ludington nearly 53 years ago. Time for a road trip.
22 years ago my husband and I took the Circle Tour around Lake Michigan. We stopped wherever we wanted to. We were in no hurry because we had 2 weeks. During that trip one of my nephews was born. I remember being by a lighthouse with a bag of cherries, some wine, some bread and cheese and just enjoying the peacefulness of it all in Michigan near Sleeping Bear Dunes while celebrating his birth. Right now he is almost done training to be a chef! He votes! Yay for generation Z!
Same. My grandmother lived in Wyoming, MI, and I have a lot of relatives in Grand Rapids/Battle Creek, most of whom I haven't seen since childhood. A trip to Gretchen Whitmer's wonderful state is now on my bucket list!
I'm a Battle Creek native; relatives in Holland, Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo, Jackson, and Dearborn, more if I get the address book updated. September's looking good for the trip.
You know, I had first used two 'd's... from memory, I thought. But the Google corrected me... now I'm left wondering if I've been wrong all these years.
Good one to post. Thanks Dr Richardson for the reassurance. There’s much damage to repair both internally as well as externally in this country. Someone had better step into the breech.
“We’ll get back to work tomorrow.” And Today. And all the todays and tomorrows forever. For our children, for the future. We are Dependent on each other.
We live just about 45 miles south of Holland in St. Joseph, MI! We have see the Holland lighthouse many times! Thank you. It's a very nice image! We hope you have a great 4th.
Many thanks, Heather! There is something compelling about lighthouses; always shining the way to home, or what will become home. They make me feel hopeful, as my ancestors did when they saw an east coast lighthouse on our shoreline. The light promised hope and welcome, such a contrast from the places they had left. I still feel that hope, even while recognizing the rise of ideas promoting exclusion, fear, and violence. I want that hope to rise again, as a clear vision for our country, again.
May we progress in the democratic direction! And may the new generation help keep our work alive.
Thank you, Dr. R!
HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY AMERICA! 🇺🇸
May this celebration mark another chapter of prosperity, with abundant jobs, democracy, freedom, and human rights. I cherish and honor each one of you for your individual efforts in making America the way it is.
I had to prepare a special newsletter for you. I welcome you to celebrate with me in a different way in my newsletter wall.
They MUST! I’m confident they WILL! Young people have to see SCOTUS stripping away the rights their parents have enjoyed for years, they must be ready to fight for gun laws so their future children won’t need to participate in active shooter drills as they have, they see that ignoring climate change isn’t an option...they will ROCK the VOTE!
🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸 Thank you for the tireless work you do to help our nation progress! 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
I have been feeling unsure about to feel about this holiday the past few years.. your post cheered me considerably, thank you !!
Don’t let them take Independence Day. It’s all of ours because it is this nation’s founding creed—self evident that all of us were created with absolute equality in the eyes of nature and nature’s God. It’s a covenant, sealed in blood, not a “contract” as the Constitution is. Celebrate what truly makes America exceptional—that idea expressed in that covenant.
I’m with you, Jim. I will NOT let them take my country or my flag.
They may not take it, but they have sullied it, in ways that have been shocking to me for about 20 years now, deliberately and with malice. Hang on Joe, we need you like never before
Hey Jeri, it’s a historical fact that charlatans and worse have draped themselves in the flag. The Klan marches in the 20s, the American Nazi Party rallies in the 40s, the John Birch Society gatherings in the 60s, and Trump shamelessly hugging the flag onstage at one of his spectacles all make us want to retch. Same with religion. How many thieves and murderers have invoked the name of Jesus over the millennia? I’m still a Christian, and I’m still a patriot who proudly displays the flag.
ran from the Pharisees, but still an American who bas no use for those who disparage and still pretend to love. Not only pretend to love, but deliberately use it to spread hate.
Right on.
My daughter and I talked about this today and agreed that we will not let them take this holiday, which we’ve always loved, away from us!
Yes, I too am unsure concerning how to feel about July 4th.
Much as I’m filled with dismay about the precarious state of Democracy in America and drift toward authoritarianism, I convinced myself a few hours ago that our glass is half full rather than half empty, that we are a work in progress.
I too, feel that way. You are not alone.
That's a good point - we're still a work in progress. It is the dialectic at work, 2 steps forward, 1 step backward. Our task is to ensure that it does not crash and burn, ending the experiment begun here: one person, one vote, majority rule. The first ever peaceful transfer of political power in the world took place in March, 1801 when John Adams (Federalist Party) surrendered the presidency to Thomas Jefferson (Democratic Republican Party.) Adams and Jefferson were bitter political rivals.
Thank you Richard!
I appreciate that you introduced the concept of dialectics and set expectations for that long process in terms of steps forward & backwards.
I also appreciate that you conveyed and reminded me about the novel concept of “peaceful transfer of power,” which began in 1801 when John Adams surrendered the presidency to Thomas Jefferson.
As you know, the concept of dialectics entails a “method of examining and discussing opposing ideas in order to find the truth.”
It profoundly worries me that the dialectical process of searching for truth has been abandoned and rejected by those who label well established facts as “fake news.”
This tactic of portraying facts as untrue, is dishonest propaganda.
Much as the term “gaslighting” has come into vogue and therefore been a tad overused, thus diluting its impact, “Gaslighting” is precisely what Trump and his MAGA minions are doing to the country.
Aside from influencing & polluting public opinion with an endless assertion of toxic Big Lies, it is the proximate cause of sabotaging “peaceful transfer of power.”
In my opinion, Gaslighting 2.0 and 3.0 are manifesting in the “anti-woke” agenda, which is metastasizing and mutating into book banning, ESG prohibitions, crazy legal theories like “the independent state legislature”- thankfully & miraculously repudiated by SCOTUS last week.
As if the constant 24/7 news (noise) feeds weren’t already overwhelming for discerning political minds, let alone the minds of less discerning minds and the minds of those who don’t even attempt to discern, such as those whose filters just allow news of sports or other topics in their comfort zone, the ultimate Gaslighting opportunity (threat) is presented by Artificial Intelligence, in my opinion a runaway freight train, the reins to which are not being held by responsible parties.
The above litany is a clear & present danger to “peaceful transfer of power,” which you so astutely and presciently identified as the kernel of Democracy.
Am I wrong?
Please talk me off this ledge, from which I see dystopia at our doorstep.
Sadly, Steve, I do believe that we are on the "ledge." There are those who "don't know what they don't know" because as you've referenced, they buy into the claim of "fake news" being propagated by Fox, OAN and Newsmax. But, why shouldn't they be gullible? There is precedent for them believing unsupportable claims, and in this regard I have in mind their religious beliefs. So, how to get through to them that they're being manipulated by the wealthy who have siphoned $30 trillion out of the economy since Reagan's term in office, resulting in their continued economic decline and a potentional state bankruptcy not far down the road? [Thomas Frank, "What's the Matter with Kansas."]
Thank you so much for the links you sent!
Looking forward to checking them out!
After various posts the past couple of days, and reading some of the words of the Declaration of Independence, of Lincoln, and of FDR, I am more cheered and determined than before. America and the holiday belong to Americans, not fascists.
But fascists try to wear the mask of America. May we not be fooled
So true. That is why , in part, I recomend all to get Timothy Egan's book, "A Fever in the Heartland." What is going on right now is not a case of first impression. Egan's book is riveting.
It sure is! I'm almost done reading it. :)
I will confess that sections of "A Fever" brought me to tears. Madge's death was heart breaking. What she did had significant repercussions for which we are the beneficiaries, yet I doubt that she is found in any of the history books. It is to Timothy Egan's credit that he gave her death the treatment that he did and which she so much deserves.
Same here. Feels much better.
I can’t think of a time in American history when a large majority of the population felt good about almost everything — except maybe in the 1950s when lots of people kept their eyes closed.
But yesterday and today the it rained hard and cleared up five times. Both days it was clear enough in the evenings to shoot off fireworks over the bay. I love fireworks. An hour last night and another one tonight. On the beach I can get close to them and have the heavens exploding in six colors right over my head. Happy Birthday America!
There are enough of us who care, many of us brought together by HCR. If we keep at it we will succeed at ridding the country of the current form of political cancer. Enjoy the summer.
'A third of the country’s people live in households making less than $55,000. Many are not officially counted among the poor, but there is plenty of economic hardship above the poverty line. And plenty far below it as well. According to the Supplemental Poverty Measure, which accounts for government aid and living expenses, more than one in 25 people in America 65 or older lived in deep poverty in 2021, meaning that they’d have to, at minimum, double their incomes just to reach the poverty line.'
'America Is in a Disgraced Class of Its Own'
March 16, 2023 (NYTimes)
By Matthew Desmond
'Mr. Desmond, a sociologist at Princeton, is the director of its Eviction Lab and the author of “Poverty, by America” and “Evicted.”
'Programs like housing assistance and food stamps are effective and essential, protecting millions of families from hunger and homelessness each year. But the United States devotes far fewer resources to these programs, as a share of its gross domestic product, than other rich democracies, which places America in a disgraced class of its own on the world stage.' (NYTimes) Link below is gifted, thanks to Lynell's generosity.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/16/opinion/poverty-abolition-united-states.html?
Two years ago, here in central Florida, I was going into town taking a rural road, where some really, really low cost housing is located. I came upon a scene where the sheriff was present, evicting the residents of the home, all their furniture and belongings piled up in the yard. How can it be that we have this problem, that even in the cheapest of dwellings we don't have a way to avoid disasters like this. That I didn't stop to offer help haunts me still.
I just read this report you referenced in the NY Times, Fern. Holy Smolies. We may all have a part to play in eliminating poverty, but the one sure place we can do it is at the polls. That $33 trillion debt that the U.S. has went right into the pockets of the large corps and wealthy individuals. With the right political structure we can take it back and redistribute it - legally. We've simply got to get involved, get voters registered and then get them to the polls on election day. It's not an easy task when tens of millions buy into the lies promulgated by Fox, OAN and Newsmax. But, what's the alternative?
Please go to www.turnup.us/ very effective nonpartisan voter reg and turnout org run by Harvard students nationwide; Forbes magazine rated it as the top VR student organization in the country
Great. I signed up and am sending it to our country Democratic Party group. I have always felt that we were not doing enough on the college campuses. I am eager to see how we can utilize their organization and activities.
Thanks Richard: I’m working daily with this remarkable group of Harvard students. They are brilliant in their use of paid nonpartisan appeals thru social media to register/vote in order to approve or save pro-abortion reproductive health, effective gun control measures, and climate change rules particularly in light of the record setting temperatures in the global heat wave! They concentrate on registering/turning out 18 to 25s, 25 to 35 women, and suburban women 35 to 44 who recent polling confirms are worried about the health of their daughters! They are all endangered by the push in Congress to enact a nationwide abortion ban! Terrific nonpartisan work but they need our tax deductible contributions in order to get the job done— folks, please respond generously at www.turnup.us/ Many thanks!
Ira, can you imagine this: a young couple are planning on starting a family when the wife is impregnated by a rapist. And, she's forced to carry the pregnancy to term. What does that do to their lives? One in twenty rapes results in a pregnancy. There are more than 463,000 reported rapes in the U.S. annually. Somehow we must win this fight against "Talibanizing" American females (girls included.) the students definitely deserve our financial support. We've already put them $33 trillion in debt.
Well said!
May your hope come to pass!
'Our nation is a work in progress, as it has always been, but there is a whole new generation stepping into the fray.' ___Heather Cox Richardson, July 4th, 2023
'View Big Red Lighthouse'
'Holland's beloved and popular "Big Red" lighthouse, which stands proudly at the south side of the Holland Channel, has a long and rich history dating back to the first structure built on that site in 1870. Currently the lighthouse is owned and maintained by a non-profit lighthouse commission and is Michigan's most photographed lighthouse.'
'Over the years, "Big Red" has taken on a life of its own, popular with painters, photographers, beach-goers, and boaters. There's nothing more relaxing than sitting in the shade of a tree, and watch the river empty into Lake Michigan, while the red sentinel stands guard on the opposite shore.' (Holland Area Visitor's Bureau)
Thank you for this!
…double thanks; it is good see you and the fine Beto O'Rourke among us.
Thank you!
There is something mystical about Light Houses as they serve as lonely beacons. Big Red falls in this category. It’s easy to see how it draws people to it. One of my favorite movies is HALF LIGHT starring Demi Moore who encounters voices from the past and danger while visiting a light house.
You didn’t mention we have no access to Big Red
Now you do, Annie, at least digitally. See the link below.
https://bigredlighthouse.com/
Yes, that’s what I’m hoping Heather Cox Richardson and others will read and ponder. Heather had no idea what featuring Big Red for the Fourth would reveal. I
It would have been wrong of me not to bring this up.
A small but interesting way to access Big Red. The beach around the lighthouse is public. So people with boats go around and use this way to go there for all of us. My husband and I go to Holland State Park and are able to see the boats moored by the beach. Appreciating these families doing this.
I do not know the points you may be alluding to -- political, social, local and or beyond? Do tell.
Local access to the lighthouse and beach is very limited. Maybe if you go to my website and read some of my posts. And also about my life journey, it might make more sense of where I’m coming from. Holland was settled about 1846. Chief Waukazoo and his people lived here in the winter and Traverse City in the summer. Because of President Andrew Jackson and the Indian Removal Act they bought land so they wouldn’t be forced to go on their own Trail of Tears. There’s much written about why they left and went to North Port.
I was very involved with my first husband in American Indian justice issue. So I am very aware of how little we really know about how we got the land to be America upon and with.
So when Heather posted this photo of Big Red, I realized it would be wrong of me to not inform her readers that there is no access.
It would help me if I had a better understanding of where you’re coming from too.
In the end, we all want the peoples of this world to be at peace working together with their diverse perspectives.
I hope I haven’t offended you.
Annie
You have not offended me at all. I do not know the area or history of 'Big Red' as you do. I was just sharing some information about the place highlighted in the stunning photo Heather posted. So, no agenda on my end. In the future, your ability to timely provide the context of your subject to readers in a clear and succinct way will, I think, attract interest.
That's my hometown! Thank you, Dr. R, for this lovely image.
Watching A Capitol Fourth tonight, I’m struck by how often we pray for divine protection in our patriotic music. Yyet so many who do so would elect a proven liar and thief to the highest office in our precious land. I just don’t get it. I’m so thankful to be an American.
It's Reagan's having ended the Fairness Doctrine, and the rise of the fake news media.
That's exactly what started this. Garbage Fox News is largely responsible.
Yes! Just put this piece of information together from an excellent piece on MSNBC tonight. This opened up the way for Rush Limbaugh and the Fox network ratcheting up propaganda while purporting to report the news.
Thankfully we still have a free press but only if we support independent journalism and local news.
I didn't even think about talk radio when I posted this comment. They may be as much, if not more, to blame.
He was horrible in so many ways. Aa was Nancy. There wasnt much behind that smile.
Better actor than I gave him credit for, but he had Michael Deaver and Peggy Noonan as PR guru and speechwriter. And of course, he had Nancy. Been waiting for someone to write about Nancy’s influence, going back to Hollywood days. Me thinks she created Ronnie, the political animal.
yes and so anti gay!
100% I’m old, watched it happen and metastasize
Ditto.
In one of the bands I play in we play “American Duality” (“My Country ‘Tis of Thee” and “America the Beautiful”). To help with phrasing, I recite the words in my head as I play the music on my tuba. For “America the Beautiful” I sing a combination of verses 2 and 4: “o beautiful for patriot’s dream that sees beyond the years; Thine alabaster cities gleam, undimmed by human tears. America, America, God mend thine every flaw. Confirm thy soul in self control, thy liberty in law.”
I take comfort in those words, and firmly believe that America the Beautiful should be our national anthem.
Morning, Ally! Thanks for highlighting the verses that don't get much "press," but are no less insightful.
G’day, Lynell!
Thanks Ally, reading your posts is such a treat. I never skip over them.
Thank you for your kind words!
Ally, I went to Fort Snelling National Cemetery on Monday to visit my parents and late husband’s gravesites. There were several funerals going on and during one of them, they played just one verse of America the Beautiful (along with Taps and Amazing Grace. Kinda perfect.) I’ve been humming them all ever since.
Thanks for reminding me of the beauty of the words of that verse. God mend our every flaw!
Confirm thy soul in self control!
We have a wonderful arrangement of Amazing Grace. I never thought of pairing them. Hmmmmm
I agree.
And it's very cool that you're a tuba player.
😇
So close to home in Grand Rapids Michigan !! Thanks for posting Big Red
A fellow Grand Rapidian!!
Thank you, from a native Michigander who hasn't been back to the shores of Lake Michigan since we honeymooned in Ludington nearly 53 years ago. Time for a road trip.
It's always time for a road trip!
22 years ago my husband and I took the Circle Tour around Lake Michigan. We stopped wherever we wanted to. We were in no hurry because we had 2 weeks. During that trip one of my nephews was born. I remember being by a lighthouse with a bag of cherries, some wine, some bread and cheese and just enjoying the peacefulness of it all in Michigan near Sleeping Bear Dunes while celebrating his birth. Right now he is almost done training to be a chef! He votes! Yay for generation Z!
What a lovely memory, and sounds like your nephew has grown up well.
Same. My grandmother lived in Wyoming, MI, and I have a lot of relatives in Grand Rapids/Battle Creek, most of whom I haven't seen since childhood. A trip to Gretchen Whitmer's wonderful state is now on my bucket list!
I'm a Battle Creek native; relatives in Holland, Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo, Jackson, and Dearborn, more if I get the address book updated. September's looking good for the trip.
Luddington !! 1962 ferried there from Chicago. Great to recall, so “thanks”
Y’re correct, my err a single “d”
You know, I had first used two 'd's... from memory, I thought. But the Google corrected me... now I'm left wondering if I've been wrong all these years.
Time to come back and visit!
Good one to post. Thanks Dr Richardson for the reassurance. There’s much damage to repair both internally as well as externally in this country. Someone had better step into the breech.
More light from you. Thanks. Happy Independence Day.
“We’ll get back to work tomorrow.” And Today. And all the todays and tomorrows forever. For our children, for the future. We are Dependent on each other.
We live just about 45 miles south of Holland in St. Joseph, MI! We have see the Holland lighthouse many times! Thank you. It's a very nice image! We hope you have a great 4th.
Into the fray today
Just like yesterday
And every other day
Have a good fray, I say
Everyday to the USA
Many thanks, Heather! There is something compelling about lighthouses; always shining the way to home, or what will become home. They make me feel hopeful, as my ancestors did when they saw an east coast lighthouse on our shoreline. The light promised hope and welcome, such a contrast from the places they had left. I still feel that hope, even while recognizing the rise of ideas promoting exclusion, fear, and violence. I want that hope to rise again, as a clear vision for our country, again.
You are a beacon on hope.