October, as usual, was a month of contradictions. I love this month, with its quiet, crisp air, apples, and a return to hunkering down around a fire in the woodstove. But October is also traditionally a month of drama: economic crashes as accountants take a closer look at their books after taking the summer off; political surprises as politicos jockey for advantage before November elections.
Thank you for opening up so many people's minds to our history and our history in the making now with the issues we face. You are my true American hero.
Your picture draws us forward into the frame. Your newsletter draws us forward with hope for better days ahead. Thank you for talking us off the ledge so many times with your historical perspective. Lastly, thank you for always encouraging us to get up and fight when circumstances knock us down. Have a good rest.
Mary, thank you for your comment as well. You made me go back and really appreciate Heather's photo at a deeper level. I too have hopes for better days ahead.
Heather has encouraged us to keep fighting back here and she has inspired me to write my own substack. Fighting back is hard work, and exhausting, and in many ways sickening. I've been focusing on Mike Johnson lately and everything I find looks like corruption.
I don't know how Heather keeps doing this at the pace she does, at the length and depth she does.
But I believe that ordinary people participating in thoughtful discourse can find the truth. And we definitely need real truth, not alternate facts.
Georgia, you write: "But I believe that ordinary people participating in thoughtful discourse can find the truth. And we definitely need real truth, not alternate facts." I have some old high school buddies where it is impossible to have any participation in "thoughtful discourse." Timothy Egan's book, "A Fever in the Heartland," about the rise of the KKK in the 1920's and "The Anger Games: Who Voted for Donald Trump in the 2016 Election, and Why?" published in the journal, Critical Sociology, in Feb. 2018 help me to understand them. In fairness to them, is it possible to sit down with a Christian and have a "thoughtful discourse" about the impossibility of a virgin birth, or with a Muslim about the non-existence of 72 virgins in heaven waiting for those who die in Jihad? I don't think so. So, we spend our efforts elsewhere, such as getting people to the polls. Time is precious right now.
When there were some Muslim female suicide bombers I just wondered if they had male virgins (I was one once) or if the Jihadists were lesbians. Cultists are so gullible.
That is sadly true. I read about the polls showing Trump ahead of the president in all but one swing state. General disorder (fear) closes people’s minds. The instinctive generosity toward a person in trouble and support for the only “democracy” in the Middle East, may take US out of democracy and destroy what good people have sought to sustain by methods good and ugly. Can Americans think in the current situation and make good decisions for the good of the country?
I was too! From this vantage of so many years (I lost my virginity at close to 17, on April 19, 1970), the thought actually amuses me, and your comment has put a smile on my face. Yes! the jihadists MAY have been lesbians! Thanks for a great comment!
Good to know, Jack. I will get my calendar out and start marking down the days as well as the dates for the get-togethers, the effort to revive the Democrats here in Florida and get them to the polls on election day. I have a high school buddy who gets his info from Sean Hannity. I sent this link to him: Fox News' Sean Hannity says he knew all along Trump lost the election
Your high school buddy will ignore this since it comes from what he probably considers a 'commie' source, NPR. These people live in another reality, often a mindless one. Don't let arguing with such people lessen your efforts to get out the vote.
LOL, Jack, your reply: "Don't let arguing with such people lessen your efforts to get out the vote." They are a large part of the reason WHY I am working feverishly to get out the vote.
I thought I was doing well in this arena, but my oldest friend (almost 50 years) this past week both blocked and unfriended me and I’m sure has blocked my phone number as well over a stupid meme posted on FB. I thought the meme was in very bad taste and said so (it used a little girl dressed up in a very political, very…disturbing shirt with the word “pedo” on it). It sent my friend over the edge that I thought the photo, real or not, was unacceptable. “After all, it was just a meme, and a funny one at that”. I disagree with any adult, much less a parent, using a child’s Halloween costume to further or state their political views regardless of what they are. Not something I thought I would lose a friend over. But I was so very wrong.
It's very likely that your (former) friend knew he was out of line. As I've been repeating for about 50 years now, "Guilt turns to hostility." (Did you report it to FB? They're erratic at best -- I once got a warning for referring to myself and some friends as dykes, which we are -- but they might have done something about that meme.
No. Didn’t report it. Didn’t seem like it was worth it. This person has had their page shut down in the past more than once. Wouldn’t have accomplished anything. The response to my comment kind of blew my mind though. “I don’t know you anymore”. This is exactly why I don’t comment on people’s posts, but I thought I had covered that base by pointing out only the substance of the meme referring to only the child being used. Evidently that was not sufficient.
I would love to see some of your ideas about how to approach Republicans of any sort about politics. I have been saying to Republicans here what I saw HCR claim the other day in her appearance at the LBJ library in Austin: "I am the conservative." Today's MAGA Republicans are anything but conservative, as HCR claims. One of my claims to being a conservative is my desire to have a balanced federal budget and to reduce it so that our children and grandchildren are not saddled with having to carry a burden caused by us.
When it comes to saddling future generations (including the ones who are already on the planet) with burdens, I believe climate change, wealth inequality, racism, and misogyny are more pressing than the national debt. The federal budget isn't the same as, or even comparable to, an individual's checkbook.
Those are excellent points, Susanna. I concur, and those of us who want a fair tax system that will tax the wealthy as a way of reducing the national debt are also fighting the burdens you mention: climate change, wealth inequality, racism and misogyny.
And often the national debt gets raised in ways that will end up paying down the debt, like Biden's Inflation Reduction Act, and some of his other legislation.
I wrote about it in Substack Notes and I'll be damned if I can figure out to go back to find the notes I've posted. This is by no means the friendliest app for authors! Still on the learning curve.
I appreciate your thoughts about one's theology and how apparently irrelevant are the myriad fantastical stories. I have them in my Buddhist lore. But for my close neighbor, and others near me ...
We share our love of our gardens and our old, 1800s homes. So, I remember them, more so for these discussions, for this is what we share in common. And this is very nice. We touch each other in this way. But I know they will still vote "incorrectly" on Question 3 this year! So, we can laugh about this. This is also very nice
I completed Fever in the Heartland last night. It was startlingly shocking. It is hard to know of this horrible time and to imagine it could happen again.
Marilyn, to your point: "It is hard to know of this horrible time and to imagine it could happen again." In fact, it is happening again. Right now. Right before our eyes. We need to recognize this and pull out all of the stoppers to end it. Ben Franklin was right: it wouldn't be easy to keep our republic. Even in the next couple of weeks we're tottering on the edge if the MAGA Republicans decide to shut it all down by not funding the government. We are literally at war with the seditionists.
Heather has inspired many people in the country to "take up oxygen" to support our democracy. I watched the other night as she spoke with "Red, Wine and Blue", a group of suburban women who are organizing impressively across the country, especially where voting is concerned. Let's all keep up the good work in our own ways.
Here in Portland, we are 35 miles away from Lewiston, as you know. Blue hearts are springing up everywhere -- in front of City Hall, on storefront windows. Of course you couldn't work after the shooting. Thank you for your strength, compassion, and insight, even in silence. In Maine, we're putting one foot in front of another toward healing. I know you are, too.
I'm also 35 miles from Lewiston, along the Maine Midcoast. I think I'll start the blue hearts in my little village. And, thank you for reminding me of our shared trauma and our collective healing
I totally agree! Your explanations and how you put things in context give me hope. We need your thoughts to keep us from getting caught up in the anger and nastiness that are so prevalent. Instead, we can look forward and be activists with facts and community.
I often laugh when you you express some human frailty like being exhausted, or needing to kyack to rest and relax that many , many of your readers become very motherly, or auntly telling you to “take care of yourself”. I do believe it is further evidence of the regard we hold you in and the place you hold in keeping us from getting sucked into a black hole. Thank you for that and the beautiful photo from Maine.
This picture is like an hourglass working both upright and upside down. I feel the sand running out on our democracy and wished I could just flip the hourglass to gain more time. Thank you Heather for this powerful image.
I love that you saw that image and shared it with us. I'm so interested in the election results on Tues. It may give us some insight on how time is playing out
I read your Letter every morning with that first precious cup of coffee, and many days I wonder where you find the courage to write about the mess that this country and the world are… Thank you for keeping us informed and involved, I have no doubt it takes a toll on you…
Your image captures that sense of our crazy October days beautifully. We read your letters & stay in the middle, calm. With gratitude for your vigilance.
Thank you for opening up so many people's minds to our history and our history in the making now with the issues we face. You are my true American hero.
Georgia, thank you for stating so well what so many of us feel.
Agree!
Agree 100%
Living in Tennessee in Tim Burchett's district, you are my guide to sanity!
Understandable you feel this way, living in his district!
Ditto..
Mine too!!💜
Same from me! Enjoy the ride-you deserve it! Photo just calm beauty.
Yes to this comment. Thank you so
Much Heather🤗
Your picture draws us forward into the frame. Your newsletter draws us forward with hope for better days ahead. Thank you for talking us off the ledge so many times with your historical perspective. Lastly, thank you for always encouraging us to get up and fight when circumstances knock us down. Have a good rest.
Mary, thank you for your comment as well. You made me go back and really appreciate Heather's photo at a deeper level. I too have hopes for better days ahead.
Heather has encouraged us to keep fighting back here and she has inspired me to write my own substack. Fighting back is hard work, and exhausting, and in many ways sickening. I've been focusing on Mike Johnson lately and everything I find looks like corruption.
I don't know how Heather keeps doing this at the pace she does, at the length and depth she does.
But I believe that ordinary people participating in thoughtful discourse can find the truth. And we definitely need real truth, not alternate facts.
Georgia, you write: "But I believe that ordinary people participating in thoughtful discourse can find the truth. And we definitely need real truth, not alternate facts." I have some old high school buddies where it is impossible to have any participation in "thoughtful discourse." Timothy Egan's book, "A Fever in the Heartland," about the rise of the KKK in the 1920's and "The Anger Games: Who Voted for Donald Trump in the 2016 Election, and Why?" published in the journal, Critical Sociology, in Feb. 2018 help me to understand them. In fairness to them, is it possible to sit down with a Christian and have a "thoughtful discourse" about the impossibility of a virgin birth, or with a Muslim about the non-existence of 72 virgins in heaven waiting for those who die in Jihad? I don't think so. So, we spend our efforts elsewhere, such as getting people to the polls. Time is precious right now.
Strange but true, none of the Muslim women I know take that bit about the virgins in heaven literally.
When there were some Muslim female suicide bombers I just wondered if they had male virgins (I was one once) or if the Jihadists were lesbians. Cultists are so gullible.
That is sadly true. I read about the polls showing Trump ahead of the president in all but one swing state. General disorder (fear) closes people’s minds. The instinctive generosity toward a person in trouble and support for the only “democracy” in the Middle East, may take US out of democracy and destroy what good people have sought to sustain by methods good and ugly. Can Americans think in the current situation and make good decisions for the good of the country?
I was too! From this vantage of so many years (I lost my virginity at close to 17, on April 19, 1970), the thought actually amuses me, and your comment has put a smile on my face. Yes! the jihadists MAY have been lesbians! Thanks for a great comment!
If the Muslim women you know are all in the US, it doesn't surprise me. If they're in Muslim countries, that's interesting to me.
Yes ... and today marks exactly 365 days remaining until Election Day.
Good to know, Jack. I will get my calendar out and start marking down the days as well as the dates for the get-togethers, the effort to revive the Democrats here in Florida and get them to the polls on election day. I have a high school buddy who gets his info from Sean Hannity. I sent this link to him: Fox News' Sean Hannity says he knew all along Trump lost the election
https://www.npr.org/2022/12/22/1144926308/fox-news-sean-hannity-dominion-lawsuit-trump#:~:text=Hourly%20News-,Fox%20News'%20Sean%20Hannity%20admits%20he%20knew%20Trump%20lost%202020,Dominion%20is%20suing%20Fox%20News.
Your high school buddy will ignore this since it comes from what he probably considers a 'commie' source, NPR. These people live in another reality, often a mindless one. Don't let arguing with such people lessen your efforts to get out the vote.
LOL, Jack, your reply: "Don't let arguing with such people lessen your efforts to get out the vote." They are a large part of the reason WHY I am working feverishly to get out the vote.
I was referring there to the people who follow Heather, but I have written about ideas about how to approach Republican neighbors as well.
I thought I was doing well in this arena, but my oldest friend (almost 50 years) this past week both blocked and unfriended me and I’m sure has blocked my phone number as well over a stupid meme posted on FB. I thought the meme was in very bad taste and said so (it used a little girl dressed up in a very political, very…disturbing shirt with the word “pedo” on it). It sent my friend over the edge that I thought the photo, real or not, was unacceptable. “After all, it was just a meme, and a funny one at that”. I disagree with any adult, much less a parent, using a child’s Halloween costume to further or state their political views regardless of what they are. Not something I thought I would lose a friend over. But I was so very wrong.
It's very likely that your (former) friend knew he was out of line. As I've been repeating for about 50 years now, "Guilt turns to hostility." (Did you report it to FB? They're erratic at best -- I once got a warning for referring to myself and some friends as dykes, which we are -- but they might have done something about that meme.
No. Didn’t report it. Didn’t seem like it was worth it. This person has had their page shut down in the past more than once. Wouldn’t have accomplished anything. The response to my comment kind of blew my mind though. “I don’t know you anymore”. This is exactly why I don’t comment on people’s posts, but I thought I had covered that base by pointing out only the substance of the meme referring to only the child being used. Evidently that was not sufficient.
I would love to see some of your ideas about how to approach Republicans of any sort about politics. I have been saying to Republicans here what I saw HCR claim the other day in her appearance at the LBJ library in Austin: "I am the conservative." Today's MAGA Republicans are anything but conservative, as HCR claims. One of my claims to being a conservative is my desire to have a balanced federal budget and to reduce it so that our children and grandchildren are not saddled with having to carry a burden caused by us.
When it comes to saddling future generations (including the ones who are already on the planet) with burdens, I believe climate change, wealth inequality, racism, and misogyny are more pressing than the national debt. The federal budget isn't the same as, or even comparable to, an individual's checkbook.
Those are excellent points, Susanna. I concur, and those of us who want a fair tax system that will tax the wealthy as a way of reducing the national debt are also fighting the burdens you mention: climate change, wealth inequality, racism and misogyny.
And often the national debt gets raised in ways that will end up paying down the debt, like Biden's Inflation Reduction Act, and some of his other legislation.
I wrote about it in Substack Notes and I'll be damned if I can figure out to go back to find the notes I've posted. This is by no means the friendliest app for authors! Still on the learning curve.
I appreciate your thoughts about one's theology and how apparently irrelevant are the myriad fantastical stories. I have them in my Buddhist lore. But for my close neighbor, and others near me ...
We share our love of our gardens and our old, 1800s homes. So, I remember them, more so for these discussions, for this is what we share in common. And this is very nice. We touch each other in this way. But I know they will still vote "incorrectly" on Question 3 this year! So, we can laugh about this. This is also very nice
I completed Fever in the Heartland last night. It was startlingly shocking. It is hard to know of this horrible time and to imagine it could happen again.
Marilyn, to your point: "It is hard to know of this horrible time and to imagine it could happen again." In fact, it is happening again. Right now. Right before our eyes. We need to recognize this and pull out all of the stoppers to end it. Ben Franklin was right: it wouldn't be easy to keep our republic. Even in the next couple of weeks we're tottering on the edge if the MAGA Republicans decide to shut it all down by not funding the government. We are literally at war with the seditionists.
Heather has inspired many people in the country to "take up oxygen" to support our democracy. I watched the other night as she spoke with "Red, Wine and Blue", a group of suburban women who are organizing impressively across the country, especially where voting is concerned. Let's all keep up the good work in our own ways.
Here in Portland, we are 35 miles away from Lewiston, as you know. Blue hearts are springing up everywhere -- in front of City Hall, on storefront windows. Of course you couldn't work after the shooting. Thank you for your strength, compassion, and insight, even in silence. In Maine, we're putting one foot in front of another toward healing. I know you are, too.
I'm also 35 miles from Lewiston, along the Maine Midcoast. I think I'll start the blue hearts in my little village. And, thank you for reminding me of our shared trauma and our collective healing
I did not know about these hearts and I will figure out a way to get them in my town.
There is a calmness to the way you've put things in perspective for us. Thank you!
I totally agree! Your explanations and how you put things in context give me hope. We need your thoughts to keep us from getting caught up in the anger and nastiness that are so prevalent. Instead, we can look forward and be activists with facts and community.
And we can also notice the sunsets and sunrises and passing flowers of autumn, and everything else which nature brings to the heart
Heather, please take the weekends off…we need your energy for the long haul. Thank you for all you do to empower us.
I often laugh when you you express some human frailty like being exhausted, or needing to kyack to rest and relax that many , many of your readers become very motherly, or auntly telling you to “take care of yourself”. I do believe it is further evidence of the regard we hold you in and the place you hold in keeping us from getting sucked into a black hole. Thank you for that and the beautiful photo from Maine.
Sometimes we just need to bask in this great planet and remember to look beyond the turmoil and indulge in the infinite! Thanks for sharing!
Good. I don’t know how you do it. I’m glad you do. Take the time.
This picture is like an hourglass working both upright and upside down. I feel the sand running out on our democracy and wished I could just flip the hourglass to gain more time. Thank you Heather for this powerful image.
Great image that describes the tension. yet too the possibility to change it.
I love that you saw that image and shared it with us. I'm so interested in the election results on Tues. It may give us some insight on how time is playing out
Your photo reminds me of a Lucie Rie pottery/porcelin bowl which sold at auction last Wednesday for $408,000.
Pink inside and pink outside all textured with delicate lines. Truly beautiful.
I am very glad that your book is successful because it is a measure of how your audience continues to grow.
What you give, your clarity, your earnest heart, your love of democracy are all utterly
priceless.
Thank you Heather.
I found that bowl but copy/pasting the image doesn't work. Here's the link to see it: https://www.phillips.com/detail/lucie-rie/UK050523/306
Thanks very much Barbara, I couldn't figure that out.
I read your Letter every morning with that first precious cup of coffee, and many days I wonder where you find the courage to write about the mess that this country and the world are… Thank you for keeping us informed and involved, I have no doubt it takes a toll on you…
Your image captures that sense of our crazy October days beautifully. We read your letters & stay in the middle, calm. With gratitude for your vigilance.
Beautiful ❣️
Dear Heart, take good care. Please
Take care of yourself Prof. Richardson.
Beautiful lake! I look forward to your pictures each week. I love taking pictures of nature too. I’ll post one on your FB page. Rest well!