Spent the day with family and friends, and they wore me out! The only sunrise I'm going to be awake for in the next several hours is the one below. I'll see you all tomorrow. [Photo by Buddy Poland]
I am bemused by those who are now grumbling that the country’s sun is not shining brightly under President Biden. Biden only beat Trump by a narrow margin in the 2020 election and has razor-thin margins in the House and the Senate.
He had an Augean-stables-challenge to clean out the muck, turn around the vaccine-and mask muddle, get money into the hands of major pandemic sufferers, and restore ethics, integrity, humanity, and professionalism to a presidential administration.
In only nine months I applaud President Biden for taking command of a ship of state in frightening distress and swiftly setting it on a positive course. The Delta virus has been an unexpected ice berg. I expect a much sunnier voyage in 2022.
Hope you had a lovely birthday! Mine is on Monday. I told my students I’m celebrating my birthday Monday so we’re all taking the day off! My daughter and her fiancé are coming tomorrow for my birthday, haven’t been here since thanksgiving 2019. So excited! Hope everybody takes Monday off and enjoy my day! Lol!
WASHINGTON — Ordinarily staid and silent Supreme Court justices have become whirling dervishes of late, spinning madly to rebut the idea that Americans are beginning to regard the court as a dangerous cabal of partisan hacks.
They need not fret and wring their hands. No one is beginning to think that.
Many of us have thought that for a long time.
Supremes are often Shakespeare fans, so of course they are familiar with the phrase “doth protest too much, methinks.”
The once august court’s approval ratings on fairness were already falling two decades ago. The bloom came off the robe in 2000, when the court threw the game on Bush v. Gore, voting 5 to 4 to stop the Florida recount and anoint a Republican president.
If we conjure an alternative-history look at America, consider all the things that the Supreme Court brought down on our heads by pre-emptively purloining that victory for George W. Bush: two interminable and inexplicable wars, costing so many lives and so many trillions; a descent into torture; the villainous Dick Cheney.
As some on Twitter noted, our 20 years of quicksand in Afghanistan was capped Friday with this headline: “Son of Afghanistan’s Former Defense Minister Buys $20.9 Million Beverly Hills Mansion.”
Never, NEVER apologize for taking a day off in favor of family and friends! Why have we decided that work represents the highest and best use of our time and everything else is subordinate to it? Been there, done that, got the t-shirt and eventually a stay in the sanatorium.
Here's a little something to fill the gap - a seed dropping into season's soils from ripened fruit falling to ground ...:
From Toko-Pa Turner
"Death is the most active and fertile state of nature's life cycle. I think of the trees in autumn, who undergo a dramatic shedding, dropping their leaves and pine needles, in what’s called an abscission process. Abscission comes from the same Latin root as scissors, scindere, meaning "to cut," and is a way of conserving energy and resources for the harsh winter ahead. But also in that shedding are the reproductive fruits, seeds, and cones that are the hope for new life being sent out into the world."
"There is a seed sown in loss, that comes directly out of our competency with death. "I know the world is bruised and bleeding," writes Toni Morrison, "and though it is important not to ignore its pain, it is also critical to refuse to succumb to its malevolence. Like failure, chaos contains information that can lead to knowledge -- even wisdom. Like art.""
"It is the word chaos that strikes me as the jewel of this quote, because nature always contains phases of dissolution, disease, and decline. In many Indigenous cosmogonies, chaos is the mythological state that precedes the creation of the cosmos. Chaos, sometimes described as the infinite void or abyss, was the first thing to exist. And it was from that primordial state that life emerged."
"Interestingly, the final Hexagram in the I-Ching’s sequence of 64, Wei Chi, roughly translates to "Before Completion." Even though it's the last in the series, it is interpreted as the stage when chaos begins to organise itself into new growth. And it reminds us that we have a responsibility in helping to shape events.".
"It feels important to make a distinction here, between being productive and being generative. The first implies an expectation from and for society, while the other is, like a plant, a natural giving forth as a result of favourable conditions. So how do we topple the controlling power of productivity that so many of us are held captive by? What can we do but keep defying and escaping its demands in favour of life-giving practices?"
"When you're initiated in the way of death, you develop an abiding recognition of the value of life. No single moment can be wasted on the charade of living someone else's story for your life. But civilisation itself seems to be in a death rattle, goading us constantly to dance to its pace. And, save for a few daring souls who abandon the grid, we remain captive to its rhythm. Knowing this, what can we do but slip new narratives into its matrix. Seed bundles, dropped into the codes of culture."
"There is a heritage seed living in every one of us, a gift from a long line of ancestors. A tightly packed bundle of original instructions, ways of living well and in reciprocity. But it lies dormant unless favourable conditions fertilise it. Like reforesting a clearcut, I believe we have a chance to rewild the collective psyche. And there is no more opportune a moment than in throes of chaos, when old structures are crumbling and we can't yet see the horizon. We can't see it, because we haven't yet seeded it."
"Like an old tree who topples to make room in the canopy for light to reach the young sprouts, let us ask what needs to die for this new life to thrive? What are the favourable conditions your seed needs to grow? What ancient instructions are contained within your precious bundle?"
How wonderful! So glad you could enjoy it all! And this sunrise is stunningly beautiful and worth waiting for! Hope you had a deep restorative slumber! Thank you for all you do for us night after night, to keep us informed and sane!
I am thinking that certain GOP members with fealty to DJT have not thought things through. The only person who lives more freely than everyone else in an authoritarian regime, is the president. Even Mitch would be looking over his shoulder every minute of every day. Yet, this seems to be what they wish for.
Have you ever thought of being a national spokesperson for the Biden admin. They certain could use one. Why are the Democrats so bad at getting their message across??
Thank you Heather and a peaceful enjoyable weekend to you and yours.
I also want to say that I truly appreciate your newsletter to which I look forward each morning. There is a clarity and fair-minded quality about it which is rare in today’s hyper 24/7 “Breaking News” cycle for which I am grateful. So many thanks again and I wish you all the best.
So glad you had a great day with family and friends.
Kudos to Buddy for this spectacular photo and I hope you know how much I appreciate all you do for us to broaden our knowledge and keep us between the guardrails.
Glad you took the day off to be with friends and family. Please give me an address where I can send you a birthday present- I wove it while listening to your podcasts. Suzanne.
I am bemused by those who are now grumbling that the country’s sun is not shining brightly under President Biden. Biden only beat Trump by a narrow margin in the 2020 election and has razor-thin margins in the House and the Senate.
He had an Augean-stables-challenge to clean out the muck, turn around the vaccine-and mask muddle, get money into the hands of major pandemic sufferers, and restore ethics, integrity, humanity, and professionalism to a presidential administration.
In only nine months I applaud President Biden for taking command of a ship of state in frightening distress and swiftly setting it on a positive course. The Delta virus has been an unexpected ice berg. I expect a much sunnier voyage in 2022.
Hope you had a lovely birthday! Mine is on Monday. I told my students I’m celebrating my birthday Monday so we’re all taking the day off! My daughter and her fiancé are coming tomorrow for my birthday, haven’t been here since thanksgiving 2019. So excited! Hope everybody takes Monday off and enjoy my day! Lol!
Happy Birthday Heather!
Thank God for you Dr. HCR, a gift to the world.
OPINION
MAUREEN DOWD
The Supreme Court v. Reality
Oct. 9, 2021
WASHINGTON — Ordinarily staid and silent Supreme Court justices have become whirling dervishes of late, spinning madly to rebut the idea that Americans are beginning to regard the court as a dangerous cabal of partisan hacks.
They need not fret and wring their hands. No one is beginning to think that.
Many of us have thought that for a long time.
Supremes are often Shakespeare fans, so of course they are familiar with the phrase “doth protest too much, methinks.”
The once august court’s approval ratings on fairness were already falling two decades ago. The bloom came off the robe in 2000, when the court threw the game on Bush v. Gore, voting 5 to 4 to stop the Florida recount and anoint a Republican president.
If we conjure an alternative-history look at America, consider all the things that the Supreme Court brought down on our heads by pre-emptively purloining that victory for George W. Bush: two interminable and inexplicable wars, costing so many lives and so many trillions; a descent into torture; the villainous Dick Cheney.
As some on Twitter noted, our 20 years of quicksand in Afghanistan was capped Friday with this headline: “Son of Afghanistan’s Former Defense Minister Buys $20.9 Million Beverly Hills Mansion.”
More: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/09/opinion/supreme-court-conservative.html?unlocked_article_code=AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACEIPuonUktbfqohlSFUbCibSRdkhrxqAwuPS2KYxg3K7Jy-IUyoHxOMTGIWa5U7RZLRuIdsv2jDRDPlwDIgSft0ghOlOIx4qDACyvpqPnJlCLnk894jjAWpzjs3BBvVl-G_hK2C0Jbg6mefk5BmLb2TgDafbwmRhcFg-2eZtdVyt0XEMxKzAA7Q1joE4haF9c8g8ETQQZyCKv-3rCgF9ObiFbhLf4wo0WYJJSG2Z3I7cu_9bLlIkWR-RR2h_4G0_9NteJNgRWa78JBYqc8P46q4DDO2eww0XVTfNn5YRbVpnTw&smid=url-share
Never, NEVER apologize for taking a day off in favor of family and friends! Why have we decided that work represents the highest and best use of our time and everything else is subordinate to it? Been there, done that, got the t-shirt and eventually a stay in the sanatorium.
Here's a little something to fill the gap - a seed dropping into season's soils from ripened fruit falling to ground ...:
From Toko-Pa Turner
"Death is the most active and fertile state of nature's life cycle. I think of the trees in autumn, who undergo a dramatic shedding, dropping their leaves and pine needles, in what’s called an abscission process. Abscission comes from the same Latin root as scissors, scindere, meaning "to cut," and is a way of conserving energy and resources for the harsh winter ahead. But also in that shedding are the reproductive fruits, seeds, and cones that are the hope for new life being sent out into the world."
"There is a seed sown in loss, that comes directly out of our competency with death. "I know the world is bruised and bleeding," writes Toni Morrison, "and though it is important not to ignore its pain, it is also critical to refuse to succumb to its malevolence. Like failure, chaos contains information that can lead to knowledge -- even wisdom. Like art.""
"It is the word chaos that strikes me as the jewel of this quote, because nature always contains phases of dissolution, disease, and decline. In many Indigenous cosmogonies, chaos is the mythological state that precedes the creation of the cosmos. Chaos, sometimes described as the infinite void or abyss, was the first thing to exist. And it was from that primordial state that life emerged."
"Interestingly, the final Hexagram in the I-Ching’s sequence of 64, Wei Chi, roughly translates to "Before Completion." Even though it's the last in the series, it is interpreted as the stage when chaos begins to organise itself into new growth. And it reminds us that we have a responsibility in helping to shape events.".
"It feels important to make a distinction here, between being productive and being generative. The first implies an expectation from and for society, while the other is, like a plant, a natural giving forth as a result of favourable conditions. So how do we topple the controlling power of productivity that so many of us are held captive by? What can we do but keep defying and escaping its demands in favour of life-giving practices?"
"When you're initiated in the way of death, you develop an abiding recognition of the value of life. No single moment can be wasted on the charade of living someone else's story for your life. But civilisation itself seems to be in a death rattle, goading us constantly to dance to its pace. And, save for a few daring souls who abandon the grid, we remain captive to its rhythm. Knowing this, what can we do but slip new narratives into its matrix. Seed bundles, dropped into the codes of culture."
"There is a heritage seed living in every one of us, a gift from a long line of ancestors. A tightly packed bundle of original instructions, ways of living well and in reciprocity. But it lies dormant unless favourable conditions fertilise it. Like reforesting a clearcut, I believe we have a chance to rewild the collective psyche. And there is no more opportune a moment than in throes of chaos, when old structures are crumbling and we can't yet see the horizon. We can't see it, because we haven't yet seeded it."
"Like an old tree who topples to make room in the canopy for light to reach the young sprouts, let us ask what needs to die for this new life to thrive? What are the favourable conditions your seed needs to grow? What ancient instructions are contained within your precious bundle?"
Dream well,
Toko-Pa
dreamwork@toko-pa.com
Wow, gorgeous photo. Get some well earned rest, we need you in our lives.
How wonderful! So glad you could enjoy it all! And this sunrise is stunningly beautiful and worth waiting for! Hope you had a deep restorative slumber! Thank you for all you do for us night after night, to keep us informed and sane!
I am thinking that certain GOP members with fealty to DJT have not thought things through. The only person who lives more freely than everyone else in an authoritarian regime, is the president. Even Mitch would be looking over his shoulder every minute of every day. Yet, this seems to be what they wish for.
https://vtdigger.org/2021/10/08/haviland-smith-are-we-on-the-cusp-of-authoritarianism/
Sleep well Heather.
Have you ever thought of being a national spokesperson for the Biden admin. They certain could use one. Why are the Democrats so bad at getting their message across??
Thank you Heather and a peaceful enjoyable weekend to you and yours.
I also want to say that I truly appreciate your newsletter to which I look forward each morning. There is a clarity and fair-minded quality about it which is rare in today’s hyper 24/7 “Breaking News” cycle for which I am grateful. So many thanks again and I wish you all the best.
Thank you Heather.
So glad you had a great day with family and friends.
Kudos to Buddy for this spectacular photo and I hope you know how much I appreciate all you do for us to broaden our knowledge and keep us between the guardrails.
Be safe, be well.
Glad you took the day off to be with friends and family. Please give me an address where I can send you a birthday present- I wove it while listening to your podcasts. Suzanne.
Happy birthday from a Portlander who shares your birthday! Cheers:)
The best kind of worn out. Happy birthday!
Your Maine photos make my heart happy. I grew up in Maine, moved on to Alaska, now Oregon. Maine will always be my beautiful first home..