Lots of people are tired right now. Indeed, the whole point of the constant stream of chaos coming from the administration is to exhaust us to the point we will stop caring what Trump and his supporters do. But have you noticed that reporters are increasingly calling out the administration's lies, and people are increasingly articulating what they want the world to look like, rather than what we are currently enduring? Famously, "in the midst of chaos there is also opportunity."
I've posted a few times before. I am an American living in Cambodia. I am lucky to be here. (Never thought you'd hear anyone say That, I bet. ) We have had only 275 cases of Covid here. there is 1 active case and there have been no deaths. Everyone else has recovered. The government here stepped early and hard and we have been able to keep the pandemic out. The groups we support travel the across Cambodia and visit hospitals all over the country. Except for virulent form of dengue, there are no more people in hospital now than there were a year ago.
We run a food distribution program as well as support a number of schools we helped build and we fund a landmine clearance team and 3 mobile bomb squads. Most of our work right now is in supporting those who have been effected by the Covid Economy. We do 2 or 3 distributions a week giving out 50 to 350 bags of rice and food stuffs. Each bag of rice provides 100 servings. In 4.5 months we have distributed 70 metric tons of rice and about 50 metric tons of other food stuffs. We do it all from donations.
Whenever we do a distribution the police are there. Sometimes in fairly large numbers. They help us unload the rice and set it out in rows so that those in need can get to it. They help the elderly carry the rice home. No guns. No armor. No shields. No helmets. When we distribute the food there is no pushing and shoving. Everyone sits behind their bags. Monks bless the food. Local politicians speak (yep it's just like home) and I get to say a few words. People help each other.
This is not the Cambodia many in the West picture.
I read you daily Heather. But I have to tell you it is becoming more and more disheartening, difficult, to read it all at one sitting.
I also support some organizations that are working to get out the vote, and register new voters. All the memes in the world are not going to change the mind of those who have partaken of that orange kool aide. Il Duce's followers will not be dissuaded. We play into his hands every time we waste our time talking to one of his followers.
Do everything to get out the vote. Every election in my lifetime has been referred to as the 'most important in history'. This one is it.
This made me cry. I’m in the thick of the world’s worst air quality, just outside of Portland, OR. Feeling overwhelmed and in despair, and this lovely photo and all that I want it to represent - well, thank you so much, to you and Buddy both.
Inspiring and calming. Thank you as always. Today, we watched a Monarch butterfly emerge from its chrysalis outside our window (Nina keeps the chrysalis safely so the wasps do not kill it). We watched the Monarch pump blood into its wings, slowly position itself and "walk around", then flutter to a nearby flower, rest for a long time, while fanning its wings, and then flutter freely upward to a branch on a tall evergreen, rest there and then, alone, take flight for the nearby milkweed, to begin again the cycle of life. There is beauty if we stop in the chaos to look, to listen, and to marvel...... Peace and Courage for us all this night and all those yet to come.
You not only help us sort through the chaos of the daily news to help us better understand the issues, but you take time from your busy schedule to share the occasional photo to calm our overstimulated senses. Thank you. Bless you. Having worked for a university for 20 years, I know how difficult the start of the new year can be. I pray all goes well for you during this crazy time. Good luck with your teaching and your students!
As a (now retired) professional musician, I readily identify with the picture of the cellist. In times like these that are taxing us all I'm reminded of the wonderful quote by maestro Leonard Bernstein: "This will be our reply to violence: to make music more intensely, more beautifully, more devotedly than ever before." We need art now more than ever.
May I offer another musical balm, this gorgeous song written for these times. The visual metaphor is based on the Japanese art of kintsugi, which seeks to take broken pottery and repair it in a way that makes it stronger and more beautiful than the original. 17572 singers from 129 countries came together to make this piece. Enjoy! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=InULYfJHKI0
To quote De Suess "Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not." Thank you Heather for caring as you sift through this chaos and connecting all of us. And to all who read these letters, thank you for your insights and care. I know there are many and things are going to get better.
Well, lookey here, Professor Richardson, at what you have created! Even on days when you don't post a word filled newsletter and instead a beautiful picture, this community comes together to take the burden from you. We have love and inspiration, lots of sources and music, and support from everyone. This is indeed what a community does and you have created an awesome one! Thank you.
Thank you. I was feeling nervous and discouraged yesterday. This helps more than you can know. Actually, watching the Princess Bride reunion to benefit the Wisconsin Dems helped a lot too.
My friends are having a private invitation only concert with local Musicians every other weekend. We bring chairs, picnic food and drink and $20 + donation and it is on a close by little hill. Only 20 invites. It is a win-win situation for all. Music heals.
Your message got me to check out the Salt Bay Chamberfest website and listen to some of their music. A lovely respite in this very unlovely time. Thank you, Heather, for your wisdom and perspective.
Bless you for your goodness and forthright wisdom. I feel renewed as I realize daily that we are living through a cataclysmic shift of our beliefs, values and the very fabric country’s soul. We /i recognize that this is orders of magnitude of danger. It feels like every dystopian novel ever written has landed on my head, heart, and spirit. Your letters help me to make sense of the world that has gone mad. It helps me to understand, pause and savor the good, the true, the substance of the "beloved community". The very clarity of the vision of the hard work ahead may seem daunting and yet I feel deep hope. "We can do this hard thing" Carrie Newcomer song title. And so we go onward, connected in a web of light to stand up for one more day. 💖🙏🌹
My wife and I are aficianados of classical music. My wife is on the Board of the Mid-Texas Symphony here in Central Texas and we are also patrons of the Symphony. While we have had to postpone our upcoming season the Symphony and its musicians are offering virtual performances, interviews, and musical happy hours free to our patrons this fall through Mid-Texas Symphony @Home. You can access these through the Symphony's website here - http://www.mtsymphony.org/Info/MTS@Home/MTS@Home.aspx.
I also invite you to visit the website of a good friend of ours and an incredible cellist, Jennifer Cornell (https://jenncello.com). Jenn Cornell is a performer, composer and educator bringing cello across boundaries with her visionary style of playing, creating songs that stretch what a cello can be, and inspiring young musicians with her mentor approach to teaching. If you review a number of her musical stylings and performances on her website you wil be amazed at the versatility she achieves with a cello. Her music is pure joy.
So many of us are feeling stress in these times. To be able to relieve the stress, kick back, and enjoy high-quality music performances is an opportunity to know joy in the midst of the chaos.
I've posted a few times before. I am an American living in Cambodia. I am lucky to be here. (Never thought you'd hear anyone say That, I bet. ) We have had only 275 cases of Covid here. there is 1 active case and there have been no deaths. Everyone else has recovered. The government here stepped early and hard and we have been able to keep the pandemic out. The groups we support travel the across Cambodia and visit hospitals all over the country. Except for virulent form of dengue, there are no more people in hospital now than there were a year ago.
We run a food distribution program as well as support a number of schools we helped build and we fund a landmine clearance team and 3 mobile bomb squads. Most of our work right now is in supporting those who have been effected by the Covid Economy. We do 2 or 3 distributions a week giving out 50 to 350 bags of rice and food stuffs. Each bag of rice provides 100 servings. In 4.5 months we have distributed 70 metric tons of rice and about 50 metric tons of other food stuffs. We do it all from donations.
Whenever we do a distribution the police are there. Sometimes in fairly large numbers. They help us unload the rice and set it out in rows so that those in need can get to it. They help the elderly carry the rice home. No guns. No armor. No shields. No helmets. When we distribute the food there is no pushing and shoving. Everyone sits behind their bags. Monks bless the food. Local politicians speak (yep it's just like home) and I get to say a few words. People help each other.
This is not the Cambodia many in the West picture.
I read you daily Heather. But I have to tell you it is becoming more and more disheartening, difficult, to read it all at one sitting.
I also support some organizations that are working to get out the vote, and register new voters. All the memes in the world are not going to change the mind of those who have partaken of that orange kool aide. Il Duce's followers will not be dissuaded. We play into his hands every time we waste our time talking to one of his followers.
Do everything to get out the vote. Every election in my lifetime has been referred to as the 'most important in history'. This one is it.
This made me cry. I’m in the thick of the world’s worst air quality, just outside of Portland, OR. Feeling overwhelmed and in despair, and this lovely photo and all that I want it to represent - well, thank you so much, to you and Buddy both.
Inspiring and calming. Thank you as always. Today, we watched a Monarch butterfly emerge from its chrysalis outside our window (Nina keeps the chrysalis safely so the wasps do not kill it). We watched the Monarch pump blood into its wings, slowly position itself and "walk around", then flutter to a nearby flower, rest for a long time, while fanning its wings, and then flutter freely upward to a branch on a tall evergreen, rest there and then, alone, take flight for the nearby milkweed, to begin again the cycle of life. There is beauty if we stop in the chaos to look, to listen, and to marvel...... Peace and Courage for us all this night and all those yet to come.
You not only help us sort through the chaos of the daily news to help us better understand the issues, but you take time from your busy schedule to share the occasional photo to calm our overstimulated senses. Thank you. Bless you. Having worked for a university for 20 years, I know how difficult the start of the new year can be. I pray all goes well for you during this crazy time. Good luck with your teaching and your students!
“Hope locates itself in the premises that we don’t know what will happen and that in the spaciousness of uncertainty there is room to act.”
As a (now retired) professional musician, I readily identify with the picture of the cellist. In times like these that are taxing us all I'm reminded of the wonderful quote by maestro Leonard Bernstein: "This will be our reply to violence: to make music more intensely, more beautifully, more devotedly than ever before." We need art now more than ever.
Simply put ...it’s about damn time reporters and journalists are taking their Fourth Estate responsibilities seriously!
Thank you for the lovely photo.
May I offer another musical balm, this gorgeous song written for these times. The visual metaphor is based on the Japanese art of kintsugi, which seeks to take broken pottery and repair it in a way that makes it stronger and more beautiful than the original. 17572 singers from 129 countries came together to make this piece. Enjoy! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=InULYfJHKI0
Beautiful! Reminds me of the Cellist of Sarajevo. In all of the rubble there is still beauty and hope if we are true to ourselves and our community.
To quote De Suess "Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not." Thank you Heather for caring as you sift through this chaos and connecting all of us. And to all who read these letters, thank you for your insights and care. I know there are many and things are going to get better.
Well, lookey here, Professor Richardson, at what you have created! Even on days when you don't post a word filled newsletter and instead a beautiful picture, this community comes together to take the burden from you. We have love and inspiration, lots of sources and music, and support from everyone. This is indeed what a community does and you have created an awesome one! Thank you.
Thank you. I was feeling nervous and discouraged yesterday. This helps more than you can know. Actually, watching the Princess Bride reunion to benefit the Wisconsin Dems helped a lot too.
My friends are having a private invitation only concert with local Musicians every other weekend. We bring chairs, picnic food and drink and $20 + donation and it is on a close by little hill. Only 20 invites. It is a win-win situation for all. Music heals.
Your message got me to check out the Salt Bay Chamberfest website and listen to some of their music. A lovely respite in this very unlovely time. Thank you, Heather, for your wisdom and perspective.
Bless you for your goodness and forthright wisdom. I feel renewed as I realize daily that we are living through a cataclysmic shift of our beliefs, values and the very fabric country’s soul. We /i recognize that this is orders of magnitude of danger. It feels like every dystopian novel ever written has landed on my head, heart, and spirit. Your letters help me to make sense of the world that has gone mad. It helps me to understand, pause and savor the good, the true, the substance of the "beloved community". The very clarity of the vision of the hard work ahead may seem daunting and yet I feel deep hope. "We can do this hard thing" Carrie Newcomer song title. And so we go onward, connected in a web of light to stand up for one more day. 💖🙏🌹
My wife and I are aficianados of classical music. My wife is on the Board of the Mid-Texas Symphony here in Central Texas and we are also patrons of the Symphony. While we have had to postpone our upcoming season the Symphony and its musicians are offering virtual performances, interviews, and musical happy hours free to our patrons this fall through Mid-Texas Symphony @Home. You can access these through the Symphony's website here - http://www.mtsymphony.org/Info/MTS@Home/MTS@Home.aspx.
I also invite you to visit the website of a good friend of ours and an incredible cellist, Jennifer Cornell (https://jenncello.com). Jenn Cornell is a performer, composer and educator bringing cello across boundaries with her visionary style of playing, creating songs that stretch what a cello can be, and inspiring young musicians with her mentor approach to teaching. If you review a number of her musical stylings and performances on her website you wil be amazed at the versatility she achieves with a cello. Her music is pure joy.
So many of us are feeling stress in these times. To be able to relieve the stress, kick back, and enjoy high-quality music performances is an opportunity to know joy in the midst of the chaos.