Seriously, Ma'am, you need only write three times each week, four at the most. The subscription rate would still be the best around for such informed essays.
I have been thinking about this too....please help see us through the 2024 election and certification process, writing 4-5? times a week. Am praying after Jan. 2025 you'll be able to bump down to 3-4 times a week so you can give some focus on teaching/forming our younger voters about the importance of history in current times on a national level :) Thank you for all you do, Dr. Heather. Please take special care of yourself as you are a national treasure!
Kathy, love your suggestion here! It is so important to teach democracy! What does it mean to live in a democracy/a republic? Did the founders envision what we do today or was their vision more limited (to their times)? How must democracy change as scientific advances modernize our world? What kind of a democracy do we want? How can we protect and promote "a government of the people, by the people, and for the people"? A new national manifesto of democracy needs to be developed and promulgated, taught in the schools and proclaimed from the rooftops, one devoted to true facts and against lies that would undermine and overtake a democracy.
Heather helped Ttmothy Snyder (just back from 10 days in Kiev) launch his book "On Freedom," this week. Five years in the writing. I can't wait to read it. I loved his take in his last book "On Tyranny. :
I had to back off for awhile--I am not joking that worry was making me ill, right about the same time that "Beau of the Fifth Column" stepped back to let his wife, "Belle" take over. I'm consuming a mere fraction of the politics I used to. It's difficult to avoid it all.
Regarding yesterday's attempt on Trump and the comments the MAGA are posting--this rebuttal rings true for me and I'm sure for all of us here: HECK NO, no Democrat wants him martyred! We want him to suffer the most humiliating, landslide of a loss to a woman, and a Black/Asian one as well! Then we want him to sit through trial after trial before being locked up in jail. THAT is what we want.
Miselle, agreed. No martyrdom. I read a post yesterday that suggested it was a put up job to make us forget all the dreck coming out the R camp. One of comments suggested they could've hired someone more competent. Personally, I think this was an older nut job with delusions of grandeur.
Just look at how well Pete Buttigieg explains the desperate and delirious amplifying pet-eating conspiracy theories Trump and Vance try to distract from their unpopular positions at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fDkNe1K9IJI
I have told others I would risk my own life to protect people from vigilante "justice" even Lee Harvey Oswald and Trump.
Making him a martyr would betray the system of justice we want to see fairly applied and, like John Wilkes Booth, cost so much good will in the spirit of Lincoln's "...With malice toward none, with charity for all, with the firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds..."
The south that he claimed to act for, suffered so much more from the unnecessary great ill will that act caused. I'd rather a thousand guilty live in prison for up to the rest of their lives than to have one innocent person lost to imperfect justice.
trees...I like thinking about trees. They are amazing beings. Imagine a life spent standing in one place for a hundred, two hundred, even a thousand years. Growing taller, bigger, reaching for the sun; taking little molecules like C02 and turning them into long, straight timber-like trunks and branches, transpiring water into the air, humidifying and cooling, producing leaves or needles that build soil around them year after year, decade after decade, century after century.
Imagine if they had voices; what kind of stories would they tell. What would they witness, under their branches? What kind of view? Swaying in heavy wind, drinking in sunshine, weighed down by ice and snow. Standing shoulder to shoulder with others, witnessing seasons come and go, providing shelter to all manner of life without fail. Even in death, they give more life for half a century or more on the forest floor.
There's no guile in a tree. No deceit, no trickery. They stand for what's real, what's durable, what's reliable. They indicate where life can take hold and thrive. They create and support diversity. They create shelter, calm. Where there are trees, there is an abundance of life. I have some favorites on my land, but every one of them is remarkable, smaller and larger. It's always better where there are trees.
We are….because trees and plants are. They came first and gave us food and oxygen. We are all connected. Even turtles. Love and gratitude from downstream in Scarborough Heather.💖
I loved, loved, loved, your post. Thank you for sharing it. I find trees to be, among many other things, incredibly sweet. There are people who talk to trees and get answers back, just like there are animal whisperers. Or so I've been told.
Your observation about trees is just lovely, and expresses much of the same wonderment I have experienced when walking a wooded trail. I need to get back to visit a few trees I haven't seen for a while to say hello again, and hold my hand to their trunk in appreciation. 😊
I was having exactly the same thought, Natalie, as I read the lovely words JS wrote about trees. Next time I'm in NJ, I will do exactly that, hug that beautiful Japanese Maple into which, as a child, I used to retreat with a book (lying on a branch under the protective canopy) when the world was simply too much to bear. It's been 8 years since I've seen that tree. Hoping it's still there.
Oh Carol, how lovely to have those memories with a beautiful Japanese maple - they are gorgeous. The tree I'm going to go see is one on a trail next to where my now 16-yr old went to elementary school - a already-100-yr old live oak with a beautiful canopy and covered in resurrection ferns. 😊 There are many other beautiful trees I would walk past on that trail with my now rainbow-bridge dog Maggie, but 'Tree' was always special to me and I would always say hello to them. Like you, hoping Tree is still there and one of the storms we get here didn't cause the conditions for it to get knocked down.
The vast majority of the earth's biomass is plants. The "communication" and "cooperation" between living things that have no brains is purely bio-chemical. The amazing thing to me is how efficient brains are. The little gnat buzzing around my computer (about this large: #) knows what it is doing, yet it's brain is miniscule. Fast forward to humans: we have brains that are among the best on this planet, yet there are still those among us who can't recognize the threat that Trump poses to our safety. A gnat can.
I'm sure you could also write lovingly about deserts, our blue and white thinly atmosphered planet is our "one and only" "everyone anyone anywhere has known", as Carl Sagan was wont to say.
I'm not really much of a nature person - I'm too afraid of running into bugs! But you reminded me that one day, many years ago, on a walk in the Cornell arboretum, I felt drawn into a semi-circle of trees, and as I stood in that space, I felt as though I were being gently hugged. It was a very difficult time. My now-ex and I had moved up to Ithaca from Long Island and I was very homesick. But in that moment, I felt comforted and, indeed, loved. It was a grove of White Pine, and I read that some Native Americans named it "the Mother Tree." More recently, I read that White Pine is a symbol of "The Great Peace" among a number of Native American tribes. Since that moment, whenever I see a White Pine, I relive that experience with a "thank you" to Mother Nature.
Just Sayin', I am reading an excellent book called The Garden Against Time by Olivia Laing. The main theme is restoring a garden in Sussex, England, done originally by a well-known landscaper. It is about much more and references literature, English history, slavery, and the current state of the planet among other things.
Thanks for the ode to trees. Beautifully stated. Our home abuts a forest, and the developers left a large Douglas fir in the back. Her newly forming cones drip sap on our deck, she sheds mature cones and branchlets on the entire yard, and the ice-denuded side has regrown branches. She is adored by the madrona which hugs her and the cedars she buffers. She calms me, amazes me and I gladly deal with her “fallout”, even transplanting some of her babies.
No guile, no judgment, no hatred, no lies. Just a calm, enduring presence.
Thank you for talking about trees. I looked at the comments to see if anyone had opinions regarding the latest attempt on Trump’s life. Instead, you are responding to trees. Much better.
Thanks for that, JS. Trees have been helping me, too. The degree of stress I've experienced due to the prospect of leaving a fascist dictatorship for my children and all the people I love has gotten crushing. I talk to the trees in my yard and walk places every day to look at more.
Professor, you deserve a real rest after writing a great letter yesterday. You explained that democracy gives a citizen both an exciting and a most fulfilling life. Thank you again.
I am certain we can ALL use a break and 24 hours will fly by. Thanks for the suggestion which I will start to practice this moment. This night owl is signing off - sleep tight everyone!
Me, it's a morning wakeup, living just east of Maine, and the kayak is strapped to the top of the auto, waiting to head for the lake not too long after sunrise. Equinox is practically upon us, AND, on the clear early morning, if you got awake, maybe for a pee, about 4-5 am, you'll see the spectacular constellation of Orion rising in the south east sky, always a wonder.
Here in Newfoundland, I have been giving an early-morning greeting to Orion for a couple of weeks. He heralds the return of the cool days, the primordial stirrings of migrating birds and hibernating creatures. I remember the excitement of returning to school, of the smell of new text books, of being one grade older and more grownup. Orion reminds me of the keen cold of seeing him stride the sky on a clear winter's night, close to the dark of the winter solstice, the deep time of returning to the light and warmth of hearth and home from a walk on a winter's night. Orion quickens me after a summer of breathless heat of day and long golden evening light. Orion sharpens me for the coming challenge of winter.
I love the water and the reeds, but you know, I had to zoom that picture before I could see the turtle. Turtles in Australia are at least five times that size, and live on tropical beaches.
Plenty of surprising things in Australia...you may not see them until you pick up whatever they're hiding under and then you have 45 minutes to get to a hospital.
While stationed in Texas, 3 of us got the bright idea to go hunting for rattlesnakes for the $2 bounty, each of total amateurs suggesting worse than ever tactics and places to search until we noticed we were on a rocky slope and likely to go over the ever steepening slope if we did find a snake.
We went back to the ranch a widow (who moved into town), let us keep a few cattle on as we watched over it, fixed fences and kept cleaning it up so she could sell it. Getting back to cleaning up the wood piles after giving up on snake hunting seemed a good break that late afternoon as we started a camp fire. As we started gathering more wood for the fire, I warned I slightly senior practical joker about a snake in the wood pile. He jumped back but then thought it was just another joke and started to reach in to the pile.
A quick push (no time to talk), got him out of the way of what turned out to be a rare rattlesnake that didn't make much of any noise. A more experienced hand than the 3 of us captured it alive and it seems was paid $25 by a museum (12.5 times what the ones we were looking for so recklessly).
Yes, we all need a break. I’ve often wished declare a “Trump free” day when no one could mention his name — on tv and radio, in newspapers and social media. Twenty four hours of peace. It would be good for all of our mental health.
The worst thing about that is how disgusting it for those perfectly fine Haitians.....Vance should be sued for committing a hate crime.. It has already incited violence.
And, it's inciting my hatred, of Vance.
Wikipedia:
"A major part of defining crimes as hate crimes is determining that they have been committed against members of historically oppressed groups."
I happen to reside in Queensland, Australia... a registered member of the Dem Party who emigrated some handful of years back and now live in a cabin near one of the many beaches. Being a Yank, especially in this US political whirl, means all the Aussies want to know how in hell did the hubbub caused by donny j. frump happen? My response is; "three things I don't discuss; religion, politics and cricket" but you have to know I don't know enough about any of them. As a former political journalist I am very interested, however, and, Heather, your almost daily reports/historical articles are so good and come in so handily. Rest up, lady, and do continue to tell it like it is.
Tell them what happened is because too many people stopped talking to each other and started talking at each other, and not to let that happen Down Under.
"Three things" reminds me of my great grandmother's advice to sort of listen to 3 times as much as you as you say (vs God gave us two ears and one mouth for a reason).
Recognizing who can organize the lessons learned helps mark the trails and useful stars to follow is a huge help.
Seeing your similar list of likes, with some great additions that I missed, seems to indicate another prospective I can learn from.
Seriously, Ma'am, you need only write three times each week, four at the most. The subscription rate would still be the best around for such informed essays.
I have been thinking about this too....please help see us through the 2024 election and certification process, writing 4-5? times a week. Am praying after Jan. 2025 you'll be able to bump down to 3-4 times a week so you can give some focus on teaching/forming our younger voters about the importance of history in current times on a national level :) Thank you for all you do, Dr. Heather. Please take special care of yourself as you are a national treasure!
Hear, here!
Kathy, love your suggestion here! It is so important to teach democracy! What does it mean to live in a democracy/a republic? Did the founders envision what we do today or was their vision more limited (to their times)? How must democracy change as scientific advances modernize our world? What kind of a democracy do we want? How can we protect and promote "a government of the people, by the people, and for the people"? A new national manifesto of democracy needs to be developed and promulgated, taught in the schools and proclaimed from the rooftops, one devoted to true facts and against lies that would undermine and overtake a democracy.
Heather helped Ttmothy Snyder (just back from 10 days in Kiev) launch his book "On Freedom," this week. Five years in the writing. I can't wait to read it. I loved his take in his last book "On Tyranny. :
Julian Zelizer interview from LBJ Library on busting the myths of America https://www.pbs.org/video/julian-zelizer-EuqiG7/
Agreed.
I had to back off for awhile--I am not joking that worry was making me ill, right about the same time that "Beau of the Fifth Column" stepped back to let his wife, "Belle" take over. I'm consuming a mere fraction of the politics I used to. It's difficult to avoid it all.
Regarding yesterday's attempt on Trump and the comments the MAGA are posting--this rebuttal rings true for me and I'm sure for all of us here: HECK NO, no Democrat wants him martyred! We want him to suffer the most humiliating, landslide of a loss to a woman, and a Black/Asian one as well! Then we want him to sit through trial after trial before being locked up in jail. THAT is what we want.
Miselle, agreed. No martyrdom. I read a post yesterday that suggested it was a put up job to make us forget all the dreck coming out the R camp. One of comments suggested they could've hired someone more competent. Personally, I think this was an older nut job with delusions of grandeur.
Just look at how well Pete Buttigieg explains the desperate and delirious amplifying pet-eating conspiracy theories Trump and Vance try to distract from their unpopular positions at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fDkNe1K9IJI
I have told others I would risk my own life to protect people from vigilante "justice" even Lee Harvey Oswald and Trump.
Making him a martyr would betray the system of justice we want to see fairly applied and, like John Wilkes Booth, cost so much good will in the spirit of Lincoln's "...With malice toward none, with charity for all, with the firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds..."
The south that he claimed to act for, suffered so much more from the unnecessary great ill will that act caused. I'd rather a thousand guilty live in prison for up to the rest of their lives than to have one innocent person lost to imperfect justice.
Maybe someday…
Totally agree
I agree!
trees...I like thinking about trees. They are amazing beings. Imagine a life spent standing in one place for a hundred, two hundred, even a thousand years. Growing taller, bigger, reaching for the sun; taking little molecules like C02 and turning them into long, straight timber-like trunks and branches, transpiring water into the air, humidifying and cooling, producing leaves or needles that build soil around them year after year, decade after decade, century after century.
Imagine if they had voices; what kind of stories would they tell. What would they witness, under their branches? What kind of view? Swaying in heavy wind, drinking in sunshine, weighed down by ice and snow. Standing shoulder to shoulder with others, witnessing seasons come and go, providing shelter to all manner of life without fail. Even in death, they give more life for half a century or more on the forest floor.
There's no guile in a tree. No deceit, no trickery. They stand for what's real, what's durable, what's reliable. They indicate where life can take hold and thrive. They create and support diversity. They create shelter, calm. Where there are trees, there is an abundance of life. I have some favorites on my land, but every one of them is remarkable, smaller and larger. It's always better where there are trees.
We are….because trees and plants are. They came first and gave us food and oxygen. We are all connected. Even turtles. Love and gratitude from downstream in Scarborough Heather.💖
What a lovely tribute to one of nature's finest, JS. As good, if not better than Joyce Kilmer!
I loved, loved, loved, your post. Thank you for sharing it. I find trees to be, among many other things, incredibly sweet. There are people who talk to trees and get answers back, just like there are animal whisperers. Or so I've been told.
Your observation about trees is just lovely, and expresses much of the same wonderment I have experienced when walking a wooded trail. I need to get back to visit a few trees I haven't seen for a while to say hello again, and hold my hand to their trunk in appreciation. 😊
I was having exactly the same thought, Natalie, as I read the lovely words JS wrote about trees. Next time I'm in NJ, I will do exactly that, hug that beautiful Japanese Maple into which, as a child, I used to retreat with a book (lying on a branch under the protective canopy) when the world was simply too much to bear. It's been 8 years since I've seen that tree. Hoping it's still there.
Oh Carol, how lovely to have those memories with a beautiful Japanese maple - they are gorgeous. The tree I'm going to go see is one on a trail next to where my now 16-yr old went to elementary school - a already-100-yr old live oak with a beautiful canopy and covered in resurrection ferns. 😊 There are many other beautiful trees I would walk past on that trail with my now rainbow-bridge dog Maggie, but 'Tree' was always special to me and I would always say hello to them. Like you, hoping Tree is still there and one of the storms we get here didn't cause the conditions for it to get knocked down.
Good luck, Natalie! I hope it's still there. : )
“Trees are "social creatures" that communicate with each other in cooperative ways that hold lessons for humans, too, ecologist Suzanne Simard says.”
https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2021/05/04/993430007/trees-talk-to-each-other-mother-tree-ecologist-hears-lessons-for-people-too
The vast majority of the earth's biomass is plants. The "communication" and "cooperation" between living things that have no brains is purely bio-chemical. The amazing thing to me is how efficient brains are. The little gnat buzzing around my computer (about this large: #) knows what it is doing, yet it's brain is miniscule. Fast forward to humans: we have brains that are among the best on this planet, yet there are still those among us who can't recognize the threat that Trump poses to our safety. A gnat can.
I'm sure you could also write lovingly about deserts, our blue and white thinly atmosphered planet is our "one and only" "everyone anyone anywhere has known", as Carl Sagan was wont to say.
I'm not really much of a nature person - I'm too afraid of running into bugs! But you reminded me that one day, many years ago, on a walk in the Cornell arboretum, I felt drawn into a semi-circle of trees, and as I stood in that space, I felt as though I were being gently hugged. It was a very difficult time. My now-ex and I had moved up to Ithaca from Long Island and I was very homesick. But in that moment, I felt comforted and, indeed, loved. It was a grove of White Pine, and I read that some Native Americans named it "the Mother Tree." More recently, I read that White Pine is a symbol of "The Great Peace" among a number of Native American tribes. Since that moment, whenever I see a White Pine, I relive that experience with a "thank you" to Mother Nature.
Describing trees or Heather?
They ‘walk’ the walk. No need for talk. Yet stand for everything we need. How lovely, Just Sayin’. 🫶
THIS is why I've always been a tree hugger. Thank you very much, Just Sayin'.
Ditto Mim; guilty also.
Just Sayin', I am reading an excellent book called The Garden Against Time by Olivia Laing. The main theme is restoring a garden in Sussex, England, done originally by a well-known landscaper. It is about much more and references literature, English history, slavery, and the current state of the planet among other things.
Thanks for the ode to trees. Beautifully stated. Our home abuts a forest, and the developers left a large Douglas fir in the back. Her newly forming cones drip sap on our deck, she sheds mature cones and branchlets on the entire yard, and the ice-denuded side has regrown branches. She is adored by the madrona which hugs her and the cedars she buffers. She calms me, amazes me and I gladly deal with her “fallout”, even transplanting some of her babies.
No guile, no judgment, no hatred, no lies. Just a calm, enduring presence.
Thank you! The squirell's on my oak tree, however, are full of guile, and have great aim.
Thank you for talking about trees. I looked at the comments to see if anyone had opinions regarding the latest attempt on Trump’s life. Instead, you are responding to trees. Much better.
Thanks for that, JS. Trees have been helping me, too. The degree of stress I've experienced due to the prospect of leaving a fascist dictatorship for my children and all the people I love has gotten crushing. I talk to the trees in my yard and walk places every day to look at more.
Aw dang…this makes me want to pull my copy of Katie Holten’s “The Language of Trees” off my to-be-read shelf.
Yes, a perfect Maine day!
So happy to hear that you and Buddy took the time off for R&R.
Thank you so much for all you are doing at this pivotal time.
LOVE BUDDY'S turtle picture.
The weather here has been absolutely perfect. After a too-hot summer, it feels just delicious.
Life by calm waters teaches peace.
Professor, you deserve a real rest after writing a great letter yesterday. You explained that democracy gives a citizen both an exciting and a most fulfilling life. Thank you again.
Yes me too — so loved yesterday’s essay.
I am certain we can ALL use a break and 24 hours will fly by. Thanks for the suggestion which I will start to practice this moment. This night owl is signing off - sleep tight everyone!
Me, it's a morning wakeup, living just east of Maine, and the kayak is strapped to the top of the auto, waiting to head for the lake not too long after sunrise. Equinox is practically upon us, AND, on the clear early morning, if you got awake, maybe for a pee, about 4-5 am, you'll see the spectacular constellation of Orion rising in the south east sky, always a wonder.
Here in Newfoundland, I have been giving an early-morning greeting to Orion for a couple of weeks. He heralds the return of the cool days, the primordial stirrings of migrating birds and hibernating creatures. I remember the excitement of returning to school, of the smell of new text books, of being one grade older and more grownup. Orion reminds me of the keen cold of seeing him stride the sky on a clear winter's night, close to the dark of the winter solstice, the deep time of returning to the light and warmth of hearth and home from a walk on a winter's night. Orion quickens me after a summer of breathless heat of day and long golden evening light. Orion sharpens me for the coming challenge of winter.
GLORIOUS day in Maine. I knocked on doors for a couple of hours and found quite a few people ready to go out and vote for Harris/Walz.
I have been amazed and happy at the number of Harris/Walz yard signs I am seeing.
:)
Little is more serene than seeing a turtle sunning on a log. Thank you for this picture of tranquility.
Truly— I love turtles too!
I love the water and the reeds, but you know, I had to zoom that picture before I could see the turtle. Turtles in Australia are at least five times that size, and live on tropical beaches.
I never knew that! I supposed that at least you had desert tortoises there.
I'm surprised.
Plenty of surprising things in Australia...you may not see them until you pick up whatever they're hiding under and then you have 45 minutes to get to a hospital.
While stationed in Texas, 3 of us got the bright idea to go hunting for rattlesnakes for the $2 bounty, each of total amateurs suggesting worse than ever tactics and places to search until we noticed we were on a rocky slope and likely to go over the ever steepening slope if we did find a snake.
We went back to the ranch a widow (who moved into town), let us keep a few cattle on as we watched over it, fixed fences and kept cleaning it up so she could sell it. Getting back to cleaning up the wood piles after giving up on snake hunting seemed a good break that late afternoon as we started a camp fire. As we started gathering more wood for the fire, I warned I slightly senior practical joker about a snake in the wood pile. He jumped back but then thought it was just another joke and started to reach in to the pile.
A quick push (no time to talk), got him out of the way of what turned out to be a rare rattlesnake that didn't make much of any noise. A more experienced hand than the 3 of us captured it alive and it seems was paid $25 by a museum (12.5 times what the ones we were looking for so recklessly).
Two hours later: the algorithm's got me! Huge picture of a turtle swimming underwater, when I came back to the laptop.
Sounds like our right-wing nuts
Better to poke at things with a stick first (be polite and knock before barging in)
Good etiquette to knock first. And you never know.
Me too!
or a host of turtles
Yes, we all need a break. I’ve often wished declare a “Trump free” day when no one could mention his name — on tv and radio, in newspapers and social media. Twenty four hours of peace. It would be good for all of our mental health.
The only thing that trump contributes to my mental health is his failing mental health.
lol, i keep finding hilarious cat/dog eating memes on FB Reels, which i take in fairly often for maybe 5 even 10 minutes a dayish.
The worst thing about that is how disgusting it for those perfectly fine Haitians.....Vance should be sued for committing a hate crime.. It has already incited violence.
And, it's inciting my hatred, of Vance.
Wikipedia:
"A major part of defining crimes as hate crimes is determining that they have been committed against members of historically oppressed groups."
It sure has incited hatred in me, for Vance.
Yes, that's the serious side, and i see someone else plotted to shoot Trump as his golf course in Mar a Lago
I happen to reside in Queensland, Australia... a registered member of the Dem Party who emigrated some handful of years back and now live in a cabin near one of the many beaches. Being a Yank, especially in this US political whirl, means all the Aussies want to know how in hell did the hubbub caused by donny j. frump happen? My response is; "three things I don't discuss; religion, politics and cricket" but you have to know I don't know enough about any of them. As a former political journalist I am very interested, however, and, Heather, your almost daily reports/historical articles are so good and come in so handily. Rest up, lady, and do continue to tell it like it is.
Tell them what happened is because too many people stopped talking to each other and started talking at each other, and not to let that happen Down Under.
"Three things" reminds me of my great grandmother's advice to sort of listen to 3 times as much as you as you say (vs God gave us two ears and one mouth for a reason).
Recognizing who can organize the lessons learned helps mark the trails and useful stars to follow is a huge help.
Seeing your similar list of likes, with some great additions that I missed, seems to indicate another prospective I can learn from.
Rest well. You deserve every bit you can get.
Smart call. Must bank the good weather.
Excellent advice!! Enjoy.
Good for you two!
Pleasant dreams
Brava! Maybe I'll try that tomorrow, reading news included. Maybe.