The Stump of Life

 

We once had a mighty oak in our backyard.

But its branches were often falling, sometimes causing damage to our house.  It also had some places where it was rotting, and we didn't want to take a chance.  So we took it down.

We left a stump.  We were concerned about the root system and what happens to the house when those roots disappear.  Like maybe our screened-in porch will sink to the center of the Earth.

MEANWHILE...

While the tree stump might be dead, everything around it is teeming with life.

Plants, fungi, and moss - are all around the stump.

There are all also insects - ants, beetles, spiders.  Are there termites?  God, I hope not.  I haven't seen any.  

Inside the stump, there are plants and soil.  There has even been a frog that resided there!  

Our tree stump.  Doing its part in the circle of life.  Hail Simba!

Tuesday Twitter Questions 61422

 Once again, I will attempt to answer the first five questions I see on my Twitter feed.

Twitter is a lonely place for me. I rarely get any response to any post I make. It's worse than here, where each blog story may reach 25 to 50 views and a comment once in a while. It's worse than Facebook, where the reaction is limited and often strange.

Nevertheless, I persist.

Question #1

Who else thinks this Committee is doing a helluva job with these hearings?

I think they're knocking out of the park! Of course, how many people are attending that park and how many they are influencing are up in the air, but as far as history goes - it is racking it up!

Trump clearly knew the crap he was spewing about the election being stolen was, in the words of Attorney General Bill Barr, "bulls--t!" Trump didn't care. He proceeded with the big lie anyways. And he raised a quarter billion dollars off of his lies. To find the true heart of Trump, always go to the money.

His reaction to his supporters chanting, "Hang Mike Pence?" "Maybe our supporters have the right idea." Mike Pence "deserves it."  How can anyone support this man after that? Seriously.  How are you still supporting him?

He did nothing to check the insurrection, letting it go on for hours, endangering the lives of our heroic police and legislators.

The smartest thing they're doing is not to let every Congressperson on the panel blather uselessly every time there is a new witness. Instead, they are keeping it crisp, succinct, and on topic.

Question #2

Is it just me or are elected Republicans getting more and more extreme?

Oh, heck no. It's not just you. If they're not checked, I shudder to think where we might be in the next few years.

The only bright spot I see is that Madison Cawthorn was defeated. Of course, it took the entire Republican establishment to turn on him (can't have someone talking about their sex 'n' drugs parties), but nevertheless, he lost.

Question #3

Anyone ever written a sex scenes between mermaid and merman?

Uhhh...no.  Not gonna. 'Nuff said.

Maybe there are some questions I shouldn't take.

Question #4

I grew up in the Hopalong Cassidy era and I sure did love it. In fact, I still collect cowboy relics. Do you have anything you collect?

Yes! Yes, I do! Statues of Mermaids and Mermen getting it on!

Ok, that's a lie.

Even though I sold about 75% of comic collection, I still kept the Superman family stuff. My collecting is now concentrated on having as comprehensive a Superman comic collection as possible within the budget's restraints.

I also have pretty much every book Stephen King wrote.

And there's a lot of lint in my pockets.

Question #5

What higher magic is there than when one of your favorite bands puts out a song that fits *perfectly* with the book you're currently writing?

Well, this makes me feel kind of sad. I guess I hadn't really thought of my writings in those terms.

History of the Trap Vol. 2? It's the End of the World as we Know it by REM.

The Kingdom Stories? The Wanderer by Johnny Cash and U2.

Boy, I had to pull those out of my posterior region!

That's all the Twitter questions I want to handle for now.

Until next time,

T. M. Strait

Can't Stop that Wednesday Wandering Feeling

Let's start our Wednesday Wanderings with anothe picture from Alison, taken during her Saturday photography walking tour.

For the sharp-eyed frequent blog reader, that is our church, Grace Episcopal!  Looking good, eh?  I'm not hep to architectural styles, but that looks kinda like in the Spanish family. 

The building has been around a long time.  Over 150 yrars?  Something like that.  It is a very beautiful and spirit-filled church.  It does require quite a bit of maintenance.  Sometimes I wish we were able to focus more on outreach spending than building maintenance, but we manage.

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I posted this calendar of the 1/6 hearings on Facebook, just to keep people informed.  And well, yes, as a mild outreach to my friends who still like the smell of Trump's posterior region.

My surprise was the kickback from some of those who normally support me and those of us who beleive Trump should be held responsible.  They commented about how the hearings won't accomplish anything, that the hearings won't reach the people that need to hear them. that they were mere entertainment or spectacle.

I have too much hope and faith in me.  I can't stop thinking of how Superman never gives up, how leaders from Martin Luther King, Jr and Ghandi fought against overwhelming odds.  Don't tell the odds, man!  I know how bad they are!  I know this most likely will not change the minds of the Trumpeteers that surround me, that they will zone it out as if it is not happeneing at all.  I KNOW ALL THAT!

Nevertheless, it needs to be said.  The story needs to be recorded, if for history if nothing else.

Maybe this generation will not wake up.  But perhaps a generation or two down the road will see it and turn to their elderly Trumpeteer family, and go, "What the hell were you thinking?"

Of course, this is premised on the far right not suceeding in controlling public education and filtering what is taught, especially history.

I know.  I'm a windmill tilter.

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My comics are sold.  This should help us manage our finances, reduce our debt, and help us plan for travel.  There are places we wnat to go (Ireland and Great Britain, Canada, New England) but primarily we want to be able to travel to see our far-flung family.  I have a grandaughter in New York that I am aching to see!  

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Over half year into accounting retirement and no, I'm not bored.  I'M LOVING IT! I have plans that I hope to get to, but the biggest one I'm already doing - ENJOY LIFE!

Wanderingly Yours,

T. M. Strait

Please note, Grammarly did not attach, for whatever reason.  I'm sure they are some real grammatical stinkpiles in this, but hopefully I'll be able to correct them at a future date.  Or not.  Whatever.

Thoughts from a Reflective Monday

 

This is a photo that Alison took on her phone as part of a walking tour that was teaching how to best use a phone camera. I like it.

The building is where the Waycross Journal Herald used to be published. It was a daily paper owned by a far-right extremist, sort of a Fox News amplifier.

That owner sold out, and it is now a weekly (or semi-weekly - I'm not sure. I don't get the paper) that is headquartered in a different building.

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It is Tuesday as I write this, but I am reflecting back on Monday. It was a tough day in that I did a lot of studying for a class I am taking concerning racism in the United States. It can be depressing stuff.

One article clarified how the old feudal system was adapted to fit capitalism and how the elite used division and work ethic philosophy to keep control. How they eliminated the roots of European immigrants and replaced it with a kind of Calvinistic, capitalistic outlook - work was primary, rest and festivity were devilish. 

Another article discussed how we were really 11 countries in one, how distinctive in approach different sections of the country are, and how it makes it difficult to decide things together. Some areas are Yankeedom, the Deep South, Tideland, and more. I was already familiar with this and use it to write my Kingdom short stories. They're on this blog. Check it out.

Another article talks about white fragility. This is a significant problem in this country. Many whites get riled up if anyone brings up racism. This can be seen in all the censorship efforts of our schools to make sure that no teacher is allowed to teach our nation's complex racial history. Nothing burns me up more than this. The same people who make fun of college students and millennials needing "safe spaces" and canceling culture are the same people who want to CANCEL American History!

There's more, including a story about a little girl asking her mother what happened to all the Indians and her mother answering, "They drank too much."  All of our genocidal massacre of Indians summed up as instead being a native American drinking problem. Sometimes this country makes me so sad.

Outside of the class assignments, I also finished the book The Lost Eleven, about a group of black soldiers in WW2. They were left behind during the Battle of the Bulge, only to be eventually found by the Nazis. Instead of taking them prisoner, they tortured and killed them. It took almost fifty years for this incident to be recognized by the military and the American people.

I also watched an episode of one of my favorite TV programs, DC's Legends of Tomorrow. In this episode, the Legends found themselves in 1943, near an aircraft factory staffed mainly by females. They needed parts for their broken time machine, so the female members tried to get jobs there. The two white blondes got jobs on the assembly line, the white brunette became a secretary, and the two that were people of color had to be janitors. As TV is wont to do, the black female Legend, Astra, somehow gained control of the factory, using work orders to make the factory more efficient. Everything was humming along when she decided to issue an integration order for the assembly line. That caused the few males there to quit and almost all the white females to walk off the job rather than work alongside people of color. I know it was fiction, but it was plausible, and it made me sad, along with everything else I was reading. So sad. So very, very sad.

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And then, I saw a poll that showed only a minority of people believed that Trump was responsible for the incitement and insurrection of January 6th. WHHHHHAAATTT?  How is that possible? What the hell kind of bubble do you have to live in to not know that Trump was knee-deep in trying to overturn the election?

Then I see that Fox News will not show this Thursday night's 1/6 Committee hearings, and I know where that blissful ignorance comes from.

I am down on my hands and knees, begging, BEGGING my Trump-leaning friends, please, PLEASE do not miss these hearings.

Sigh.

They're not going to do it, are they?

I try to remain optimistic, but things look dimmer and dimmer for the home pro-democracy team.

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One overwhelming, sad lesson I'm learning from history -

when it appears things may be getting better, and it looks like positive change is taking hold, remember this...

The Empire Always Strikes Back