Turning the Corner

Welcome to mid-autumn and standard time. Most folks are aware of the two equinox and solstices as being the seasonal changes, but few are aware of the mid-points of each season. Halloween, All Saints Day (which is today), and the Day of the Dead (tomorrow) are markers of fall's mid-season (also called Samhain).

It is Celtic New Year’s Eve and the final harvest. It’s when the veil between the world of the living and the dead is the thinnest and when pagans believe spirits easiest roam the earth and when it is easiest to communicate with them. It is a time to honor all those who have come before, for all that was gifted to us during the year, to ask for guidance, and to set intentions as the turning of the wheel begins again.

Groundhogs day, May 1st (May day), and the Dog days are the other mid-season markers. The days continue getting shorter, and it will be nice to have light earlier. Changing between standard and DST is a bad idea for several reasons, but it seems we're stuck with it. This is the week we've been waiting for...the election will be over by this time next week (I hope), and neither outcome bodes well (in my book). Hang on for what may be a rocky ride.

CStMS will be moving her essays to Wednesday to relieve el of creating two open threads every week. So as usual please feel free to chime in with whatever is on your mind. I'm calling today's edition:

In homage to powers of nature... wildfires, hurricanes, floods, and the erosion of social cohesion. Perhaps we can find some good in the tragedies as any rational person must admit to climate chaos, a failed political system, a collapsing economy, and a polarized society. Awareness is a first step toward change. We can't force societal change, but we can as individuals select a better path to survival. I'm fine, but the young people deserve our best effort.

Unconventional

I managed to avoid most of the DNC convention other than a few clips on Rising and Jimmy Dore. What I did see was hollow, vapid, and without substance...full of platitudes and no policy. All they got is 'we ain't Trump'. Perhaps the inept response to the pandemic will be enough to sink Trump, but this sure rings of 2016. We'll see. I find myself in agreement with Caity and her view that this isn't normal...

So abnormalize the status quo. Abnormalize it every chance you get. Abnormalize it by holding a clear idea in your mind of what a healthy society would look like, then point out all the bizarre deviations from that vision at every opportunity. Remind people that this is crazy. Assure them that it doesn’t have to be this way. That the only thing keeping it this way is the fact that the powerful keep pouring vast troves of wealth into manipulating us into thinking that we should.

Something to keep in mind…

‘Wildfires rage throughout the Amazon rainforest’, Bryan Dyne, 23 August 2019

“Satellite imagery reveals that at least a quarter of the Amazon rainforest is on fire or covered in soot and ash across the four Brazilian Amazonian states: Amazonas, Rondônia, Mato Grosso and Pará.

There is a Time...

The rose breasted grosbeaks arrived this week. The redbuds are done and the dogwoods fading. It made me think about timing. It is a big part of being a musician. The art of joke telling .........timing. Certainly we are living in interesting times....when war is peace; truthtelling illegal and lying is main stream; more drilling, pipelines, and extraction promoted and climate collapse ignored; a time when food is fast and health erodes; college impoverishes and public education is privatized; and on and on...irony within irony. Despite the insanity, spring inspires rebirth...the essence of the Easter story and Passover. For gardeners it is planting season. For politicians it is the start of election season. It is a time to renew our sense of nature and humanity. We'll also take a look at the weeks news.

Talking Turkey about Giving Thanks

I hope you're all well fed and have many reasons to give thanks. As el, JtC, and Wendy pointed out this week, the mythology surrounding the holiday is farcical....celebrating the genocide of first nations peoples and the colonization and occupation of their lands...makes America great? Overeating, hyper-consumerism, and football are also typical of the celebration. In my corner of the world huntin' is another part of the tradition. This week we'll take a quick look at the holiday before delving into the news. (6 min)

Under Water and Under Watered

Floods and droughts, droughts and floods...It was odd this week watching California burn as over four inches of rain fell here in the SE. We seem to be in an age of extremes - with our weather, wealth, war mongering, and welfare. Our political system is owned and controlled by the very agencies driving us down the path of extinction. Real information on foreign interference (by Israel and Saudi Arabia) is ignored as election theater designed to entertain and distract continues in my neighboring states of Georgia and Florida. What made me think of the title under water is the debt load with which we burden our young citizens...locking them into a life of indentured servitude. So let's jump in and see if we can keep our head above the flood waters of this week's news....

A Day Late and a Dollar Short

Much of this week's news cycle makes it plain that as a species we react, but we're not very good at acting today for a better tomorrow. Give me mine NOW! It isn't just the hurricane and UN climate report that drive this lesson home to me but also the WaPo journalist slaughtered in Turkey by the Saudis - where has the outrage been about the Yemeni children whose blood is on our hands too. And how about the so called correction (crash) of the market this week "caused by the tariffs"...while ignoring the over valuation caused by corporations using their tax cuts to buy their own stock (which used to be illegal). So humans seem pretty good at jumping after they've been burned, but not so good at avoiding setting the woods on fire in the first place.