I’ve been thinking about the songs that I grew up with. Some of the songs I grew up with were protest songs, and I didn’t know it. They taught me about justice, freedom and love of country. Then I started thinking about all the influences we have growing up, that we aren’t aware of until much later, if ever.
Archives for August 2020
Sunday Open Thread
I’ve started a couple of posts about Trump’s dozens of fascistic, virus-denying ravings on Twitter this morning, but I trashed each draft. There’s nothing more to say except that President Cornered Rat will do anything to cling to power. I vacillate between hope and despair, not really trusting my fellow citizens to do the right and necessary thing but also believing in my heart that all but the dumbest and most evil are ready to change the channel from this shit-show.
But what I think or feel about the situation doesn’t matter. All I can do is have a plan to vote and get my non-fascist family and friends to do the same. So, here’s a bird to look at instead of a pointless, rage-inducing post:
I’ve posted photos of this same young male Ruby-Throated Hummingbird before. His brightly colored throat feathers are still coming in, which is how I recognize him. We’re sort of friends now. The wee sugar junkie guards my side porch feeders from other birds but now tolerates my presence on the porch during his frequent pit stops. He chirps to let me know HE knows I’m there, so no sudden moves or other funny business, please and thank you.
From the time we first moved here, I was too obsessed with the river birds and alligators to observe the hummies closely. That changed this spring. Because I started watching them fairly recently, I don’t know if the local hummies are transient or not. I suspect our population of feathered jewels are year-round residents because of the mild winter and abundant food supplies (plenty of flowering vegetation to keep them going), but we’ll find out for sure soonish. If they do migrate, I will miss the little creatures until they return.
Open thread!
And you want to travel with her
Thought I’d a couple nice and easy fundraising pitches this Sunday morning. First — Hickenlooper in Colorado. He’s up in the polls and doing well in fundraising, but that’s no reason to ignore the race. We have to win this one if we’re going to retake the Senate, most likely.
And a special request from reader Suzanne:
So the fire that burned down the Democratic Party office building in Phoenix has been declared arson. There are multiple images from security cameras in the area of a man throwing a firebomb into the building. The building had two sides, the Maricopa County Party offices were on one side and the state party offices on the other. The County side is a total loss, with hundreds of computers and tablets and campaign material lost, which will not be replaced before the election. In a bit of “a sign”, the US flag, Arizona flag, and Barack Obama Community Award (a silver cup) ended up unscathed.
They really need donations. Apparently they won’t get any insurance payout for six months, and obviously this is an election year. Maricopa County is one of the ten largest counties in the country, and with Mark Kelly running, and AZ potentially going blue, there is much that needs to be done.
You can give here to the Maricopa County Democratic party.
Sunday Morning Garden Chat: Pacific Northwest Bounty, Part 2
Following on from master gardener / correspondent OpieJeanne‘s post last week:
We built a trellis to grow pumpkins vertically, and now the bigger ones are stylishly clothed in pantyhose.
CanteloupeCanteloupe in pantyhoseMusque de ProvenceCinderella pumpkinMarina di Chioggia
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What’s going on in your garden(s), this week?
Sunday Morning Garden Chat: Pacific Northwest Bounty, Part 2Post + Comments (96)
COVID-19 Coronavirus Updates: Saturday-Sunday, August 29/30
Donald Trump didn't build a wall around America, the world built a wall around us. pic.twitter.com/lLY8S92cSb
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) August 28, 2020
U.S. virus cases are starting to inch back up again. Yesterday's total of 47,860 cases was the highest in two weeks, @business data show.
There have now been 5.9 million confirmed Covid cases and 181,000 deaths in the U.S.https://t.co/id6FMiAGze pic.twitter.com/VKa30Hrex6
— Josh Wingrove (@josh_wingrove) August 29, 2020
COVID-19 Coronavirus Updates: Saturday-Sunday, August 29/30Post + Comments (82)
The Play’s the Online Thing
Hello, welcome to day 4956 in the hellscape called 2020. I jest, sort of. One of the biggest issues for those of us in the arts, is how to ply our craft under this absolutely ridiculous set of conditions. One of the ways that writing twitter has come up with is Zoom scene studies. What’s a scene study, you ask? Well, some enterprising, brave soul decides to either organize an online Zoom performance of their work or, in the case of one group I have been working with, some outgoing person takes on the task of collecting writers, actors and directors to perform scenes from scripted works for the community. Our little group is called The Thing For AWD because our founder is trying to raise the profile of women directors. Since I know the founder, I accepted the opportunity to direct an episode. Whew. I felt as much stress as my last project. But my hair was flames in my photo.
It’s a very interesting thing to see actors develop their craft in front of you and to see how different directors bring different techniques to scenes. Artists adapt, unlike me to the lack of block editor when it seems my attempts at inserting html breaks aren’t working, like right now. It’s been fascinating to see how distance learning and performance has embraced tools like Zoom, Twitch, Hangouts or Skype. If you have an interest, there’s probably an activity going on online. Here are a few cool home options:
- Atlas Obscura: Wonder From Home
- Kev On Stage: Keep Your Distance Comedy
- Folk Dancing at home Event Calendar
I gotta admit, I’m impressed. When I see folks talk about how doomed & fucked we are, I always wonder if they’re deliberately obtuse or just enjoying a good despair wallow. Humans adapt. That’s why we’re a pernicious scourge on every other creature on the planet. We adapt like fucking weeds. We’re life and we find a way. I hope you’re finding a way to connect, enjoy some kulcha and make a little joy in your corner of the world. Know anything interesting, drop it below in thread. I will be narrating the scene setting for the next The Thing for AWD tomorrow afternoon at 4pm PST, so if you feel like watching a scene study for a movie script, sign up to attend. It’s not like we’re out of seats. Open respite thread.
Obligatory artistic cat pic
Information Warfare Open Thread: Programming Note
Just stumbled across this tweet, on my virtual rambles:
Saturday at 10pmET, you can watch HBO’s “After Truth” documentary on CNN!
Read more about the lessons from the film and the costs of disinformation in America in my intv with filmmakers @a_rossi & @NotTheATVRider
(From executive producer @brianstelter)https://t.co/d7Ae3igg4f
— Molly McKew (@MollyMcKew) August 29, 2020
And here’s another angle, from the ever-excellent Margaret Sullivan, who was fired by the NYTimes for doing her job well:
Fact-checking Trump’s lies is essential. It’s also increasingly fruitless. (And yes, @ddale8 and @GlennKesslerWP are excellent) My column https://t.co/FMWt1HjB8m
— Margaret Sullivan (@Sulliview) August 29, 2020
More and more, it seems to me like we don’t keep fighting the lies and the bullshit for others — we do it for our own self-respect.
We may not be able to keep the GOP death cultists from luring the (sometimes willingly) ignorant or innocent into the dumpster fire, but it’s important that we make the effort.
Information Warfare Open Thread: Programming NotePost + Comments (148)