...at least I can recognize kindness, caring, and cooperation as realities rather than naive concepts. I can choose to stop defaulting to cynicism and exhaustion. I can refuse the seemingly inevitable crushing force of fascism, greed, and oligarchy, and join those who are building the impossible."
From today's post:
"I’m tired of fighting against everything that is going so very wrong. I’m tired of arguing for changes that seem to get further and further away. Even if I don’t live long enough to see a new future,
The Highway and The Holy
Tucked in between a highway and a mall, the ponds are a liminal space. Some days, the traffic is loud. Some days, there is a shower caddy in the bushes. My latest essay is about finding the holy in the noise.
excerpt
"When trauma is pervasive, when the whole being is threatened and not just an arm or a leg, when the breath, the life-force, the soul (if you believe in such things) is captured, what part do we shake loose to survive? Where do we begin the process of growing our bodies and our lives again?"
"I am alive today...and because of that, I have the choice to add to the overall goodness of the world at large. Not because I am compensating for being worthless, not because I must earn my place, but simply because I have it in me to do good, and the choice to bring that forth into the world."
...The process of letting this anger work its way through me takes time. In a regime where another atrocity is only a breath away, this processing becomes a constant, grueling task."
Anger and hatred tighten around me, a binding cloth from which monsters are made. When these feelings dominate, I begin to see a stranger in the mirror—familiar in our times, but foreign to my values. The process of letting this anger work its way through me takes time. In a regime where another atrocity is only a breath away, this processing becomes a constant, grueling task.
Excerpt from this week's post:
theliminalatlas.substack.com/p/the-line-i...
"Anger and hatred tighten around me, a binding cloth from which monsters are made. When these feelings dominate, I begin to see a stranger in the mirror—familiar in our times, but foreign to my values...
Pippa the cat being held by a human
Feeling better and back at work. Pippa isn’t done cuddling, though, apparently?
miniature library project. Books, an archway, and steps.
miniature library project. Books, an archway, and steps. Paintings on the wall.
We have lights! And my wife made the first six books. The stairs and the arched entry way are adorable.
The depth of the material, combined with Deary’s approach to it, made this an often visceral experience. I highlighted the hell out of this and will continue to work with these observations and ideas in my own approach to “navigating the wear and tear of living.”
#2026Reads
(3/3)
".... But we all have a breaking point at which things start to unravel. What pushes us to that point, and what that unravelling looks like, will be specific to each of us. Our breaking, like our world, will be our own. "
I wasn’t expecting his beautiful, at times poetic, writing.
(2/3)
Book cover for How We Break: Navigating the Wear and Tear of Living, by Vincent Deary
"To be clear right from the start, this is not a book about mental illness. This is a book about you and me and what happens when we are pushed past our limits. And for sure, some of us will end up with a formal diagnosis, or under a system of care...
(1/3)
hawk taking off into the fog
sleeping geese
Female Hooded Merganser
Male Hooded Merganser
Canada Goose taking off for flight
Downy woodpecker
great blue heron
an abstract moment of leaves and branches
great blue heron
foggy moment with the ponds, a bare tree with many branches, and a small outcropping of land
Cold and foggy morning at the ponds.
Dead Man's Switch: On Learning Safety in Unsafe Times
Excerpt:
When do we learn safety, I ask myself. When we are taught. When did I learn safety? If safety is learned, then what happens to those of us who were enrolled in a different curriculum?"
Bufflehead adult with two juveniles
American Coot
tree with deep grooves from a beaver
four ducks, two mallards with their butts in the air while their heads are submerged and two gadwalls, one with their butt in the air.
Common Merganser
geese at rest
Northern Flicker
Two Bald Eagles
A tree with evidence of fresh beaver markings with shavings on the ground
cormorant
This morning's pond outing
This is the video.
Been a while since I've been to the ponds. Felt like coming home. And what a better way to start a new year than capturing duck butt, geese, mergansers, and a cormorant feeding on a catfish!
... Donald Trump’s latest front in his campaign to stamp out all political, electoral and ideological opposition,” ActBlue said in a statement. (2/2)
#facism #fascisminrealtime
“The Trump Administration’s and GOP’s targeting of ActBlue is part of their brazen attack on democracy in America. Today’s escalation by the White House is blatantly unlawful and needs to be seen for what it is: ... (1/2)
apnews.com/article/trum...
Sign: First comes outrage, then comes courage.
Sign: Know your parasites. Deer Tick, Dog Tick, Luna Tick (photo of Trump)
First comes outrage, then comes courage.
Stand up to Fascism! EUGENE April 19th, noon to 3 PM Park Blocks (8th & Oak) In solidarity with 50501
Stand up to Fascism!
EUGENE
April 19th, noon to 3 PM
Park Blocks (8th & Oak)
In solidarity with 50501
canada goslings tucked up by adult goose's tail feathers
canada goose in flight, with wings in a v and beak open. reflection in water beneath.
red-winged blackbird sitting on a curved branch
red-winged blackbird in flight
The Ponds this morning.
The Great Moose Migration of Sweden has begun.
Watch it here: www.svtplay.se/video/8rQo4R...
Learn about it here:
apnews.com/article/swed...
Canada goose with four little fluffy babies on water
Osprey sitting in a nest
First babies of the season! Also, the ospreys are nesting.
