Friday Night

 

In my little town

Humor in Science

 

or, truth in humor in science?

Both

My Complaint

Pockets. Love them, need them and want them. It wasn't until last year at our annual dumpster dive day, though, that I realized just how bad women's pockets are. I'd found a perfect pair of men's jeans: great fit, good length, and pockets that actually held my phone. Amazing, and I could protect my phone from falling when making a necessary call - pun intended. Safe in my front pocket, a first!

So began my rant on pockets. This morning, finishing the Style edition of New Yorker, I read that I'm not alone. Yes! 

Too bad nothing much is apt to happen. History tells us, this woman knows it and yet, fashion dictates. 

Sad.

A Time(ly) Piece

Reading an article from my Time feed this morning, I found it to be interesting and, surprisingly in today's world, from a centrist point of view. About policing, the authors' ability to see the big picture was enlightening and welcome in this world of hyperpartisan politics.

There was so much more to this article; these are only my takeaways. 

Do I believe policing has to change? Yes. 

Do I think we need the police? Yes. 

Should the police be getting support from other agencies? You bet! Mental health and better safety nets for people in need would certainly help the police, the ones in need and our society as a whole. 

Finally, are there cops who shouldn't be cops? You bet. 

We need people who want to make the world a better place, people who want to see the humanity in the person in front of them, people who will communicate, work with others and who can know when to back off rather than go in stronger. In short people who don't want confrontation and conflict but a deescalating  and peaceful resolution. 

On Politics and the Police

A House of Cream, Yellow, and Brown

Walking yesterday, I saw a snail carrying his shell. I'd never, ever seen that, and while I'd known it happened, that it was a part of nature, still, it was incredible.

My friend, though, barely stopped. Being a more concerned gardener than I, she implied she'd do more than move the thing.

As always, perspective.

It's Amazing.

What Do You See?

 

Times Three

AA

Not Alcoholics Anonymous but I guess it could be. Everyone knows I'm addicted to New Yorker.

This on my nemesis: Elon Musk. The article was a review of his new biography. Luckily, while spending time once again reading about a man I abhor, I am doing so through the eyes of a writer I admire. 

Another Article

Kate DiCamillo, Author and Person

Some few of hers at the middle school library

Read yet another good article from New Yorker this morning. On the writer of the novel, Because of Winn-Dixie, it tells of her childhood with a father who was violent and mean and the coping she did by hurting others, namely her brother and friends. Through therapy, the love of her mother and good friends, Kate DiCamillo is now an adult who is able to find the good in life and forgiveness for herself and others. 

Modest and true to herself, even with "wild success"

Kate's advice: read to adults.

Mine? Share good reading with others.

Finding the good, "push against the darkness"

A wonderful reading teacher once said, and I so agree,
that youth reads can be just as good and often better
than adult reads as they have laser-beam focus,
get the job done, cut the subplots
 and do it all in so much less time.
They're an often lost treasure for adults. 

The last column: forgiveness.

"Despereaux, reader, spoke those words

to save himself."

I Admire and Aspire

And This Is Why I'm

My morning's read was on homelessness in NYC. While a long read, it was an enlightening one. The struggles on connecting, the patience it takes, the understanding and consistency of workers (saints on earth, I'd call them) and the lives of the ones being helped. We group the homeless together but each is different, even as there are, certainly,  similarities. 

Look beneath their homelessness and we see dysfunctional families, bad luck, and grief compounding tough times to make for awful times. We see people in lives we can't imagine trying to stay alive, live and wanting a better life, even as their choices hurt them for that. But, they continue on. 

And while the conclusion was on homelessness and the people living with it, I also saw middle school students and the people at my school working to help them, with a listening ear, a helping hand, and a belief that it can get better. Little consequences made me concerned and made me question, but from last year's students who fought the system, to this year's who - so far - are engaging and doing, I am becoming a believer and less a skeptic.

Whether homelessness or struggling young people, it takes times, effort and compassion. 

May we find it in ourselves as a society to help all, as, it seems, we did the vets.

A New Yorker Fan

By the Numbers

1.5 hour drive. 

9 wonderful women. 

325 feet lake frontage.                                    

8 beds (women came and went, no overlap).                                 

5 out of 6 days sun and warmth.                                                                       

2 hikes, and walks daily                                                                   

Limitless driftwood and rocks                 

0 neighbor noise (but a golden, Stanley, who came to visit).  

5 for 5 nights of cards.                                                                               

2 camera lessons learned.                                                                  

Impossible to numerate: camaraderie of talk, laughter and fun.

Magical Math

Balancing stones, finding gems: Like life

 

                                                                                                                            

                                                                                                                            

Dog spelled any which way: Love                                    credit: CMF*

Finding beauty: near and far, small and large       *same

Me, Marriage, Religion and Life

Reading the New Yorker, I am often reminded of how much I don't know and yet just as often am amazed by that to which I can relate. This morning's article is a good example. Having read few (probably none) of the books mentioned and knowing little of the people involved, I found much to connect to and contemplate. 

Me. Working, wanting and wishing. An epigraph I could be proud to live with: A simple person, happy in being kind.

Marriage. A private, even as public affair, and a description, a pretty perfect one, of what marriage should be.

Religion. Not what I was taught but what I've come to see and believe ... and only a 150 years later than these writers ;)

Life. Which brings me back to the beginning: being kind and needing less. Because even in life's glory - and, yes, strife - death comes to all of us. It is only the ending; the journey there matters so much more.  

Not in Kansas

Late to leave with little communication turned into a harrowing drive and a misdirected text, to then sit as the men moseyed about, even at the finish. Regretting I went turned - once I lost my patience - to fun. 

Leaving behind all to come as they wished, I walked into the bar, one of my heart, with friendly people willing to walk up and strike up a conversation... and canned beer. Wanting a coozie, I went to buy one, and did, but not before the bartender asked me, "Do you want to borrow one or buy one?" Had never heard that question before. 

Another funny? The bathroom doors. Me standing, thinking chicken, the gentleman who I'd been chatting with ("I like talking with older people, not my age," he'd said to me earlier.) pointed to the other. I got it, laughed and knew I wasn't in Kansas (Ithaca) anymore. 

A night with good people - new and old - and memories, with a souvenir to remind me.

And lest anyone think my takeaway is to always go with the flow, no.           No.          Communication and consideration of others ... still high on my list. 

Sometimes we get those ideals from strangers better, and... from taking our own initiative.