Fascinating post by Ted Goia: The New Aesthetics of Slop. At the same time, perhaps it would be wise to balance it by recognizing the revitalization of handicrafts. Humans, bless them, will never fully give themselves over to vulgarity.
Ah, spring really is on the way. Woodland crocus is the first flower we see in our yard every year. I need to get out to the woods soon to see if any of the ephemerals are up.
One of my favorite songs 🎵
As for your tender heart—
This world’s gonna rip it wide open
It ain’t gonna be pretty
But you’re not alone
This, from Alan Jacobs, is one of the most clarifying things I’ve read in a while.
- In the current regime, what persons or groups are most harmed or most likely to be harmed?
- Where can I find those vulnerable people in my community?
- What organizations serve and seek to protect those people?
- How can I (placed as I am, with certain specific gifts and resources) assist those organizations?
Once I have answered those questions, I have a plan for meaningful political action.
Remembering Ivan Illich on international development
The text critiques the Trump administration’s dismantling of USAID while invoking Ivan Illich’s anti-colonial perspective on the shortcomings of international aid.
Unexpected 2” of snow last weekend. Flurries right now. Temperatures below freezing all week. 2-4” more snow tomorrow. Flu rampaging the area. We are well and truly at the ass end of winter.
I watched the Twin Peaks prequel movie “Fire Walk With Me”—and it was dark and disturbing. It had none of the tension relieving humor of the series. It covers the days leading up to Laura Palmer’s murder, and shows the murder itself. It fills in the story but I’m hesitant to exactly recommend it.
Crow visitors!
We’ve been hoping to attract some crow visitors for a while now by putting out bread and popcorn in addition to the seed and suet we already put out. Three of them finally found us yesterday! One of our new crow friends picked up a stale piece of bread and pecked at it a few times. Apparently unsatisfied, he/she carried it to the garage gutter and dropped it in some water, presumably softening it up.
Take it from someone who used to sell beard oil: you don’t need to buy beard oil. Making your own is easy and cheap. Fill a dropper bottle with a base oil and add five or so drops of scent oil. I use sesame seed oil as the base because I read somewhere it was a fairly green option.
In a chat with friends this morning, we were surprised at how few of us had ever been called for jury duty. I theorized that it was because so few cases go to trial, then looked up the statistics. There were 8,403 cases in my home county for all courts in 2023. How many were decided by jury? Four.