Fauci

With the new year comes the end of one of the most important, beneficial careers of any public servant in American history.  

Millions of people are alive today, owing their continued existence to Doctor Anthony Fauci.   Words can hardly express the debt of gratitude we owe him. 

It is a national shame that, at the end of his long career, working behind the scenes to save lives, he would be yanked out front, into the glare of an orchestrated campaign of angry ignorance.  That he weathered this maelstrom, while staying course, is a testament to the qualities he has shared with mankind for decades.  

Dances with Aliens

Dances with Aliens

A few years ago, I went with some friends to see a popular new movie.  It was an adaptation from a popular video game, made into a movie.  It used lots of CGI, and other high tech tricks.  

It was visually stunning, but as I watched, it seemed all too familiar -  like I had seen it before.  Then it hit me.  James Cameron had remade Dances With Wolves, but had moved it to another planet, and colored the Indians' faces blue.  

It wasn't a bad movie – just entirely predictable.  I guess Cameron and his team decided that if you've invested hundreds of millions of dollars on special effects, you don't want to put it all at risk by plopping in untested plot elements.  

A sequel is out now, and I've heard there are a number of additional franchise sequels in the can.  So we have that to look forward to ... which is nice, I guess.  

Solstice Holidays

From time out of mind, long before recorded history, people facing the long cold nights of deepest winter have sheltered together around the warmth and light of fires.  They gathered for safety from the elements, companionship, and reassurance.  

Over time, the wisest learned to predict the seasonal patterns of day length, and many began to schedule these gatherings on the shortest day of the year - the winter solstice.  

We don't know what stories were first shared in these gatherings – the words having been lost to time, translation, and the vagueries of oral tradition.  But the shared warmth, light, food and drink—and the promise of longer, warmer days to come—must have lifted spirits, and given hope.  With time, the stories became an important part of these gatherings – built up and embellished year upon year.    

The Greeks were likely not the first to fit mythology to this occasion, but their stories reflect hopeful aspirations shared by all.  They explain the leafless trees, and the bare soil with the story of Hades having stolen away with Persephone, to be his queen in the underworld.  Her mother was Demeter—goddess of the harvest—who, in her heartbreak and grief, turned away from her duties to the world, turning it dark and cold.  But with Zeus's intervention, an agreement was negotiated; Hades may keep Persephone for part of the year, but each spring must return her to her Mother, who annually rejoices, returning warmth and fertility to the Earth.  

Whether the people hearing these stories took them literally, or as hopeful metaphors, we don't know.  But, as they anticipated the renewal of life in the coming spring, these stories must have nourished their hope.  

The Romans used the occasion—as they did so many—for a holiday of feasting, drinking, and the exchanging of gifts, in honor of their god Saturn.

When the Roman Empire adopted Christianity as the state religion, it made sense to adopt a holiday that was already on calendar to celebrate Christ's birthday – so Saturnalia was bumped in favor of Christmas.   

Whether you gather in this season for shelter, light, and warmth against deepest winter; to rejoice in anticipation of longer days to come; to eat, drink, and make merry; or to express reverence for a God who would send his only son to redeem the World – I celebrate alongside you.   

Happy Hanukkah, Happy Solstice, Celebrations of Light, and Merry Christmas!

Happy Guy - Sad Music

I just finished my first year with Spotify (thanks, Madeleine!), which means I have just gotten my first annual summary of the music I've been listening to there.  

It confirmed what I would have guessed; I'm a fairly happy guy, who listens to some occasionally morose, relentlessly sad music.  Not all of it, but enough to keep me from constantly floating away in a state of ecstasy.  

I lean toward singer-songwriter, folky stuff.  Watchhouse is my 2022 numero uno band.  I've got this one on heavy rotation – a song about a man coming to terms with his mother's passing.  It cuts me to the soul; but somehow makes me available for a renewal of joy.  

 Golden Embers

Falls Creek Falls - November, 2022

"Well, we're here."

"Um hmm!"

"Here!  Look!  The falls!" 

"Um hmm!"

"Dude!  That's not much of a response.  We're back here again!"

"Yeah!"

"Is that all you have to say?  'That's great'?" 

After a moment "... Can't talk!"

"Ha!  What the f@#k!  Are you crying?"

"No man!  Just a little dust in my eye."  

"You're crying ... about a little waterfall!  What a puss..)"

"Don't say that!  It's offensive and sexist!"

"Well how about 'You're a wuss', then?"

"Better.  Still offensive, but less sexist.  Damn, it's good to be back here!"  

"Okay, I get it.  You missed a year ... sore knee or something.  Get over yourself."

"I love it! ... 'Sore knee'.  I'm over it.  Catharsis got the better of me.  

"But Damn it's good to be back here!  Falls Creek Falls on Thanksgiving weekend!  Nothin' better!  Maybe that over-dramatized it a bit, but I really didn't now when I'd be able to do this again.  And now - it's like reopening a book to the same page where you left it.  Damn!"

A little motion picture capture:  

Baker's Dozen

I've been baking cookies much of my adult life.  

This arrangement made the most sense to me pretty much from the start; as you can see, this gets the most cookies in the pan, with the least risk of them expanding into one another.

I probably counted them occasionally – especially if I was baking multiple pans, and wanted a running total.  But I never gave it any thought until the other day.  

Then a light went on!

I always thought bakers were just being generous.  😄

Love, Light, and Warmth

Seek the company of those who focus on the people, places, and things that they love, and you will nurture your soul with warmth and delight that will stay with you through the coldest, darkest times.  

Thank you, Larry and Mel, for blessing my home.  And thank you to those who helped me welcome Larry and Mel back from their summer in Turkey (er ... Türkiye) <3 

Para-

Para- is an interesting prefix - whose meaning is better understood when we look to the original French.

The French word for falls is chute; a parachute protects us from falls (a 'serious' fall - like from an airplane), 

The French word for rain is pluie; and what we call an umbrella, they call a parapluie.  

Who can envision a Belle Epoch painting of people enjoying the day in a French park without the lovely mademoiselles holding parasols - protecting their delicate features from le Soleil - the Sun.  

One then wonders from what a para-legal protects us.  And a para-medic?

Pregnant with Awful

Normal is pregnant with awful. 
                - Brian Doyle, One Long River of Song

The late Oregon author, Brian Doyle, had a way of condensing complexity into a few short, pithy words, or crafting a parable of society to fit within a small coastal community; perhaps even a fishing boat.

Normal has always held the potential for joy, while quietly gestating awful.  Modern science and societal institutions have done wonders in reducing or eliminating many sources of awful, through advancements in medical care, education, and vastly improved communications.  

But progress has been uneven, and many of the consequences unanticipated.  We enjoy highly-effective medical interventions, which can mitigate a broad range of illnesses and injuries.  But, for many in our society, this healing often comes at the cost of a lifetime's savings, and a descent into inescapable debt.  Our abandonment of governmental support means that those who seek a better life through higher educational also often find themselves saddled with years of debt.  Advancements in medicine, food production, and technology have allowed hundreds of millions of people a chance to attain the lifestyles previously available to only those in the most affluent of countries.  But the material goods they now seek accelerate the depletion of natural resources, and generation of waste, including greenhouse gases that are changing climates worldwide.  

In our country, we have an uniquely dreadful version of awful that lurks within the quotidian.  An assortment of weapons that have been developed to defend our country are now sold indiscriminately to consumers, with no regard for the very real devastation they routinely wreak upon innocents.  Church-goers, shoppers, high school, and even grade school students and their families so often now have normal days punctuated by incomprehensible butchery, that we risk becoming numb to it.  Though the individual manifestations are random, the industry that markets the weapons targets troubled young men, who fantasize about the glory of battle - only to live out and impose their fantasies on unarmed, helpless strangers.  Of all the versions of awful that emerge regularly from the normal, this is the most preventable and the least forgivable. 

Cowards Die Many Times

Cowards die many times before their deaths; 

The valiant never taste of death but once. 

- William Shakespeare (Julius Caesar, Act II, Scene 2)

Happiness - With Conditions

Why do we delay happiness for the future - when some perceived obstacle is removed; we’ll be happy as soon as we get in shape, lose some weight, get a promotion, learn a new skill – maybe get married to ‘Prince Charming’, or ditch the creep who turn out to not be so charming?  

Maybe we think about how much happier we will be after a knee replacement or two.  

But, as with many things, happiness is a habit - a learned skill, which requires practice.  It’s great to have goals, but if we don’t train for happiness now, we won't sharpen those skills, and may not get good at it. If we're not actively looking, we may not see opportunities along the way, and are less likely to be ready to fully embrace happiness when our obstacle is removed.  When we practice happiness on the little things along the way, we are better prepared to more fully enjoy its rewards.  

We may even find that the obstacle was only in our minds all along. 

Polish Constitution Day

I discovered Polish Constitution Day almost by accident three years ago, when I was visiting my friends Kris Wadolkowski, and his lovely wife Helen at the beginning of May.  We celebrated together, with their next-door neighbor (who was also flying the colors) in the traditional manner - with Zubrowka Bison Grass Vodka.  

Since that day, Celebrating this annual holiday has been sort of a fun thing for me - something to share with my friends, whether in person, or virtually.  

This year, though, it has deeper meaning to me.  The Poles share a tortured history with other Slavic people, of repression beneath the boots of a succession of Russian overlords, from the Czars, to the Bolsheviks, and now the totalitarian Putin regime. When Ukraine was invaded this winter, Poland opened their borders to their brother and sister Slavs - hosting as many as five million Ukrainian refugees.

So this Tuesday, when I raise my glass of Zubrowka, it will not be just for fun; it will be in loving, heartfelt memory of the generations of patriots who have given their last full measure of devotion, so that their children can live free of foreign domination, educate their children in their own languages, and not be conscripted to fight for a repressive foreign tyrant.   

Moth & Lightbulb - revised

I was drawn to her like a moth to a front-porch lightbulb on a summer evening—not one of those cold, efficient compact fluorescent lights, or an even more efficient dimmable LED light, that is super bright, but emits no heat, but an old-fashioned 100 watt soft-white bulbous incandescent, that pulls you into increasingly tight spirals, then quick-fries you at the touch of the sizzling orb—my ardor only intensified the knowledge that government regulations and evolving consumer preferences would soon render this simile quaint and obscure.  

Sarah MacLachlan Songs - Complicated

If I were to describe my relationship with Sarah MacLachlan’s music, I’d default to ‘It’s complicated’.  Some of her songs—particularly this one—make me feel good about being a man, and want to be a better man; worthy of being one who can instill these kinds of feelings of security and fulfillment within such a beautiful heart.  Knowing it’s out there to be found motivates me to keep searching.    

But then the song ends, and one of her raw, wounded songs comes on, bringing me face to face with the path of emotional destruction men can sow through a woman’s heart—with mixed messages, half-hearted commitment, or just general obliviousness—and I’m filled with vicarious remorse (maybe not always so vicarious), and think maybe it’s better to not risk it; safer to ‘just be friends’.   

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YiztEYuNcuU&list=RDYiztEYuNcuU&start_radio=1

Self Love

Self love is a powerful, fundamental force for good; 

It's important, though, that we don't make the relationship exclusive.