Well of course a thankfulness for your writing itself, for the moon above and the stirring of the owl, the cat, and the coyote around you, your wife sleeping above. Maybe a decade ago I heard Steve Rattner explain on morning Joe that insurance executives, he hastened to assure Joe and the audience they were “good and faithful republicans, “ had been forced to acknowledge the now strong and ever increasing rate of billion dollar climate events. Now we have had Helene and the LA fires, both centabillion plus events, and would have to consider real risk similar events could recur easily within five years. Then on a global level, we hear a third of Pakistan was under water, Europe alternately roasting and freezing in hot and cold, Sahara expanding across North Africa. And in North America, climate discussion has gone to zero pretty much, trump taking on active denialism and reversal of anything he can. Unfortunate to consider the political dimension is a reflection of the symptoms not the root cause. Fortress America is the expansion of building the climate bunkers in New Zealand or the retrofitted missile silos in Kansas to the national level. Unless you want to go to New Zealand now, turns out it’s kind of far away as a refuge. Our information system is so dedicated to hiding the problem while autocratic control is consolidated so who will be in control as we start to hit the rocks and industrial society springs increasing leaks and breaches…..
Great book on hiding from the unmanageable consequences of climate change - The Water Will Come by Rolling Stone journalist Jeff Goodell really insightful work that reset my understanding of this situation….
Yes this is the undiscussed driver that scares me about the political drama is that I feel there is a big monster underneath we are not talking about, that was not present in past historical cycles, and therefore we cannot use past history to assume this will blow over eventually or we can just have a nice midterm election in 2026 and go back to snoozing at the rotary club….
The Trump as a pilot ad is going viral. They need to play it — and create new variations on this theme aka plane catching fire or ditching in the Gulf of “America” — on the big Jumbotron with sound in Times Square. 24/7 until he is gone!
I love this post. How do you handle invitations to breakfast? Asking as a fellow night owl (was a freelance editor for a long time). And Latin! I only minored in it, but maybe my husband with the Ph.D. in Classics can translate. (That’s another story… he got that right when the Humanities really started tanking. Lots of job openings were expected given upcoming retirements, but…. most of those “attrition” positions were not filled again. He found something else to do for a paycheck.)
I’m not going to say ‘don’t let the bastards get you down.’ Go ahead and let them. Please, just keep getting back up with quill in hand and wits in head. Taking moral-injury days off whenever you must.
I never, ever accept invitations to breakfast. It’s uncivilized. I usually require 5 hours of sleep, so I’m up and about by mid-morning, but want to be alone. The Latin prayer I cited was recited by victims of Norsemen raids: “Lord, deliver us from the wrath of the Norsemen.” I substituted “Canadians” for Norsemen. Tell your husband he should always be proud to be a liberal arts major. STEM folks, after all, can’t recite ancient Latin prayers.
Gosh, if you can manage to get out of power breakfasts, maybe I can find a way out of mostly social ones. OK, I’m gonna try saying this, hope you don’t mind: “In the words of James L. Bruno, ‘I never, ever accept invitations to breakfast. It’s uncivilized.’ It sounds too erudite for anyone to challenge! Then I’ll hang up, or jump offline, or whatever I have to do to prevent a response. My next line would maybe be…. if I had to say anything more: “But what I will do is have the occasional buckwheat blueberry pancake for lunch.” And provide a link to your writing if they aren’t familiar with it.
P.S. My Substack navigation is not all there yet. It took me 2.5 days to see your reply to my comment. I guess since it’s very literate over here, intelligence is assumed and no money wasted on intuitive interface!
I, for one, think you are doing the Lord’s work, and doing it appropriately so with quill and parchment. 🪶 📜
These days, it can feel like the Lord has forsaken us.
Well of course a thankfulness for your writing itself, for the moon above and the stirring of the owl, the cat, and the coyote around you, your wife sleeping above. Maybe a decade ago I heard Steve Rattner explain on morning Joe that insurance executives, he hastened to assure Joe and the audience they were “good and faithful republicans, “ had been forced to acknowledge the now strong and ever increasing rate of billion dollar climate events. Now we have had Helene and the LA fires, both centabillion plus events, and would have to consider real risk similar events could recur easily within five years. Then on a global level, we hear a third of Pakistan was under water, Europe alternately roasting and freezing in hot and cold, Sahara expanding across North Africa. And in North America, climate discussion has gone to zero pretty much, trump taking on active denialism and reversal of anything he can. Unfortunate to consider the political dimension is a reflection of the symptoms not the root cause. Fortress America is the expansion of building the climate bunkers in New Zealand or the retrofitted missile silos in Kansas to the national level. Unless you want to go to New Zealand now, turns out it’s kind of far away as a refuge. Our information system is so dedicated to hiding the problem while autocratic control is consolidated so who will be in control as we start to hit the rocks and industrial society springs increasing leaks and breaches…..
Well said.
Great book on hiding from the unmanageable consequences of climate change - The Water Will Come by Rolling Stone journalist Jeff Goodell really insightful work that reset my understanding of this situation….
Scary!
Yes this is the undiscussed driver that scares me about the political drama is that I feel there is a big monster underneath we are not talking about, that was not present in past historical cycles, and therefore we cannot use past history to assume this will blow over eventually or we can just have a nice midterm election in 2026 and go back to snoozing at the rotary club….
The Trump as a pilot ad is going viral. They need to play it — and create new variations on this theme aka plane catching fire or ditching in the Gulf of “America” — on the big Jumbotron with sound in Times Square. 24/7 until he is gone!
https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1EcTEuQovT/?mibextid=wwXIfr
I love this post. How do you handle invitations to breakfast? Asking as a fellow night owl (was a freelance editor for a long time). And Latin! I only minored in it, but maybe my husband with the Ph.D. in Classics can translate. (That’s another story… he got that right when the Humanities really started tanking. Lots of job openings were expected given upcoming retirements, but…. most of those “attrition” positions were not filled again. He found something else to do for a paycheck.)
I’m not going to say ‘don’t let the bastards get you down.’ Go ahead and let them. Please, just keep getting back up with quill in hand and wits in head. Taking moral-injury days off whenever you must.
I never, ever accept invitations to breakfast. It’s uncivilized. I usually require 5 hours of sleep, so I’m up and about by mid-morning, but want to be alone. The Latin prayer I cited was recited by victims of Norsemen raids: “Lord, deliver us from the wrath of the Norsemen.” I substituted “Canadians” for Norsemen. Tell your husband he should always be proud to be a liberal arts major. STEM folks, after all, can’t recite ancient Latin prayers.
Gosh, if you can manage to get out of power breakfasts, maybe I can find a way out of mostly social ones. OK, I’m gonna try saying this, hope you don’t mind: “In the words of James L. Bruno, ‘I never, ever accept invitations to breakfast. It’s uncivilized.’ It sounds too erudite for anyone to challenge! Then I’ll hang up, or jump offline, or whatever I have to do to prevent a response. My next line would maybe be…. if I had to say anything more: “But what I will do is have the occasional buckwheat blueberry pancake for lunch.” And provide a link to your writing if they aren’t familiar with it.
LOL!
P.S. My Substack navigation is not all there yet. It took me 2.5 days to see your reply to my comment. I guess since it’s very literate over here, intelligence is assumed and no money wasted on intuitive interface!
Great work! 🇨🇦