Laying Down Of Arms

Promises.

A few days ago the Obama administration announced plans to implement austerity measures in the military which would reduce the standing American force in personnel to levels below those of pre-World War II. This is Obama doing exactly what he promised, ending wars, reducing military spending, and focusing on the domestic agenda. But nobody really seems to care. Or rather, the conservative right and those with a vested interested in continuing the expansion of the military industrial complex care, but their whining that these cuts will reduce them to still being the biggest and best prepared military in the world, just a leaner version, are hard to have sympathy for. The truth is, this is huge. This is massive news for anyone interested in foreign policy, social welfare, or peace. This is a quiet revolution spearheaded by the White House to shift our paradigm from war mongering and diplomacy by force to...well, none of us know do we? What would a United States without major warfare look like? Can any of us picture it? How will we make out money? Will we go back to growing our own food and valuing crafts people and educators? It seems unlikely. What Obama is doing is giving us a chance to reshape a small part of our economy and ourselves. Let's do something useful with it.

Picture:
www.archives.gov
  

Lost In Space- An Excerpt From Girl Gone Wild

Found.

So at some point, it just went wrong.  My folks either made a bad choice at diverging trails, or got turned around, or just walked right passed a juncture, but their demeanor changed.  They slowed.  The tone of their voices got more serious.  My sister and I were hot and tired and getting crabby in a sustained way.  My parents probably were too.  We should have been back to the car by now, it was getting on towards dinner time.  We came to a stop.  And there they were,  lost, with darkness falling and two very very tired girls with them.   They started to discuss.  They could not be that far offtrack, we had not walked very far.  They could still see the ridge we had descended, and the sun was setting in the west, they had a sense of where they were.  They were young and resourceful and figured worst case scenario they would be fine overnight with us if we got caught in the dark, everyone had a warm layer tied around their waste.  It would be an adventure, a story to to tell.  And also quite likely entirely unpleasant.  My Dad thought we could backtrack and either discover where we had gone wrong or return the full length of the way we came before it got too dark.  There was also the possibility that we were only a short distance from a connecting trail, or even the trail head itself, the trail simply being longer than we anticipated.  But we knew how to get back the way we came.  We turned around.

This terrified me.  I was little, I had no sense of time or distance with which to put the problem into perspective.  I was still afraid of the dark and I remembered the view from the top of the trail, it seemed like a really really big place to be lost in.  I was imagining lions and tigers and bears and Yeti and rodents of unusual size.  I was thinking that this very kind of thing was what had happened to those Hobbits.  My sister was fixated on talking about spending the night out there; she may have said something about having to eat me first.   In all, this probably only happened over the course of a couple of hours, but in my memory it feels like we wandered forever, like Lawrence of Arabia, parched for water and slowly weakening with hunger.  Walking with my Dad holding my hand, I started to cry.

Picture:
www.rubygonewild.com

The Beginnings Of A Bat Thing- An Excerpt From Girl Gone Wild

Wings.

We spent the evening watching the sun go down behind the high rocks on the far side of the lake. As dusk sank in around us swarms of bugs appeared above the water, and then, bats. Bats are a threshold animal, somewhere between something harmless like a chipmunk or a bird, but just creepy enough and with enough pop-culture stigma to make us skittish. Bats are mammals; like us, they are warm blooded and have hair, but they also have featherless, skin-covered wings and are mostly blind, instead using echo-location to navigate and hunt. There are thousands of species of bats, and it is estimated that bats make up one-quarter of all mammal species in the world. In the evening, if you see something flying, especially if it seems extra maneuverable or is near open water or a field, it is usually a bat. Bats love insects, and they are a social animal, often living in giant colonies that go out to hunt together in the evenings. On this evening, is seemed we were being visited by a large colony. Far from being scary or gross, these bats were magnificent. They were about the size of a swallow, fast, and fearless. They zipped past our heads diving low to skim across the surface of the water. They twisted and cavorted midair to snatch up dinner and avoid running into one another at the same time. They were acrobatic and mesmerizing and they entirely released me from my worry over sleeping out.

To-Do

List.

Sometimes it is the mundane things in life that give us comfort. The simplicity of routine, the soothing nature of familiar and menial tasks. I think many forms of happiness are hidden in the everyday completetion of small goals and obligations. The shape of a week, in list form but no particular order:

Go to the grocery store. Try to remember to get actual food that I will actually eat.

Clean bathrooms. If, that is, I have remembered to buy new sponges and cleanser.

Complete a load of laundry from sorting to putting away in less than 72 hours.

Open the scary looking mail I have been avoiding.

Corner cat and force her to take her medicine so she stops throwing up everywhere.

Do the terrible awful paperwork that I have also been avoiding.

Make dance. Undo. Make again. Edit. Repeat.

Write things. Undo. Write again. Repeat.

Picture: www.makeitheaven.com

The Scarlet Cap

Francis.

For those of us worried about the sustainability of Pope Francis' policy changes or the robustness of his legacy in the church as he ages, hope arrives today in the form of nineteen newly appointed Cardinals.  Pope Francis, perhaps aware of his progressing age, is appointing nineteen new Cardinals, the equivalent of replacing the entire US Presidential cabinet. What is exciting about these appointments is the potential for trickle-down reform. Cardinals serve as liaisons and advisers to the Pope, but also run individual archdiocese which set policy and for entire regions. Cardinals are powerful and influential. And now, thanks to Pope Francis, they are also multicultural, hailing from traditionally unrepresented Catholic regions such as Haiti. If the good decision making of Pope Francis holds true, these men will embrace his vision of their new position.

 " This does not signify a promotion, an honor nor a decoration: it is simply a service that demands a broader vision and a bigger heart," 

Indeed.

Listen to Meryn Cadell's "Pope" Here:
http://www.last.fm/music/Meryn+Cadell/_/The+Pope

/References:
http://edition.cnn.com/2014/02/22/world/europe/vatican-pope-new-cardinals/index.html?hpt=hp_t3
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2488748/Pope-Francis-dons-red-nose-congratulate-newlyweds-volunteer-clown-therapy-charity.html

Another Escape

Tales.

There is a new edition of the Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm out that focuses less on translation and interpretation, although they are a lovely treatment of the stories, and more on the artwork that accompanies the stories. Editor Noel Daniel brought vintage fairy tale artwork from late 19th and early 20th century artists, each with their own unique vision, together into a new and amazing rendition of these stories. If it has been a while since you have read the Grimm fairy tales it is worth it to revisit them. The stories were never intended as children's tales, nor were they really intended to be anything at all. They were a collection of stories that already existed formed from collective fears and dangers. The Grimm's were cultural researchers interested in preservation of folklore and oral traditions, they traveled and listened, and wrote their own interpretations of old folk tales. While many of their stories are placed in a particular region or culture, what they found was that many of the characters and themes were cross-cultural, appearing over and over again in tales from all kinds of disparate places; he wicked stepmother, the wolf. This new collection of images challenges us to reinvent our own fantastical interior landscapes, outside of the Disney paradigm, and it is wonderful. A new escape.

For pictures and Maria Popova's take on this collection:

http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2011/09/28/brothers-grimm-fairy-tales-taschen/

Rainbows and Puppies and Picnics

Easy.

Life isn't always. It can be hard to face another day or week or month of whatever it is that we are having to face. Today, I find strength in simple memories and melodies from my youth. Today, it is rainbows. Maybe they can help you too.

Watch:
IZ Kamakawiwo'ole
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1bFr2SWP1I

Kermie
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jSFLZ-MzIhM&feature=kp