Today is the ninety-sixth anniversary of the beginning of the Bread and Roses strike in Lawrence, Massachusetts. Perhaps it is time to stop and think about this issue. Frankly, as I look at what’s going on around us it’s hard to feel there is not a class war going on. And that the super rich are winning.
Too Sense: Race, Politics and Hip-hop.
I think I started following the group blog Too Sense because of a post that Andrew Sullivan linked to, but I can’t quite remember for sure. But I am sure that I am enjoying the writing of dnA, who’s the only contributor I’ve read so far.
As a side note, one of the worst campaign strategies I’ve ever heard of in my life is associating your opponent with Martin Luther King Jr. Clearly, Hillary wants to lose.
dnA’s profile says “Artsy, Angry Mixed Kid from the Diamond District. Also I’m a total amateur at this. I’m sure I’m doing something wrong.” On the contrary, I’m pretty sure dnA is doing an awful lot of things right.
God and soul
My spiritual life has been supported of late by several blogs. Today’s post by James Ishmael Ford is worth pimping. Head on over and check out Monkey Mind: Getting Real With Religion
I’m more than comfortable with traditional religious language: god and soul are at the top of my list of useful terms. I resist those who try to insist that the definitions of these terms can only be determined by their most conservative adherents. Conservative and fundamentalist asserting this I understand. But when critics such as most of the recent spate of atheist authors do so it comes across to me like setting up a classic straw man.
Pray for Kenya
Carol, blogging at among Friends has a number of posts about the situation in Kenya, including a message from Friends United Meeting staff yesterday:
The country Kenya is now in chaos now and many people are dying and properties destroyed as a reaction to the announcement of the results. We are appealing for prayers that calmness may come to our country.
Peace and unity may prevail in our country. We are all safe wherever we are. Pray for Kenya!! Pray for Kenya!!!God bless
John Muhanji
There is a also a press release from Friends United Meeting.
Stylish Cary Grant essay
A book essay at the Atlantic about Becoming Cary Grant is well written and entertainingly clever:
Gorgeousness requires the soul of an old lady.
And, of course, it’s about my favorite actor ever.
United States: Supporter of democracy?
There’s been a dirty election in Kenya (Death toll mounts over Kenyan president’s re-election), and guess who the US government is supporting?
But the US, which cooperates closely with the Kibaki government on anti-terrorism matters, congratulated the president on his re-election and said it supported the electoral commission’s decision. Robert McInturff, a state department spokesman, said: “The United States congratulates the winners and is calling for calm, and for Kenyans to abide by the results declared by the election commission.”
Oh yeah, doesn’t that make me proud to be an American (as if our long history of propping up dictators wasn’t bad enough).
Real Life-Second Life crossover
This weekend the internet radio station I’m involved with in Second Life will be playing English Country Dance music from a band I’ve danced to!
Bare Necessities began playing professionally in 1978 for the Country Dance Society Boston Centre , and they are now known worldwide for their unique presentation of English country dance music.
The seasons of Northern California
Heather at Cabinet of Wonders has written a beautiful post about the seasons where she lives (particularly the one just beginning): All That the Rains Bring.
It may not be frozen, but it can be tiresome, being wet for a whole season; sometimes I envy people in the deep cold, who stay dry in their low temperatures. There is something about cold water trickling into your inner clothing, and the constant presence of mud, which can get to you after awhile.
I’ll just quote here the comment I left there:
Thank you for a wonderful, evocative post! I grew up in the desert in Southern California, but went to college in Davis and lived afterwards in San Francisco before coming East. (I now live in that mythical home-world, Massachusetts.)
Oddly enough, of the seasons here winter reminds me most of the desert—the trees are bare and skeletal, so you can see the ground and the hills that are obscured by green much of the year. And the weather itself is dangerous. Having grown up in the desert, I’m ambivalent about moisture, and I do indeed prefer, if it’s going to be cold and wet, that it be cold enough for the wet to be snow. 28 and snowing is preferable to 38 and rain–and far preferable to 33 and freezing rain!
I describe the seasons of Northern California to my friends as being three: Green, Gold, and Brown. Green, of course, is the season you so beautifully describe just beginning. Gold is the shortest season, but beautiful. And Brown is that dry and sometimes worrisome season when the reservoirs and the fires need an eagle eye.
The eyes have it
It’s an untitled page, and words cannot describe these photos of eyes. (Hat tip to Kottke.)
Edit: The site is more properly viewed here, under special projects, eyescapes.
Merry Christmas
The irony, of course, is that I hardly ever get around to sending Christmas cards. But my Second Life alter-ego, Otenth Paderborn, is part of a neo-Victorian community where it is an absolute must to send greetings, so I hunted around and found this graphic to make a card. (Click the image for a larger view. The graphic is from the December 1888 issue of Harper’s New Monthly Magazine.)