"Outside a dog a book is man's best friend, inside a dog it is too dark to read!" -Groucho Marx========="The person, be it gentleman or lady, who has not pleasure in a good novel, must be intolerably stupid." -Jane Austen========="I don’t believe in the kind of magic in my books. But I do believe something very magical can happen when you read a good book."-JK Rowling========"I spend a lot of time reading." -Bill Gates=========“Ahhh. Bed, book, kitten, sandwich. All one needed in life, really.” -Jacqueline Kelly=========

Sunday, August 2, 2020

Sunday Salon, the John Lewis Memorial edition


Weather: Saturday morning we awoke to drizzly skies after a hot week. The forecast is for clearing and warmer temperatures Sunday.

This week: No hiking or nature reserves but we are preparing for a vacation to Central Oregon this coming week. Our daughter in S.F. will be joining us. Before she left she sent us a text of this photo of Fred, her cat, with the note, "I'm all packed."

Also this week: We took Ian to a bike event at our church for some fun in the sun. He has a little strider bike. Unfortunately I can't post the video, so you only get to see him holding his little bike.

Books:
  • Currently reading:
    • Finding Yourself in the Kitchen: Kitchen Meditations and Inspired Recipes From a Mindful Cook by Dana Velden--Not sure how I found my way to this book but I am enjoying its simple messages. (Print)
    • Don't Call Us Dead: Poems by Danez Smith. Black men and women speaking from beyond the grave. (E-book)
  • Completed
    • Valentine by Elizabeth Wetmore--A book club selection. A tough book to categorize but I give a trigger warning here. The opening chapter is a rape. (Audio)
    • Close to Birds by Magnusson, et al.--A gorgeously rendered book with photographs and descriptions of birds. I love this book. (Print, part of the 12-book library haul)
    • Cast Away: Poems for Our Time by Naomi Shihab Nye--A Middle Grade/YA collection. All the poems have to do with trash. I enjoyed many of them a lot. (Print, part of the 12-book library haul)
    • The Reason I Jump: the Inner Voice of a Thirteen-Year-Old Boy with Autism by Naoki Higashida--Another book club selection. Very insightful and revealing. (E-book)
    • Kent State by Deborah Wiles--A YA account of the killings at Kent State during the tumultuous  Vietnam protests in the late 1960s. Relevant for today. Written in poetry, with each group assigned a different font: students, towns people, National Guardsmen, etc. (E-book)
Good and important news of the week:

1. Goodbye and thank you, John Lewis:
  • John Lewis's funeral
    • (all 3+ hours of it!) I spent Thursday weeping and sobbing while watching all but a few minutes of this moving service.
    • President Bush (Funny and brief but very touching)
    • President Clinton  (His remarks on a theme. I love how he brings it all around.)
    • Speaker Nancy Pelosi (I wept through most of this)
    • President Obama (Not just a eulogy but a very important political speech. I miss him so much.)
    • A 3-minute summary/highlights of the three Presidents giving their remarks (LA Times)
  • "Good Trouble" song by BeBe and Marvin Winans
  • John Lewis's last words to us, published the day of his funeral in the NYT. Because it is behind a paywall, I know you may not be able to find it there, but try to find it somewhere. Or at least watch the segment on The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell where Morgan Freeman reads the letter aloud while images of John Lewis are shown. Powerful stuff. Here is the last paragraph of that letter---
    • "When historians pick up their pens to write the story of the 21st century, let them say that it was your generation who laid down the heavy burdens of hate at last and that peace finally triumphed over violence, aggression and war. So I say to you, walk with the wind, brothers and sisters, and let the spirit of peace and the power of everlasting love be your guide."- John Lewis, published July 30, 2020
2. Sinclair Broadcasting has dropped the segment they were planning to show about a conspiracy theory related to Dr. Fauci -- that he created the coronavirus. (CNN) Hmm, I guess they finally decided to look into the kooky claims themselves and decided it was a no-go. Good.

3. Raffi (remember him kids?) wrote a song to sing at the Black Lives Matter protests:
4. Fully 53% of respondents in the latest Civiqs survey released Thursday said they "oppose President Trump, and there's almost nothing that could change that." Once more, those definitely opposing Trump’s reelection outpaced those definitely supporting him by 19 points.

5. 1619 Project. This week Tom Cotton, senator from Arkansas, earned honors as "Worst Senator in the World" for saying, "Slavery was a necessary evil" and went on to elaborate that he doesn't want the 1619 Project to be taught in our schools. (CNN) Of course not. He is a racist. Clear and simple.
        I was not that familiar with the 1619 Project until Cotton's attempt to censor it. Censor teaching about slavery? After some investigation, I am very impressed with the content of this New York Times project.
        I decided to highlight one aspect of the 1619 Project each week until we read all the way through it. If I link one piece to read, it won't be an overwhelming task. Let's read together purposefully and thoughtfully.
       This week's read is fairly short (unless you follow all the links): "Why We Published the 1619 Project." and the introduction, The Idea of America, by Nikole Hannah-Jones. Thanks for joining me, now let's get to it!

6. The best anti-COVID spot is a Nike ad that is an editing marvel and very inspiring. We can do this! (Muse)

7. For you, a feel good moment  watch and/or dance to 'Love Train' by artists on Playing for Change, highlighting kids from Turnaround Arts featuring many stars including Yo-Yo Ma, Jason Mraz and the O'Jays. Here.



On the lighter side:
My husband saw this at his doctor's office this week. "Good Job, Herald"

Yes. This would be great debate material. Do it!



I had one of those Facebook conversations this week, as a matter of fact. Ears plugged for sure.

Mine is #5





Non sequitur:
Take a moment to breathe. Watch. This is mesmerizing.


I sure do appreciate it if you leave me a comment, even if you disagree with my idea of good news, just so I know you were here. Thanks so much.

-Anne

17 comments:

  1. Love these options to do block parties. I once again heard some bizarre news that Trump plans to shut down TIK TOK, All I have to say is ...sensitive much? lol Yeah, we'll see.

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  2. I like the variety of your good news, and hope you have a wonderful time in Oregon with your family.

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    1. Thanks. We are very hopeful that we can pull this off safely.

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  3. That John Lewis speech. Wow. Left me in tears. Such a simple message of love and hope, but I feel I am hungry for that inspiration. Others might like us to feel the powers that represent divisiveness and hatred are strong in America, and there are days I am afraid that is so, but just seeing the work of John Lewis and hearing his words reminds me to press on for what is right and just for all, and to press on with love.

    And, yes, to Jeopardy. It's hard to believe we have come to the point in America that we might need to test candidates for president to see if they have some knowledge of the law and history.

    Thank you for all you shared here, Anne. I just looked at the clock and I've spent the last couple of hours at your post. Thank you.

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    1. That is my hope that people will linger over the links, listen to the songs, read a few of the articles. Thanks for making that possible so we can do that at each other's sites.

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  4. We watched all 3 hours of the John Lewis funeral as well. I thought former presidents all did a great job and Nancy P was awesome as well. Safe travels!

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    1. I cried the most during Nancy Pelosi's remarks. I think because she was so choked up.

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  5. I wasn't able to watch the funeral so I will have to go back and listen. I've heard it was an amazing and inspiring funeral. So thank you for the links.

    I listened to 1619 podcast last summer and it was so enlightening. But I hadn't heard of the teaching project until Cotton went against it. So infuriating.

    Your Non Sequitur video is mesmerizing! thanks for sharing.

    Don't Call Us Dead...I just heard about this one. It's on my list for sure!

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    1. I will have to look for the 1619 podcast. It is so much to digest. Thanks for the heads up.

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  6. Ah! Fred is adorable. I hope you have a nice vacation. We skipped any vacations this summer given the circumstances. I wish we could have at least made it up to the mountains, but our favorite spot was closed because of the virus.

    Such sad news about John Lewis. He was a great man. I didn't get to see any of the coverage of his service, but I heard it was very moving.

    I hope you have a great week!

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    1. It is not too late to see the funeral. Click the links or search YouTube. Very moving.

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  7. I like the anti-masker photos! That's Veruca Salt. Also is that Amy Adams in that aliens movie? Funny. The picture of Fred the cat made my day ... cats have to get right in there. Enjoy your trip!

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    1. I know. Our cats always want to get in our suitcase...making sure we will take them with us, or their fur, at least.

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  8. Have a great trip to Oregon! Fred is so adorable.

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    1. I will pass on the message about Fred to my daughter. She is missing her boys but happy to be on vacation.

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  9. Love the education meme! And that video is indeed mesmerizing and relaxing. I watched/listened to the entire John Lewis memorial; I think I needed some emotional release and to be reminded that there is hope.

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  10. Fred is going on holiday, I remember a similar thing years ago with my dog when she was a pup! Thank you for your good and important news, being on the other side of the pond we are aware of a lot but there is a lot we don’t see, that’s why I love visiting other bloggers, getting that perspective from other parts of the world.

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