It’s been a week, hasn’t it? I have tried and tried to make sense of the senseless and I can find no simple answers… no complicated answers either. My heart is heavy for the citizens of Buffalo and for the Black/Brown/Indigenous American/LGBTQIA+/Non-Christian communities that are integral parts of the tapestry that is America. And so I this week, I picked up James Baldwin to settle into his world and listen for what wisdom he might share with me. And so I started The Fire Next Time….and of course, Baldwin has lots to share.
The most dangerous creation of any society is the man who has nothing to lose.
and
We, the black and the white, deeply need each other here if we are really to become a nation…
Both of those statements are true, but how do we move away from the first and become the second. And as I said… still there are no simple answers and while there might be some more complicated ones… it will take all of us together to be the complicated, yet simple?, answer.
This week we (America) achieved another major milestone on our COVID journey… one million persons have died (actually, more than a million as of this writing) and if that does not shock you I don’t know what, if anything, might. I think that the WaPo posted an incredible look back to our COVID journey. (I don’t know if this link is behind a paywall…sorry) I spent some time there this week remembering the lives that were.
And because in the midst of our, at times, painful reality…some escapism is needed. This week I settled in with my third gnome clue and watched Operation Mincemeat on Netflix. Oh.my.gosh! It was so good. The story (which is true) was just what I needed to move myself to another space for a bit. If you have not watched it, you absolutely should!
And finally, my above photo is the best of this week’s iPhone Pseudo-Macro attempts! Lambs Ear with rain drop remnants (with a side of again necessary weeding… it just never ends, lol)
I hope you have a good weekend and I will see you all back here on Monday with my word update!
I agree with the crazy news and you think it can never get worse and it does. I pray a lot!!
It is hard to pay attention to the news (because I think we do if we want to change things) and to not get completely overwhelmed by it all. I know that it’s a privilege to be able to to shut it out when we need to, but I think those of us who are committed to making things better for our fellow Americans who do not have our privilege need to do it every now and then. So I am glad you are finding words of wisdom, beauty in the garden, and some knitting and Netflix to lift your spirits.
Thank you for the words of wisdom from James Baldwin. Every time I think the news can not get worse, it does. But I’ve had some lovely interactions with strangers this morning that have reminded me that while the world may be a terrible place right now, there are still good people trying to do the right thing. I hope you get to see a few of them, and enjoy your gnome and Netflix in the meantime!
P.S. That is the fuzziest lamb’s ear I’ve ever seen!
Looks like a good movie. Thanks for the recommendation!
That WaPo site is heartbreaking. I could not read them all.
I went to Netflix to find Operation Mincemeat but got no hits for “operation mincemeat”. Just on the off chance, I searched for “operation” and found it. Weird. But thanks for the reccy — I might even convince Smokey to watch it with me (he loves WWII stories).
Thank you for James Baldwin’s words of wisdom. How how how? The news just goes from bad to worse. I’m glad you found a little escapism. The Lambs Ear looks so soft that I want to reach out and touch it.
Operation Mincemeat is totally new to me – thank you!
And thank you for sharing the James Baldwin quotes. Everything feels so hard but it’s helpful to know that people have worked hard to change things for the better for generations. I just wish it felt like we were moving in the right direction more often!
I . . . really struggled with so much of the “news” last week. I get into such a “vexation” about it all (the All of It) that the only thing I can do is go dig in the garden for a while. Tom and I watched Operation Mincemeat last weekend. We also really enjoyed it — plus Colin Firth. 🙂 Have you watched the new series “The Lincoln Lawyer?” Also really good.
Operation Mincemeat is a wonderful story, I remember watching documentary about it a few years ago.
Sometimes we have to switch off the news and turn our attention elsewhere, it has become unbearable, we are bombarded with information that is incredibly hard to take it. We have to pause to make sense of things and not feel overwhelmed.