It’s Mothers Day in the United States.
Wishing mothers—and motherers—everywhere a happy day!
Here’s some photo back-up for the universally given answer to the inevitable question: “But when is Kids Day?”
To me, freedom is a lack of fear.
I feel free to share my thoughts, if I’m not afraid of hostile reactions or ridicule.
I feel free to travel or walk alone, if I’m not afraid of being harassed or attacked.
I feel free to go into large crowds, if I’m not afraid that people have guns.
I felt free to get pregnant when I was younger, because I was not afraid my health would be in danger.
I think it’s hard to feel truly free, when you also feel frightened.
“Disagree” is not the right word (far too mild), but I feel I might be preaching to the choir here on WordPress. (As a longtime church choir member, I love that expression.)
Perhaps I’ll see what a (free) AI image generator can do with my intense feelings.
I’m retired (I think) and looking forward to becoming a grandmother and doing some meaningful volunteer work. So, I’m going use this prompt to provide an update on the next generation.
I’m extremely pleased to report that my son landed a job! He’s a senior in college and this is his first post-grad position. I’m super proud of him!
The college class of 2024 (high school class of 2020) has not had it easy. They had their senior prom, graduation, senior spring sports seasons, and numerous other rites of passage cancelled due to Covid. In addition, many of them (including my son) took their very first semester of college classes remotely from home. MAJOR bummer is an understatement! His second semester, though not remote, was not at all normal. Masks, testing, and Zoom classes from dorm rooms are not fun. My son got put in isolation for TEN DAYS over Easter because he was exposed to a bus driver who tested positive. (My son never did.)
Sophomore year was somewhat normal and thankfully he had a terrific semester abroad junior year. And now, the famous final scene…the last few weeks of college.
So here’s to these very resilient young people. GenZ is in the house and they are going to do things differently. We’re handing them a broken world, but I have faith that they will improve things in ways we can’t yet imagine.
There’s nothing quite like live music and theater performances.
The most recent concert I attended was Emma’s Revolution last weekend. I wrote about it on Sunday for a different prompt: A unique brand
A couple weeks before that, we saw an amazing fiddler from Prince Edward Island—Cynthia Macleod. She performed with Gordon Belsher— a PEI-based guitar player. They were fantastic together. So fun and SO good. It was impossible to sit still while they played.
Between songs, they told stories of PEI, especially the “kitchen parties.” On PEI, in the cold months (which is most of them), people gather in the warmest room of the house (the kitchen) and sing, play, stomp and clap til all hours.
One of the best parts of the night was seeing the joy on the faces of the two musicians. They were working really hard, but you could tell that they absolutely loved what they were doing. The audience could feel their joy and reflected it back to them. The energy created by the interplay was undeniable. That’s the magic of live performance.
What do you do to be involved in the community?
I’m part of a few different communities, but as for the town itself, I mainly vote and pay taxes—lots of taxes.
In fact, I just voted to increase my own taxes to help fund the schools and other municipal services. In Massachusetts, we call that “a Proposition Two and a Half Override.” I have no idea why.
We’ll find out tonight if the override passed.
My feeling is that even though my kids are done with the schools, I want current students to have what they need. But these tax increases are very tough on elderly people with fixed incomes. I see both sides.
What are your favorite brands and why?
I got to see Emma’s Revolution perform live last night. They’re a duo (Pat Humphries and Sandy O) with a long history of combining performance and activism for various causes particularly anti-war movements, climate and environment, and women’s and LGBTQ rights. Last night they were performing with two other women (about ten years older than them) who are also folk music icons: Claudia Schmidt and Sally Rogers. They all sounded great. It was a powerful quartet. Their songs are poignant, yet hopeful. We (the audience) learned that a documentary is currently in production about Emma’s Revolution. I can’t wait to see it. Pat Humphries is a tremendous songwriter and last night she played the song that “changed everything” for them—Swimming to the Other Side.
They sell their own merchandise at intermission and have no obvious corporate sponsorships or affiliations of any kind. They perform mostly in Unitarian churches, coffeehouses, and small nonprofit venues.
So, what’s their “brand”?
I don’t really know (just trying to bring it back to the prompt).
Clearly, they’re on the left politically.
They’re white and so is their audience (mostly), but they frequently reference icons of the civil rights movement like John Lewis and nonwhite immigration/refugee activists.
They’re acoustic (although they come with a lot of amps and sound equipment).
They’re good. Like really good. They’re total pros. They sing and play beautifully. They make it look easy, but it’s not. In addition to playing songs, folk musicians build a true rapport with their live audiences. They tell personal stories and anecdotes while they tune their instruments between songs. Again, not easy.
That’s all I got. Go see them on their next tour, if you can. Actually, you can see them tonight (from Schenectady) if you buy a ticket to the livestream.
#1) ME! I pay attention to my instincts and tend to value my own wisdom. I’ve got 58 years worth of life experience. Sometimes great revelations hit me late at night, frequently after smoking marijuana. Weed and writing both help me gain clarity.
I was recently honored to be nominated for my church’s Standing Committee. It’s the 6-member executive team that is responsible for all of the organization’s business affairs, including the annual budget and managing the staff. It’s validating, because it shows that other people respect my wisdom and judgment too.
#2) MY HUSBAND. He’s smart and he doesn’t panic. He’s very good at giving advice on medical concerns (i.e. it’s fine; you’ll be fine; I’ve had that; it’s nothing, etc) and occasionally gives good input on fashion (i.e. I like the red one better). It took him awhile to learn this, but he usually knows when the best advice is just to listen and not give any advice. IF I wanted advice on how to get physically stronger, I would ask him, because he knows a lot about it, but I’m way too lazy for lifting weights. He’s also a reader. In my opinion, people who read books tend to give good advice.
Some years ago, I would’ve put my parents on this list, but I don’t typically seek their advice these days.
My kids are getting better at advice-giving as they get older, especially my daughter who is basically a professional advice-giver through her astrology business.
My son is good for one-off tech tips like “try turning it off and on.”
Inside is an absolutely stunning, classic New England sanctuary in the Greek Revival architectural style. Services are online every Sunday at 10am (EST) here. Check us out, especially if you’re not “religious” and think traditional church is not for you. Atheists welcomed. We are a member congregation of the UUA. 🌈 ☮️ 💓 🌎 🎶
National, statewide and local elections are all important. I always vote. I have a couple of friends who are very involved in town affairs. Sometimes I reach out to them before local elections. They advise me on who to vote for, when I’m unfamiliar with the candidates. There’s nothing wrong with that. If you have friends who share your values, you can ask them how to vote.
On the federal level in the United States, it’s all on the line in November. For those who missed the exceedingly well-researched TIME magazine cover story on how far Trump would go in a second term, here it is.
I hope voter turnout in November is huge and that people don’t waste their votes on third party candidates (or that creepy Kennedy who hates vaccines). Yes, Joe Biden is very old, but he’s the only candidate with a realistic chance of preventing an “imperial presidency that would reshape America and its role in the world.”
On September 17, 1787, at the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, Benjamin Franklin was 81 years old and in terrible pain from gout and kidney stones. After hashing it out for more than two weeks (seven hours per day), he finally convinced thirty-nine convention delegates to sign the Constitution of the United States, with just three delegates refusing. (It would still need to be ratified by the states.)
At the end of the day, they all went out to dinner at the City Tavern in Philly. Delegate McHenry (Maryland) wrote a diary entry describing a conversation between Franklin and Elizabeth Willing Powel who said, “Well, Doctor, what have we got, a republic or a monarchy?” Benjamin Franklin responded:
“A republic, if you can keep it.”
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