Quote of the Post

"The poet is usually the best reporter, for he is an observer not merely accurate but imaginative, self trained to see subtle suggestions, relations and similarities."

Christopher Morley introduction to Niagara Falls essay by Rupert Brooke in Modern Essays

Quote of the Post

    "And one who has never gone into the abyss of his own nature and come back with an emblem of shame and glory-- that is, a true work of art-- to show the world, need not envy the artist his role."

    R.V. Cassil That Blue-Eyed Darling Nathaniel essay, in Horizon, summer 1966

A Terrible Beauty Is Born

  I was lucky enough to attend the March For Our Lives Rally in Washington D.C. Lucky though, while accurate, doesn't even begin to describe it. I realize, now, that I am thrilled and honored and humbled by what I saw and heard. It's taken until now to be able to put it into words.
  The seventeen speakers were kids. Everyone of them touched by death. The survivors of the Parkland, Florida shootings organized the rally only a bit more than a month after the massacre. And to hear speaker after speaker talk about losing siblings, friends and teachers to guns brought tears to the millions of us listening. Beyond the emotion was strength and determination and courage almost beyond my belief. These young people, who, through no fault of their own, have seen the worst of human behavior, have decided to fix things. They are not alone. Pennsylvania Avenue was full of people, and there were rallies around the country and the world supporting action against gun violence. They are part of a movement that is part of a greater movement of progressive ideals that is not going anywhere but forward.
   On March 24, 2018, I saw the future. It is good.

Note: I titled this post after words the poet William Butler Yeats uses in 'Easter 1916'. That poem can be found on this blog with only a bit of clicking, if you want to understand the reference. 

He Was A Man

  Fifty years since King's assassination, we are in the middle of fights for civil rights, the rule of law and, quite simply, common decency, that he would instantly recognize. The Republican party is dragging as much of the country, and the world, as far into the Pit as it can. And, holding all three branches of government, that is one helluva long way.
  We are fighting back on all fronts.
  And we will win.
  Eventually.
  We will win.
  Martin Luther King is probably more popular today, than at his death. He was derided for his stance against the war in Viet Nam by even the NAACP and others in the movement; and his Poor People's Campaign was thought to be a distraction from fighting racism. Even his belief in non-violence was scorned by some groups within the civil rights movement.
  In many ways, we're finally catching up to him. In others, though, his message, for many, is a watered-down version of what his work actually was.
  In the end, I think, King realized that poverty and militarism oppress all the poor and powerless, and that they have to be fought for all the people, in order to create the conditions to destroy racism and enshrine equality.
  King never had the chance to fully work out his evolving thoughts. It's entirely possible that he never would have. For what he was seeing, I think, in the years before he died, was that every aspect of our flawed existence touches every other, and that they must all be coaxed and prodded and forced into change.
  We are the inheritors and caretakers of civilization. Our responsibility as citizens lasts our lifetime, and follows us to our graves. Every generation must take up the responsibility and the battle. Every generation.
 I said that we would win, and we will. We will hold the line against the enemies of democracy and equality and we will drive them back. All of history proves the power of the human will to overcome. We shall.

 

A Turning Tide? Perhaps a Storm Surge

  Conor Lamb won the house election in Pennsylvania on Tuesday, though the reepubs refuse to concede.
  The GOP is continuing to act with malice and self-serving rhetoric in their histrionic tantrum to overturn majority rule.
  The Pennsy GOP is threatening to impeach the state supreme court, in order to maintain its gerrymandered districts. It has boastingly used voter suppression (in the form of 'voter I.D.') to try to sway the 2012 election. And has followed Republicans nationwide in all but openly declaring its utter contempt for the democratic process.
  There are 24 house seats keeping the Democrats from upholding both the rule of law under the constitution, and respect for our republican form of government.
  I believe that we can do it. Indeed, we must, for it looks as if the only way to get our house in order is to get our House back.

 

We'll Take It, For Now

  Tonight, Democrat Doug Jones beat Pedophile Roy Moore in the Alabama senate race. It was a close, but satisfying victory. Do not lose sight of the fact that it was so close. The Republican party is wallowing in hate, fear, and lies, and that isn't going to change any time soon.
  Our nation will soon be facing its greatest Constitutional challenge since the Civil War, as the Trump investigations tighten around him. The corrupt Republican party is attacking the investigations and doing all they can to slow the inevitable conclusion. How they react when it comes, and when Trump melts down, will decide the fate of the nation.
  Trump, alone, can not stand against the tide of justice, but, for now, he isn't alone; the GOP and its leadership are with him. I think that it is too soon to say if tonight's election results are a trend. If they are, then even the craven Republican party will eventually abandon him.
  Donald Trump cares only for himself. He will stop at nothing to prevent his own downfall. If it comes to it, he will throw his own children to the lions in order to save his own skin. It is obvious to me that the recent decision to move the American embassy to Jerusalem was calculated to distract from the Russia investigations. It is worse than that, however. I believe that the decision was calculated to increase the odds of terrorist attacks against American targets. Trump cares nothing for human life; he is a man without empathy: a sociopath; his entire career is proof of that. In Trump's mind, dead Americans are merely another tool for his own protection.
  The day will come when the president stands alone against the entire weight of American justice. And eventually, justice will triumph, as it always has. The only question is the cost. Trump already seems unstable. What will he do when finally cornered? Trump still holds the nuclear codes. What price will we have to pay?  

Crossing the Bar

    Sunset and evening star,
         And one clear call for me!
    And may there be no moaning of the bar,
         When I put out to sea,

    But such a tide as moving seems asleep,
         Too full for sound and foam,
    When that which blew out from the boundless deep
         Turns again home.

    Twilight and evening bell,
         And after that the dark!
    And may there be no sadness of farewell,
         When I embark;

    For though from out our bourne of Time and Place
         The flood may bear me far,
    I hope to see my Pilot face to face
         When I have crossed the bar.

Alfred, Lord Tennyson

For Faith, and the sadness of farewell.