Hints on how A.E. Graves spends her imaginary spare time
Author: aegoncoffee
Human female. Multi-racial, mostly vegan foodie. Science-lover. Photographer, both alt-process wet darkroom AND digital. Fluent in legalese. Use a French press with enthusiasm. Bibliophile. Cephalopodaphile. Taught swimming, trained as an architect, teach users on legal software and legal/compliance topics.
No Mud, No Lotus: The Art of Transforming Suffering by Thich Nhat Hanh published by Parallax Press, Berkeley, California 2014
I own and have read MANY books by Thich Nhat Hanh, the Vietnamese Buddhist monk and talented author of many books on Zen Buddhism. I’ve seen him speak in an auditorium here in the Bay Area. No matter how many times I hear or read him, I find great clarity and some useful insights into Buddhist philosophy. While I joined a temple of a different Buddhist sect for several years and enjoyed meditating and studying with them, I return to TNH’s work frequently.
TNH’s work helps me be more thoughtful about living in the present moment, a key concept of Buddhist study. He writes about it many different ways in different books, but the key concepts always remain the same.
This particular book emphasizes that suffering of various sorts is a part of life, and that we need to acknowledge that. This isn’t some book about faking optimism, or always looking on the bright side of life [insert Monty Python song here]: it’s about admitting that our suffering is real, but not letting it consume us. (It’s refreshing to read this, when we know people who force optimism on us for their own comfort…) Discussions of how we compound our suffering by dwelling on particular misfortunes and berating ourselves over them ring very true, and can help us manage misfortune more thoughtfully, without tearing ourselves apart.
Like many of TNH’s other books, this has the main thematic writing plus a supplement with a different structure. This time, it is a sort of workshop to help us resolve conflicts with loved ones through being present and thoughtful about emotional pain. The words seem simple, but the approach is highly thoughtful, and presenting these concepts in such a clear fashion makes them less intimidating. Just the first step – telling someone dear to you who is in conflict with you that you are really THERE for them, fully present, that they have your full attention – this rings really true to me, and I can name times when that first step alone could have de-escalated difficult personal situations.
This is another thoughtful, easy to read, problem-solving book written in a calming, reasonable tone. I’m glad I picked it up.
Native Americans would appreciate it if the U.S. acknowledged that its national Thanksgiving myth is a myth; that Wampanoag generosity was rewarded with oppression; and that the Wampanoags are STILL fighting for their own land.
I’m sharing an article from Time of the current challenges the Wampanoags face – yes, they still aren’t properly recognized and need their land rights to be respected, which needs to be addressed (hello, Biden Administration) – plus a link to the livestream from the demonstration today.
Many Wampanoag hoped that the 400th anniversary of the Mayflower landing would be a galvanizing event to remind people that they still exist
Information about the National Day of Mourning and details around this event can be found on the page for the United American Indians of New England (UAINE.org). The livestream below has many intersectional values – hello, Palestine and Black Lives Matter! – but also ensures that Native Americans speak for themselves.
Even with the current list of obstacles, the speeches have encouraging solidarity for other groups around the world who have survived colonialism, and emphasis on a need to save the planet and ensure climate justice. The video is 5 hours long, but it includes real time video scenes from the march and other demonstrations – it isn’t all speeches. The pre-recorded portion of the program starts around 2:17, and it is a collection of remote testimonials and videos from many native cultures.
(Aside: one of the speakers from Puerto Rico sent greetings at the end of his speech in the Taíno language, which Wikipedia says is extinct … I recall reading that before, but Wikipedia’s page has a video of a speaker they say is speaking Taíno, and I’m more likely to believe someone speaking it than I am a Wikipedia article based on books from outsiders. While many Google search results insist that both the language and people are extinct, this article, “What became of the Taíno?” in the Smithsonian magazine takes a broader view, and allows people who self-identify as native speak. This touches on the topic of ‘who gets to decide what you are,’ which I think of often as a mixed-race person.)
Search the world’s information, including webpages, images, videos and more. Google has many special features to help you find exactly what you’re looking for.
So, in addition to dealing with the record-breaking and dramatic U.S. elections, we still have the pandemic to cope with.
COVID-19
This month, the U.S. surpassed 2 million confirmed cases and 250,000 deaths.
It’s bad. We have something like 4% of the world’s population but more than 20% of the COVID-19 cases.
Americans are even now traveling and visiting each other for Thanksgiving, so there are very grim projections for December. Extremely grim. Something like 40% of Americans surveyed planned interstate travel for the holiday.
Some of the spread is persistent political toxicity – people recall that Republicans insisted that this GLOBAL PANDEMIC was just a hoax to make the U.S. President look bad. [eye roll] The heartbreaking story last week was of people in North Dakota denying on their literal deathbeds that COVID-19 is real, and abusing their hardworking nurses and other caregivers. (We really need to stop both-sides-ing partisanship folks. One particular side is dying of it.)
{My own circle’s COVID infection numbers are climbing VERY slowly, thankfully, and feel like they are tapering off from earlier seasons. I still have just one first degree friend who was infected (and was denied a test), but seven second degree contacts had it, and more than 8 third degree contacts… And that’s without having checked social media for a year to find out who in my wider circle has been infected.}
Vaccine Testing Progress
The good news is that the vaccine trials are going well. While the data is still being compiled, theoretically nearly all of the advanced trials are showing something over 90% efficacy, though the math seems to work differently for each of them.
I could just share the data, but why do that when I can also share an Oxford comma joke?
Pfizer vaccine: effective, protective and safeModena vaccine: effective, protective and safeOxford vaccine: effective, protective, and safe
So, there is hope that we can get treatments next year, but they won’t be 100% protective, and we don’t know how long their protective effects will last. And some asshats still think the virus is a hoax, even as they are spreading it or dying from it, so getting people to use the vaccine or any other protective measure will be a challenge.
COVID Treatment and Prevention Risks (beyond the obvious nationalist ones here)
Plus, there are new variants of COVID-19, including a strain that leapt from domestic mink to humans, which is not a thing we need right now – it’s just another front to manage when we aren’t even managing the human infections. (See this article in Scientific American about the infection that has spread to more than 200 people in Denmark.) . This is yet another time when I gripe and say that everyone who eats or wears animals is endangering all of society with their lifestyle. Yes, there is the massive environmental damage and greenhouse gases, and water consumption, and land consumption, and related pollution – all of that – BUT ALSO these animal diseases jump to humans and spread around the world, and we really wish you would stop. Swine flu global pandemics, bird flu global pandemics, COVID-19 from an animal market as a global pandemic… I’m not even going to discuss Ebola.
HUMANS – learn from these pandemics – for all of us – PLEASE.
To me, a non-expert who reads lots of news, this feels like it means: -ongoing major losses of life; -ongoing need for funding and expansion of health support needs for people who have long term side effects (and a big expansion of health services worldwide); -six months to another year of major precautions, perhaps followed by many years of less serious precautions IF we can manage long term immunity, with changes in design, ventilation, and occupancy of indoor spaces, and -lots of hard work to recover in all the ways that matter to society.
This really is a world-changing event, and managing the changes will be a big challenge for us.
How do I even write about this month? There is so much. There is too much.
The Election
The biggest event dominating my waking hours in November was the 2020 U.S. elections. So much work, so much volunteering, so many campaigns, so much at stake – including the hope of breaking the cycle of having the Republican Party find new ways to disenfranchise voters, as well as a chance to stop the country’s slide into authoritarianism.
I’m not alone in my concern about authoritarianism: the current administration and the GOP have been sliding that way for a while. This is measurable, and has been observed outside of the U.S.:
The Republican party has become dramatically more illiberal in the past two decades and now more closely resembles ruling parties in autocratic societies than its former centre-right equivalents in Europe, according to a new international study.
This also was a trend prior to this administration, and I view this administration as more of a symptom of white conservative extremism than a cause. There are some studies which have supported this view:
Since the founding of the United States, politicians and pundits have warned that partisanship is a danger to democracy. George Washington, in his Farewell Address, worried that political parties, or factions, could “allow cunning, ambitious and unprincipled men” to rise to power and subvert democracy.
Political scientists Steven V. Miller of Clemson and Nicholas T. Davis of Texas A&M have released a working paper titled “White Outgroup Intolerance and Declining Support for American Democracy.” Their study finds a correlation between white American’s intolerance, and support for authoritarian rule. In other words, when intolerant white people fear democracy may benefit marginalized people, they abandon their commitment to democracy.
—from https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/trump-effect-new-study-connects-white-american-intolerance-support-authoritarianism-ncna877886 – it’s very interesting, and worth a full read!
Add to this the fact that as projections favored the Democratic ticket, DT began screaming about fraud even before the election started, while his fans publicly planned to brandish weapons at voting locations and some even plotted to kidnap Democratic governors he had targeted, and… it really felt like I imagine Germany felt in the 1930s.
For many of us, this election wasn’t just about minor policy differences, but whether or not we will live in a democracy.
So, when the counting started and/or results trickled out on Election Day, Tuesday, November 3rd, it felt like the entire country – the center, left, and what was once the mainstream conservative population, at least – was tense and fearing violence. With pandemic ballots coming in by mail in larger numbers than in prior elections, results trickled in day by day, and it was agony for me to even hold out hope. By Saturday, November 7th, the results were clear – Biden & Harris won the White House for the Democrats – and celebrations broke out in the streets (though not close to my own sleepy/boring neighborhood).
From https://wethepeople.care/page/view-post?id=428 and various people on Twitter
Next, the courtroom dramas began, with overt announcements of an intention to throw out ballots – especially those from areas with many persons of color.
To add to the drama, the international community felt slow to offer Biden their congratulations (points to France for sending 7 November congrats!), with lots of foot-dragging from authoritarian leaders such as Putin and Xi. And the official responsible for funding presidential transitions would not do so.
Things turned another, more-final feeling corner just this week.
It has been 23 days since Joe Biden was elected the 46th President on the United States.🇺🇸Since then, Trump and his allies have lost 38 separate lawsuits and won 1.🥳 Trump hates when I tweet this, so please don’t share it.🤦♂️
Now we’re watching someone capable choose a capable cabinet, and only vaguely remember what people who are well-adjusted act like. The transition is being funded. Even autocrats are belatedly congratulating Biden.
We’re mentally processing the fact that millions of people still want authoritarian leaders. We’re processing the fact that the election was a landslide and was record-setting, but that notorious individuals in the Senate and House maintained their seats and still have the support of enough of their constituents to maintain power, which limits the options for fixing voter suppression in their regions. And that a runoff in now-blue Georgia is set for early January, and remains wildly important, so we can’t relax.
Also, NOW there are nonsensical editorials by conservatives & Republicans telling Democrats that a big victory like this should be treated like a loss, and Democrats winning means that people really want Republican policies… Also, that the same people who wore shirts that literally said “f*ck your feelings” should be treated with great sensitivity over their election loss. And that their ideas, no matter how terrible, should be seriously considered again, unlike how they approached our ideas. And that all of the corruption and law-breaking in the current administration should be forgiven, legally and politically.
I don’t know about you guys, but I don’t want to “unite” with the people who kidnap and jail children, ban Muslims, discriminate against transgender troops, and are committing criminally negligent homicide–or their supporters. I want them held accountable. That would unite us.
Accountability would be a better theme! Tolerance and forgiveness for corruption just begets more corruption.
So, this month has been exhausting. And I haven’t even gotten to discussing the pandemic…
Autumn is my favorite time of year, especially because of the warm, clear evenings…
If you look at my photo diary at mobilelene.blogspot.com, you will have already seen these, but the gallery is a bit more inclusive. These aren’t great photos, but they do celebrate the pleasure of being outdoors in gorgeous weather, while being passed by entire families in adorable costumes wandering through the park to or from Halloween gatherings…. Yes, there were dogs in costume, and no, I didn’t photograph ANYONE’S costume – I was there for the park itself.
An airline (whose initials are BA) is sending me charming promotional messages, suggesting that I book 2021 travel to Europe right away.
But… but…
2021 is just a couple months away, while a compelling treatment for the COVID-19 pandemic is likely a year or more distant, and not at all certain. Also, citizens of my COVID-leading country are not especially welcome anywhere right now; tests are hard to come by in many parts of the US, while many countries require them; and the destinations on sale are not all considered especially safe to visit at the moment, or are only open with strange restrictions that would make for an odd trip.
I LIKE the idea of travel, of course, and a lot can change in a few months to a year. But… but… I just don’t see giving them a thousand dollars or more that I’m unlikely to get back on the assumption that everything will be sorted out that soon. Not until something changes significantly for the better. I mean, even if a vaccine happened to be proven safe by the end of the year, it would take months to even GET it, and it isn’t clear the protection would last very long… So… Travel in the future, if and when I do it, will be… different.
Just a few years ago, I was traveling on business for work very regularly. It was a great experience (though costly to my personal life), and those kinds of trips wouldn’t even be POSSIBLE now. I’m glad I had that opportunity when I did: it may be a very long time before anyone can just get on a plane and go to one or two other countries to work with colleagues in person!
My photo software reminds me of this every so often, showing photos from this day in my life 1 year, 3 years, 5 years ago… I have fond memories of my colleagues and those locations. But… I wouldn’t go right now. It doesn’t make sense. I just wouldn’t.
I don’t even do my own grocery shopping regularly now: getting on a plane is just beyond my imagination at the moment.
I read yesterday that my own city and county currently has a test positivity rate of under 2%. Why leave a place that is getting it right??
Hokusai’s Landscapes, the Complete Series by Sarah E. Thompson published by MFA Publications (The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston) 2019
Hokusai was a master of block printing, and he and his collaborators produced prints that extensively influenced the art world both within Japan and throughout Europe. This gorgeously produced hardcover book reproduces his famous collections, including the views of Mt. Fuji, famous bridges, and scenic waterfalls, along with gorgeous details and text that provides context for the locations the images are based on and explanations of the work frequently being performed in the scenes.
There are works dedicated to stops along historic pilgrimage trails, references to mountain-worship, works created to illustrate or allude to famous poems, and lovely blow-ups of details.
YES, he did more than one version of his famous wave!
YES, he did more than one version of Mt. Fuji in red light!
YES, he had a hazy, impractical idea of how large logs were sawn! But he really liked drawing that, and so you have to give him points for enthusiasm. He liked showing people at work generally, not just wealthy people lounging around, but people farming, gathering clams, washing fabric, and other ordinary tasks of daily working life. Even when someone fancy is present, there is always someone behind them, carrying their stuff!
I have multiple layers of interest in Hokusai’s work. I make prints of multiple types; I use Prussian Blue for much of my work (Prussian Blue is the color of cyanotypes!) ; I create some work in a series with grandiose names (I’ve got a set of acrylic ink & paint works in development since 2015 called One Thousand Abstract Thoughts, and the name may partly be Hokusai’s fault); and I am trying to understand how to document or commemorate specific places, or at least have a better grasp of how this was done prior to documentary photography.
I hadn’t seen all of the works in this collection before, and am thrilled to have it. The waterfalls and bridges are worth it – I’d seen so few of these!
Seeing more of his work organized in this way, I also can better distinguish what I like about Hokusai from other famous Japanese printmakers. Hokusai’s work has often appeared in collections / shows with other artists, including Hiroshige, who is similarly excellent but has a different compositional approach. (Hiroshige has more works that focus on specific details up-close, rather than these broad landscape and town scenes….)
This is a lovely book for fans who want to spend more time staring deeply into these well-designed and beautifully executed prints.
Far-right racists were coming to power in Britain in the 1970s. When Clapton blurted out racist ideology, and punks seemed like they could go in a bad direction, a bunch of ordinary folks who gave a damn worked up an anti-racist punk zine, organized a network of multi-racial concerts, and functioned as the heart of a broad anti-racist movement.
This is a feel-good documentary, with stressful bits about the UK far right racists. It features performances from X-Ray Spex and the Clash!
Rock Against Racism was formed in 1976, prompted by Eric Clapton. It blends fresh interviews with archive footage to recreate a hostile environment of anti-immigrant hysteria and National Front marches.
There is always fussing within the arts community about artists contributing to mass movements, and whether or not it is effective to make art for a cause, and… it can work very well. Being a part of the solution doesn’t mean you and your group have to solve everything – movements aren’t all-or-nothing. Just being part of the solution moves things in a better direction.
I enjoyed this film, which… is still too topical, really. It is great to see examples of youth organizing of the past against all the usual villains.
…as San Francisco’s Department of Emergency Services cheerfully reminded me today via text message. 😀
The Department of Emergency Services texts me more often than my closest friends do by volume, which tells you about the kind of times we are living in.
Yes, I remember EXACTLY where I was when it occurred: near a very large, floor-to-ceiling glass wall just outside of a classroom on the main campus of City College of San Francisco. My reflection VISIBLY distorted as the glass bent. My classmates inside looked up; I made a rolling wave gesture as they started to exit the room; and then there was a POP and the power went out.
As someone who has grown up with benign earthquakes, all I could think was: “Now I don’t have to go to calculus class!”
I wasn’t used to people DYING in local earthquakes – fatalities were uncommon in our area in my lifetime. Earthquakes broke old brick walls that hadn’t properly been reinforced, but little else. And while this particular quake was long and rolling where I was standing, it didn’t feel like a big deal at the time. It took a while for the news to come in, and some of it wasn’t plausible…
Anyway: this is a public service announcement to remind you to have an earthquake kit refreshed and ready to use. Admittedly, at this point in time, this kit may also include your wildfire GO BAG, but should also contain 72 hours’ worth of food and water. And some extra masks to protect you from the pandemic and/or PM2.5 wildfire smoke particles. And two tiny women to help you soothe, summon, and manage Mothra.
Whether you’re just starting out or a preparedness pro, gathering your emergency supplies is easy. A good rule of thumb is to have supplies for about 3 days, or 72 hours. You’ll be surprised at how much you already have.
