Loosely Speaking

By Ciel - About Me - E-mail this page - Add to My Favorites - Add to Blog List - See other blogs in Everything Else

Sunday, November 20, 2022

It's not the karaoke.

Last night there was another reckless, hate-inspired shooting at a nightclub here in the Springs. Five were killed, 18 injured, and the shooter was apprehended alive. People in the club subdued the shooter themselves before the police arrived. The club is a very popular venue for a wide community including the LGBQT folks, but also for many others, many theater people especially. It's a karaoke, dance, socializing club, too, that puts on shows and live-dj dancing on weekends. But of course,... Sign in to see full entry.

Tuesday, November 15, 2022

Anticipation, Colorado Edition

Sitting warm enough at my window, watching through the weeks, the leaves all turning, dying, flying-- Autumn draining of its color, of its spicy scents and all its memories of Summer... Winter churns and blows not so distantly it blusters up among the peaks, breathes out across the plains, all flurrying and hurrying to reclaim the air, the land, the bleak it seeks to hide beneath the shimmering romance of snow, the lovely shine and treachery of ice. I will delight in snow dancing in the air,... Sign in to see full entry.

Monday, November 14, 2022

Don't say "Yes."

The phone rang just after 6 this morning. Who would call at such an hour, except for an emergency? I answered... after some delay, a cheery voice was asking me about my Medicare arrangements. She asked, "Can you hear me all right?" This is a scam signal, a warning, a Red Flag! They want you to say "Yes" and then they will isolate that simple sound and plug it in to make it seem as if you are agreeing to some kind of deal, or giving permission for something. Never say "Yes" on a stranger-call,... Sign in to see full entry.

Saturday, November 12, 2022

Breathing easier...

Most of the numbers are in now, and it feels like a great storm that was expected has passed, and was less damaging than I feared it would be. That's from my point of view, of course: I have no illusions about America being less passionately polarized than it was a week ago. There still is a great deal of work to do, confrontations to be faced, challenges to be responded to, before any real balance is achieved in this fractured society. I stand by my contention that the key lies in education,... Sign in to see full entry.

Wednesday, November 9, 2022

Election Day-After

Mostly, its over. It's like pregnancy, though: when pregnancy ends, it's not really the end, it's the next beginning. Colorado did well from a blue perspective, and that's a relief for me and most of the people I know and respect here. And it's a relief that the great Red Wave turned out to be more of a ripple than a tide. The country is still, from where I'm looking, pretty profoundly benighted and deluded. But Pennsylvania gives me hope. And counting still continues in some very close senate... Sign in to see full entry.

Tuesday, November 8, 2022

Election Day angst

The day is finally upon us... and just about everyone--everyone who gives a damn about this country, its governance, its politics--has been in a stew-pot the past year, and it has been cooking down this past month, thickening and intensifying. No matter who wins or loses, a great proportion of this country's population will be living in dread and despair. We just don't know yet which side it will be. Thank our communities' own inherent volatility, but also the foreign 'trolls' that have fed and... Sign in to see full entry.

Monday, October 31, 2022

I love history!

an academic definition of History: J ust one damn thing after another! Sign in to see full entry.

Sunday, October 30, 2022

VOTE!

Yesterday Charlie and I sat down with ballots and the voter's pamphlet, and claimed our privilege as citizens to vote. It took around 40 minutes to read through all the fine print, discuss, decide, and fill in the little ovals. It's a long, two-page ballot this year with a lot of local and state issues as well as all the judges at state and county levels who basically are not running against opponents, but against their own records. If you vote no, do not retain, you are voting to fire them. And... Sign in to see full entry.

Sunday, October 23, 2022

Long but worthwhile reading:

Why Are Finland's Schools Successful? | Innovation| Smithsonian Magazine The root problem in American education comes from the fact that Americans don't actually much like children. It's a nation so young compared to one like Finland, that the relationship of authority towards children is more like older sibling/adolescent to younger child than parent/adult to child. Underneath the surface where, at the privileged end of the spectrum children are spoiled with stuff and managed by 'helicopter'... Sign in to see full entry.

Saturday, October 15, 2022

The costs of forgetfulness

Roasted potatoes today... not intentionally! I found them in the veg drawer in the fridge, hiding under other things and forgotten: a small bag of small gold potatoes, and all still gold, no green to be seen. So with all good intent, I washed them and put them in the bamboo steamer basket over a wok half filled with water, put them on 'high' to steam. Then I left the room and sat down in front of the tv and laptop. Had I remembered them only a few minutes later, the bamboo steamer would have... Sign in to see full entry.

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