Author: Ann

Keys of His Success

On By AnnIn Healing, Music and pianosLeave a comment

Emerson Talkington opens the lid on the grand piano and settles on the bench. His hands spread across the keys and exquisite music rises from the strings. From Chopin to Brahms to Rachmaninoff, he plays as if the piano is part of him. Days away from his college graduation, he’s on target to achieve a goal he’s dreamed about for years. From an unlikely and late start, Emerson has cleared more hurdles in the last decade than many people face in their entire lives.

Since the first commencement in June 1889, Southwestern College (SC) has held graduation exercises each spring. This year’s event is planned for May 4 at 2:30 in the Richard L. Jantz Stadium. As he receives his diploma for a Bachelor of Arts in Music that day, Emerson will join hundreds of alumni since that 1889 ceremony with degrees in Music. This year, he has the distinction to be the only music major. “And,” he says, “I’m the last one.”

Born in Winfield in 2002, he attended the local schools, graduating from Winfield High School with the class of 2020, in the Year of Covid. His love for piano began when he was a student at Winfield Middle School. The vocal music classroom housed a Mason & Hamlin grand piano donated from the estate of legendary pianist and teacher E. Marie Burdette. Emerson became fascinated with that piano and lingered after school most days in hopes of a chance to play it. His innate ability coupled with YouTube tutorial videos allowed him to pick out melodies by ear and the school’s music faculty encouraged him as his love for piano flourished.

Paige Camp, the vocal teacher at the time, says, “It seems like yesterday that he was a student in middle-level choir.  He spent many days after school in the music hall, tinkering with the piano.  I nicknamed him ‘Cling-on’ as he was usually there until we had to lock up for the day.”

Allen Dilley, band teacher, accompanist for the middle school choirs, and accomplished pianist himself, often used the Burdette piano after school for practicing. “Dr. Dilley introduced me to piano technique and music theory,” Emerson says.

“I first met Emerson in the vocal music room at WMS,” Dilley says. “Classes had concluded for the day and I recall practicing Chopin’s Scherzo in Bb minor—a challenging composition. A few days later Emerson was in the room playing excerpts from the same piece, albeit without having ever seen the music. I suggested that as he began his keyboard journey, he might want to start with something a little less intimidating.”

From the middle school choir, he went on to the WHS choir where he found another friend and mentor in accompanist Billy Bearden. Lacking the Burdette grand piano he’d enjoyed at the middle school, Emerson found a small console piano in a storeroom to tinker with. He often sought out Bearden for tips on piano performance.

It was during his senior year in high school that he encountered a huge obstacle in his path—he had cancer. Bearden shares, “[After] the diagnosis . . . there’s a moment for Emerson (or maybe a thousand of them) where it feels that the universe is playing a cruel joke.” However, Bearden notes that there’s a “miracle in the mundane: he keeps playing.  Even when his physical pain makes it hard to sit up.  Even when he’s told music is a waste of time, and when all he can hear in his head is how he started too late and he’s not good enough—Emerson keeps playing.”

Emerson tapped local jazz pianist and renowned performing artist Scott Williams as his first official private piano teacher. Williams says, “I began teaching Emerson between his sophomore and junior years of high school. This is later than most people start learning the piano, but I sensed right away how serious he was. He progressed quickly, and soon sounded like he had been playing much longer. It wasn’t that long before he started getting hired as a pianist.”

With the private lessons, his early mentors noticed his growing skill with jazz. Dilley notes, “His knowledge of chords and harmony and the ability to apply them to existing melodies is excellent. He showed me how to turn a well-known hymn into a “blues” piece!” The student turned into a teacher.

Paige Camp worked with him through high school. “He joined the high school jazz band, and later the symphonic band.  There were hours of rehearsal and many performances. . . But despite the cancer diagnosis, he kept a very dry sense of humor about it all.  And he kept playing the piano.”

Through the cancer and Covid chaos, he never quit playing. It was clear to him that music, through pianos, was his life’s calling and he embraced it with his whole heart. After he graduated from WHS, he enrolled with a scholarship in Cowley College as a music major. His first experience working with Cowley piano instructor Steve Butler was when he was a high school senior. He was asked to fill in as accompanist when Butler took over conducting the Cowley Singers at a concert. “I had a couple weeks to prepare, but I was still nervous,” Emerson recalls. Since that debut audition, he has performed many times for Butler, including as a duet partner. “Playing duets with Steve brought out my best,” Emerson says.

Pastor at Hackney Baptist church as well as music instructor at Cowley College, Butler considers Emerson a good friend and has been pleased to recommend him when people ask for a keyboard artist.

During the semesters at Cowley, Emerson also became the proud owner of that E. Marie Burdette Mason & Hamlin grand piano. Covid prompted staff changes at USD 465, and the new music staff members were willing to transfer the custody and maintenance of that gem of a piano to the school alumnus who had fallen in love with music through it. Emerson kept playing on the original mesmerizing instrument.

He transferred to Southwestern College as a music major with a piano performance emphasis but soon after he enrolled, Southwestern announced it was terminating its music degree program. To its credit, the college committed to completing the degrees of the majors that were currently enrolled and Emerson persevered.

Cancer struck again with a vengeance later that same fall, and delayed his coursework while he battled the relapse at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas. Fellow cancer survivor and associate professor of music at Southwestern College Jeremy Kirk said, “Living through chemo as he did—twice—influences your tenacity. You have to be tenacious. There’s a feeling that: If I can do this, there’s nothing I can’t do.”

Returning months later with his cancer in remission, Emerson picked up where he’d left off, married Rosalyn, the love of his life, and with support from the music faculty and the college administration, he continued his pursuit of a Bachelor of Arts in Music. His grit and determination impressed the staff at Southwestern to the point where the instructors were as determined as Emerson to fulfill his goal.

Professor Kirk shares his insights. “Emerson possesses first rate music talent and he seeks opportunities for growth as a musician outside his comfort zone.” As a student in Kirk’s World Music class, he joined the performing ensemble and traveled to Hawaii with the group in December 2022. He participated in the jazz and pep bands at SC, served as librarian for the South Kansas Symphony, took private organ lessons from James Leland, and even helped Leland with the day-to-day maintenance of the pipe organ in Richardson Performing Arts Center. He completed his coursework mostly through online classes and independent studies, but he never gave up and never quit playing.

In addition to a bustling student schedule, Emerson supported himself through the years with a variety of outside jobs. His interest in automobile mechanics secured him a job as a manager at O’Reilly’s for a while. He also worked in fast food places, installed signs for Cardinal Signs, did custodial work, served as the accompanist at area churches including a couple years as organist at Winfield’s First Presbyterian Church, and as the accompanist at Ark City Middle School for the last four years. He also has a few piano students of his own.

Leland says, “I have unparalleled appreciation for the noble and realistic way he worked through college. He is conscientious about finishing any work he starts.”

Emerson has triumphed through all the challenges the universe threw at him. Bearden, his accompanist pal during high school, says, “It wasn’t triumph in any grandiose sense—no concerts or sudden label deals—but it was something better: a private rebellion, a refusal to quit.  Each day he chose the small and seemingly insignificant choice to create beauty in a world that kept offering pain.”

And he became more than just a student. “He became an artist,” Bearden says.

With graduation approaching, he prepares to launch into his next chapter of life. Emerson will join fellow SC music alumni Butler (1997) and Bearden (2005) as well as hundreds of musicians with roots at Southwestern College who became dedicated schoolteachers in small towns and cities across the nation, performed with respected symphonies, taught in colleges and universities, or worked as church musicians and composers.

For the immediate future, he plans to travel this summer, to embrace as much of life’s opportunities as possible. “I want to travel while I can. I might not make it through a third cancer occurrence.”

When he is home, Emerson plans a public performance where he will share his spark for life. Details will be announced later. He plans to expand his studio to offer more private lessons, and hopes to teach music at an area school. He is interested in piano technology and wants to eventually rebuild the Mason & Hamlin piano that opened the world of music to him.

Kirk feels certain that Emerson will have success with whatever he chooses to pursue because of the qualities of his personality. What are those qualities? According to those who know him well he is flexible, humble, inquisitive, compassionate, and kind. With a gentle nature, he is always there to help a friend—a good recipe for success in any situation.

For now, each of his instructors feels what Steve Butler expresses, “To have played a small part in his musical and spiritual growth gives me great joy!” His hometown and expanded community join the instructors to wish him the best as he graduates with his coveted BA degree in music, with an emphasis in piano performance.

 

A Book You Should Read

On By AnnIn books, Earth careLeave a comment

Becoming Earth: How Our Planet Came to Life by Ferris Jabr

I read about this book in Sierra but postponed ordering a copy for several months. When it arrived, I decided I must read it before the sun set on Earth Day this year. I was captivated at the dedication page. Jabr wrote a poem for the myriad parts of our planet’s system that brought tears to my eyes. He concluded, “For our living planet. For our miracle. For Earth.” Each section and chapter ended with equally beautiful poetic summaries.

Becoming Earth is a journey with an excellent tour guide. From a subterranean lab a mile and a half below Earth’s surface, to Brazil’s Amazon Tall Tower Observatory (ATTO) 1066 feet above the Amazon’s canopy, from Siberia’s Pleistocene Park to massive kelp forests off the coast of California, Jabr guides his readers on a tour of the planet through its 4.5-billion-year history to the present day. He examines life forms deep underground to bacteria and bits of organic matter high in the atmosphere which provide core particles for ice crystals and cloud formation.

With a survey of scientific data accumulated in the last few decades, from various fields in the relatively new discipline of Earth system science (ESS), he describes how our home planet is one vast living system. We humans are but one small part of it.

Notable points include the concept that even Earth’s variety of minerals is unique in the known cosmos, dependent as much on the existence of life as living things depend on the chemical composition of the planet. “The chance of two planets having an identical set of mineral species is one in ten to the 322nd power. Given that there are only an estimated ten to the 25th power Earthlike planets in the cosmos, there is almost certainly no other planet [like ours.]”

We inhabit a truly unique “pale, blue dot” in the universe, where life existing deep underground has helped create the land on which the rest of us depend.

Jabr makes the point that humans have altered Earth’s surface and climate since they appeared, but that our species is not the only one which acts to alter its environment. We could learn from pre-historic events. In examining the geologic history of life on the planet, Jabr also compares our current situation to impacts of other species. “Like so many animals before us—from termites to four-ton ground sloths—humans have radically altered Earth’s crust and soils.”

Chapters cover agricultural innovations from the plow to fertilizer and other chemical additives. When we expose soil to the weather, it degrades much faster than soil can be created. “Our living planet typically requires centuries to create a single inch of fertile topsoil.”

The plastic revolution has polluted our oceans to the point where there will soon be more plastic in the seas than there is life. Spewing chemicals, especially extra carbon dioxide and methane into our air has impacted everything, acidifying the oceans, and warming the planet faster than Earth has ever before experienced.

“It has never been more important,” Jabr writes, “to reject the idea that we are masters of the planet, while simultaneously accepting our outsized influence; to recognize that we and all living creatures are members of the same garden. . . humans have a long history of trying to harness and subjugate other species. . .Breaking that cycle has never been more urgent.”

While explaining the severity of our current crisis, Jabr also emphasizes that humans have capabilities that can mitigate the worst of the consequences. If only we would. We can’t afford to wait. The time is now.

In Becoming Earth, we read about life in the most unexpected places. Literally every place on Earth is home to some form of life, whether infinitesimally small, or complex larger species such as trees, and mammals. Though science has typically considered the origin of life as something that happened on Earth, “the two cannot be separated. . .Life is Earth. Our living Earth is the miracle.” The only way for us to survive is together, with all the other life forms that share our planet.

One chapter examines the history of fire on the planet. For millions of years, conditions prevented fires since three things are necessary for a fire to burn: heat, oxygen, and fuel. It took much of Earth’s pre-history for life forms to accumulate enough organic matter that would burn, (fuel) as well as form enough free oxygen in the atmosphere that would allow a flame to burn. Life processes (photosynthesis) created that oxygen, and until the atmosphere held enough of it, fires simply wouldn’t burn. Since that time, fires have become essential for maintaining various systems on the surface.

Life also impacted the carbon cycle. Through respiration, oxygen combines with carbon to form carbon dioxide. Burning fossil fuels adds the greenhouse gas to the atmosphere faster than at any other time in Earth’s history. There have been periods in the past when the surface temperatures were much warmer, when trillions of tons of carbon were released into the atmosphere. This happened over thousands of years, however. “Humanity is releasing a comparable amount in just a few hundred years. . .throughout the greater part of Earth’s 4.5-billion-year history, this much carbon has never been released to the atmosphere this quickly.”

We are in uncharted territory. Nobody really knows what the consequences will be, but they most certainly will change the planet in ways we would not recognize. “If humanity does not drastically cut greenhouse gas emissions, Earth will become a planet incapable of supporting the world as we have known it: the world that our species evolved in.”

As the world’s premier scientists have been telling us for decades, we are living in an escalating planetary emergency that is of our own making. “Without the necessary interventions, the planet will become inhospitable. . . to countless forms of complex life.” Jabr reminds us, though, that we are capable of preserving Earth, “the one living planet we have and the only one we’ve ever found.”

Each of us has a relationship with Earth, through our metabolic processes. Each of us is playing a duet with the planet. May our tunes all be hymns of joy.

Earth Day 55

On By AnnIn Activism, books, Earth careLeave a comment
Sharing my respect and appreciation for our home planet, a truly unique gem in the cosmos that sustains all living things. Today is Earth Day #55, and we stand on a more precarious precipice than before with a hostile leadership that chooses to ignore the warning signs of impending disaster. What kind of creature will take energy and sustenance that Earth provides free to all, and turn it all into a profit-making venture, future be damned? I think we stand alone in that category. Mine may be the first generation who fully recognizes the peril we face and the last generation with the window available to do something to prevent the worst climate disasters.
What are you doing to honor Earth? I’m leading a group (We the People of Cowley County) to fold as many origami fish as we can to share with Wisconsin Sierra Club in a unique protest against Enbridge Line 5 pipeline that endangers the Great Lakes and its human and wild inhabitants.
I’m reading a book (Becoming Earth–How Our Planet Came to Life by Ferris Jabr) with growing amazement at his research results and the growth of knowledge in my field of geology since I earned my diploma. (Stay tuned for a book report.) I highly recommend this book to all.
I’m taking steps to reduce my own and my family group’s consumption of fossil fuel energy in favor of the energy provided by our sun and Earth’s systems.
Please share the things you are doing in the comments. Thank you!

To Dine with Purpose: For the Earth

On By AnnIn Activism, Earth care, Prairie talesLeave a comment

The devastating storm system that tore through a dozen states in mid-March wreaked havoc in all of them. Over a hundred tornadoes ripped through communities from Louisiana to Illinois, east to the Atlantic coast. The funnels destroyed hundreds of homes and left over 24 people dead. In northwest Kansas, the system’s unprecedented straight-line winds of 50 to 60 mph with gusts over 70 mph blew in a dust cloud that engulfed Interstate 70. Over fifty drivers lost sight of the highway and plowed into other cars and semi-trucks in front of them. Eight fatalities resulted from the largest pile-up of automobiles in decades. The highway remained closed for days.

None of this should come as a surprise. Shock, maybe, but no surprise. We’ve known for decades that our actions stress the living veneer on our miraculous home planet, Earth. Yet we meet steeper resistance to action with each passing day. If the unprecedented storms across our country aren’t enough to shake sense into our leaders, what will be?

I fell in love with nature years ago and my devotion to wilderness, landforms and wildlife led me to share our growing predicament many times since Earth Day #1 in 1970. As a public high school student enrolled in Earth Science class at the time, I proudly sported my green armband through all the activities of that day. Since then, after earning a bachelor of science degree in geology, I’ve helped with Earth Day exhibits at our local park, highway cleanups, recycling efforts, care packages for extended family featuring Earth-friendly products for daily life, helped my own students with environmental projects, wrapped trees with green ribbons (and later removed them for the trees’ sake), planned and orchestrated a series of environmental film screenings at our local theater, and connected the dots with 350.org in the crazy weather of 2012. It became obvious that our amazing planet deserves attention not just one day each year, but every day. As indigenous leaders on every continent teach us, the Earth does not belong to humans. Rather we belong to the Earth. We ignore the warning signs at our own peril.

I continue efforts to educate others. Several weeks ago, I came across a link to an article titled “These 15 Foods Could Disappear Due to Climate Change.” (https://worth.com/15-foods-disappear-due-to-climate-change/) The probable impact of climate disruption on familiar foods was shocking. If only people knew, I thought. The list gave me an idea: I could promote local gatherings that served many of the foods on the list. To kick it off, I invited a diverse group of friends for a “Dinner with Purpose: For the Earth.” I set up a buffet with information cards about each food item and how the Earth’s delectable gifts may become rare for our grandkids. The menu included chocolate candy appetizers, taco salad with all the trimmings, scalloped potatoes, with mixed fruit salad and blueberry muffins for dessert. Drinks included fresh squeezed limeades, coffee, and wine. In all we enjoyed 14 of the 15 listed items from the list of disappearing foods.

The dinner was a hit and I consider the evening a two-fold success. The information cards spurred good conversations about climate disruption and its consequences, and we all enjoyed ourselves at the same time—an act of total resistance under an administration that wants us to cower in fear and apprehension.

Several in attendance expressed their intention to hold an Earth dinner themselves, a delicious way to spread the word. Perhaps you’d like to join the fun and host a dinner for your family and friends. April 22 is the 55th anniversary of Earth Day #1, but any day will serve to honor and celebrate the generosity of our home planet and remind ourselves what is at stake.

Guests discuss information about the food items at risk.

Another Broken Treaty

On By AnnIn Activism, Author friends, Earth care, Eldering, social justiceLeave a comment
Painting by Ardith Fell

Last fall I met Haskell Indian Nations University professor Daniel Wildcat at the Kansas Book Fair in Topeka. He spoke about his recent book On Indigenuity: Learning the Lessons of Mother Earth (2023 Fulcrum Publishing). Robin Wall Kimmerer calls the book “a compelling framework to rethink the role of the western worldview . . .” His presentation proved compelling as well. I left with a deep sense of gratitude for indigenous leadership in these trying times, and an autographed copy of his book.

That was before the 2024 election reduced our hope for a viable future on this planet to warm ashes. One of the latest hits to our collective understanding of America was the firing of 30% of Haskell’s staff on Valentine’s Day this year. Students were left mid-semester without mentors and instructors. Banned faculty evidently faced arrest should they set foot on campus to teach, even at no compensation. Volunteers require federal approval.

Friends in Lawrence tell me that Haskell is one of two schools the government supports through treaties to provide higher education to Native Americans. The other is Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institution. Both schools had significant cuts enacted on Valentine’s Day.

Another treaty with the Indians, broken like many before.

Do we care?

As Daniel writes in his book, “. . . not caring is too lonely a space to occupy.” He exhorts us in an opening poem to “Stand up. For those whose voices are silenced . . . Stand up. With those who fight for justice unmoved by fear and moved by love.”

As he autographed the book I had purchased, I asked how to express gratitude in his native language. Smiling, he coached me.

Thus: For the long-suffering spirit of resilience that never gives up; for the leadership in treating our home planet with the reverence it deserves; for the quick willingness to forgive us European settlers eons of arrogant thoughtlessness—

Sonjae Keriocitae.

(my attempt at phonetic spelling of the Yuchee/Creek expression for “Thank you.” Any inaccuracies belong to me, the student, not to Prof. Wildcat.)

Let us stand up for the Native Americans and others now, as the rogue government rips uncaring through our communities.

Painting by Ardith Fell

Virtual Town Hall with no Senator Present

On By AnnIn ActivismLeave a comment

On Saturday, February 22, a couple of concerned Kansas citizens hosted a virtual Town Hall with Senator Jerry Moran invited. Over 500 people from every Kansas district attended on Zoom or watched the live YouTube video, but Senator Moran wasn’t one of them. Instead, his spot was an empty chair with his photo and nametag on it. That didn’t stop people from sharing deep concerns about the direction our country has taken since the January inauguration. The 30-some selected speakers shared words spoken with “deep and genuine emotion.”  One person called the collected statements a “perfect pot luck—each statement brings a unique flavor . . . a perfect cross section of concerns.” For over two hours a constant stream of comments from the listeners showed how well the messages resonated with those in attendance. Here’s a sampling:

“The viability of the [US] Constitution is at risk.” “We’re all at a crossroads of peril like never before.” “I cannot believe that MAGA has stooped SO low that people need to be educated about the most fundamental LAWS of this democracy.” “It’s so disheartening to see how low we’ve gone as a country.” “I’m concerned about my private information. What are you going to do to stop this theft, Senator?”

“We are imploring you to act. Musk needs to go, Trump needs to be reined in. He is not a king.” “Retired barely 3 years, I fear for my future. I worry about my young grandchildren and the world they face.” “We are falling into fascism, the time is now, Senator Moran, save this country, we elected you to speak for us.”

“This is ridiculous for us to need to speak up to ask our representatives to follow the constitution!” “Thank you for pointing out the lack of transparency and the insanity of having to plead that our congressional representatives do their job and represent all Kansans.” “Senator Moran—and while we’re at it Senator Marshall—DO YOUR JOB!”

“And we are a country that is supposed be based on law.” “Agree with the concern that the administration is acting illegally – above the law. Without the rule of law none of us are safe.” “Honor your oath, Senator.” “[You] swore to protect the Constitution from even ‘domestic’ opponents.” “Shame on you, Senator Moran!” “Yes, remember your oath, Sen Moran!” “WHY do we have to beg you to honor your oath?”

“Who do you serve, Sen Moran? Your constituents? Or the billionaires running the show now???” “Checks and Balances! Where are you, Sen Moran, and the rest of Congress?” “Where are you and when are you going to step up and stand up to the Trump regime?” “Mr. Moran, why did you not accept the invitation to attend this event?” “​​WHO DO YOU SERVE, Sen Moran???” “Mr. Moran, do you only want to hear from those that agree with you? You are a REPRESENTATIVE of all citizens, not only the ones that agree with you.”

“Senator Moran, are you listening?” “How is it possible that we are having to beg our senator to do the right thing?” “Where are you, Senator Moran? We want answers!!!” “Why do we have to beg to keep the programs that are necessary in order to fund tax cuts that benefit the obscenely rich?” “WHO DO YOU SERVE, Sen Moran???” “We should not have to beg for representation. It’s a terrible time.”

“We need and expect you, Senator, to represent the people of Kansas. We need you to stand up to the current administration.” “This is emotional because we can see it slipping away. Please, Senator Moran, help us save democracy and what we were founded on.” “I have lived under martial law (South Africa), dictatorship (Portugal) and a Marxist government (Mozambique). I’m a US citizen and I deeply value our democracy — help us keep it, Senator!” “It’s unconscionable that we are literally fighting to keep our great country and our democracy intact. In just 4 weeks, the foundations of our government have been so damaged.” “Senator Moran why must we beg you to do your job?”

From a voter on a first-name basis with the senator, “Please Jerry….Listen. Listen. Listen with your heart.”

Interested citizens can watch the recorded meeting at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFMCDDooC1U

Rise Up and Ride

On By AnnIn In the Shadow of the Wind, Just for Today, Nature, Prairie talesLeave a comment

Never, no never, did nature say one thing and wisdom say another.  (Edmund Burke)

Heading to Wichita years ago for a Sunday dinner with my husband’s parents, a stiff breeze buffeted our car.

“Look out for that bird!” I yelled. “Why do they do that?”

“Do what?” Craig asked from the driver’s seat.

“Fly at the car. You know, when we’re driving along, it seems like most of the birds sitting on the roadside wait until we’re almost there and then jump into our path. Haven’t you noticed? That last one was a close call.”

“You’ve heard of bird brains, haven’t you?”

“Very funny. Well then, why don’t half of them fly the other way? No wonder so many birds get hit by cars.”

“There’s another reason.”

“What’s that?”

“The wind. It depends what direction the wind is blowing. Watch. There are a couple of meadowlarks up on the crest of the next hill. They will jump into the wind—right at us—to get airborne.”

I studied the larks as we approached. Sure enough, just before we achieved the crest, they each leapt directly into the path of our car. They swerved sharply and fluttered to the north, over a dormant winter pasture.

“Why not just fly away from the car to begin with?”

“They get lift a lot faster if they jump into the wind,” he said.

“Really? You mean they couldn’t fly if they didn’t meet the wind head-on?”

“Pretty much. It probably depends on wind velocity. I think if the wind isn’t too strong, they could take off with a breeze, but it would take more effort to get airborne going with the wind. You see how they turn and go with the wind once they get in the air?”

We watched another pair of meadowlarks follow the same pattern.

“They know they can get up faster heading into the wind, and if the wind is too strong they won’t get lift unless they face into it,” he said.

~~

Since the inauguration of #47, I have felt like one of those larks. A barrage of insane and appalling executive orders sweeps from the White House with category 5 hurricane force, devastating every state in the union regardless of geographic location or political leaning. I don’t know how to begin to resist the devastation, or even to absorb all the news. You may feel the same way. But unless we get out there to face the onslaught and jump headlong into the gale force winds, we’re sunk. In whatever way each of us can manage, we need to launch against the wind of insanity and rise above it to soar toward a better future. Don’t run. Don’t hide. Don’t ignore the news. Instead, rise up and ride on the wings of the wind. It will make a difference for our future.

Wisdom of Geese

On By AnnIn Activism, Eldering, Just for Today, Nature1 Comment

I’ve been trying to figure out what the first step in resistance to tyranny should look like in my life.(Timothy Snyder–“Do not obey in advance.”)

I think perhaps it’s simple: just keep on keepin’ on. I will attempt to do what I do, to be who I am called to be, to stand for my values and ethics through every avenue available to me, as long as I am able.

That step was confirmed by the geese I watched this morning. On my daily route across the pasture, a flock of Canadian geese swept into the sky from their morning pursuit of gleaning seeds from a field across the road. The immediate and overwhelming cacophony stopped me in my tracks. Something had spooked the winged crowd and they all took flight. The racket drowned out even highway noise. They circled for a few minutes, settled quietly down again, and returned to being the geese they were called to be. Kept on. Flew on. Settled down, and returned to their geesehood pursuits.

 

Yes. That’s it. “Do not obey in advance.” Doesn’t mean to ignore stimuli (bad news, calls to action), but do not let it take over my life either. Keep on keepin’ on.

 

As Edmund Burke said, “Never, no never, did Nature say one thing and Wisdom say another.”

 

Winter Petunias

On By AnnIn Activism, Eldering, NatureLeave a comment

A petunia seed sprouted in a large container on my deck late in the summer, and I brought it inside before frost. It is companion to a succulent that would not last the winter, sharing the same pot. Since then, this petunia put out quite a few blossoms, even though it’s wintertime.

It longs to be outside in warm summer sunshine.

But it wouldn’t last long in the snow! So it just looks out the window, daydreaming about what life would bring in a different time.

May we all be like Miss Petunia–longing for better times, but putting out our blooms anyway. We will need to be as resilient in the coming days, taking what comes our way, and doing our best with it.

Bloom anyway.

The Resistance Begins

On By AnnIn Activism, elections, social justiceLeave a comment
“I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. This is why right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant.”                    MLK

In the approach to January 20 and the changing of the powers in our country’s capital, I’ve read that it’s important to be absent from those events on mainstream media.

Don’t even think about tuning in to watch on television. Keep your distance for a week. Or longer.

I will cling to sanity in the face of the chaos that is sure to come.

I plan to check in with trusted commentators through Substack and/or Bluesky such as Robert Hubbell (Today’s Edition Newsletter), Joyce Vance (Civil Discourse), and Heather Cox Richardson (Letters From an American). Jessica Craven (Chop Wood Carry Water) tries to share good news on her substack, as well as simple things we can do to make a difference. We can all use some of that.

Robert Hubbell dispensed this advice about the coming week: “First, don’t collapse the future into the present moment. The future comes at us one day at a time.”

“Second, maintain ’emotional distance’ from bad news. Recognize that you can’t control most of what Trump says or does. Given that fact, recognize that unchanneled anxiety and fear will not change the outcome. Focus on what you can do to change, impede, obstruct, or reverse policies we oppose.”

As I distance myself from the absurd news of January 20, I note that others have recommended that we all delete our Twitter (X) accounts that day, in resistance to the “Mump Regime” (Timothy Snyder’s term for Musk/Trump). That one is easy for me since I never had a Twitter account. Now I’m considering what to do about Facebook and Amazon.

I have already signed up for Bluesky as @prarywren55. Consider checking out that venue for social media. If you are on Bluesky, consider following me. I’m stumbling along. At my age, this whole social media thing is rather mysterious and incomprehensible. But in resistance against billionaire acquiescence to the returning chaos that Donald Trump brings, I plan to limit my Facebook appearances and try to figure out how to effectively use Bluesky. If you have tips for this old lady, I’d be glad to know them.

At one point in the last few months, when we eagerly anticipated the election of Kamala Harris, I endorsed a notion brought out by someone that on January 20, 2025, this year’s observance of Martin Luther King, Jr’s Day, our country’s first Black woman president would take her oath of office on Abraham Lincoln’s Bible, administered by our country’s first Black woman Supreme Court Justice.

Well, that isn’t happening. In another universe, it would have been grand.

So, it’s time to mourn that lost dream. In no way will I tune into the installation of a facist president. Instead, what can I do?

I might look up and read one–or several–of MLK’s sermons or speeches. https://crossculturalsolidarity.com/mlk-speeches-sermons-essays/

I might read a section from the biography of John Lewis: Walking With the Wind: A Memoir of the Movement 

I might review Amanda Gorman’s amazing poem from Joe Biden’s inauguration: “The Hill We Climb.” Or another of her awesome wordsmithing such as anything from her book Call Us What We Carry.  Or the recent poem “New Day’s Lyric,” which ends with the sentiment:

“Know what we’ve fought
Need not be forgot nor for none.
It defines us, binds us as one,
Come over, join this day just begun.
For wherever we come together,
We will forever overcome.”

–Amanda Gorman

For the few days following January 20, 2025, I will resist tuning into all the bad news. I will strive to support the recovery efforts of the horrific fires in California. I will honor my neighbors, of all hues and backgrounds. I will look for and celebrate the beauty of our natural world, and try to share some of it to help lift your spirits. Moment by moment. Day by day. We’ll get through this together.