The Keep Going Song (The Bengsons)

[thanks to CT for the heads-up to the amazing artist Favianna Rodriguez!]

I am a big fan of the boycott; ask my children, as over the years we have avoided Pizza Hut, Domino's, Hooter's, Chick-fil-A, Fox News, Nestle', Curves gym, etc.  We also proudly take part in the buycott, supporting companies/products that align with our values and principles.  Our family believes in voting with our wallet, and using our dollars to create change.

After much thoughtful consideration, over a month ago I decided to follow through on a hard and fast boycott of Publix, the Florida supermarket chain.  The below article provides all the details but, when I heard in late-January that Publix heiress Julie Jenkins Fancelli helped fund the bulk of former President Donald Trump's January 6 rally in Washington, D.C. that took place just before the Capitol riot, I finally decided to pull the plug on my association with them.  Of course Publix posted a non-disclaimer in that she wasn't technically an employee and therefore this had nothing to do with them, but the supermarket chain has long been known for giving money to conservative causes, most recently Ron DiSantis' re-election (2022) PAC.

Call it the proverbial straw, but I am *done* with them.  Fortunately there are many other grocery store "games" in town, among them Trader Joe's, Sprouts, Aldi, Target, Whole Foods, and Costco, most of whom deliver via Instacart.  They may not miss me, but I will definitely not miss them, and I am of the Alice's Restaurant philosophy, that segues from one person to two ("in harmony") to three ("an organization") to 50 ("they may think it's a movement").

Join me?  #boycottPublix 

‘The last straw’: the US families ending love affair with grocery chain after Capitol riot:  Families are boycotting Publix after a member of founding family donated $300,000 to the Trump rally that preceded January’s deadly Capitol attack

As is tradition, five items below of beauty, interest, and humor to brighten your day/weekend/week.  Enjoy!

~ Curbside Pickup. Bicycle Deliveries. Virtual Book Discussions. Amid Virus, Bookstores Get Creative:  “We’re going to operate like a pizza takeout place,” one independent bookstore owner said. (thanks to CT, again, for the nod to this article!)

~ Chocolate:  Some people are perfectly fine without it. My friend Ross jokes that he can go for months at a time and not even notice. I too felt like that about chocolate—that is, until the pandemic started. (by Aimee Nezhukumatathil)

~ Kate Baer Is Speaking Truth. From Her Minivan:  Who says motherhood can’t be literary, even poetic?

~ The Bengsons:  Married duo The Bengsons blend soaring vocals, frenetic rhythms and rousing all join hands choruses to create new hybrid indie rock/art/theater performances. Their Americana-influenced brand of Indie Rock has received accolades from fans and critics alike.  [I am officially obsessed with these people, after discovering their Keep Going Song a few months ago.  They have a YouTube channel, and there is a musical, too.  Wow!

~ Why I Didn’t Answer Your Email:  Because my inbox will always be waiting for me, but my children will not. (by KJ Dell’Antonia)

NR:  Infinite Country by Patricia Engel

SONG:  The Keep Going Song by The Bengsons

BOOK:  The Dandelion Insurrection:  love and revolution by Rivera Sun

POEM:  Experiment in Empathy by Ellen Bass

The scientist places each rat

in its own glass box

and for thirty seconds he plays

"What a Wonderful World."

In the last three seconds, he shocks the rat.

This is followed by ninety beats of silence.

And then the cycle begins again.

As she describes it to me

I can't help thinking

how familiar this is - one minute

Louis Armstrong singing

and the next--

some fever or wreck, some impossible mistake.

And I sit holding a spoon,

unable to lift it to my mouth, unable

to put it down.

This strain of rats descends 

from a circus in the 1800s. Their ancestors

swung in satin-ribboned trapezes

and leaped through tiny rings of fire.

Now, none of those skills can save them.

And here's the thing:

a rat who isn't shocked,

who only watches,

panics too. That is empathy.

Feeling what another creature feels.

But sometimes it's too much to ask

a person to inhabit

the strange region of a foreign heart.

Once, when I was in a glut of pain,

I said to a friend,

Just take an hour and imagine

this is happening to you.

She looked straight ahead

and said, I don't want to.

QUOTE:  “There is only one time that is important – NOW! It is the most important time because it is the only time that we have any power.” ~ Leo Tolstoy

I'm Reading a Book (Julian Smith)

Very few days of my life go by in which I do not read.  I learned at a very young age; even when it was just memorization in the early stages, I understood the power of words and that all one had to do was turn the page to continue the adventure, the escape, the inward musing.

Retirement + pandemic = lots of leisure time, not to mention that for me (although there were moments of lack of focus and loss of concentration), it has become one of my primary coping mechanisms during this self-imposed Shelter in Place the past 9 1/2 months.

For years, I have opted in to the Goodreads Challenge, choosing a-book-a-week (52-a-year) as my goal.  Some years I've gotten close, a few years I've achieved, and this year I will have almost doubled!

When I realized last week that I was at 95 I decided that, if there was ever a time to get into the triple-digits, this was it.  So I am pushing, not cheating, to make that happen.  I confess that the last five books were 200 pages or less, but still legitimate books that were on my Want to Read list/pile anyway.  This is where My Year in Books (2020) currently stands (hoping that, even if you are not on Goodreads, you can see this).  Here's/cheers to 100 books... 💖

I consciously decided to make World of Wonders: In Praise of Fireflies, Whale Sharks, and Other Astonishments by Aimee Nezhukumatathil, Fumi Nakamura (Illustrator) (a Christmas present from my dear friend Michele), my last book of 2020 (starting it tomorrow morning).

Day One all over again on January 1, with my first book of 2021, A Promised Land by Barack Obama, which I am very much looking forward to.  I carefully curate how I wish to spend my time with the written word, and already have many potential novels as well as works of non-fiction earmarked for my ongoing journey.  I am setting my goal as per my usual book-a-week, thinking positive that I will one day have a social life again, and therefore less time for reading (but I've loved every hour/minute/second of page-turning... 😍 )

NR:  She Come By It Natural: Dolly Parton and the Women Who Lived Her Songs by Sarah Smarsh

SONG:  I'm Reading a Book by Julian Smith (ignore the annoying bagpipes in the last 15 seconds!)

BOOK:  Bibliophile: An Illustrated Miscellany by Jane Mount (Illustrator)

POEM:  The Nobel Prize for Reading by Nicanor Parra

The Nobel Prize for Reading

should be awarded to me

I am the ideal reader,

I read everything I get my hands on:

I read street names

and neon signs

bathroom walls

and new price-lists

the police news,

projections for the Derby

and license plates

for a person like me

the word is something holy

members of the jury

what would I gain by lying

as a reader, I'm relentless

I read everything - I don't even skip

the classifieds

of course these days I don't read much

I simply don't have the time

But - oh man - what I have read

that's why I'm asking you to give me

the Nobel Prize for Reading

as soon as impossible

(antitranslated by Lis Werner)

QUOTE:  "My personal hobbies are reading, listening to music, and silence." ~ Edith Sitwell

Giants (Matt Maeson)

[The Wildlife Exhibit at Flamingo Gardens... :-) ]

What?  It's Thursday?  Where did Wednesday go?!?  From having a totally-decimated social calendar, my life seems to have gotten super-busy again, lots of little things that have then added up to full days.  Chiropractor appointments three times a week.  Walking with Rob three times a week.  Various online concerts, most recently Eliza Gilkyson (her 70th birthday celebration!), Friction Farm, Tracy Grammer, Grant Peeples.  Weekly Zoom calls with friends and, most recently, helping clear out Reba's apartment, as she has decided to give up her snowbird status (not ready to face this one emotionally yet).  Family park meet-ups.  Helping with Colin transportation.  

Speaking of Colin, Sarah invited me to join them at Flamingo Gardens a few Sundays ago, and we had a blast.  Sarah was able to keep him in the stroller for the first 10 minutes, and then she let him out to run around.  Who ran around?  We did!  Wish I could get an energy transfusion from that little guy.  We saw turtles/tortoises, otters (my other spirit animal, in addition to the dragonfly), butterflies, flamingos (of course!), various other birds, so many peacocks, as well as flowering plants, fruit trees, etc... plus there was an exhibit of Lego sculptures throughout the park (there until September 13).  We also went on a tram ride which was about five minutes too long for a toddler.  It was hot, so we ended the day with watermelon icees to lower our body temperatures.  We're thinking of getting season passes next year, as he'll enjoy it more the older it gets.

I am a positive person, and always try to be "for" rather than "against" policies/procedures/philosophies.  I said in a previous blog post that I was choosing not to watch even a minute of the Republican National Convention, exactly for the reason(s) Stephen Colbert states below (full monologue here).  With all this talk of the next four years, we also need to remember the years and decades after that... for our children, and our grandchildren.  Vote for your own needs and wishes for this country, but cast your ballot for the next generation.  As Michelle Obama spoke last week during the DNC:  ""If you take one thing from my words tonight, it is this: If you think things cannot possibly get worse, trust me, they can, and they will if we don't make a change in this election.  If we have any hope of ending this chaos, we have got to vote for Joe Biden like our lives depend on it."

Because they do!


SONG:  Giants by Matt Maeson (thanks to Sarah for the heads-up to this wonderful singer-songwriter who was new to me until recently.  Now I'm obsessed!).

BOOK:  Vote for Our Future! by Margaret McNamara, Micah Player (Illustrator)

POEM:  One Vote by Aimee Nezhukumatathil

After reading a letter from his mother, Harry T. Burn cast the deciding vote to ratify the 19th amendment of the U.S. Constitution

My parents are from countries
where mangoes grow wild and bold
and eagles cry the sky in arcs and dips.
America loved this bird too and made

it clutch olives and arrows. Some think
if an eaglet falls, the mother will swoop
down to catch it. It won’t. The eagle must fly
on its own accord by first testing the air-slide

over each pinfeather. Even in a letter of wind,
a mother holds so much power. After the pipping
of the egg, after the branching—an eagle is on
its own. Must make the choice on its own

no matter what its been taught. Some forget
that pound for pound, eagle feathers are stronger
than an airplane wing. And even one letter, one
vote can make the difference for every bright thing.

QUOTE:  “Now, I know by not watching the R.N.C., I didn’t do my job tonight. I just want to say, I feel great about it. Why should we pay attention to what they’re saying if none of what they’re saying tonight is about what’s happening in America right now? Why should we watch their reality show if it doesn’t reflect our reality? Why subject ourselves to their lies that stick to your soul like hot tar? Lies like ‘Donald Trump cares whether you live or die.’” ~ Stephen Colbert