Eliza Daley ~ Wordcraft & Musing on Home & Hope
Political cartoon by Dr Seuss, signed as such. (Copyright Marshall Field 1942, The Newspaper PM) This week white America finally noticed the disturbing racism of Theodor Geisel. I submit that it’s not merely the appalling cartoons he made for adult audiences, but the complete lack of any human skin tone other than white in all… Continue reading Whiteness
Today is Town Meeting day in Vermont. For the uninitiated, this is the day when Vermonters pack themselves into school gyms and various meeting halls to vote on town governance for the upcoming year. Officials are elected. Laws are debated and passed. Budgets are assigned. If there are complaints or disturbances, these are given voice… Continue reading Of the People in Vermont (now with more goats)
March is upon us once again. An Old English name for March was Hlyda, meaning “loud”, presumably referring to the roaring March winds. This name survived as Lide in the West countries. Eat leeks in Lide and ramsons in May, And all the year after physicians may play. — proverb from western England Ducks wan't… Continue reading Lion and Lamb
She was fourteen. She’d spent the last eighteen months rocketing from childhood to adolescence, growing over eight inches taller and billowing out in all sorts of unwelcome ways. Unwelcome to her, that is. She did notice that others found her new curves not at all objectionable, but there was a new awkwardness in these boys… Continue reading Snow Moon
We need to renovate our entire culture. But where do you even begin? There are so many things that need doing and so many opinions on priorities. But I’ve yet to see a practical list that an average human can afford, that someone with little agency or influence can expect to accomplish. So I’ve been… Continue reading The To-Do List
Under a White Sky: The Nature of the Future Elizabeth Kolbert Crown, 2021 In Under a White Sky Elizabeth Kolbert, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Sixth Extinction, examines the future world we are engineering. Kolbert dispassionately reports on schemes to mitigate the multiple disasters we have created for ourselves — from climate change and ecological… Continue reading Under a White Sky: Review
We are the metaphorical frog. We’re sitting calmly in this lovely personal pond. It’s warm and comforting. There are no predators. True, the food is a wee bit scant, but we are fat. We can hold off on eating. We are happy. We are happy. Except for the little nudges from under our skin. There’s… Continue reading Wicked Frog Problem
This is the time of year that is the most difficult for high latitude living. The sun is up by 6:30am. The birds are loudly busy. There have been seed catalogs filled with glossy green seduction in the post box every day for weeks. The chickens are talking more, attempting to leave the roost more,… Continue reading Hungering for Spring
The Ameracauna hen has gone walk-about again. Third time this month. I’ve clipped her wings twice since she molted. There are no holes in the slump block wall; I’ve walked it twice this week. And the gate is as enveloped in chicken wire as it can be and still admit sunlight. If her pretty blue… Continue reading Errant and Unexpected
Ash Wednesday is the beginning of the spring fast, Lent. The name lent derives from an Old English word meaning “spring season”. Other languages name this 40-day period before Easter with words that derive from “fasting”. We can see from these names that Lent is not merely a season of preparation for the Christian Easter.… Continue reading Lessons in Living in Season
By My Solitary Hearth 