Eliza Daley ~ Wordcraft & Musing on Home & Hope
In response to the tirade on boomers and millennials I posted last week, I received a wonderful message from Venkataraman Amarnath about a millennial neighbor. I was given permission to share this story with all of you. It is beautiful! And so very hopeful! We have known our neighbors' son since he was ten. After… Continue reading Boomer Addendum
I’m the mother of two millennials. I used to own a kids’ bookstore when millennials were tots and tweens and teens. I have taught millennials at both ends of their age spectrum. I have millennial friends. I am not a millennial (nor a boomer, squarely GenX here), but I think I might be a somewhat… Continue reading Because Boomers…
There is an oldish adage among writers that claims that you almost always have to write the book that you want to read. I don’t know how true that is of fiction. I have a very difficult time coming up with narratives that I like and that have not yet been written, and I’ve read… Continue reading How Not to Garden
Again, a perfectly wonderful book raised my ire by throwing out a tired trope — the assertion that all our societal woes date to the "inception of agriculture" (which phrase is itself a red flag that raises my blood pressure; there is no such point in time or place). This time the claim that farming… Continue reading The Straight Story on Farming
Humans are the planning species. There may be other species that prepare for the future. Ants certainly come to mind. There may be other species that wonder what will happen if… Crows are big ones for this sort of experimentation, seeming to enjoy the fiascos as much as the successes. (It’s all about The Process… Continue reading Wednesday Word: 1 September 2021
Recently, I was involved in a discussion about the things we do and do not teach our children. I’ve already said quite a bit on this subject. But after talking with a few other people about education, and especially secondary education, I realized I approached the subject from the assumption that the purpose of school… Continue reading Educating for the Prime Directive
No Friday Thoughts today. I'm working on some complicated poetry and a thus far pretty decent Full Moon Tale for Sunday. Enjoy your Friday!
Dave Pollard tossed out an interesting essay this week. He is in the process of moving — not entirely voluntarily — and musing much on home these last few months. His latest post on his blog, How to Save the World, is a useful list of attributes to look for in a home that will… Continue reading Dave Pollard’s When TSHTF Checklist
Lately, I've been musing on the debate between those who claim that human nature is inherently selfish and those who say that we are oriented to cooperation and care. I am beginning to think that this is artificial, that the drive to name our nature is, in fact, an urge to excuse our actions. It… Continue reading The Wednesday Word: 18 August 2021
Central Vermont is under a heat advisory today. There is also smoke from fires on the opposite side of the continent, though rains are periodically washing it out of the sky. Thus sometimes we don’t have the air quality advisory to go with the heat, though last night I could see no Perseid meteors through… Continue reading Dying Normal
By My Solitary Hearth 