Loose Leaf Notes

1. Question of the week: How do we put a chicken that’s been mauled by a raccoon out of its misery without causing more misery?

2. Best accomplishment of the week: staying at the pool until closing on Sunday.

3. Facebook message from Floydfest folks: Site build is going well.  We just installed the rainbow …

4.  If that’s a Floydfest installed rainbow (right) then the picture below it is of Joe and me and friends in Italy.

5. A new study shows that highly intelligent people are messy, stay up late and love swearing. So THAT explains it.

6. Smarter than the average 4-year-old? Swedish scientists have shown that ravens have the ability to form memories similar to humans. They can pass up a treat for a tool that can be used to get more treats in the future.

7. I think the iceberg the size of Delaware that broke off Antarctica last week is like a metaphor for our country, broken, drifting, displacing the rest in a foreboding and foretold chain of events.

8. My poem, The First 100 Days, has been featured as a Poem of the Day, along with poems by two other poets, at Poets United in a segment called The Poet in Political Times.   Site co-editor Sherry Marr writes in the introduction: As these are topsy-turvy times, politically, I’ve noticed several poets, who normally are not very political, have been moved to write about their feelings. Since many of us feel the same way, I thought it might be timely to feature the following poems,  written by  Colleen Redman of Loose Leaf Notes, Annell Livingston of Some Things I Think About,  and Laura Bloomsbury of Tell Tale Therapy.  The poet often mirrors what is happening in society, as these examples illustrate so well. See HERE. 

9. There was an old story that when a revolution occurred in some ancient land the new ruler was asked, “What’s the first thing to do?” and the new ruler answered “Kill the poets.” ~ Bill Moyer

10. If I complained to William Stafford / that I haven’t written a poem in weeks / he’d say “Lower your standards” / Natalie Goldberg would say / “Keep your hand moving” / Kerouac said dig deep within your soul / and blow freestyle like a jazz artist / But my notes are flat and motivation is flagging / so I google “advice on writing” / and quickly find an ABC formula / that reminds me too much of CPR / One missed step and someone could die … Read the rest of Bookmark This Page HERE. 

11. What is hope?  … Suffering and hope, live from each other.  Suffering without hope produces resentment and despair. Hope without suffering creates illusions, naiveté, and drunkenness.  Let us plant dates even though those who plant them will never eat them.  We must live by the love of what we will never see.   This is the secret discipline…  – Rubem Alves, Brazilian theologian, philosopher, educator, writer and psychoanalyst (1933 – 20149). Read the rest of Alves’s thoughts on Hope HERE. 

12. Best Written Headline of the Week:  Senate Republicans Just Killed Their Health Care Bill Again But it could come back in another form. Like a zombie.

13. And this from my Dharmacratic friend Will: “Right wingers can’t decide whether to wave Confederate or Russian flag in make America Great charade parade.”

_______Thirteen Thursday