Book of Days: asher553

I started this calendar year with a burst of journaling and writing activity; then I had a bit of a lull for the past two weeks. Now I'm back at it, so let's roll!

The weather in this area typically goes into an unsettled period from around Valentine's Day to Saint Patrick's Day, and this year was no exception: we've had warm and cool, sun and cloud, rain and even a few flakes of snow. I'm looking forward to the weather getting consistently nice, so I can get back to walking and jogging around the Tanasbourne neighborhood, and maybe hike the Rock Creek Trail. Meanwhile I'm keeping up with my daily gym commitment.

The day job has been going well, and as I approach 9 months at the gig I'm feeling more confident. The IT shop had been down one person since the senior guy left for another position in the company at the beginning of the year, so it was just me and one other tech. The new guy started last week, so we're back to full staffing, and I think he's going to work out well.

Goings-on in the conservative community continue apace. I've re-started the meetups, now at a venue that's both convenient and comfortable, and happening every two weeks; we're building some momentum with a gang of regulars and an assortment of new faces. The county Party chapter is having its next general committee meeting next month, and our Chair made a point of scheduling it on a weekday evening (rather than a Saturday) so I'll be able to attend. Meanwhile I'm staying busy connecting with new members, scheduling voter registration drives, and reserving our booth at the County Fair and other local events.

I finished 'King of the Vagabonds' (Book 2 in the series, or the middle third of the first volume of the trilogy, in Neal Stephenson's Baroque Cycle). I've been listening to the audiobook while following along in the print edition. The audiobook is very good; the narrator, Simon Prebble, reads beautifully, and with a tongue-in-cheek pompousness that fits the style of the book perfectly. The story is now up to the year 1685, with James II (the openly Catholic brother of Charles II) on the throne of England; Jack and Eliza, whose affecting courtship carried the storyline through 'King of the Vagabonds', have now parted ways. I'm enjoying the story and the characters, and learning some history as I go along. (The book includes some very useful historical genealogies, a map of Europe of the period, and a map of London circa the Great Fire of 1666.)

One thing Stephenson does spectacularly well in this book is to put you, the reader, in the middle of the setting. He doesn't just describe the scene as if it were a picture; he gives you the sounds, the smells, the sensations, the activities going on at the edges of the scene, so that you feel as if he's really been there and is telling you about it.

So that's a picture of my life and world since I last posted here. And now, onward!

The IDF this afternoon published aerial footage from the operation in Rafah overnight in which Fernando Simon Marman (60) and Louis Har (70) were freed after more than four months in Hamas captivity.

Earlier, the now-freed hostages were reunited with their families.

Navarre Scott Momaday, poet and novelist, has passed.
https://apnews.com/article/native-writer-scott-momaday-dead-1b6690dfa0bb11eda12f3c219cee77e8

' N. Scott Momaday, a Pulitzer Prize-winning storyteller, poet, educator and folklorist whose debut novel “House Made of Dawn” is widely credited as the starting point for contemporary Native American literature, has died. He was 89.

Momaday died Wednesday at his home in Santa Fe, New Mexico, publisher HarperCollins announced. He had been in failing health.'

Momaday's life in photos at The Oklahoman.
https://www.oklahoman.com/picture-gallery/news/2024/01/29/scott-momaday-dies-oklahoma-author-pulitzer-winner-photos/72399953007/

'New World' - poem read by the author.
https://voca.arizona.edu/track/id/62944

NEW WORLD

New World
N. Scott Momaday

First Man,
behold:
the earth
glitters
with leaves;
the sky
glistens
with rain.
Pollen
is borne
on winds
that low
and lean
upon
mountains.
Cedars
blacken
the slopes‐‐
and pines.

At dawn
eagles
hie and
hover
above
the plain
where light
gathers
in pools.
Grasses shimmer
and shine.
Shadows
withdraw
and lie
away
like smoke.

At noon
turtles
enter
slowly
into
the warm
dark loam.
Bees hold
the swarm.
Meadows
recede
through planes
of heat
and pure
distance.

At dusk
the gray
foxes
stiffen
in cold;
blackbirds
are fixed
in the
branches.
Rivers
follow
the moon,
the long
white track
of the
full moon.

PEOPLE OF THE WOLF (O'NEAL-GEAR). Finished the book today. I loved the book, although I wasn't entirely happy with the ending (in partucular, the pairing of two of the main characters). I really enjoyed the dialog, and the relationships and conflicts among the different characters. The relationship between the two old women - the shaman Heron and Broken Branch, whom Heron blames for having stolen her old lover Bear Hunter - really stood out for me and will stay with me for a long time.

The descriptions of daily life in ancient times made the setting real for me, and with just enough detail about things like botflies, maggots, and infected wounds so that you remember it was a very harsh and difficult life (without so much TMI as to make the book unreadable). There are a few scenes of graphic violence, which is described unflinchingly but not in a sensationalistic way. The details about prehistoric life - making weapons, hunting mammoth, and so on - were fascinating without making the book read like an archaeology lecture.

You can look at maps drawn by scholars showing the conjectured migration routes of various peoples, and they're just arrows drawn on a map. What the map can't tell you, and what archaeologists can only guess at, is the kinds of decisions that were made when one arrow changed direction, or when another arrow split into two. What happens when a population makes the decision, "All right, our folk will go north, and you people will head south."? That's the back-story going on in 'People of the Wolf'.

But, again, what I really enjoyed about the book was that it's just a great story. And also, I think I loved the book because it's so Biblical: you've got estranged twins, conflict with enemy tribes, prophets true and false, concubines and captive women, jealousy, betrayal, courage, faith - and the journey to the promised land.

USA - ELECTION 2024: DESANTIS SUSPENDS PRIMARY CAMPAIGN, ENDORSES TRUMP
https://pjmedia.com/matt-margolis/2024/01/21/desantis-suspends-presidential-campaign-n4925704

'"I am proud to have delivered on 100% of my promises and I will not stop now," DeSantis continued. "It’s clear to me that a majority of Republican primary voters want to give Donald Trump another chance. They watched his presidency get stymied by relentless resistance and they see Democrats using lawfare to this day to attack him. While I have had disagreements with Donald Trump, such as on the coronavirus pandemic and his elevation of Anthony Fauci, Trump is superior to the current incumbent, Joe Biden. That is clear. I signed a pledge to support the Republican nominee and I will honor that pledge."'

Most of the people I know personally in the Republian / conservative community - I am not speaking of politicians, pundits, or outrage-peddling social-media influencers - are not ant-DeSantis (or any of the other R candidates) because they're pro-Trump, or vice versa. What I've actually found in real life is that ordinary people are perfectly capable of weighing the costs and benefits of a given decision - even in a highly charged political campaign - and making a choice one way or another.

Not long ago, I was discussing the primary campaign with a good friend, in particular Trump vs. DeSantis. We were both in agreement on all the substantive points of each candidate's respective strengths and weaknesses, and at the end of the day my friend came down narrowly on the side of DeSantis while I came down narrowly in favor of Trump.

USA: SCOTUS ALLOWS BIDEN REGIME TO REMOVE TEXAS BORDER FENCE.
https://pjmedia.com/paula-bolyard/2024/01/22/shocker-supreme-court-sides-with-biden-admin-on-texas-border-case-n4925734
https://www.theepochtimes.com/us/texas-installs-more-border-wire-after-supreme-court-order-allowing-its-removal-5572059

PJM: "Justices John Roberts and Amy Coney Barrett sided with the liberal wing of the court, which did not explain its decision."

Epoch Times reports that the State of Texas has not yet made any moves to take down existing barbed wire, Additionally: "The barriers being put in place were already planned prior to the court’s decision, and those plans will go forward."

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton: "Although the Supreme Court has permitted the continued destruction of Texas’s border security measures, this appeal remains ongoing, and the Office of the Attorney General will argue the case in front of the Fifth Circuit on February 7."