rain greens torpid grass
cool nights frost trees with yellow
nature, tired, yawns
Posted in Creativity, Poetry | Tagged autumn, creative writing, Poetry, quiet living, seasons, Writing | Leave a Comment »
Early voting began yesterday in three U.S. states, which means we are in the final stretch of America’s 2024 presidential election. (Finally!) It also means that for the next six weeks we’re going to be inundated with adverts, texts, mailers, flyers, and door-knockers.
By now, most people have made up their mind, and frankly, if you’ve already decided on voting for Trump, I’ve got nothing for you; thanks for stopping by and I hope to see you next time. However, about 5–6% of Americans are still on the fence, trying to decide either between the candidates, or between voting and staying home.
First, please please please commit to voting on November 5. It is so important that you exercise this power. You can go to Vote.gov to find out if your voter registration is current and/or how to register if you’ve been purged from the rolls. Even if you do not live in one of the critical “swing” states, you still have Senate, House, and state races that are critical to the success of your candidate and the agenda you support.
One of the most common concerns folks express about Harris is that they don’t know enough about her, and don’t know where she stands on the issues. With her having been thrust into the race so late in the game, this is a legitimate concern. We didn’t have a year-long primary to learn these things, and she’s been playing catch-up. However, the information has been coming out, and I encourage anyone still unsure about Harris to explore her positions on the issues—such as the economy, taxes, health care, education, reproductive freedom, climate crisis, civil rights, immigration, gun violence, and foreign policy—and compare them to Trump’s†.
Last point: There has been a lot of activity in state election boards (and in campaign rhetoric from the GOP) that has laid the groundwork for specious challenges to the outcome of the election. If the vote tallies are close, we’re going to see a tsunami of delays, lawsuits, and chaos surrounding demands for recounts and refusals to certify results. To counter this, progressive-leaning voters need to come out in record numbers, to increase that margin of victory (yes, even in reliably blue states), so there can be no doubt as to the outcome.
To me, the choice has always been clear, but I understand that such is not the case for everyone. In my mind, an even temperament and a willingness to compromise are two hallmarks of a successful presidency. Next to those, I look for an agenda that is geared toward helping middle and lower income households, because that is what a society is supposed to do: help those who need help, not those who already have it made.
Harris isn’t a perfect candidate—I’m sure everyone will find one of her policies that rankles—but comparing the two candidates, comparing their respective agendas, and comparing their approaches to governing, I find the GOP candidates terribly lacking. The politics of division and denigration—of women, of minorities, of legal immigrants, of the childless, of the non-Christian and non-hetero and non-cisgender—that is no way to govern a society that is as complex and multi-layered as ours. It is a bleak and hostile view of our nation, its history, and its people, and it deserves to be soundly rejected.
Thanks for stopping by. I’ll put away my soapbox, now.
Remember to check your registration and make a voting plan!
k
† You can find Trump’s issue statements either as part of his series of Agenda 47 videos, or see many of them described in Project 2025. (Though Trump has denied any connection to that project, it was authored by many of his former staff and its elements are strongly echoed in his rhetoric.)
Posted in Culture, Politics | Tagged agenda 47, down ballot, election 2024, harris, politics, presidential campaign, presidential politics, project 2025, Trump, vance, walz | Leave a Comment »
Walter Wofford’s sculpture of Harriet Tubman as the “Beacon of Hope,” installed at Lake Placid, NY
Enterprise photo — Delainey Muscato
Hope and I have had a long and complicated relationship, one punctuated by frustration, despair, anger, and (occasionally) joy.
For many, Hope is an emotion of wishes and prayers, of what-might-be‘s and wouldn’t-it-be-nice‘s. Hope personified, for such folks, is often depicted as angelic or maternal, protective and supporting. Sweet, embracing, serene.
Not for me. My relationship with Hope has usually been adversarial. Many times, I—having striven toward a goal with zero success—have fallen into the shadowed abyss of anguish and surrendered myself to failure. It is at such times that Hope (damnable Hope) has ridden onto the stage clad in armor, grabbed me by the scruff, and thrust me forward once more unto the breach. For me, Hope is not a thing of winged feathers and soft, motherly caresses but, as musician/writer/actor Nick Cave described it in Issue #190 of The Red Hand Files, Hope is “the warrior emotion that can lay waste to cynicism.” Hope is the creature of sharp insistence, unseen kindnesses, and the whispered encouragement of ultimate victory.
In the last ten years, I have often felt despair. I’ve felt it for most of that time. It has been a harsh, brutal, sorrowful decade, both personally and (more consequentially) on a global scale. Politically, Hope has become a stranger to me, as my nation fell into a vortex of recrimination, grievance, division, and blatant partisanship.
But then something happened. About six weeks ago, our president (bless him), seeing the trend-lines and poll numbers auguring his defeat, decided to bow out and pass the torch.
It was then that Hope—the Warrior Emotion—woke from her slumber, shook the dust of years from off her armor, and sounded the call.
Hope is not heavy-handed. Hope does not have to bash us over the head to get her point across.
Hope is the hand on the shoulder, the confident smile, the steely gaze and the wink. Rather than a wouldn’t-it-be-nice, Hope is the we’ve-got-this.
As the scales fall from our eyes and we see the right-wing contenders for what they are, as we learn of their vision for our future, and as we read what it is that they intend to do should they be returned to power, Hope exhorts us once again to rise, to stand, to speak out, and to vote for a future that benefits us all, rather than just the privileged few and the people who look, love, and think as they do.
For the first time in a very long time, I am filled with Hope, eager to instill that Hope in others, and willing to believe that, this time, we might have a real Hope of success.
k
Posted in Culture, Politics | Tagged democracy, harris walz, hope, joy, kamala, politics, presidential campaign, Trump, trump vance | Leave a Comment »
Summer is winding down, and it’s a year divisible by four, so you know what that means. It’s Voting Season!
I know, I know; it seems like Voting Season began in 2022, and if you’re like me, then the last month seemed like a year all on its own, but for most people—no judgement here, seriously—for most people Voting Season 2024 hasn’t even begun yet.
A large chunk of the electorate doesn’t pay attention to the general election until after Labor Day. Totally understandable. Life takes time. Life takes energy and focus. Work, kids, errands, chores, keeping the household humming along, paying the bills, all that; who has time to spend on conventions and rallies and punditry?
But we’re here now. Labor Day is—[checks calendar]—next weekend, and in some states, early voting begins around the 20th of September (yes, really, 46 days prior! I checked it twice.).
Here’s the thing, though. Some states have been cleaning up their voter rolls, purging the registrations of those who may not have voted in a while. That means you may not be currently registered to vote. Re-registering may take some time, depending on your state, so lead-time can be important.
I ask, then, that you take a few minutes and go to Vote.gov, a government voter registration portal that can direct you to your state’s voter registration website. Just select the state in which you vote, and look for the “How to check your voter registration” heading. That’ll take you to your state’s website where you can make sure your voter registration is current (or, if it isn’t, they’ll tell you how you can register to vote). You don’t have to sign in or anything; my state’s website (Washington) just needed my name and birth-date to confirm that my registration is current.
There is a lot of other information at these sites, too, like if you need to update your name or address, or if you need to know about registration deadlines or voting methods/locations in your state.
So please, make sure you are registered to vote, and then make a voting plan (about how you’re going to vote, when you’re going to vote, how you’re going to get to the polling place, what ID you might need to bring, etc.).
Regardless of who you want to be your president, senator, representative, and state and local officials, many of the races are going to be close. The outcome may come down to a few dozen votes in each precinct, so your vote counts! Make sure you’re registered so you can cast it.
Thanks, all.
k
Posted in Culture, Politics | Tagged be prepared, get out the vote, PSA, vote, voter registration, voting, voting plan | Leave a Comment »
for some it is
the Moon’s occultation of Saturn or
the needle strikes of Perseids across a spangled sky
that speeds their heart
but for me it is
a late summer evening when
the world is parchment
I step out onto the front stoop while the wind
swollen with the scent of moisture
shakes out the carpets of August
sending heat-baked dust over distant hills
the stars take the night off as
the clouds drop down
so close I can
smell them touch them feel them seeping into my skin and
the air thicks with promise until
a flash sparks fire miles above
lighting the jumbled sky
I know it is coming I know the treat is coming
the respite from dry weeks sere days withered leaves but
it takes its time walking not running toward my eagerness
teasing me with coming attractions so mesmerizing that
when the rain begins I am surprised
it is so strong so hard so heavy that
my mind wonders about the terminal velocity of a raindrop the size of a pea and
if the drops fall as spheres or are deformed by their earthward plunge and
bang
the storm is here has crossed the ridge is overhead
its flares of light draw inward focus concentrate spin themselves into jagged threads
neighbors come out from barbecues and movie nights to
look up
exclaim at the brilliance
gasp at claps that slap their cheeks
laughing in sheer childish joy at the power of the moment and
in that moment the magic of our world ushers us into its realm
we feel a part of it enjoy it for exactly what it is
the raw audacity of it the confidence as if nothing can stand against it and survive
it is intoxicating and I am drunk with it all
happily consumed and consuming
a tiny mote in the vastness
just me
alone on the front stoop
watching nature play its greatest anthem while
I hum along with the familiar tune
that’s what does it
for me
Photo: Tim Durkan Photography
Posted in Creativity, Poetry, Seattle | Tagged lightning, modern poetry, nature, Poetry, Seattle, summer nights, thundershower, thunderstorm | 2 Comments »
One of my standard rules is:
Do not spend more time fixing something than your time is worth.
In other words, I won’t spend a couple of hours on the phone to get a $5 overcharge fixed. It’s literally not worth my time.
Of course, that’s harder to quantify now that I’m retired, but when I was working as a senior software analyst/developer/project manager, I frequently let the small stuff slide. After all, people make mistakes, and if I bought an $8 item that turned out not to be exactly as described, it was easier just to take the loss and buy another item that did meet my specs.
There have been exceptions, however, and for the last ten months, I’ve been making one.
TL;DR: Never underestimate the power of doggedness, and do not dismiss something that it wouldn’t hurt to try.
It began in November 2023, when I bought myself a birthday present.
Posted in Gaming | Tagged bbb, bethesda, better business bureau, chronomark, constellation edition, fallout, first adopter, skyrim, starfield, video games, watch | Leave a Comment »
He let the book down onto his lap and closed his eyes. The window ushered in the breeze of early morning, cold and full of the electric scent of coming rain. He luxuriated in the feeling of gooseflesh on his arms—what was it called? horri-something? yes, horripilation, when the skin grows tight and the hair stands up—as the cold air sailed past him, over him, through him. It had been an unpleasantly brief night, one filled with aches and discomfort. Aging wasn’t easy, or so his body told him, frequently. But the early morning’s grey-shrouded light, the breeze heavy with moisture seasoned by salt from shoreline waves, the feeling of the book’s rough paper still tingling in his fingertips, this was life, this was being alive, and the perfect way to start the last day of June near the edge of Puget Sound.
k
Posted in Creativity, Writing | Tagged aging, creative writing, Puget Sound, vignettes, Writing | Leave a Comment »
Kurt R.A. Giambastiani 