I found these under the zucchini plant when I was straightening it up, after it had tipped over in the wind. Over six pounds of zucchini…and no, I didn’t let them ripen too long (though nearly so). Only the hint of seeds inside, and a flavor unlike anything from the grocery. Green, fresh, a bit earthy, clean.
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged container gardening, gardening, vegetable gardening | 5 Comments »
Okay. Now I’m pissed off.
All weekend, the news was filled with tweets and squawks about the verdict in the George Zimmerman trial, about how “the system had failed,” and how the jurors, now released from their sequestration, were receiving threats and messages of a most vicious nature. The public seemed to want to blame the jurors, and not the laws or the prosecution.
Being on a jury is a completely thankless job. We put jurors down for not being clever enough to get out of their civic responsibility, and then we pillory them for complying with their oath of office. Thus, yesterday, I posted my support of the jury. They had a difficult job, did it conscientiously, and were being punished for it.
But by the end of the day, the Twitterverse blew up again. This time they were outraged by the news that Juror B37 had signed with a literary agent and intended to write a book about her experience. No book deal had been made. She and her agent were just talking about the possibility of writing a book. That didn’t matter to the Twitterati, though, and they went ballistic, got nasty, and started a petition, and stopped the “outrage” in its tracks.
But the Twitterverse got it wrong.
The outrage is not that this woman, Juror B37, was thinking about writing a book of her experience in the trial. Juror B37 is by all reports a quiet, middle-class, middle-aged worker. She has committed no crime. She has performed a civic duty that most of the Twitterati try to shirk. She and five other jurors were sequestered, hidden from their families and the public during the course of a highly publicized trial. She and her co-jurors sat and listened and weighed the evidence, and then rendered a considered verdict which was–by all legal analysis of the trial that I’ve read–the only verdict they could have returned.
No. That’s not the outrage.
The outrage is that the Twitterati, led by people like the anonymous @MoreAndAgain (aka Cocky McSwagsalot) have applied their prejudice to Juror B37. They have disparaged her, libeled her, imputed the failure of the prosecution’s case to her, accused her of dereliction of her duty as a juror, and have successfully bullied her into dropping all plans to write a book on the subject of her experience.
Yes. Bullied.
The Twitterverse has ganged up on Juror B37, eliminated for her a chance to relay her experience to an obviously ignorant public, closed an avenue whereby we might have further discussion of the ridiculous laws that went into this case, and also eliminated for her a way to build some extra income for her retirement.
And these bullies did all this without any facts, without any empathy, and without any shame.
That is outrageous.
I’m disgusted by it.
k
Posted in Books, Culture, Writing | Tagged book deal, bullying, george zimmerman, Juror B37, Sharlene Martin, trayvon martin, Writing | 5 Comments »
This weekend, people took to the streets in protest. George Zimmerman was acquitted of the murder of Trayvon Martin, and people–and our nation, it seems–was outraged.
Juries get a lot of grief in our culture. People work hard to avoid sitting on one. They trade tips and tricks about how to shirk the civic responsibility of jury duty. Juries get the blame for almost every “bad” verdict in the news, from O.J. Simpson to last week’s case.
But I tell you, something very interesting happens in the jury room. I’ve read about it, seen it portrayed in books and in film, and my wife and I (collectively) have sat on three juries where we saw it happen. Continue Reading »
Posted in Culture | Tagged florida law, george zimmerman, murder vs manslaughter, stand your ground law, trayvon martin, trial by jury | 1 Comment »
It was hot and windy over the weekend, and one of the zucchini plants–the one with leaves the size of spinnakers–was partially uprooted.
This is a danger of container gardening: the low square footage of growing space. The zucchini (Black Beauty) is not a vining type, so it doesn’t spread so much; instead, it creates a massive dome of leaves and all the fruits come out of the base. Planting it to the leeward side, however, was a mistake, in that half of it was completely unsupported. The plant still seems fine (I estimate only 20-25% of the roots were disturbed/damaged), but note to self:
Situate large plants on the windward side of the box.
Posted in Gardening | Tagged container gardening, EarthBox, gardening, vegetable gardening | Leave a Comment »
For the past few weeks, I’ve been doing research for The Wolf Tree. It’s been an education, in several ways.
Seattle isn’t like New York or San Francisco or London. I don’t have dozens of books to choose from, rows of scholarly tomes filled with history, details, and anecdotes. Continue Reading »
Posted in Writing | Tagged creative writing, historical fiction, novel writing, Seattle, Seattle history, The Wolf Tree, Writing, writing research, writing techniques, writing tips | 1 Comment »
There is one piece of music that is so imbued with power, so pregnant with history, so…epic…within the landscape of my mind, that it never fails to raise the hackles on my neck and make my vision swim with tears of memory.
I hope you have one of these because for me, when it begins, when I hear it after an age-long absence, I am instantly transported. I am young. I am vital. I am uplifted by the notes. I feel the chill of the dawn air. I hear the notes echo across the decades.
This video was taken this past July 4th, at Cazadero Music Camp, in the California redwoods. It is the traditional 4th of July reveille. played to rouse the campers from their sleep. But I remember when the tradition began. Continue Reading »
Posted in Culture | Tagged aaron copland, cazadero, classical music, fanfare for the common man, Music, music camp | 2 Comments »
We’re six weeks into this experiment, and things are continuing well above expectations.
Due to our suddenly sunny summer, the plants are thriving. I’m astonished at how much water they take in, though. If I decide to take this large-scale and go in-ground instead of container, I think I’m definitely going to need some sort of drip irrigation system.
As it is, the larger plants are going through most of the 3-gallon reservoir every day. Soon (based on my neighbor’s results), they’re going to need watering morning and evening.
Posted in Gardening | Tagged container gardening, EarthBox, gardening, vegetable gardening | 12 Comments »
