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Winter After the Stillbirth | Renee Emerson
My husband dreads the winter. Born himself on the darkest day of the year and disregarded, he sees nothing but black ice, danger of pipes bursting, other people’s cats freezing, left outside like a name scratched off the list. But fish still swim beneath the frozen surface of lakes, and there are frogs that let their blood ice over in the mud to thaw again in the spring, green Lazarus come forth.And even I, born on the last day of winter, can see how the snow can cover this all up to look cleaner than it ever was, for a moment at least, while it is still falling in our hair, in our up-turned, hope-filled faces.
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Here we are!I must admit, sometimes I find the daily lectionary to be a chore. Not today.
This, from Baruch (Baruch! - in the Apocrypha), is simply wonderful:
... the stars shone in their watches, and were glad;
he called them, and they said, ‘Here we are!’
They shone with gladness for him who made them.
Baruch 3:34
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Memorable Movies 🍿Not always good, but at least memorable. (#s are just for counting, not ranking)1. Red • 2. Blue • 3. Singin' in the Rain • 4. Wings of Desire • 5. Casablanca • 6. Local Hero • 7. Wonder Boys • 8. The Tao of Steve • 9. Rushmore / The Royal Tenenbaums / Moonrise Kingdom / The Grand Budapest Hotel / Asteroid City • 10. The Player • 11. Avalon • 12. Diner • 13. Clouds of Sils Maria • 14. Vanya on 42nd Street • 15. Cold Comfort Farm • 16. Chasing Amy • 17. Mulholland Drive • 18. The Tree of Life • 19. The Station Agent • 20. A Short Film About Killing • 21. The Double Life of Veronique • 22. Metropolitan / The Last Days of Disco • 23. The Shop Around the Corner / You've Got Mail • 24. To Be or Not to Be (Jack Benny) • 25. Ninotchka • 26. Sullivan's Travels • 27. The Lady Eve • 28. Holiday • 29. House of Games / The Spanish Prisoner / State and Main • 30. Run Lola Run • 31. Star Wars (A New Hope) / The Empire Strikes Back • 32. I Am Love • 33. La La Land • 34. Double Indemnity • 35. Lost in America / Defending Your Life • 36. Midnight Cowboy • 37. Monsoon Wedding / The Namesake • 38. The Philadelphia Story • 39. High Society • 40. The Third Man • 41. Airplane! • 42. Say Anything • 43. The Last Waltz • 44. About a Boy • 45. Love, Actually • 46. Notting Hill • 47. About Time • 48. Ghostbusters • 49. Animal House • 50. The Daytrippers • 51. Blazing Saddles • 52. Young Frankenstein • 53. Chariots of Fire • 54. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang • 55. Nine Queens • 56. The Bourne Identity • 57. 20th Century Women • 58. Wet Hot American Summer • 59. Eurotrip • 60. Maria Full of Grace • 61. Talk to Her / Volver / Parallel Mothers • 62. The Descendants • 63. The Spectacular Now • 64. Short Term 12 • 65. Frances Ha • 66. A Muppet Christmas Carol • 67. Snatch / Layer Cake / Crank • 68. Bandits • 69. The Bank Job • 70. Me and You and Everyone We Know • 71. The Sweet Hereafter • 72. High Fidelity • 73. Next Stop Wonderland • 74. Music & Lyrics • 75. My Best Friend's Wedding • 76. Clueless • 77. Babette's Feast • 78. Crossing Delancey • 79. Much Ado About Nothing (Amy Acker) • 80. What's Up, Doc? • 81. Obvious Child • 82. LA Story • 83. Enough Said • 84. The Intern • 85. Tootsie • 86. Walking and Talking • 87. Truly Madly Deeply • 88. I Capture the Castle • 89. Paris, je t'aime • 90. The Age of Innocence • 91. Good Will Hunting • 92. Manchester by the Sea • 93. You Can Count on Me • 94. The Lives of Others • 95. Cold War • 96. Cookie's Fortune • 97. The Right Stuff • 98. Days of Heaven • 99. Sense & Sensibility • 100. Tender Mercies • 101. Star Man • 102. Damsels in Distress • 103. Orlando • 104. L.A. Confidential • 105. Godfather I, II, *and* III • 106. The Nasty Girl • 107. My Mother's Glory / My Father's Castle • 108. Jean de Florette / Manon of the Spring • 109. Breaker Morant • 110. Best in Show / A Mighty Wind / Waiting for Guffman • 111. Atlantic City • 112. The Sting • 113. Galaxy Quest • 114. Annie Hall / Bananas / Love & Death / Purple Rose of Cairo / Crimes & Misdemeanors / Midnight in Paris / Sleeper • 115. Ghostworld • 116. A Hidden Life • 117. A Walk in the Clouds • 118. The Old Man and the Gun • 119. Return to Me • 120. Far From the Madding Crowd (Carrie Mulligan) • 121. An Education • 122. Our Little Sister • 123. Departures • 124. Sweet Bean • 125. The Commitments • 126. The Edge of Seventeen • 127. The Last Wave • 128. Cutter's Way • 129. Tell No One • 130. Running on Empty • 131. Do the Right Thing • 132. His Girl Friday • 133. The Thin Man / After the TM / Another TM (aka Return of the TM) • 134. The Matrix • 135. Bullitt • 136. The Ipcress File • 137. The Fifth Element • 138. Starman • 139. Almost Famous • 140. Bossa Nova • 141. Umbrellas of Cherbourg / Les Demoiselles de Rochefort • 142. Ladybird • 143. Uncut Gems • 144. Fargo • 145. The Big Lebowski • 146. Kung Pow! Enter the Fist • 147. Pinocchio (Disney) • 148. I've Loved You So Long • 149. Persuasion • 150. The Whole Nine Yards • 151. Pulp Fiction • 152. Good Will Hunting • 153. Ulee's Gold • 154. Never Look Away • 155. My Man Godfrey • 156. The Banshees of Inisherin • 157. In the Heights • 158. Minari • 159. Pieces of April • 160. Rachel Getting Married • 161. The Return of the Secaucus Seven • 162. Lone Star • 163. Starstruck! • 164. Real Genius • 165. Bend It Like Beckham • 166. The Wizard of Oz • 167. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid • 168. Ferris Bueller's Day Off • 169. Body Heat • 170. Jaws • 171. Easy Living • 171. Happy-Go-Lucky • 172. Desperately Seeking Susan • 173. Au revoir les enfants • 174. The Awful Truth • 175. Diva • 176. Bull Durham • 177. La Cage au Folles/The Birdcage • 178. Desert Hearts • 179. Diabolique • 180. Dim Sum • 181. A Woman Under the Influence • 182. Fanny and Alexander • 183. Fast Times at Ridgemont High • 184. Mansfield Park • 185. Sliding Doors • 186. Good Morning Vietnam • 187. The Swimming Pool • 188. High Art • 189. Moscow on the Hudson • 190. Cherish • 191. Thumbsucker • 192. The Tall Guy • 193. Breaking Away • 194. Once • 195. Clerks / Mallrats / Dogma • 196. Meshes of the Afternoon • 197. Chinatown • 198. Beginners • 199. There Will Be Blood • 200. The Phantom Thread • 201. Memento • 201. Enchanted April • 202. A Room With a View • 202. A Passage to India • 203. Maurice • 204. Nashville • 205. Moneyball • 206. Ocean's 11 (Clooney) • 207. Cocoon • 208. The Grey Fox • 209. The Natural • 210. Amélie • 211. Down With Love • 212. Beautiful Girls • 213. Chilly Scenes of Winter • 214. Hester Street
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Gun Sick
Another mass shooting. This one close to home. A fetishistic fascination with guns, power, and violence permeates American society. It’s symptomatic of a deep cultural pathology, and it’ll take more than laws to address the sickness. BUT, at least gun regulations are a place to start. And, compared to treating a moral illness, they’re low-hanging fruit. So, let’s make gun regulation an “easy” first step in trying to find a cure for this disease in our national soul.
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California Hills in August | Dana Gioia
I can imagine someone who found these fields unbearable, who climbed the hillside in the heat, cursing the dust, cracking the brittle weeds underfoot, wishing a few more trees for shade. An Easterner especially, who would scorn the meagerness of summer, the dry twisted shapes of black elm, scrub oak, and chaparral, a landscape August has already drained of green. One who would hurry over the clinging thistle, foxtail, golden poppy, knowing everything was just a weed, unable to conceive that these trees and sparse brown bushes were alive. And hate the bright stillness of the noon without wind, without motion, the only other living thing a hawk, hungry for prey, suspended in the blinding, sunlit blue. And yet how gentle it seems to someone raised in a landscape short of rain – the skyline of a hill broken by no more trees than one can count, the grass, the empty sky, the wish for water.
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Dust | Dorianne Laux
Someone spoke to me last night, told me the truth. Just a few words, but I recognized it. I knew I should make myself get up, write it down, but it was late, and I was exhausted from working all day in the garden, moving rocks. Now, I remember only the flavor— not like food, sweet or sharp. More like a fine powder, like dust And I wasn't elated or frightened, but simply rapt, aware. That's how it is sometimes— God comes to your window, all bright light and black wings, and you're just too tired to open it.
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stem the flood, americans
Russian propagandists do not need to wait to check facts or verify claims; they just disseminate an interpretation of emergent events that appears to best favor their themes and objectives. This allows them to be remarkably responsive and nimble, often broadcasting the first “news” of events (and, with similar frequency, the first news of nonevents, or things that have not actually happened). They will also repeat and recycle disinformation. The Russian "Firehose of Falsehood" Propaganda Model: RAND Corporation, 2016.
... flood the zone with shit. Steve Bannon (to Michael Lewis, 2018)
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