2.2.2026 – library closed

library closed
fines accrued during closure
will be forgiven

Watching the weekend weather, all the maps showed the cold and wet and snow swoop down out of the north … and come up short of our little corner of South Carolina.

That was close enough for most Government offices and businesses down here.

I got a number of emails and texts

And on Saturday afternoon some sort of visible precipitation started to fall, emergency emails and text messages poured into my phone.

As temperatures fall below freezing tonight, melt water may freeze and create icy spots on paved surfaces such as bridges and overpasses, primary and secondary roads, parking lots, sidewalks and driveways. Black ice is difficult to see and distinguish from dry surfaces. The deceptive nature of black ice can catch you unaware while you are driving or walking, causing you to lose control of your motor vehicle or to slip and fall.

And

Motorists are urged to use extreme caution, especially on roads that are less traveled, shaded areas, bridges, and overpasses, where ice may not be visible.

They talk an awful lot about ‘black ice’ down south and most locals will say that from birth they are told to stay away from the dread ‘black ice’.

I am convinced that the locals are convinced that if they drive on black ice, the car blows up.

But we got out.

The coffee shop we drove to … was closed.

Roads we wanted to use … were blocked.

We got to the library to see the building all dark and a sandwich board outside the front door saying that due to the weather, the library was closed.

We drove around back to use the drive-thru book return to see that THE BOOK RETURN was closed due to weather.

Now that was something new.

Never had I seen weather so bad that library books couldn’t be returned.

Not to worry though, as the sign said, fines accrued during closure will be forgiven.

WOW.

I was shocked.

And reminded of the time I was working with a sweet little lady name Rose at the Cascade Branch of the Kent District library.

A patron came in with an unusual hard cover red bound book and engaged Rose in a long conservation about overdue books, damaged books and late fees.

I listened but stayed out of the conversation and let Rose handle the whole thing.

The patron explained and they talked and the patron explained and Rose listened.

The patron smiled and explained and Rose listened.

I kept to myself and just stayed out of it.

The conversation wound down as did the Patron and Rose took the red bound book, walked over to the cash register and rang up an amount and the patron paid up and left.

At the end of the library day, we would close the doors and do some clean up, straighten chairs and wait for whoever was in charge to finish closing up.

We would all end up in the back room by the door and we would chat for a few minutes.

With everyone else in a group standing there, including Diane, the wonderful Library Director, I asked, “Rose, what was the deal with that lady’s book?”

“OH,” said Rose, “Her kids got a bird guide and then left it out on their back deck in the rain.”

“What did she say she did?” I asked (all so innocent).

“OH,” said Rose, “She said the binding fell apart so she took it to a rare book dealer to be rebound.”

Hence the bright red hardbound cover of this ordinally paper bound bird book.

“Gosh,” says I, “what did she say that cost?”

By now everyone on the staff knew I was up to something and were waiting to hear this through.

“OH,” said Rose, “She said it cost $30 to be rebound and it took a while, so it was late.”

“Wow,” I said, letting that sink in.

Then I said …

“Rose … how much of a fine did you charge her?”

“Oh,” said Rose, “$4.00.”

Rose, that poor sweet lady, looked all confused as everyone broke out laughing and Diane looked at me, shaking her head with one hand over her mouth.

“Well,” said Rose, “she maxed out. $4.00 was the most I could get.”

2.1.2026 – we should have a land

we should have a land
of love joy wine song, not this …
land where joy is wrong

Adapted from the poem, Our Land by Langston Hughes as printed in The collected poems of Langston Hughes by Langston Hughes (Knopf: New York, 1994).

(On the 125th Birthday of Langston Hughes.)

We should have a land of sun,
Of gorgeous sun,
And a land of fragrant water
Where the twilight is a soft bandanna handkerchief
Of rose and gold,
And not this land
Where life is cold.

We should have a land of trees,
Of tall thick trees,
Bowed down with chattering parrots
Brilliant as the day,
And not this land where birds are gray.

Ah, we should have a land of joy,
Of love and joy and wine and song,
And not this land where joy is wrong.

There is a call today to make America great … again.

Funny thing, I always thought it was great.

Feet of clay to be sure.

Lots of dirt swept under both now and in the past.

But something about it, still great.

Great maybe, for the reason that there was a way things happened.

A process for the way things happened.

A process that was due to all people to be followed.

Due process.

Rules.

Simple rules.

But that isn’t how the MAGA people see it.

They see themselves as victims and as being victimized.

They tell me that the guy in office will fight for them.

Fight for them regardless of the process that was due.

I my gut feeling is that they see themselves as the Undertaker in the Godfather movie.

The undertaker who starts out the movie with the lines, “I believe in America. America has made my fortune.”

The Godfather responds, “I understand. You found paradise in America. You had a good trade, made a good living. The police protected you and there were courts of law.”

The Godfather continues, “Had you come to me in friendship … and that by chance if an honest man such as yourself should make enemies, then they would become my enemies. And then they would fear you”

And then they would fear you.

Is that not the perfect line?

And then they would fear you.

They would fear you.

Fear you.

Fear.

The thinking goes that the guy in the oval office fights for me and then they will fear me.

Make America great again by making people fear America.

As so many people are saying.

That’s not who we are.

Or at least, who we were.

For me?

I trust in God.

Let people think about that one.

For this country?

We should have a land of sun,
Of gorgeous sun,
And a land of fragrant water
Where the twilight is a soft bandanna handkerchief
Of rose and gold,
And not this land
Where life is cold.

We should have a land of trees,
Of tall thick trees,
Bowed down with chattering parrots
Brilliant as the day,
And not this land where birds are gray.

Ah, we should have a land of joy,
Of love and joy and wine and song,
And not this land where joy is wrong.

One more time out loud please.

Ah, we should have a land of joy,

Of love and joy and wine and song,

And not this land where joy is wrong.

1.29.2026 – freedom, basic things

freedom, basic things
speech, worship, from want, from fear
any, everywhere

For there is nothing mysterious about the foundations of a healthy and strong democracy. The basic things expected by our people of their political and economic systems are simple. They are:

Equality of opportunity for youth and for others.

Jobs for those who can work.

Security for those who need it.

The ending of special privilege for the few.

The preservation of civil liberties for all.

The enjoyment of the fruits of scientific progress in a wider and constantly rising standard of living.

These are the simple, basic things that must never be lost sight of in the turmoil and unbelievable complexity of our modern world. The inner and abiding strength of our economic and political systems is dependent upon the degree to which they fulfill these expectations.

In the future days, which we seek to make secure, we look forward to a world founded upon four essential human freedoms.

The first is freedom of speech and expression – everywhere in the world.

The second is freedom of every person to worship God in his own way – everywhere in the world.

The third is freedom from want – which, translated into world terms, means economic understandings which will secure to every nation a healthy peacetime life for its inhabitants – everywhere in the world.

The fourth is freedom from fear – which, translated into world terms, means a world-wide reduction of armaments to such a point and in such a thorough fashion that no nation will be in a position to commit an act of physical aggression against any neighbor – anywhere in the world.

According to Wikipedia:

The Four Freedoms is a series of four oil paintings made in 1943 by the American artist Norman Rockwell. The paintings—Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Worship, Freedom from Want, and Freedom from Fear and are now in the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. The four freedoms refer to President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s January 1941 Four Freedoms State of the Union address, in which he identified essential human rights that should be universally protected. The theme was incorporated into the Atlantic Charter, and became part of the Charter of the United Nations. The paintings were reproduced in The Saturday Evening Post over four consecutive weeks in 1943, alongside essays by prominent thinkers of the day. They became the highlight of a touring exhibition sponsored by The Post and the U.S. Department of the Treasury. The exhibition and accompanying sales drives of war bonds raised over $132 million.

These are among his best-known works, and by some accounts became his most widely distributed paintings. At one time they were commonly displayed in post offices, schools, clubs, railroad stations, and a variety of public and semi-public buildings.

These are the simple, basic things that must never be lost sight of in the turmoil and unbelievable complexity of our modern world.

The inner and abiding strength of our economic and political systems is dependent upon the degree to which they fulfill these expectations.

They are simple, basic things.

In the future days, which we seek to make secure, we look forward to a country and a world founded upon these four essential human freedoms.

This a page of the draft of the speech as written by FDR speech writer, Judge Samuel I. Rosenman.

According to reports, FDR listened to a speech by Mr. Churchill and remarked that it was a great speech and he told his team something along the lines of, “Find out who writes his stuff.”

1.28.2026 – God doesn’t have a …

God doesn’t have a …
color, she said … God is the …
color of water

Adapted from the The color of water: a Black man’s tribute to his white mother by James McBride (Penguin: New York, 1996) where Mr. McBride writes:

… even as a boy I knew God was all-powerful because of Mommy’s utter deference to Him, and also because she would occasionally do something in church that I never saw her do at home or anywhere else: at some point in the service, usually when the congregation was singing one of her favorite songs, like “We’ve Come This Far by Faith” or “What a Friend We Have in Jesus,” she would bow down her head and weep. It was the only time I ever saw her cry. “Why do you cry in church?” I asked her one afternoon after service.

“Because God makes me happy.”

“Then why cry?”

“I’m crying ‘cause I’m happy. Anything wrong with that?”

“No,” I said, but there was, because happy people did not seem to cry like she did. Mommy’s tears seemed to come from somewhere else, a place far away, a place inside her that she never let any of us children visit, and even as a boy I felt there was pain behind them. I thought it was because she wanted to be black like everyone else in church, because maybe God liked black people better, and one afternoon on the way home from church I asked her whether God was black or white.

A deep sigh. “Oh boy … God’s not black. He’s not white. He’s a spirit.”

“Does he like black or white people better?”

“He loves all people. He’s a spirit.”

“What’s a spirit?”

“A spirit’s a spirit.”

“What color is God’s spirit?”

“It doesn’t have a color,” she said. “God is the color of water.“

I don’t know why but that seems to be something that needs to be said.

“God is the color of water.“

Needs to be said again and again and again.

1.27.2026 – indifferent to

indifferent to
suffering makes the human
being inhuman

Based on the passage:

In a way, to be indifferent to that suffering is what makes the human being inhuman. Indifference, after all, is more dangerous than anger and hatred. Anger can at times be creative. One writes a great poem, a great symphony. One does something special for the sake of humanity because one is angry at the injustice that one witnesses. But indifference is never creative. Even hatred at times may elicit a response. You fight it. You denounce it. You disarm it.

Indifference elicits no response. Indifference is not a response. Indifference is not a beginning; it is an end. And, therefore, indifference is always the friend of the enemy, for it benefits the aggressor — never his victim, whose pain is magnified when he or she feels forgotten. The political prisoner in his cell, the hungry children, the homeless refugees — not to respond to their plight, not to relieve their solitude by offering them a spark of hope is to exile them from human memory. And in denying their humanity, we betray our own.

Indifference, then, is not only a sin, it is a punishment.

From the address, The Perils of Indifference delivered 12 April 1999, White House, Washington, D.C. by Elie Wiesel.