My daughter and her family will be here today! They live in Illinois and I haven’t seen them since Christmas.
We’ve got stuff planned–a beach trip tops the list, but mainly I’m going to spoil the three grandkids and enjoy my time with them.
Peace, people!
I’ve been immersed lately in the near future America depicted in Octavia E. Butler’s Parable series. After practically inhaling the first of the novels, Parable of the Talents, I immediately downloaded the second book, Parable of the Sower.
The books’ heroine is a strong, intelligent, teenaged girl named Lauren Oya Olamina. In the year 2024 Lauren turns fifteen. She lives a relatively protected life in a walled community outside of Los Angeles.
Life outside the wall is chaotic. Society as Lauren’s parents knew it has broken down. While communities like the one in which Lauren lives are not uncommon, they aren’t the norm. Even though her family has to conserve resources and take turns keeping watch at night, she’s one of the lucky ones.
But one day that all changes. First her father goes missing, then fire-loving druggies burn her sheltered neighborhood, scattering Lauren’s family. There are no safety nets. The police and fire departments cannot be counted on for aid. Lauren is on her own.
This tale could have merely chronicled Lauren’s journey to safety, but in addition to being a vagabond teenager she has started a religion, Earthseed, and she builds her congregation from her fellow refugees as she founds the community they name Acorn.
I’m still reading the second book, and the situation seems dire. Once again Lauren is on the run, but there’s much more at stake at this point. The newly elected president of the United States ran on a theme of “Make America Great Again.” He’s instituted American Christianity as the national religion, and his supporters are capable of unthinkable atrocities in their quest to wipe out any belief systems other than theirs. It’s a chilling look at what might be in store for our future.
Lauren is a fascinating heroine. Her single-minded drive to complete her grand mission is inspiring, but also frustrating. I want her to be safe, but safety is not her goal.
If you’re into dystopian fiction give Ms. Butler’s books a try. Just let me know what you think.
Peace, people.
Moments taken, undulating, slipping through the fingers of my mind. Slowly marking
Time when all we had was time. Permanent markers. Red and black indelible print on soft
Surfaces. Everyone could see that you belonged to me. Except for you. And her. Thieves.
Wisps of fleecy clouds
Do not mar a summer sky
They define the blue
Gift me with crinkles
Life’s perfect imperfections
Memory’s index
Smile with abandon
Frown without retribution
Claim each earned wrinkle
Political cartoons may be our salvation.
Fresh ideas for blog material are coming to me at the steady pace of molasses in mud, which is to say they’re not coming at all. I know the key here is to just write, regardless of whether anything printable results.
The truth is that my head is in a muddle. Everything I write feels like it’s something I’ve written before. I know I’m not the only one to feel this way. After all one of the original bloggers put it so eloquently:
The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun. Ecclesiastes 1:9 KJV
I know how to remedy this situation. A week at an all-inclusive resort ought to do it. I’m sure that’s what the Preacher in the book of Ecclesiastes did–booked himself into an exclusive place in Arizona and enjoyed a nice deep tissue massage and followed it up with a 90 minute facial. Seven days of clean eating and meditation cleared his mind and he was able to finish the book.
I’m open to sponsorships.
Political cartoonist, Mike Luckovich, just keeps hitting home runs.
I spent all of ten minutes completing my bracket for March Madness. To all my friends outside of the U.S. this has to do with college basketball and who’ll be crowned the best of the best in a 64* team tournament.
I don’t pay a ton of attention to college basketball during the season, so I have no idea how one team will match up against another. We have friends who get all technical and look at statistics and rosters. Not me.
I root for the Kansas Jayhawks. Regardless of who else is in the tournament or what their season record has been I always choose them to win the tournament. Even if they weren’t IN the tournament I’d probably have chosen them anyway. Now that’s loyalty. Or stupidity.
Rounding out my top four I’ve got Duke, Gonzaga, and North Carolina.
I’m curious to see who else is into the bracketology surrounding March Madness. Who made your top four? Here’s a printable bracket–better late than never, eh? http://media.kansascity.com/livegraphics/2017/jp/2017ncaamensbracket.pdf?v=4
Peace, people!
*four teams have to play into the tourney, so technically it’s 68 teams. Sort of. It’s all very confusing.
Praying for Eyebrowz 