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No Kings Protest
Our last day in the US coincided with the No Kings protests and I was happy to find that there was one scheduled in Gloucester, the next town over from where we were staying. I signed up. I spent some early mornings turning paper plates and cereal boxes into protest signs. I had conversations with…
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After six years…USA
Last week, Tod & I travelled to America for the first time since my mother’s funeral in 2019. It’s actually our first overseas travel at all since that time. The pandemic set in; Tod had a busy job; then we built a house…a lot has happened that kept us happily in Japan. I really didn’t…
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Silence is Complicity, but…
This is a weird time to be an American. My homeland is in turmoil. There’s a constitutional crisis going on as the Executive branch (the president) wrests power away from the Judicial and Legislative branches. It all stinks of authoritarianism, dictatorship, oligarchy, and greedy narcissism. The past 90 days have turned the USA inside out.…
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Empress Kristen
In my mid-30s, I had political ambitions. I didn’t like the way the world was headed. In the late 90s there was corruption and conflict and too many politicians clinging to power. Those things don’t go anywhere good. A shake-up would improve the situation. I decided that if I were elected president of the US,…
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Remembering Philo
I didn’t expect this would hit me so hard. I met Philo Hagen only twice in person. I couldn’t call him a friend, but my life between 2008 and 2018 was shaped his influence and our online collaborations. I left my “hooping era” years ago, and so did he, but now he is gone from…
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Mystery Drones over Chiba?
For the past couple of weeks, people in the US have reported mysterious nighttime drone sightings, specifically over New Jersey and now spreading along the east coast and elsewhere. There are been reports of drones over US bases in the UK, too. And last night, Tod saw flying objects in the sky over our local…
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WTF is Neoliberal?
I find political theory confusing. For example, what’s up with the “neoliberal” label? I keep seeing it used in reference to Trump and his band. Those guys are certainly conservative, not liberal. Are they trying to “own the libs” by co-opting their label? So I asked Claude.ai for an explanation and as usual, Claude gave…
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Bad News for Food Prices?
As much as the incoming US administration promises to reduce inflation and boost the economy, some of their policies are going to end up increasing food prices. Here are four reasons why I see this happening: Climate Change Food prices start with raw ingredients. There is a move afoot to remove the words “climate change”…
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Equinox vs Equilux
I am not sure how I lived this long without really understanding the equinox. I have been marking equinox and solstice days for decades. It’s one of the few planet-wide things to be celebrated. I thought the equinox was when the day and night were equal lengths. That’s what I learned in school. Also that…
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8mm wonders from 1976
A school mate from Pennsylvania posted a couple of 8mm transfers to YouTube this week. What a time capsule treasure of fashion and location. In one of them, I found both myself (age 10) and my sister (age 7). I had to watch a few times to be sure that girl on the film was…
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