All right. Meeting time, then taxes, then editing.

I'm seeing a lot of hardship on the feed today, and there's probably more coming down the pike.

It'd be super-swell if being mad at ourselves for not being able to fix / prevent everything actually *did* something.

But since it doesn't, try to have grace for yourselves and each other instead.

We're all doing the best that we can with what we've got goin' on upstairs.

Hang in there, keep swimming, use the force, etc. 💙 See you 'round, pals.

So little changes.

Fifth Avenue, 1936.

Yet we press on, not because humanity will ever magically become kinder, but because we need to stay with the trouble all the same.

Thank you for your presence in the fray.

A final guffaw before bed.

(It is, though. It is.) Night, CoSo!

#Humour #Meme

And before I head off, another poem that better suits the day.

Marcellus ​“Khaliifah” Williams wrote poetry while in prison, on death row.

Even the family of the victim and the prosecutor's office fought for the state not to kill him. The case against him was all wrong.

As Langston Hughes might have said, "He, too, sings America."

Or sang it, while he could.

Until tonight.

#US #DeathPenalty #Poetry
https://innocenceproject.org/marcellus-williams-on-death-row-poetry-is-a-lifeline/

Tonight's first students get some poetry, via two poems that I love to pair for my advanced learners: Mary Oliver's "The Summer Day" and James Wright's "Lying in a Hammock at William Duffy's Farm in Pine Island, Minnesota".

Also, @LiseL, my mall had a new gift today: a lovely display dedicated to the originator of a wildly popular 18th-Centurt version of Beauty and the Beast!

I truly never know what I'm going to discover in it next. #Poetry #Literature

And here are the infographs I made for this piece: a depiction of an unhealthy news cycle, and a depiction of a healthier one, both seen from the perspective of an average end-user who is going to be inundated with opinions about a given news story either way.

How can we make sure that reader gets the most informative and empowering curation of news possible?

#MediaLiteracy #Journalism #SocialMedia #Culture

All right, I have let go of the Patreon post.

This started as a reflection on Medellín's recent book festival, but it just kept getting deeper and deeper. Now it starts with Boccaccio? And explores a range of recent essays lamenting the decline of readers and book culture? And asks questions about the core role of literature in our deeply hurting world?

Well, it's free-to-read.

You be the judge of its value.

#CoSoBooks #WritersOfCoSo #WritingCommunity #Literature

https://www.patreon.com/posts/112499632

I jumped the gun with getting Apple for Slow Horses (waiting for the full season so I can binge), so I've been making my way through Bad Monkey during meals... and it's okay (some cute V/O lines and location work that are giving me ideas for an upcoming fiction project), but it also has Vince Vaughn, who isn't a favourite.

Then I realized that I'm actually watching this show for the Dragon Queen (Jodie Turner-Smith), who just steals every scene she's in.

I want her in EVERYTHING. 😍

#CoSoTV

New day, new opportunities.

Essay for you folks soon, and a BookTube.

But for now, the promise of our glorious giver and destroyer, the sun. 👌

Night, CoSo. May the right side of the bed find us all tomorrow. ❤️

For now--

I'LL BE IN MY CAN.

For our next #Zine issue, I'm proposing a section dedicated to #Ekphrasis.

Ideally, we'll get a #CoSonaut to submit a photo we can use to inspire CoSonaut writing, but for now, here's a weekend prompt to practise:

This is a public domain piece called "The Farm", by Joan Miró. It was made a little over a century ago, 1921-22, to depict homegrown water collection systems for a farm running dry.

#CoSoArt, #WritersOfCoso: If you need a creative prompt this weekend, why not a give this one a spin?

On the plus side: #HorseFriends are back. (With bonus hazily captured giant moon.) The world is filled with so much pain, and I'm still making cookies for a friend in recovery when I get home. Morning, CoSo!

🤔 I think I'm going to need to see their peer review first. An outside assessment would probably help! #Space

https://www.sciencealert.com/a-distant-spacecraft-has-confirmed-that-earth-is-habitable

I know I'm not the only one, but I'm having a tough time mentally, especially with executive function.

Today's huge surge of relief over not needing a bigger repair was followed by a real struggle with everything else, even though I'm behind on tasks.

Am I frustrated with myself? Yes.
Does being frustrated fix this? No.

So if your brain isn't braining the way you want/need it to brain, try not to brain yourself further over your brain drain.

Off for a walk, to try to sneak up on mine again.

For those who were curious...

Costumes for Halloween are now out. They came a few days after the first trees.

Kids don't really trick-or-treat, except at mall events, but they do love hanging out in costume during family parties or out in neighbourhood throngs on Halloween.

#Colombia

"Looking up at the stars, I know quite well
That, for all they care, I can go to hell,
But on earth indifference is the least
We have to dread from man or beast.

How should we like it were stars to burn
With a passion for us we could not return?
If equal affection cannot be,
Let the more loving one be me." #Space

The poor donkey has been relocated after a violent attack by a disturbed street person a few days back, and it seems that Pablo is being more vigilant with "his" horses, too, so in the absence of my usual early morning park friends, I'm communing with this fleeting red abyss of beauty before the dawn instead. #Nature

Weekend #Ekphrasis prompt, for those engaging with #CoSoArt and/or our #WritingCommunity.

This photo is by Yannis Kolesidis. In Lidoriki, Greece, declining water levels are revealing structures submerged since 1980. This is from a "lost village", and the sharp reduction in water is a danger to nearby Athens. Maybe there's a juxtaposition in old & new homes facing ruin that will inspire a poem, story, song, or painting in you?

If so, feel free to share it in a comment on this post this weekend!

This country. 🙃

Clan del Golfo has had a strong presence in rural regions of my department for a while. Last year they went on "strike" by seizing small mining towns where locals were trying to protest. This week, the conflict is again at a high point...

But it's actually a conflict between the Clan and *other* groups - the paramilitaries ELN and EMC (an offshoot from FARC). And... the military of #Colombia is trying to keep the peace amid them.

Ongoing lessons in the nuance of war and peace!

TFW the standards for common decency have been too damned low for too damned long. #News

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/sep/12/granddaughter-of-mussolini-to-leave-brothers-of-italy-as-it-is-too-rightwing