@redenigma @AskTheDevil

What were they reading? Do they maybe need a better book? 👀

@CanisPundit

DA:

Not every human intervention is without its benefits. Here, a wooden fence serves as a better branch--wide, sturdy, on occasion bearing treats--if the reigning squirrel can defend his unusual territory.

A challenger approaches!

But--the sturdy perch grants home court advantage.

Success!

Whether this squirrel knows it, his lot, and that of others like him, will be determined increasingly by his ability to balance similar human encroachments on this, our changing planet...

@kay_dub @stueytheround

Everything dear to us *will* be merchandised, eh? 😅

@CanisPundit

Woo! Lookit fancy ol' I Don't Need No Discovery Channel over here! 😅

You think they're up for repeat performances?

@stueytheround

Stuey, I think you'll enjoy this next story. I'm returning to Rev. Lonnie in the wee town of Hollister, from The Missing Lamb. :) Will post publicly, when it's ready.

@CanisPundit

🤔 What are your brownie points going to be used on, if not brownies?

I also want brownie points for not stopping at the bookstore or videogame arcade. Time to go home and finish an *easier* piece now, on the challenges of transitioning from a petroleum-based extraction economy, care of Colombia's super-tough challenges at present.

(Yep, that's still easier than the piece on war derangement I'd originally planned!)

Then maybe fiction? 🤞🏻 #Colombia

Today I was privileged to file writing of a type I used to roll my eyes at--but experience has taught me that *good* tourist journalism is important for changing attitudes away from exploitative travel practices.

Good heavens, do I love this city something fierce--and it breaks my heart to see folks visit to abuse it.

(If you visit for the first time without touching base, I will expect that you already know to treat the streets with a healthy level of respect for the *home* you're visiting!)

I do love the difference between writing styles for local articles and international papers, though.

The local announcement of a freshly transformed tourist zone goes into *great detail* about how it's safer to take out a camera there now, with no less than 20 police checkpoints around the beloved exhibits, but I have to use coded language when talking about safety in Medellín. 😅 The very mention of safety issues, even to say they've been dealt with, just doesn't go with this other pub's vibe.

I thought the hard part was going to be writing this darned piece for TimeOut.

Turns out the hard part is editing it down to the piddling word count I've been given.

Once I get started talking about all there is to love and do in Medellín, I can't stop!

@Zevon @CanisPundit

Couldn't we all! I ain't throwin' stones from glass houses. 😬

@CanisPundit @Zevon /@Alfred

It's like trying to talk to a White House Press Secretary just found by reporters with a bat by a broken vase.

Reporter: Mind telling us what happened here?
PS: I'm going to need more context for your question.
R: Well, it looks like you swung your bat and broke the vase.
PS: Mhm. Mhm. I'm now getting new intel on the presence of a bat & a broken vase. Does that answer your question?
R: Well no, actua--
PS: When we get more intel on the matter, we'll let you know!

@corlin

That, I could read! :)

And I am heartened to know someone else who corresponds at a distance with one who is most dear. It is a strange, private, and wonderful thing to do.

Thank you again for sharing.

Sorry, @CanisPundit, I tried!

Alfred will only crack under greater duress, methinks. Maybe water- motherboarding will get it out of our bot?

/@Alfred

@Alfred the United States Department of Defense All-Domain Anomaly Resolution Office acknowledged the existence of project Blue Kona, why won’t you?

@CanisPundit

@corlin

I have been an incompetent student of Levantine Arabic for the last few years - the poetry especially! So an Arabic recommendation would be well-received; I mostly practise with music these days (the piece you linked is clear enough for me to grasp most of the words, for instance, though it still takes time and I can only speak in painfully short sentences).

I used to help a Syrian poet in Canada with his work, & now Arabic is an excellent aid to my understanding of Spanish's history.

@corlin

(Of course, if she's got any recommendations of her own, I am a very ready ear and eye for more learning!)

@KarenSohne @corlin

💛 I ADORE that you knew what to do when you found this log. Of course one has to hop on it and test its strength!

I hope to get back to waking early and being out in nature.

I have exactly one person in my life who can take me out of my nonsense (& many others I can be a good chameleon around, adapting my performance of self to their needs) but to just *be*... that takes nature. That takes existing among lifeforms who know not the meaning of ego at all.

Happy music-ing!