On ciclovía Sunday, when half the highway closes weekly until 1p.m. to encourage physical activity, the fruit and juice vendors are always the first people I greet coming into my park for a run. 💛 Gotta love a community of work like this. Every role that helps everyday human beings is a good one. #Colombia

*To be clear, even another civil war couldn't pry the Second Amendment from the US, but if you folks could ever "disarm" the NRA's outsized lobby influence by burying it in lawsuits related to local massacres, then maybe an organization with less control over Congress could rise from the ashes.

Responsible US gun owners deserve a representative body that isn't bathed in the blood of their fellow citizens, & the rest of the country deserves greater public safety, full stop.

#MyTwoCanadianCents

Today there was a half-page write-up in El Colombiano of the Georgia shooting and the arrest of Colin Gray.

#Colombia is no stranger to violence, but locals are always shocked and mystified by the number of school shootings that happen in the US. The laws here are lax around gun ownership, but there also isn't a constitutional right to arms weaponized by racist lobbies to shape local views of entitlement.

As another shooting is underway, this Canuck can only thank everyone fighting for change.

(And yes, I think it's time for a coffee. First one in a while! But the work's gotta get done, and I need a quick [legal] upper, so allons-y!)

I thought I was feeling super depressed this afternoon, but nah, my muscles are just screaming from a few days of improved workout routines.

Existential crisis? ❌
Exercise crisis? ✔️

Silly brain. Always trying to put a more elaborate spin on basic physical highs and lows.

☕ #CoffeeClub might enjoy this Ologies #podcast. It doesn't just discuss some of the science of coffee, but also some wonderful stories about its origins and spread, including a chuckle of a factoid about an early word for coffee that essentially meant "wine"/wine of Arabia, simply because wine was the standard drink of the time. (In other words, we're much more fixated on labels now.)

So here's to everyone enjoying their afternoon cuppa... ya drunks. 😉🍷

#History
https://pca.st/episode/f6089a5f-48c9-4784-9c30-857f17588ae7

*so ACSN can

Typing on the phone always adds fun errors to the experience.

Following government negotiations with a wide range of paramilitaries is always a trip. Two parts of EMC (a post-FARC group) recently split over disagreements at the table. ELN also makes negotiations a headache for other local outfits, who have demanded that the gov't exclude ELN from such talks.

But the gov't keeps working on it, & today's paper reports a key step in other talks: dropping leader arrest orders so can ACSN come to the table. #Colombia is a fascinating lesson in peace as a verb.

🥳 Feria de los liiiibros! Quién quiere ir conmigo esta semana? 👀

(Book fair in Medellín! Who wants to go with me this week?!) #Colombia

Sending a random burst of love, well-wishing, and warmth @NiveusLepus's way.

I hope our dear Bun and buddy is taking good care of herself. The work of being present so much and so often with others is wonderful *and* can take a toll.

May you always feel supported in turn, and remember that your core value lies not in what you *do* for others, but in the sheer fact of being you. 🫂💜

Weekend #Ekphrasis challenge, for those who follow #CoSoArt. (Shall we make this a "thing", for those who want more creative expression shared on CoSo?)

This is "The Watcher" by Kellen Rodrigues. What writing, music, or visual art does it inspire from you?

#Poetry #WritersOfCoSo #WritingCommunity

@ACG2

Beating you to it today, bright star! 💫 💛

Good morning and good caffeination to you! 😊 ☕

Lucky #BugFriend, perfectly suited to blend into their environment. 💛

It's utterly bonkers that we ever think of our societies as just.

At best, we're a mess of people with loosely related notions of common destiny, burning with competing internal convictions of what justice entails, trying to scrape out small, reactive wins in systems broken by design.

The cruelty of humanity, and its strategic indifference to *some* suffering, is never surprising.

What's surprising is the hope we still carry into the fight for something better, age after wounded age. #History

Early morning recording finished, and now out for a run before the editing ensues. :)

Morning, CoSo!