callibr8

gakked from Facebook, via Sunnie Larsen, originally by Elizabeth Bennet. Reposting in full for those (like me) who read FB sporadically if at all.


Patriots! All over this country are untold numbers of people enjoying their last day with all ten fingers. As we zero in on the 4th, here are some helpful tips and tricks from your buddies in emergency services:

( help us help you )

And if you have friends who need this, feel free to share.

It's the 73rd anniversary of D-Day, and time for this month's Poetry Fishbowl. The theme du jour is "Poke ALL the bigots in the eye". See Ysabetwordsmith's page for further details, to sponsor a poem, and/or leave a prompt.

While reading a Chicago Tribune article on the WannaCry ransomware attack, I stumbled across a particular paragraph which amused me greatly - in a black humor sort of way.

Pepsi alert: put down your beverage before clicking through...

( ...in which they contradict themselves )

One of the things I appreciate most about the "blogosphere" is the ability to point to someone else's writing and say, "OOOOOH, SHINY!" Fortunately, others seem to have a similar predilection, so by reading their posts, I glean links to ones which educate and/or inspire.

I followed one such link today, to Jim Wright's blog, "Stonekettle Station". This post, from last April, I found both inspiring and a call to action. It was a just-right thing at a just-right time. It begins with a quote from the movie "Tomorrowland", and ends with a story about two wolves. One of the things I like about this writer is that he pulls no punches. In this case, his target is passivity, and that's a place where blunt truth *needs* to be said, and heard.

I can do more. Most of us can. And every little bit matters.

A friend (someone I've known for years, in real space) alerted me to this distressing situation. From her post:

Artist Dorothy Cordochorea writes:

I painted this oil painting of a Hawaiian scene a long time ago, and it hung in my parents' home for decades. It has a great deal of sentimental value to me, and I always expected to get it back eventually. I am distressed to learn that it was mistakenly donated to a Value Village in Seattle in January, when my mother had to be moved. Please, if you have seen it or have it, help me get it back. There are many memories associated with this painting, and I want it with me or with family, not strangers.

Here's a link to the painting; it's a small image, but it's what I have to work with:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/dv6fagke6uxsfsr/Hawaii-Painting.jpg?dl=0

Seattle-area peeps, please keep your eye out for this, and if you find it, let me know; I'll make sure the information (and, hopefully, the painting) gets back to Dorothy.

ETA: I went to the Value Village website and put in a plea for the Seattle area stores to please check for the painting, and notify me if found. *fingers crossed*

The delightful and talented dialecticdreamer is hosting her monthly "Magpie Monday", wherein readers are invited to provide shiny prompts on the current theme, and see excellent, entertaining fiction arise from such. To quote,
"Everyone needs a break from the stress of daily life, and today's theme fits that need perfectly: cotton candy fluff. Lighthearted, warm stories which, if they have a central problem, certainly do not have the 'usual' format. The emphasis this month is on creating stories meant to lift the reader's mood and make them smile."

Further info, and the place to see what prompts have been offered and/or contribute more of same, are here:
http://dialecticdreamer.dreamwidth.org/304184.html

It pays to pay attention... while re-viewing the videos for "Let It Go" from Frozen, I found what is for me the ultimate version: it has not only all 25 languages and picture-insets of each vocalist, it also includes subtitles for each phrase, in the specific language! Where applicable, there are Roman-alphabet (or IPA?) versions alongside "native" forms for almost all of the Eastern European (Russian, Bulgarian, Serbo-Croation et al.) and Asian (Japanese, Mandarin, Cantonese, Korean, Thai, et al) languages.

I may never succeed in fully memorizing this version, but now at least I have the tools I need to make a good attempt. WHEEEEE!!!!!

Thank you, Mike Briggs. You're still enriching lives, even though you've moved on from this plane of existence.

Mike's sudden death in late January was the catalyst for my resuscitating my Facebook account. I rarely post and only occasionally check the feed, but it was a vital conduit of information in the first few days after his death. I'm very glad that I checked the feed today; someone posted a link to Jason Brown's 2014 U.S. Nationals free skate routine, "Riverdance on Ice". Truly an exceptional performance, a spectacular synchrony of music and top-flight skating. Given that the video is from three years ago, perhaps Mike even got to see it, I don't know. But *I* got to see it today, because of him. *raises a glass*

ETA: there's a terrific, detailed writeup about the process of creating and perfecting this particular free skate routine, in the New York Times.

My favorite part of the article is this:

“It’s just such a breath of fresh air, because I think skaters have gotten so bogged down with the technical elements and requirements,” [Olympic figure skating coach Robin] Wagner said. “I think we’ve lost the beauty of putting a program together where the steps make sense to the music and you’re telling a story.”

[Brown's coach Kori] Ade said Brown received a thankful Facebook message from the music’s composer, Bill Whelan, and heard from some “Riverdance” cast members who said they watched his skate for preperformance inspiration.

For Ade, the remarkable part is that the program went viral for being uplifting.

“They are not watching it because he fell and it’s funny to watch a figure skater fall,” she said. “They are not watching it because it’s Jerry Springer and someone’s life is in shambles.

They are watching it because he’s doing something with so much joy and so much passion.”

I grew up in the southeastern corner of Washington state. For those unfamiliar with the state's political geography, the part of Washington state west of the Cascades is considerably more urban and liberal than the (much larger) land area east of the mountains. Those progressive views are among the many reasons I've chosen to live west of the Cascades (whether in Washington or Oregon) for *ALL* of my adult life...

Apparently a community college instructor on the eastern side of Washington state is engaging in some "alternative fact" instruction in a history class, stating that the incarceration of Japanese-Americans during World War II was not a racist action. Worse yet, the local newspaper there is backing him; they published an op-ed article in support of his actions. When called on their actions, staff of the paper responded to a reader with juvenile insults. Huffington Post has a good writeup of the situation, here, and makes some excellent points about free speech, debates, matters of fact, and misguided and damaging assertions about balance and fairness in journalism.

The reason I titled this, "NIMBY? Just the opposite..." is that the internments happened right here. Thousands of Japanese-Americans - most of them women and children - who lived in the Puget Sound area were deprived of their homes and livelihoods, and were forcibly transported hundreds or thousands of miles away, many of them with almost no time to pack any personal belongings. That someone on the other side of this state would "whitewash" the U.S. government's illegal, unjust, misguided actions, and that his local newspaper would back his position, is sickening, and its implications are frightening.

I don't want it to happen again. Not in my backyard, not anywhere in my country, not to anyone.

I got some shocking, horrible, tragic news this afternoon. A member of my "family of choice" - someone a couple of years younger than my middle-aged self, has died very suddenly and unexpectedly.

( excerpted from an FB post on the OfficialPatriciaBriggs account )

The "oh no, not again", above, is because this is a cruel echo of this same d**n time last year, when another dear friend, also a few years younger than me, went into the hospital on Jan 22, 2016, and died there four days later. I don't know yet if "complications of pneumonia" (i.e. the same cause) is the reason... but I wouldn't be at all surprised.

I'll reprise here the plea that I closed that post with:

What I do know is this: don't dawdle. Don't delay. Because - as this has searingly reminded me - you probably have less time than you think, to do things, say things, see things, make things; to let your nearest and dearest know how much you love them. So as much as you can, make every moment count. Most likely, such moments are fewer than you know.

~~~~~~~~~~

One final note: the music listed, "I'll Fly Away", was one of Mike's favorite songs, and the last song I remember singing with him, at Sasquan, the 2015 Worldcon in Spokane, WA.

ETA:
There's a brief article, with a very nice picture of Mike, in "typical" filk circle mode, currently posted on the website of the local newspaper for his area, here: http://www.tri-cityherald.com/news/local/article128322494.html