So Long, Farewell

I feel done with my blog. I can feel an inward gravity pulling me in and away from writing for an audience. I feel an urge to limit outside communication and a need to work on the stories sitting in my brain.

Writing for an audience is one of the things that I've loved so much about doing this blog. I've appreciated how many of you have told me you like reading my posts, and I've always enjoyed the comments you've posted.

I'm thinking that it's time someone else picked up the mantle. We can do a serial blog, like those progressive dinner parties of the 80's. I've done the appetizer, now it's time for someone to serve up an entree.

In case I'm just in a mood, I'm leaving my blog up for a week or two, but I fully expect to delete the whole thing from the ether.

So, thanks for the insights, the commentary, the camaraderie. Merry meet, merry part, and merry meet again.

Tiny But Mighty

This here is a picture of my cutie-pie niece, Sofia, the one who was born 3 months premature at 1 pound, 12 oz. She's a testament to modern science, the tireless love and care of her parents, and to her own indomitable will. She was born tiny-but-mighty and those of us in her extended family are glad to see her growing up and doing all the things full-term babies do without any lasting harm from her early entrance and 3 months in the ICU.

This here is a shout out to my brother and his wife, and all the parents who begin their job not in the way they expected but adapt and rally to the challenge, visiting their preemie in the ICU , holding her, loving her and praying every second that she will hang on to the tiny life they can't imagine doing without. Here's to the doctors and nurses who provide around-the-clock care to these nascent lives who deserved a better start than a hurried ejection from the womb.

Let's all celebrate the gift of new life, the miracles brought by scientific knowledge and the love in parents and the rest of us that cares for the tiniest among us.

Political Inaction

I've been chewing on SJD's thoughtful reflections to yesterday's post, where she wonders if all of us observers of the political scene need to get off our butts and get more involved (she put it much more gently). I can see her point. It's that old "If you're not part of the solution you're part of the problem," scenario. I can see that, yet my bottom line is that I don't wanna.

Part of it stems from living with vocal conservatives for much of my upbringing. I have long since learned the futility of trying to disabuse people of long-held, strongly-held convictions, especially when those convictions have been elevated to the status of holy writ. My picture of getting more involved politically involves having to talk to those kinds of people in an effort to persuade them to relinquish their cherished beliefs.

It is my conviction that there is a fundamental world view difference between Dems and Pubs, based on values and life experiences, such that talking about our favorite candidate and why s/he's better won't change any minds. It'd be like trying to persuade someone why your religion (or lack thereof) is so much better than their belief system. I think that's why emotionally charged negative campaigns are so effective with the hoi polloi; the messages of fear and hate sink into the subconscious and burrow into the fertile ground of values and emotions that has already taken up residence.

Here's an example of what I mean. Right now Congress is hearing testimony about the great Wall Street bailout and how it's critical or our entire financial infrastructure will collapse. We're told that if this bailout doesn't happen we will be visited by the four horseman of the Apocalypse : rampant inflation, more foreclosures, increased unemployment, increased bankruptcies.

None of want that, of course. That sounds very scary. Yet I have no idea if that forecast is true. Neither do most people. There are dissenting voices, who say the government shouldn't get involved. How am I to know who or what to believe?

I think most people will believe what already fits their worldview. Is the world a safe place where most things work out, or is the world teetering on the brink of disaster so we should do all we can to shore up the barricades?

Of course, this is a very simplistic response, and I know there are readers who are way better informed than I am, but on this subject--economics--I am way out of my depth. So, I have to react with my gut, which is what I think most people do when faced with issues beyond their scope.

National and international governance is similarly beyond my scope. So, I want to vote for leaders I can trust whose basic worldview and opinion on issues is similar to mine. That's as much attention as I want to give it. I have other interests, other focuses in my life. The way I see it, the world is filled with causes worth dedicating one's time and interest--animal rights, women's rights, civil rights, the environment, peace and justice, etc. etc. etc. They're all good, all equally valuable and important in helping create a better world. So, I'm not going to step up my political involvement, leaving it to those for whom it's a passion.

That's my view today. We'll see what the morrow brings.

Women Against Palin

I read online yesterday that 25% of Clinton supporters now support Sarah Palin. I hope that isn't true for so many reasons. First, I don't want the Republicans to win in November. Second, it points to how many women feel oppressed and angry so that any woman power is better in their minds than no woman in power, no matter what her views. Third, it points to the triumph of the politics of fear and that I just can't abide.

Luckily, there is good news. I encourage you to check-out how some Alaskan women feel about Sarah Palin (brought to my attention by savvy reader Micky):

http://mudflats.wordpress.com/2008/09/14/alaska-women-reject-palin-rally-is-huge/

Warding Off Winter's Chill

Fall has officially arrived and I'm not ready. I usually love this season with the crispness in the air, the leaves dressing up the trees, the clear blue skies in between bouts of rain. This year, all I can think about is that winter follows behind fall and I'm not at all looking forward to the dreary cold that is winter in the Pacific Northwest. I don't feel recovered from last winter that stretched into a very cold spring. I find myself sympathizing with the squirrels, wanting to stockpile wood and food and cook hearty meals and freeze the leftovers. Maybe that's natural. Maybe feeling the urge to bring in the harvest and stockpile against the dangerous unkowns that winter brings is built in to our DNA.

With all the bad economic news and the nasty political campaigns this election season maybe hunkering down is also a natural protective response against the wintry relations that beset the human family at this time. I no longer follow the national election. When local TV campaign ads foul the air in my family room , I mute the ads and avert my eyes. I take walks and cast my eyes to the heavens, seeking solace in the autumnal finery. I read cook books looking for tasty recipes that will offer solid eats.

With so much of the world news running to bad and worse--and completely out of my control--I find that the simple acts of nourishing my family, cleaning our clothes, beautifying our home calm me and root me in the present moment, which is all I can count on. Winter will arrive whether I will it or no. In the meantime our backyard maple is turning from green to red, as if the tip of each leaf had been dipped in a wet sunset and hung up to dry on the branches.

There is beauty before me, out my back window, beauty around me in the love of my family, beauty under me in the warmth and security of my home, beauty over me in the hope for better times. In the meantime, there is fall and the promise that to everything there is a season.