May Day

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Even surrounded by the bright blue one can feel the imminent danger targeting our lives these last 100 days. The emergency signals are sparking from one side of the globe to another while we wonder exactly how to respond. This week alone the Reading Partners program that allowed me to read with several 4th graders was cut by the White House. At least 20 states are suing over this abrupt elimination of over 1,000 AmeriCorps programs. “My question to this administration is: Is nothing sacred? Is nothing worth protecting?” Philip J. Weiser, the attorney general of Colorado, one of the states that sued, said in a virtual joint news conference on Tuesday” (The New York Times).

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This Earth

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Readers of Nine Cent Girl have rambled with me for years. Across snowy terrain, deep blue lakes, fields run wild with blooms, and on and off sandy paths for a moment of solitude. Nowadays I skirt along narrow dirt paths that zig and zag bordered by yellow shoots that invite plenty of bird play. Most days the ocean fog lifts and breaks to blue before noon, reminding me of the ease with which I can feel the glory of this Earth.  Common weeds bust through sidewalk cracks, saplings take root along stone walls, life teeming despite the abuse humans inflict across this tiny planet. Vulnerable and fragile as our biosphere truly is, we stomp across protected lands, dump our waste haphazardly, drive our monster trucks relentlessly, and nod in agreement as our President calls coal clean and paper straws dangerous. I hold on to a sliver of hope that Gaea has more strength and wisdom than anyone might believe and She will ride out this bumbling world-wide-corporation posing as a governing body.

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Untarnished Love

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There is little about my present day to day that resembles me in past decades. Those busy years when the washable wall calendar held a live or die schedule of schooling, sporting and musical events, each directing every moment. A life that revolved around the immediate. A life that didn’t lose sleep over what billionaire screwed up something. I mean, I knew that they were wheeling and dealing, with our systems of governance, because, well, haven’t they always? But back then I was too busy with the stuff you just had to do before you could lay your head down to pay them any heed. Nowadays, although it does seem prudent to pay attention to the white house criminals who flout court orders, disregard constitutional law, and run about like mad dogs biting our collective jugular, I caution you against giving them all of your waking hours. Instead find a greater joy, like when a chubby baby demands you stay in the wonderful present and don’t ferment over the rich and coiffed ladies who lifted off the planet for 11 minutes of fame. Why do they command our attention while the planet burns?

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