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[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

"The streetcar was God or faith or whatever means we have to believe, to journey, to get to where we feel we'll be safe and loved. I knew that car, and I loved that name, but when Blanche heard of it, then saw it, it wasn't just a pretty name: It was salvation. We hitch our wagons to stars, to men, to liquor, to God, and, in some cases, to streetcars that take us not to the moon or to heaven, but right to our demise. This is life, which we must frequently break away from to survive."

--Tennessee Williams/Interview with James Grissom/Photograph from 1988/

(Follies of God)

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

Sara Teasdale's 'There Will Come Soft Rains' is a haunting and evocative poem that explores the contrast between the tranquility of nature and the destructive capabilities of humanity. Set in a post-apocalyptic world where civilization has been wiped out by war, the poem paints a vivid picture of a landscape reclaimed by nature.The poem begins with a serene depiction of nature's resilience, as Teasdale describes the beauty of the natural world carrying on in the absence of human presence.

The soft rains, singing birds, and swaying trees create a sense of peaceful continuity, highlighting the enduring power of life even in the face of devastation.

However, this sense of calm is juxtaposed with the chilling reminder of humanity's destructive potential. Teasdale alludes to the catastrophic events that have led to the downfall of civilization, leaving behind only ruins and silence. The absence of human voices and the eerie stillness of the deserted landscape serve as a stark reminder of the consequences of war and violence.What makes Teasdale's poem particularly powerful is its prophetic quality. Written in 1918, in the aftermath of World War I, "There Will Come Soft Rains" anticipates the horrors of future conflicts and the devastating impact of warfare on both humanity and the natural world. Teasdale's words resonate with a sense of urgency, urging readers to reflect on the destructive tendencies of mankind and the fragility of existence

[Sheema Sreesadan]

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

photo by Henry Ware Eliot, Jr., The New Yorker

* * * *

“Genuine poetry can communicate before it is understood.” 

- T. S. Eliot

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

"I am tired of little tight-faced poets sitting down to shape perfect unimportant pieces. Poems that cough lightly — catch back a sneeze. This is the time for Big Poems, roaring up out of sleaze, poems from ice, from vomit, and from tainted blood. This is the time for stiff or viscous poems. Big, and Big."

~Gwendolyn Brooks

[Thanks Leila L'Abate]

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

Ocean

I am in love with Ocean lifting her thousands of white hats in the chop of the storm, or lying smooth and blue, the loveliest bed in the world. In the personal life, there is

always grief more than enough, a heart-load for each of us on the dusty road. I suppose there is a reason for this, so I will be patient, acquiescent. But I will live nowhere except here, by Ocean, trusting equally in all the blast and welcome of her sorrowless, salt self.

– Mary Oliver

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

Art: Odilon Redon

* * * *

Even broken in spirit as he is, no one can feel more deeply than he does the beauties of nature. The starry sky, the sea, and every sight afforded by these wonderful regions, seems still to have the power of elevating his soul from earth. Such a man has a double existence: he may suffer misery, and be overwhelmed by disappointments; yet, when he has retired into himself, he will be like a celestial spirit that has a halo around him, within whose circle no grief or folly ventures.

-Mary Shelley - Frankenstein

(Center of Applied Jungian Studies)

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

"What I must do, is all that concerns me, not what the people think. This rule, equally arduous in actual and in intellectual life, may serve for the whole distinction between greatness and meanness. It is the harder, because you will always find those who think they know what is your duty better than you know it. It is easy in the world to live after the world's opinion; it is easy in solitude to live after our own; but the great man is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude.”

― Ralph Waldo Emerson, 'Self-Reliance'

[The Makers Rage Podcast]

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

Barry Blitt

* * * *

Legal developments in Trump's criminal and civil cases

The Manhattan election interference case—a jury is selected

The prosecutors in Trump's election interference trial in Manhattan expanded their pending motion to hold Trump in contempt to include his reposting of a Fox News attack on jurors who were selected on Tuesday. A hearing on the contempt motion will take place next Tuesday.

The attacks by Fox News—and the re-posting by Donald Trump—appeared to do what Trump's lawyer could not lawfully achieve in the courtroom—remove a juror to whom they objected. By amplifying news media attacks on the juror, Trump caused the juror to rethink her ability to serve on the jury. She was dismissed on Thursday, less than forty-eight hours after she was seated on the jury.

Yesterday, I wrote that Judge Merchan should declare a mistrial each time Trump engages in conduct that intimidates the jury. One reader—Professor Laurence Tribe—was aghast at my suggestion and asked me to rethink my position. Professor Tribe wrote the following (used with his permission):

No! You’re proposing that Judge Merchan give him what he has repeatedly tried unsuccessfully to get: delay and more delay of a trial that only the misinformed regard as small potatoes. The testimony of the head of the National Enquirer alone will be devastating to the myth that Trump won the 2016 election fair and square.

Professor Tribe is right—as proven by Judge Merchan’s ability to continue jury selection at a brisk pace while setting a hearing on the contempt motion for next Tuesday. If Judge Merchan can protect jurors from irremediable harm while ensuring an impartial jury, he should push ahead to the merits. As Professor Tribe notes, the facts are damning and deserve to be heard by the public at the first opportunity. Delays are Trump's objective and should be avoided whenever possible.

But we are left with the conundrum of what to do with a defendant who intentionally disregards a gag order to intimidate jurors. A remedy must exist—otherwise we are faced with an outcome where Trump is above the law. Judge Merchan has been up to the task of controlling Trump. Let’s hope he will continue to do so.

[Robert B. Hubbell Newsletter]

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

Steve Brodner

* * * *

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

April 18, 2024

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

APR 19, 2024

I will not spend the rest of 2024 focusing on Trump and the chaos in the Republican Party, but today it has been impossible to look away.

In Trump’s election interference trial in Manhattan, Judge Juan Merchan this morning dismissed one of the selected jurors after she expressed concern for her anonymity and thus for her safety. All of the reporters in the courtroom have shared so much information about the jurors that they seemed at risk of being identified, but Fox News Channel host Jesse Watters not only ran a video segment about a juror, he suggested she was “concerning.” Trump shared the video on social media.

The juror told the judge that so much information about her had become public that her friends and family had begun to ask her if she was one of the jurors. Legal analyst Joyce White Vance noted jurors’ fear for their safety was a concern normally seen only “in a case involving violent organized crime.”

Nonetheless, by the end of the day, twelve people had been chosen to serve as jurors. Tomorrow the process will continue in order to find six alternate jurors. 

It is a courtesy for the two sides at a trial to share with each other the names of their next witnesses so the other team can prepare for them. Today the prosecution declined to provide the names of their first three witnesses to the defense lawyers out of concern that Trump would broadcast them on social media. “Mr. Trump has been tweeting about the witnesses. We’re not telling them who the witnesses are,” prosecutor Joshua Steinglass said. 

Merchan said he “can’t blame them.” Trump’s defense attorney Todd Blanche offered to "commit to the court and the [prosecution] that President Trump will not [post] about any witness" on social media. "I don't think you can make that representation," Merchan said, in a recognition that Trump cannot be trusted, even by his own lawyers.

An article in the New York Times today confirmed that the trial will give Trump plenty of publicity, but not the kind that he prefers. Lawyer Norman L. Eisen walked through questions about what a prison sentence for Trump could look like.

Trump’s popular image is taking a hit in other ways, as well. Zac Anderson and Erin Mansfield of USA Today reported that Trump is funneling money from his campaign fundraising directly into his businesses. According to a new report filed with the Federal Election Commission, in February and March the campaign wrote checks totaling $411,287 to Mar-a-Lago and in March a check for $62,337 to Trump National Doral Miami.

Experts say it is legal for candidates to pay their own businesses for services used by the campaign so long as they pay fair market value. At the same time, they note that since Trump appears to be desperate for money, “it looks bad.”

Astonishingly, Trump’s trial was not the biggest domestic story today. Republicans in Congress were in chaos as members of the extremist Freedom Caucus worked to derail the national security supplemental bills that House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) has introduced in place of the Senate bill, although they track that bill closely. 

The House Rules Committee spent the day debating the foreign aid package, which appropriates aid for Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan separately. The Israel bill also contains $9.1 billion in humanitarian aid for Gaza and other countries. A fourth bill focuses on forcing the Chinese owners of TikTok to sell the company, as well as on imposing sanctions on Russia and Iran. 

At stake in the House Rules Committee was Johnson’s plan to allow the House to debate and vote on each measure separately, and then recombine them all into a single measure if they all pass. This would allow extremist Republicans to vote against aid to Ukraine, while still tying the pieces all together to send to the Senate. As Robert Jimison outlined in the New York Times, this complicated plan meant that the Rules Committee vote to allow such a maneuver was crucial to the bill’s passage.

The extremist House Republicans were adamantly opposed to the plan because of their staunch opposition to aid for Ukraine. They wrote in a memo on Wednesday: “This tactic allows Johnson to pass priorities favored by President Biden, the swamp and the Ukraine war machine with a supermajority of House members, leaving conservatives out to dry.”

Extremists Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) and Thomas Massie (R-KY) vowed to throw House speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) out of the speakership, but Democrats Tom Suozzi of New York and Jared Moskowitz of Florida have said they would vote to keep him in his seat, thereby defanging the attack on his leadership.

So the extremists instead tried to load the measures up with amendments prohibiting funds from being used for abortion, removing humanitarian aid for Gaza, opposing a two-state solution to the Hamas-Israel war, calling for a wall at the southern border of the U.S., defunding the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), and so on.

Greene was especially active in opposition to aid to Ukraine. She tried to amend the bill to direct the president to withdraw the U.S. from NATO and demanded that any members of Congress voting for aid to Ukraine be conscripted into the Ukraine army as well as have their salaries taken to offset funding. She wanted to stop funding until Ukraine “turns over all information related to Hunter Biden and Burisma,” and to require Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky to resign. More curiously, she suggested amending the Ukraine bill so that funding would require “restrictions on ethnic minorities’, including Hungarians in Transcarpathia, right to use their native languages in schools are lifted.” This language echoes a very specific piece of Russian propaganda.

Finally, Moskowitz proposed “that Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene…should be appointed as Vladimir Putin’s Special Envoy to the United States Congress.” 

Many congress members have left Washington, D.C., since Friday was to be the first day of a planned recess. This meant the partisan majority on the floor fluctuated. Olivia Beavers of Politico reported that that instability made Freedom Caucus members nervous enough to put together a Floor Action Response Team (FART—I am not making this up) to make sure other Republicans didn’t limit the power of the extremists when they were off the floor.

The name of their response team seems likely to be their way to signal their disrespect for the entire Congress. Their fellow Republicans are returning the heat. Today Mike Turner (R-OH) referred to the extremists as the Bully Caucus on MSNBC and said, “We need to get back to professionalism, we need to get back to governing, we need to get back to legislating.” Derrick Van Orden (R-WI) told Juliegrace Brufke of Axios:  "The vast majority of the Republican Party in the House of Representatives...are sick and tired of having people who...constantly blackmail the speaker of the House.”

Another Republican representative, Jake LaTurner of Kansas, announced today he will not run for reelection. He joins more than 20 other Republican representatives heading for the exits.

After all the drama, the House Rules Committee voted 6–3 tonight to advance the foreign aid package to the House floor. Three Republicans voted nay. While it is customary for the opposition party to vote against advancing bills out of the committee, the Democrats broke with tradition and voted in favor.

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

* * * *

The storytelling mind is allergic to uncertainty, randomness, and coincidence. It is addicted to meaning. If the storytelling mind cannot find meaningful patterns in the world, it will try to impose them. In short, the storytelling mind is a factory that churns out true stories when it can, but will manufacture lies when it can’t.

 -Jonathan Gottschall, The Storytelling Animal: How Stories Make Us Human (via exhaled-spirals)

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

I was thinking about how life is long so that lots of growth can happen slowly, while I want it all at once.

— Sheila Heti, Alphabetical Diaries (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, February 6, 2024)

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

Arroyo Hondo, Santa Fe Co, NM. Photo: David Marcos Sandoval (Jan 2024) :: [Robert Scott Horton]

* * * *

“He drew forth a phrase from his treasure and spoke it softly to himself: —A day of dappled seaborne clouds. The phrase and the day and the scene harmonised in a chord. Words. Was it their colours? He allowed them to glow and fade, hue after hue: sunrise gold, the russet and green of apple orchards, azure of waves, the greyfringed fleece of clouds. No, it was not their colours: it was the poise and balance of the period itself. Did he then love the rhythmic rise and fall of words better than their associations of legend and colour? Or was it that, being as weak of sight as he was shy of mind, he drew less pleasure from the reflection of the glowing sensible world through the prism of a language manycoloured and richly storied than from the contemplation of an inner world of individual emotions mirrored perfectly in a lucid supple periodic prose?”

— Joyce, J., 2000. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. London: Penguin Books. p. 180-181.

[alive on all channels]

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

| Artwork by Arnaldo Mirasol]

* * * *

"Paradoxically, the moment of utter defeat can be the traditional turning point in the journey. It is the moment when all conscious strategems have failed, the ego abdicates, and deeper forces of life may make their appearance."

Marc Ian Barasch

According to J.G. Bennett, The Sufi "Masters of Wisdom" used humiliation as a way of turning the ego and its defensive walls and identities to rubble, the way that what is happening in Gaza can annihilate, and turn to rubble, the edges of our heart, until there are no edges left.

[Leila L'Abate]

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

* * * *

“One does not become fully human painlessly” ― Rollo May

I feel restricted, my soul is restricted inside me, I need another living space.

Andrei Tarkovsky

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

“Wait, for now.

Distrust everything if you have to. But trust the hours. Haven’t they carried you everywhere, up to now?

Personal events will become interesting again. Hair will become interesting. Pain will become interesting.

Buds that open out of season will become interesting.

Second-hand gloves will become lovely again; their memories are what give them the need for other hands. The desolation of lovers is the same: that enormous emptiness carved out of such tiny beings as we are asks to be filled; the need for the new love is faithfulness to the old.

Wait . Don’t go too early. You’re tired. But everyone’s tired.

But no one is tired enough.

Only wait a little and listen:

music of hair, music of pain, music of looms weaving our loves again.

Be there to hear it, it will be the only time, most of all to hear your whole existence, rehearsed by the sorrows, play itself into total exhaustion.”

Copyright © 1980 by Galway Kinnell. From Mortal Acts, Mortal Words (Mariner Books, 1980). Used with permission of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

[Thanks Leila L'Abate]

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

women's rights

* * * *

Arizona Republicans block effort to repeal 1864 law criminalizing abortion

Republicans in the Arizona House blocked an effort by Democrats to repeal an 1864 law that bans abortion and criminalizes the provision of abortion healthcare. A similar effort in the Arizona Senate succeeded by one vote after two Republicans joined Democrats to allow consideration of the repeal the 1864 law.

The cumulative effect of the two votes in the Arizona legislature is that the 1864 law will remain in effect—for now. Democrats may continue their efforts to repeal the bill, but prospects for success appear low. See Talking Points Memo, Arizona Republicans Gleefully Shoot Down Democrats’ Attempts To Repeal 1864 Abortion Ban.

Arizona Republicans maintain narrow control over the state legislature and seem willing to put that control at risk by defending a highly unpopular law. Republicans hold a 16 to 14 majority in the state senate and a 31 to 28 majority in the state house.

Those narrow majorities are up for a vote as proponents of a constitutional amendment to recognize abortion as a fundamental right have gathered enough signatures to qualify the proposed amendment for the November 2024 ballot.

Republicans see the writing on the wall. Recognizing that the constitutional initiative will likely pass, Arizona legislators are contemplating proposing two constitutional amendments to dilute the vote in favor the initiative. See Arizona Republicans weigh options to defeat abortion rights ballot measure, draft proposal reveals | CNN Politics. (In Arizona, like most states, the legislature can place an amendment on the ballot without obtaining the signature of the governor or voters.)

Similar diversionary tactics backfired in Ohio and will likely fail in Arizona. Arizona Republicans are willing to propose bad-faith amendments because they recognize their control of the Arizona legislature is at risk in 2024. They are on the run!

The GOP hardline position may result in flipping the legislature to Democratic control and propelling Ruben Gallego to the US Senate (by defeating Kari Lake). We can take nothing for granted, but we should recognize that extremist Republicans are making it more difficult for them to prevail in the face of strong public support for reproductive liberty.

[Robert B. Hubbell Newsletter]

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

The only parts in "Waiting for Guffman" (1996) that actually were scripted by Christopher Guest and Eugene Levy were the lines in the musical "Red, White, and Blaine."

During the scene where Guest's character Corky is teaching the cast some dance moves, Levy can be seen in the back behind everyone, almost hidden from view. This is because whenever Guest would show off his moves, Levy would laugh so hard that they would have to cut and wait for him to stop laughing before doing another take. They figured it'd be best if Levy was in the back, where he would not be able to see Guest during this scene.

In the closing interview, Corky talks about learning to drop his H's for a role as an English character in a production of" My Fair Lady". He then demonstrates with an awkward recitation of phrases with dropped H's including, "I don't want to live in this 'ell 'ole." This is most likely a nod to Guest's "This Is Spinal Tap" (1984), which features a song called "Hell Hole."

Much of the movie was shot in Lockhart, Texas, a town located 30 miles south of Austin. Guest wanted to put a "Stool Capital of the World" sign up over the town, but he was not granted permission to do so.

(Red Break)