Thursday Tidbits

Random thoughts on a Thursday afternoon:

A few days ago, another privileged young male who thought that the women of the world owed him subservience and sex on demand made the decision to take out on a bunch of innocent people his frustration over the fact that the women of the world didn't agree with him. He killed six outright and grievously injured several others. Sadly, it's an oft-recurring phenomenon in our gun-happy society.

In response to this atrocity, as has become the norm when such things happen, a hashtag account was started on Twitter - #YesAllWomen. The purpose of the account was to give women a place to vent about being sexually harassed and demeaned, discriminated against, raped, and all the other everyday injustices that women in this society experience because of their gender. The response was overwhelming.

Very soon, the utterly predictable backlash from the misogynistic multitudes began. There were responses on Twitter and elsewhere deriding these women's experiences. They were vulgar and mean-spirited at best and promised retribution and violence at worst.

Misogyny is rife in America today and probably always has been. It seems to permeate everything in our lives, so much so that it comes to be seen as normal. Women have radar that detects it, but often, I think, men are completely oblivious to it. They just accept that that is the way things are and will frequently accuse any woman who speaks out against it of being overly sensitive.

So we have people like Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck making fun of women for showing solidarity for schoolgirls kidnapped in Nigeria or sneering about women trying to teach their daughters how to be safe, how not to be raped.

And then there is any famous male stand-up comedian you care to name for whom rape and/or violence against women seem to be considered appropriate subjects for their routines. Big laugh-getters from their predominantly male audiences.

What is true in the so-called entertainment field is equally true elsewhere in our society. What would a world without misogyny look like? Unfortunately, I'm afraid I will not see it in my lifetime.

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What is it with Republican candidates and guns? Is there some unwritten rule - or maybe written, for all I know - that any person running for office on the Republican ticket has to be photographed with a gun in his hands? And preferably in a camouflage suit? What are they trying to compensate for?

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And speaking of guns and the mass murder in California, Richard Martinez, the father of one of the victims has called out the spineless politicians who refuse to take any action to stop the carnage because they are afraid of the NRA. His eyes are wide open. He knows he will be vilified for speaking out, but he says, "My son is dead. There is nothing you could do to me that is worse than that."

He is a brave man.

At the other end of the spectrum, we have the odious "Joe the Plumber" who said, "Your dead kids don't trump my Second Amendment rights."

There are no words to describe my contempt for this man.

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It seems we just can't get away from guns this week. Even when noting the passing of the great Maya Angelou.

Now, most news organizations, in reporting on Angelou's death, focused on her career as an award-winning poet and memoirist and activist. Not the right-wing National Review! Nosiree, for them the salient point of her life was that she had once said that she owned a gun. And so their headline read: "R.I.P., Maya Angelou, Proud Gun Owner and User."

Yeah, that was the most important part of her life and the part for which she will be long remembered.

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Maya Angelou was supposed to be in Houston this week. She was to be a part of the activities surrounding the annual Civil Rights Game of Major League Baseball, a game that will be played by my beloved Astros and the Baltimore Orioles tomorrow night.

The Astros start their series with the Orioles tonight, having won five games in a row. They've been playing much better of late, unlike the worst team in baseball that they have been over the last couple of years. Their latest "phenom" George Springer is tearing the cover off the ball. Pitcher Dallas Keuchel just won Player of the Week honors in the American League. Jose Altuve is a league leader in hits, stolen bases, and batting average.

It's an exciting young team. Too bad most of their fans (including me) are still unable to see any of their games on television. Sigh.

Poetry Sunday: Don't Hesitate by Mary Oliver

How about we share another Mary Oliver poem? After all, you can never have too many of those. In this one, the poet seems to acknowledge that it is often hard to simply live in and enjoy the moment, perhaps because we are afraid it can't last. She urges us to give in to that moment and fully experience the joy. Although "much can never be redeemed, still, life has some possibility left." Don't Hesitate by Mary Oliver If you suddenly and unexpectedly feel joy, don’t hesitate. Give in to it. There are plenty of lives and whole towns destroyed or about to be. We are not wise, and not very often kind. And much can never be redeemed. Still, life has some possibility left. Perhaps this is its way of fighting back, that sometimes something happens better than all the riches or power in the world. It could be anything, but very likely you notice it in the instant when love begins. Anyway, that’s often the case. Anyway, whatever it is, don’t be afraid of its plenty. Joy is no...

Poetry Sunday: Blackberry-Picking by Seamus Heaney

My mother was a farm wife and a prodigious canner. She canned fruit and vegetables from the garden, even occasionally meat. But the best thing that she canned, in my opinion, was blackberry jam. Even as I type those words my mouth waters! Of course, before she could make that jam, somebody had to pick the blackberries. And that somebody was quite often named Dorothy. I think Seamus Heaney might have spent some time among the briars plucking those delicious black fruits as well, so he would have known that "Once off the bush the fruit fermented, the sweet flesh would turn sour." They don't keep; you have to get that jam made in a hurry! Blackberry-Picking by Seamus Heaney Late August, given heavy rain and sun For a full week, the blackberries would ripen. At first, just one, a glossy purple clot Among others, red, green, hard as a knot. You ate that first one and its flesh was sweet Like thickened wine: summer's blood was in it Leaving stains upon the tongue and lust ...

Poetry Sunday: Hymn for the Hurting by Amanda Gorman

You probably remember poet Amanda Gorman from her appearance at the inauguration of President Biden. She read her poem "The Hill We Climb" on that occasion. After the senseless slaughter in Uvalde this week, she was inspired to write another poem which was published in The New York Times. It seemed perfect for the occasion and so I stole it in order to feature it here, just in case you didn't get a chance to read it in the Times . Hymn for the Hurting by Amanda Gorman Everything hurts, Our hearts shadowed and strange, Minds made muddied and mute. We carry tragedy, terrifying and true. And yet none of it is new; We knew it as home, As horror, As heritage. Even our children Cannot be children, Cannot be. Everything hurts. It’s a hard time to be alive, And even harder to stay that way. We’re burdened to live out these days, While at the same time, blessed to outlive them. This alarm is how we know We must be altered — That we must differ or die, That we must triumph or try. ...

The Nature of Things

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