Reading Wendell Berry "The Art of the Commonplace"

 In this collection of essays, Berry has an essay on using his wife to type his manuscripts coupled with he refusal to buy a computer. Granted, his essay is his view and highly personal. Interesting to me he says nothing about people who write dissertations, and how having a computer screen that's easily revised eliminates the need to retype pages and pages of a dissertation to get the alignment right, to add references, text, and footnotes at the bottom of the page

I've set a reading goal to include more Wendell Berry, who, like Edgar Cayce, is from Kentucky. 

America 250 Continuing Thoughts

 For the 250th birthday of America, let's reflect on a great point from Ken Burns American Revolution, 5 minutes before the end of Episode 2. Burns quotes the last sentence of the Declaration of Independence:

"And to support this Declaration, with reliance on Protection from Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our Sacred Honor."

I'll wager not too many Americans have read that last sentence and asked the question: where is the money supposed to stay? Right here, in this nation, for the benefit of everyone. A second point: why do Pennsylvania and Virginia, two of the colonies, and Kentucky, the 15th state, have the term "Commonwealth" in their titles? Again, the money, the wealth, should stay right here in this country for the benefit of everyone. 

Think about why we have fast food restaurants and coffee chains traded on Wall Street. It's like picking out one shanty and installing a gold domed roof on it. Why make US salary structure top heavy with CEOs, executive boards, stock prices, and offshore tax havens? 

I can see delisting from Wall Street fast food restaurant chains and coffee chains. What is the least academic degree it takes to one them? Limit them to state level only, because there is no STEM involved in running them. A spreadsheet and a 12 item supply chain should suffice. Pay the workers. 

When Raygun came up with the notion of "Trickle Down" economics, Wall Street was definitely part of the United States. While Republicans are busy "owning the libs," the libs should know that Wall Street should NOT be exempt from trickle down economics. The Wall Street gains should trickle down to the states, on a rotating basis, instead of going to offshore tax havens, stock buybacks, CEO salaries. Common sense to a Democrat, because when it comes to "trickle down," New York City is part of the United States. 

Same for Members of Congress: the lobbyists monies should not stay in their pockets. The monies should trickle down to the states: to heads of households to lift them above the poverty level. To augment $7 minimum wage. To augment SNAP benefits. To augment Walmart workers where Walmart is the largest employer in the state. Trickle down for everyone. I disagree with Mike Johnson that Members of Congress should be allowed insider trading in the stock market because $174K salary is a tough go for paying for living in Washington, DC. Let the Members of Congress live on $174K and otherwise: leave, go home to their districts, server their constituents: schools, unemployment lines, staff bus driving, help with academic advising and subject mastery in schools. 

"And to support this Declaration, with reliance on Protection from Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our Sacred Honor."

America 250 Thoughts

 While reading one of the Celebration 250 publications at the local bookstore, I came across the founding of the country and the term “flawed.” The 250th birthday is a good time to look at the word. 

Let’s back up to Ken Burns’ documentary, American Revolution. In Episode 2, 5 minutes before the end. he focuses on the Declaration of Independence last sentence: “And to support this Declaration, with reliance on Protection from Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our Sacred Honor.” 

Where is the money meant to stay? right here in the states, for the benefit of everyone. Not Wall Street, not stock prices, not CEOs, and not offshore tax havens or tax dodges. Everyone. If you know what a dictionary is, the dictionary in 1776 is Samuel Johnson’s 18 Century dictionary, available online thanks to Tech Bros. The word “socialism” is not in there.

https://johnsonsdictionaryonline.com/views/search.php?term=Socialism

The regimes at the time were all monarchies. Catherine the Great was on the throne in Russia. If you have common sense, Russia was a monarchy. Communism hadn’t happened yet. Socialism didn’t exist. Marxist didn’t exist. Karl Marx wasn’t born until 1818. Any Republican using the word communism, socialism, or marxist is full of it. Who did we declare independence from? Great Britain. Where are the Murdochs of Fox Nooz from? Australia. Who enabled Murdoch buying Fox? Ronnie Raygun and Roger Ailes. Factoids that I want taught in our nation’s classrooms. 

Additional point: Why do Pennsylvania and Virginia, two of the colonies, and Kentucky, the 15th state admitted to the Union, have the words “Commonwealth” in their titles? 

Reminder: Speaking of classrooms, the late Charlie Kirk, Turning Point USA, has to be one of the best DEI hires every in the Republiclown party. Why is dum one, to paraphrase Trump, deemed appropriate on a university campus? Kirk flunked out of community college and only had a high school diploma. Proof DEI is alive and well in a political party. 

26May2026 thought: “Trickle down economics” should apply to both Wall Street and the Member of Congress. The corporation publicly traded on Wall Street needs to trickle down earnings and profits to the state it grew in pre-IPO, and trickle down to heads of households. Successful businesses ow their success to their first, loyal, repeat customers, NOT to the stockholders and shareholders. The customers, stockholders, and shareholders should be one and the same. Not strangers in New York, Connecticut, tax havens, pension funds, insurance funds, venture capitalists, and the like. To think otherwise is myopic and shortsighted.

Same for Members of Congress. To truly abide by “trickle down,” Members should not keep lobbyist monies and bribes. The monies should trickle down to their states they represent, to heads of households. The Members of Congress serve as elected officials in an constitutional republic. 

Mary Oliver "Clamming"

 Mary Oliver in her poem "Clamming" controls lighting and language. She maintains dark to dawn through lighting effects: 

"I rise by lamplight" "I sit on the dawn-soaked shore" Finally, "its upheaval, its shining proposal, its black anonymous roar." Dark-to-dawn throughout the poem. 

Her word choice avoids overused, trite, overworked words: "dawn-soaked shore" "pink one-lunged life" "slash through the crisp life muscle."

A lesser word smith would have used "shining promise" instead of "shining proposal." Look at how original the last 3 lines are, how they avoid cliche: in describing the tide,

"its upheaval"-you can hearing the rise and fall in "upheaval."

"its shining proposal"-as noted above.

"its black anonymous roar"-no sentimentality. 

Persimmons - Morning Harvest

 An October drive to a nearby small town yielded the attached persimmon harvest. I found several seeds on the ground. I heard one persimmon fall to the ground and collected it. Curious, given there's not yet been frost here, I reached up to test several still on the tree. I found one that was ripe and plucked it. The persimmon was ripe and sweet, not astringent. There goes another "must have frost" myth, especially interesting given we're in the south. 

and after splitting open 2 persimmon seeds, 2 spoons which mean snow (shovels):

The Thursday Murder Club and Deus Ex Machina

Update 08Oct2025 While reading chapters 5-7 in Natasha C Sass's How to Write A Cozy Mystery, she confirms: don't introduce new characters or places in what she call Acts 3 and 4 of a cozy, making my point.  

Although deus ex machina didn't show up in Elliott Ackerman's novel, it probably does show up in the next mystery, recommended by a friend, that I read: The NYT best seller The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman. 

In the last 75 pages, the protagonists travel outside of England to Nicosia to meet with a patriarch Demir Gundoz (interesting last name). His son Johnny is introduced late in the mystery, a form of deus ex machina. Most cozy mysteries have characters travel from the British countryside to London, in comparison. Break the rules! seems to reign supreme in mysteries. 

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Osman ends the mystery with more than one demise.  

Poetry and Language Exercise Based on Mary Oliver's A Poetry Handbook

 Sound and silence are important. On page 24, Mary Oliver makes a great comparison of 2 nouns, synonyms, with different sounds: stone and rock. She can see the smooth roundness of "stone." She can see the jagged edges of "rock." 

Poets of every level: Can you think of other examples of nouns that have similar meaning but contain different sounds?