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| Ruby red osiers (red-twig dogwood) |
It’s hard to remember that only 10 weeks ago, the American economy was quite good, our foreign relations were on the whole positive, we were on the way to dealing with climate change with subsidies for wind and solar energy, and we still lived in a democracy.
So began Robert Reich’s April 7, 2025, Substack post. It’s true he doesn’t mention what was happening in Gaza ten weeks ago—that wasn’t good news—but it’s hard to argue with what he does say about our world ten weeks ago.
And now? Barbarians running amok throughout the federal government at all levels, slashing and burning, wreaking retribution wherever possible on particular states, universities, law firms, judges, and anyone else who has dared to stand for the rule of law against the lawless, monolithic attack, and now punitive tariffs on everyone from China to penguins. What can one little bookseller in a small, quiet village possibly hope to say to draw attention away from the national scene and toward her own small interests?
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| Does she look dubious? |
But I don’t want to divert your attention from the national scene! I want you to pay attention to it. If I include photographs of my dog now and then or images of beauty found in my country neighborhood to give you a reason to smile, that’s not because dogs and scenery are more important than imminent threats to our democracy (as well as our livelihoods) but simply because we need to remember, in the midst of chaos and horror and destruction, that our world, the basic reality being so egregiously attacked, has an essential goodness.
As for why I include snippets of big news here that you can easily find elsewhere in far greater detail, it’s because I hope that at least one or two people who depend on (dis)information silos to guide their thinking—I cannot stop hoping—will find something I say, some random link I include, if not their stock portfolios tanking, a serious challenge to their ”God’s got this” complacency, because I know that many of them have children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren, as do I, and surely they don’t want our country destroyed before those younger generations have a chance to enjoy a good American life.
How many people do you know who are downsizing households and reducing material belongings so “the kids won’t have to deal with a mess” when they’re gone? Well, how about a country without respect for the Constitution, without freedom of expression, a country loathed by the rest of the world for not keeping its word? What parents want to see their kids having to deal with a mess like that?
The Secretary of the Treasury (another billionaire—surprise!) does not think (my sentence should really end there, shouldn't it?) that ordinary Americans facing retirement “look at the day-to-day fluctuations of what’s happening” in the stock market. He thinks they don't pay attention to the market, which is somewhat like (although not quite as bad as) the Secretary of Commerce saying that only fraudsters complain about not getting their social security checks on time. What planet do these idiots live on?
Mr. Bessent, sir, Americans preparing to retire are paying more attention to financial indicators than you realize. And Mr. Lutnick, sir, your mother-in-law may not worry if her social security check doesn’t arrive on time, but many Americans rely on those checks to pay their rent. How out of touch with your fellow Americans can you possibly be?
I’m thinking that right about now, with Social Security threatened and world trade in crisis, Americans who didn’t worry about international students or undocumented aliens being kidnapped without grounds for arrest and without any semblance of a trial—those Americans might be getting a little nervous now that their pocketbooks are threatened. People who were perfectly comfortable with nonstop lies, fear-mongering, and violations of the United States Constitution might not be quite so comfortable with value erased overnight from their own stock portfolios and retirement funds.
Many of us have long wondered what it would take, and maybe this is what it takes. Cart our immigrant neighbors off to prison in El Salvador; cut off funding and trash years of research into serious health issues; make the United States a pariah among nations—but my stock portfolio? My money? You’re messing with my money?!
Yeah, well, if that’s what it takes, now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of their pocketbooks. If that’s what it takes for people to start paying attention to the Constitution, now is the time to wake up!
As for what inspired the absurd tariff plan that has the stock market in freefall, the true story would not be believed if it were written in a novel. The actual fiction writer may be offstage for a while (we can only hope), but for now the damage has been done. We’re told it will be GREAT “in the long run.” In the long run, of course, all of us will be dead, and our poor grandchildren will be left to put together whatever pieces of freedom might be left.
This is what happens, friends, when experience, knowledge, and solid background are considered as disqualifications for the highest positions in government. Take a look at the Cabinet and the advisors to the president. Just take a look. The rest of the world is looking on with horror!
Meanwhile, in my little corner of the big world, more snow arrived on Monday and a dear friend died. Time is inexorable. Larry Coppard, we will miss you in Northport, and your absence will be felt far from our village, as well, because a good man is hard to find and heartbreaking to lose. But every life well lived is an inspiration to others, and so the good life Larry lived will continue to light our hearts and our way forward.
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| The Artist called his dear friend Larry "Lorenzo"! |
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| A David Grath sky -- |
6 comments:
Oh Pamela, I’m so sorry about your friend Larry dying. His life really sounds like one well-lived and he will be missed in your community and certainly elsewhere. As you know, I’m very informed about this infuriating regime that is raining insults and pelting us with policies that are punishments! Trump is trash, as are all of his idiot cronies, heading up departments that they have no notion of how to manage. Julia, Steph and Leona have already been on two protest marches, so at 20 months Leona/Baby Bia is already a seasoned protester! Hope for the future! 💕
Bean! I need to sit down and write you a letter one of these days! You will be glad to hear that a handful of us sat with Larry's wife and son and daughter to share stories on the evening of the day he died. And I certainly hope the future is better that the present for your little Leona, as well as for our no longer little Gus and Henry, growing up so fast.
Current politics make me think of the Shelly poem Ozymandias. Still thinking about your snow photos, sunsets and artist reminded me of a local art hero, Steven Lyman, who specialized in snow scenes, animals and campfires with a very technical brush- they look like photographs. He was quite famous and moved up to Sandpoint, ID, but spent most of his time in the mountains with easel and paint. Some of his work here -
https://www.galleryone.com/artframing/lyman.html?srsltid=AfmBOooM-Lf63nTrUYOctFe1Ffrrq-Wty3fMyHrbTIogwAFDycMiGhD0
He fell from a cliff in Yosemite, dying at age 38, Perhaps your Artist knew of him?
Well-stated, Pamela. It will take ignorant blokes being personally affected for things to change. Their retirement 401K nest egg gone. Not being able to afford the price of a car. Or hobby pleasures like buying a camera. I have to believe Americans who don't get it now, or didn't in November, will come to their senses, but the cost will be high in the process. Very sad about Larry. How he will be missed!
Steven Lyman not a familiar name to me, but 38 is way too young to die for anyone. I'll check him out. Thanks also for the reminder about Shelley's poem, which Ill try to include here.
"Ozymandias"
I met a traveller from an antique land,
Who said—“Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. . . . Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed;
And on the pedestal, these words appear:
My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings;
Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.”
Karen, I prefer to call them misinformed rather than ignorant, Ignorant isn't the same as stupid, but it sounds the same, and who wants to be called either? As for my own language in this post, it was not calm and measured, I realize. Sometimes the cumulative horror makes not screaming near-impossible.
Larry will definitely be missed. A gentleman, a scholar, and a loving friend to many.
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