Seth Godin is on point (as always) with one of his most recent blog posts:
This is so true… it’s also tough to put into practice in a world obsessed with “best of” lists and rankings, and a culture obsessed with #winning.
It doesn’t have to be the “best ever”… it just has to be what it is. And we should be focused on the “be here now” of it all. Because the “here” and the “now” are all we’ve got. And that’s enough.
I read an interesting article about Frances “Franny” Wright in yesterday’s Cincinnati Enquirer.
Here’s an excerpt from the article by Jeff Seuss:
A major cause for her was the need for women’s education. From an 1829 lecture:
“Equality! Where is it, if not in education? Equal rights! They cannot exist without equality of instruction. ‘All men are born free and equal!’ They are born, but do they not so live? Are they educated as equals? And if not, can they be equal? And if not equal, can they be free?”
Thankfully, the young women of today are educated as equals in the U.S. But Fanny’s cry for equality still rings true if you look at socio-economic factors.
In this great country of ours, most public school districts receive nearly half of their funding from property taxes. So schools in affluent neighborhoods, where property values are high, receive much more funding per student than schools in areas where property values are lower. In other words, the rich get richer, and the poor get inferior school resources. It’s tough to make progress when every school day is an uphill battle.
“Human kind is but one family. The education of its youth should be equal and universal.”
part of the epitaph on Fanny Wright’s obelisk at her grave in Cincinnati
Big storm rolled into the nasty ‘nati on Wednesday afternoon. Knocked out power in thousands of homes, including ours.
The sudden, unexpected power outage caused a whole host of first world problems. “Oh no, I can’t make a triple berry smoothie and then drink it while watching Real Housewives and mindlessly scrolling through Facebook (if you’re over 50)/Twitter (if you own an electric car company)/Instagram (if you’re a graphic designer)/TikTok (everyone else).”
On a hot day that was muggier than New York City in the 70s, the biggest challenge was the lack of air conditioning. It brought back memories of growing up in rural Arkansas in a house without central air. It’s tough to sleep when you feel that heat pressing down on you. No amount of tossing and turning can shake it off, no shedding of clothing can bring relief.
In my fever non-dreams, I remembered that a tornado touched down about 20 miles away from our house, in Goshen, Ohio, leaving hundreds without electricity. Or running water. Or the only home they’ve ever known.
The earth is nearly 25,000 miles around. 20 miles is a rounding error. It’s also the difference between throwing out some fridge food and starting from scratch.
The power came back on at our house yesterday morning. What was a minor inconvenience to me is a game-changer in Goshen, Ohio.
We’re not in Kansas anymore. We don’t have to be. Severe storms are becoming more widespread, and more commonplace. How long until one takes place at my place?
This person is breaking the rules:
“The first rule of Colonoscopy Club is: we don’t talk about Colonoscopy Club.”
I’m in favor of getting recommendations for good medical care, but I don’t know that asking a bunch of strangers (albeit “neighbors”) on NextDoor is the right way to go about it. It’s like checking out at the grocery store and having the cashier get on the P.A. saying “I need a price check on Preparation H on Lane 3!”
I suppose what I’m saying is word-of-mouth may not be as relevant when we’re talking about a doc who is sticking a camera pretty far away from your mouth.
Not to mention that you’ll probably only see your doc for about 5 seconds before the sedation meds kick in… and you won’t remember talking to him/her afterwards.
My recommendations for a colonoscopy:
Here’s a Letter to the Editor that appeared in this past Sunday’s Cincinnati Enquirer:
Hear, hear! Responsible gun owners should demand action as much as Moms Demand Action. You would hope common sense were a bit more common. The 2nd Amendment — as Lawre points out — was written when our Founding Fathers couldn’t have imagined the killing machines of today. And the 2nd Amendment was (and is) about arming a militia to protect the security our (then newly formed) country.
So if you want an assault rifle, join the Army, Navy, Air Force or Marines… or your local constabulary. But if you’re not in one of those groups, you shouldn’t have access.
Why does the Second Amendment trump our ‘unalienable right’ to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness? Let’s demand commonsense gun control.
(Full disclosure: I know the letter writer, Lawre. But seeing her letter in the Enquirer was the first time I was aware of her stance on gun regulation.)
Did you know you can save the planet, and that it only takes a couple of minutes? OK, perhaps I’m exaggerating a bit, but if you switch your search engine to Ecosia, they’ll plant a tree for every 45 searches you do.
So your searches for the latest Kardashian news could actually be beneficial to society. (Reading up on the Kardashians will still rot your brain, but at least the planet will be healthier.)
Oh, and if you switch to Ecosia, you’ll be stickin’ it to The Man, too! The Man, in this case, is actually the 800-pound gorilla of Google. If you use Google for your search engine, they’re harvesting your data and using it to stick ads in your face… and making money off of it. By using a different search engine, you’re improving the overall health of the web.
The excerpt above is from Seth Godin’s blog post about switching to Ecosia. If you need more reasons, you’ll find them on the Ecosia blog.
I made the switch – it was super-easy, took less than 2 minutes, and I haven’t noticed any difference in the quality of my search results.
To be clear, there’s still money changing hands. But the money for search ads will go to Ecosia – a not-for-profit – instead of going into Google’s fat wallet. And Ecosia uses that income to plant trees. Also, Ecosia doesn’t sell your data to advertisers and doesn’t use third party trackers.
From the Gratefulness.org website – I highly recommended you sign up for their daily email.
Dreams So Real was part of the Athens, GA scene in the mid-80s. The song above comes from their 1988 release Rough Night in Jericho. Check it out below.
Bit by bit, piece by piece, we’ve unraveled the stitches on the social safety net.
[Pearls Before Swine is a great comic strip… check it out here.]
I’d like to think that the part of town in which I live, Mt. Washington, isn’t hillbilly. But then I’m confronted with the harsh reality: a guy on a riding mower at the Wendy’s drive-thru.
I don’t think he understands the concept of “grass-fed beef.”
Maybe he’s trying to “cut” his caloric intake.
He’s been waiting for his order for a few minutes, but it won’t be “lawn” now.
He wants “mower” ketchup packets for his fries.
In my younger days, the only pearl of wisdom I got from Arthur “The Fonz” Fonzarelli was “Sit on it, Potsie!”
But I listened to Henry Winkler on The Three Questions with Andy Richter podcast, and he had some great insights into the human condition, not just the condition of the Hooper Triplets.
Here’s Fonzie talking about ignoring his family’s advice to follow his heart:
Here’s The Fonz on education – or the lack thereof:
And here’s Mr. Fonzarelli on three important lessons he’s learned in his life:
That’s some pretty savvy advice from a guy who went water skiing with a leather jacket on.
The full episode with Henry Winkler is here. Have a happy day!
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