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Dec. 21st, 2018 11:13 pmHappy solstice to all! May the turning of the year bring you light, and hope, and strength to carry on in the days to come.
Christmas morning
Dec. 25th, 2017 10:37 amChristmas morning has brought me a wealth of wonderful presents.
Thank you so much, to my extended family - Angela, Sadie, Nancy and Mary - for a treasured gift, the ebook version of Susan Cannon Harris’ Irish Drama and the Other Revolutions. Susan’s scholarship touches on so many points of interest for me, and academic presses are so expensive, And, just.... wow, thank you, thank you, thank you.
And much gratitude to my beloved partner, who supports my reading habit with such marvelous gifts of ebooks:
Charlie Angus, Children of the Broken Treaty
Danielle L. McGuire, At the Dark End of the Street
Andrea Ritchie, Invisible No More: Police Violence Against Black Women and Women of Color
James Daschuk, Clearing the Plains
Edmund Metatawabin, Up Ghost River: A Chiefs Journey Through the Turbulent Waters of Native History
Pamela Palmater, Indigenous Nationhood
Robyn Maynard, Policing Black Lives
Farah Mendlesohn, Spring Flowering
Linda Gordon, The Second Coming of the KKK
Samuel R. Delany, Dark Reflections
Mary Beard, Women & Power
Helen Epstein, Another Fine Mess: America, Uganda, and the War on Terror
Arthur J. Ammann, Lethal Decisions: The Unnecessary Deaths of Women and Children from HIV/AIDS
Mindy Klasky (ed), Nevertheless, She Persisted
dequi kioni-sadiki (ed), Look for Me in the Whirlwind
Mikki Kendall (ed), Hidden Youth: Speculative Fiction from the Margins of History
Angela Y. Davis, Freedom Is a Constant Struggle
Naomi Klein, No Is Not Enough: Resisting the New Shock Politics and Winning the World We Need
Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor (ed), How We Get Free
Holiday Doings
Dec. 26th, 2015 10:31 pmSo, The turning of the year has come and gone. Our celebration was as always quiet, perhaps more so this year because we have had an annus horribilis which has only just barely begun, we hope, to improve.
So we sat in the living room and exchanged gifts and ordered a feast of Chinese food and watched the Doctor Who Christmas special, and the Murdoch Mysteries Christmas special, and had a lovely time.
My prezzies were wonderful.
A long list of ebooks:
Andrea Hairston, Lonely Stardust
Carter Scholz, Gypsy
Charles Saunders, Abengoni: First Calling
Charles Tan (ed), Lauriat: A Filipino-Chinese Speculative Fiction Anthology
Chinelo Okparanta, Under the Udala Trees
Craig Laurance Gidney, Skin Deep Magic
David Pilgrim, Understanding Jim Crow
Deborah J. Ross, The Heir of Khored
Deborah Wheeler, Collaborators
F.H. Batacan, Smaller and Smaller Circles
J.M. Frey, Hero is a Four Letter Word
Jackie Hatton, Flesh & Wires
Jeanne Theoharis, The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks
Johanna Sinisalo, The Blood of Angels
John Miller, Judi Dench: With a Crack in her Voice
Katharine Kerr, Dark Magicks
Marge Piercy, My Life, My Body
Michelle Sagara, Cast in Honor
Minister Faust, The Alchemists of Kush
Rachel Pollack, Alqua Dreams
Sheree Renée Thomas, Shotgun Lullabies
Silvia Moreno-Garcia, Signal to Noise
Sumiko Saulson, Things That Go Bump In My Head
And the extended version DVDs of Hobbit II and Hobbit III
And in the deep, the dark, the night,
when hope is flagging
and the spirit fire burns low
remember this -
the light returns,
the darkness lifts,
the rush of life for which you yearn
will come.
And now begins another turn,
and comes the joy to all who sense the spark of light
still close concealed within the cloak of night.
Midnight Thoughts
Dec. 31st, 2006 11:30 pmThere may be an om in moment
But there's very few folk in focus
Not the first, not the last, not the least.
You needn't be well to be wealthy
But you've got to be whole to be holy
Fetch the rope, fetch the clock, fetch the priest.
Oh this planet of ours is a mess
I bet Heaven's the same
Look the madman said, "Son,
As a friend, tell me what's in a name,"
Hallowed be thy name.
I give you the state of statesmen
And the key to what motivates them
On the left, on the right, on the nail
Still I don't see a man in a mansion
That an accurate pen won't puncture
Go to town, go to hell, go to jail.
And there's bars and saloons
Where the jukebox plays blues in the night
Till the madman says "Son,
Time to go we could both use some light"
And thy will be done.
We live in an age of cages
The tale of an ape escaping
In the search for some truth he can use
But many a drunk got drunker
And mostly a thinker, thunker
Set the place, set the time, set the fuse,
The optimist laughed and the pessimist cried in his wine
And the madman said "Son,
Take a word they'll all wake given time"
Let thy kingdom come
The madman and I got drunker
Till both thought the other thank you
And we laughed all the way to the stars
The optimist asked for a taste of the pessimist's wine
And the madman said "Son,
How do you feel?" I said "Me? I feel fine
Lead me into temptation
Into temptation
I said into temptation
I need my allocation of recreation
I want a revelation in degradation
No hesitation, give me variation, give me inspiration..."
(Greg Lake and Peter Sinfield)
Drinking the pessimist's wine, but still hoping. May the new year bring us all inspiration and truths we can use.
It's a weird day to have a birthday on. As it approaches, people talk about ancient political assassinations, or (at least in Canada) do bad imitiations of Wayne and Schuster's incomparable Julius Caesar send-up. And once it's over, everyone paints themselves green and gets drunk.
In between, however, some people try to have a birthday celebration.
Best birthday wishes to
![[profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
chlaal, and thanks to everone who sent wishes my way.So it's 2006 Already
Jan. 1st, 2006 02:26 pmHappy New Year to all.
If I make any further comments, I'll only reveal my typically cynical opinion of the world in general, so I'll just stop here. ;-)
Holidays, Happy Days, Holy Days
Dec. 24th, 2005 03:33 pmWhatever it is that this season means to you, be it deeply sacred, joyously profane, a time for festivity, family, worship, comtemplation or just plain goofin' around...
Best wishes to all from this time of light returning.
