‘They decided to kill us with cold’: Ukrainians struggle against Russian assault on power network; The Guardian, November 22, 2025

Luke Harding in Chernihiv. Photographs by Alessio Mamo, The Guardian ; ‘They decided to kill us with cold’: Ukrainians struggle against Russian assault on power network

"Ukraine is now facing its coldest and most difficult winter since 2022. Blackouts have become a part of everyday life, not just in far-flung hamlets but in the capital, Kyiv, as well. In an interview this month between the Guardian and Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the lights failed in the president’s palace. Cafes, restaurants and shops function as best as they can, against a noisy hum from pavement generators.

Chernihiv is the worst-affected region, together with Sumy and Kharkiv, which also border Russia. “We are without power for 14 hours a day. Today it went off at 5.30am, came back at 10.30am and disappeared at 13.30. Some districts have no power at all,” Ivanivna said. During blackouts the lift in her nine-storey apartment building doesn’t work. Nor does the electric pump that supplies water. “There’s [no water] above the fourth floor,” she said.

She and her friend Liudmyla Mykolayivna are regular visitors to an “invincibility point” – a warm tent located in a shopping centre car park. It offers power sockets, Starlink internet and tea and coffee...

Two weeks ago, the Russians destroyed one of Chernihiv oblast’s last generation units...

“The Russians are trying to make a total blackout for the civilian population. There’s nothing military here. It’s deliberate genocide against peaceful people,” Serhii Pereverz, the firm’s deputy director, said...

Public anger over the lack of electricity has grown amid a major government corruption scandal. Earlier this month, detectives arrived at the Kyiv apartment of Zelenskyy’s friend and former business partner Timur Mindich. Mindich had left hours earlier, escaping to Poland, amid claims that he organised a large-scale bribery scheme featuring the state nuclear agency Energoatom. Other alleged beneficiaries included ministers – two of whom have resigned – and senior officials.

Andriy Podverbnyi, a Chernihiv journalist, said local residents were angry at the revelations. “Corruption has always been a problem in post-Soviet countries. Even so, the news was an unpleasant surprise. For the guys on the frontline and for those living with no or little power, it’s like a knife in the back,” he said. He added: “The scheme was primitive. The people involved were clearly confident they wouldn’t get caught.”...

Kulieva said her family did not intend to leave, despite the war and the fact the Russians next door – once regarded as “brothers” – had betrayed Ukraine. “People here are amazing. There’s incredible unity. The more time you spend in this community, the more you value people around you,” she said. She added: “I believe we will overcome our economic and political problems. The most important thing is to stay human. And to carry on raising our children in this spirit.

“It’s not hard to live without a light in your home. It’s hard to live without a light in your heart.”"

Hope After Trump; The New York Times, June 7, 2025

Nicholas Kristof , The New York Times; Hope After Trump

"Authoritarians surround themselves with sycophants, so that no one warns them when they proclaim dumb policies that tank the economy. Free from oversight, they yield to dissolution and corruption...

In recent years alone, look at what has happened to some of the most prominent authoritarians around the world. In Brazil, the Supreme Court in March ordered former President Jair Bolsonaro to stand trial on charges of discussing a coup to stay in office. And in Hungary, Orban’s party is now lagging in some opinion polls.

In the Philippines, Duterte targeted the brave journalist Maria Ressa, who faced up to 34 years in prison for committing journalism. But now Ressa has a Nobel Peace Prize and is free while Duterte is in a prison cell in The Hague, facing charges of crimes against humanity before the International Criminal Court.

I caught up recently with Ressa, and her line to Americans is: “If you’re depressed now, think of the Philippines” — and find hope...

Domestically, the United States is showing resilience...

If Filipinos can win back their country, then surely we Americans can as well. Given the enormous stakes, this is a time for a rebirth of liberal patriotism. So don’t emigrate, friends; stay and fight for your country’s future. And the world’s."

Movers & Shakers 2025; Library Journal, 2025

 Library Journal; Movers & Shakers 2025

"A lot has happened in the library world since LJ opened up Movers nominations last fall, and the landscape looks decidedly different. But just as pandemic challenges drove new, creative processes, we think the 50 Movers profiled here demonstrate the strong work and resilience of libraries, now and to come."

How to Keep Your Own Soul Safe in the Dark; The New York Times, December 9, 2024

Margaret Renkl, The New York Times ; How to Keep Your Own Soul Safe in the Dark

"At my lowest, I have never entirely given up my faith that good people working together can change the world for the better. When I have been downhearted in the past, I have always explained to myself that I am not alone in my efforts to cultivate change — by writing, by planting, by loving the living world in every way I can find to love it. Individual efforts gather momentum through the individual efforts of others.

Men in power did not wake up one morning and decide to give women the vote. White Southerners did not wake up one morning and decide to dismantle Jim Crow. Those things happened, if imperfectly and still incompletely, because hundreds of thousands of people worked together for years to make them happen...

So I am taking comfort from Wendell Berry, who has lived a life of ceaseless protest against the desecration of the earth and its creatures (most recently in an essay for The Christian Century called “Against Killing Children”). Even at 90, he is not asking himself what the point is...

In saving the leaves for the moths and the fireflies and the dark-eyed juncos, I am still trying. And in the trying perhaps I can save my own soul."

Climber Sees Wings Trapped Under A Boulder And Saves Majestic Animals; The Dodo, November 13, 2024

Maeve Dunigan , The Dodo; Climber Sees Wings Trapped Under A Boulder And Saves Majestic Animals

"Working together, rescuers removed the heavy boulders and carefully secured both eagles in crates. They swiftly brought the birds to Raven Ridge for further assessment.

Rehabilitators treated the birds’ wounds and tested them for lead poisoning. With continued therapy and care, the eagles recovered. They became increasingly spicy and aggressive, signaling that they were preparing to return to their home outdoors.

The eagles were ready for release by Veterans Day, making the moment especially emotional for all involved...

“By caring for both eagles, we were able to reunite them for their release,” Raven Ridge wrote in a Facebook post. “We believe they are a mated pair, and releasing them together not only honors their bond but embodies the spirit of resilience and hope that Veterans Day represents.”

‘They burned books, like the Nazis did 80 years ago’: Russia’s deadly attack on Ukraine’s biggest printing house; The Guardian, June 30, 2024

 Luke Harding , The Guardian; ‘They burned books, like the Nazis did 80 years ago’: Russia’s deadly attack on Ukraine’s biggest printing house

"Hryniuk said she did not know if the Russian military had deliberately targeted her workplace or had attempted to hit a train repair workshop next door...

In occupied areas, the Kremlin has forbidden the Ukrainian language, removed books from schools and imposed a patriotic pro-Russian curriculum. Statues of the Ukrainian poet Taras Shevchenko have been torn down. Vladimir Putin insists Ukraine does not exist. Its land, he says, is a part of “historical Russia”.

The strike on the factory wiped out 50,000 books. Among them were works of children’s literature and Ukrainian school textbooks – 40% of them were printed by Factor Druk – due to be sent to classrooms for the new September academic year...

“For me it’s so symbolic. They burned books, like the Nazis did 80 years ago. We have so many historical examples of Russia trying to kill off Ukrainian culture,” said Oleksiy Sobol, the head of the pre-press department. The Russian empire banned Ukrainian-language texts from the 17th century onwards, with follow-up edicts. Under Stalin, in the 1930s, Ukrainian poets and writers were shot – a generation known as the “executed renaissance”.

Since 2022, Russia has erased 172 libraries and nearly 2m books, according to the Ukrainian Book Institute...

Emily Finer, who heads a research team working on Ukrainian children’s literature at the University of St Andrews, called the attack a tragedy. “The priority given to publishing trauma-informed children’s books in wartime Ukraine is unprecedented,” she said. “Over 120 picture books in Ukrainian have been printed since 2022 to help children cope with their wartime experiences now and in the future.”

The strike took place a week before the Arsenal book festival, Kyiv’s biggest literary event. Many of the destroyed books were due to be sold there...

The Howard G Buffett Foundation, meanwhile, last week pledged €5.1m (£4.3m) to restore the printing house. “They can destroy books but not Ukrainian resilience and commitment,” said Buffett, the son of the billionaire US investor Warren Buffett."

‘Everyone was freaking out’: Navalny novichok film made in secret premieres at Sundance; The Guardian, January 26, 2022

Shaun Walker, The Guardian; ‘Everyone was freaking out’: Navalny novichok film made in secret premieres at Sundance 

Director Daniel Roher tells of panic after team  recorded Alexei Navalny pranking one of his Russian poisoners into confessing

"At the end of the film, Navalny answers a request from the director to record a message for the eventuality that he were killed on his return. “I’ve got something very obvious to tell you: don’t give up, you’re not allowed. If they decided to kill me, it means we are incredibly strong, and we need to use this power,” he said."

We will survive this; Washington Post, August 1, 2017

Garrison Keillor, Washington Post; We will survive this

[Kip Currier: Interesting insights from Garrison Keillor about taking a long-view of life, as well as voicing a carpe diem gratitude--embodied in the perfect imperfections of an heirloom tomato.

I first learned about "heirloom tomatoes" from a 2015 radio episode of The Splendid Table (Thanks, National Public Radio!), featuring tomato expert Craig LeHoullier. 

[Aside: Great quote by The Splendid Table host Lynne Rosetto Kasper, after LeHoullier notes that tomatoes are "very perishable": 

"But I think some of the best things in life have to be fragile. We appreciate them more."]

Soonafter, I tried my first heirlooms from the incredible year-round open-air Freshfarm DuPont Circle Market in Washington, D.C.: it was love at first bite.

A week ago I picked up these beauties in DuPont for a killer (Fair Use-transformed!) Caprese Salad:

"It’s a privilege to know people over the course of a lifetime and to reconnoiter and hear about the ordinary goodness of life. By 75, some of our class have gotten whacked hard. And the casualty rate does keep climbing. And yet life is good. These people are America as I know it. Family, work, a sense of humor, gratitude to God for our daily bread and loyalty to the tribe.

If the gentleman stands in the bow and fires his peashooter at the storm, if he appoints a gorilla as head of communications, if he tweets that henceforth no transcendentalist shall be allowed in the armed forces, nonetheless life goes on.

He fulfills an important role of celebs: giving millions of people the chance to feel superior to him. The gloomy face and the antique adolescent hair, the mannequin wife and the clueless children of privilege, the sheer pointlessness of flying around in a 747 to say inane things to crowds of people — it’s cheap entertainment for us, and in the end it simply doesn’t matter."

'Just Show Up': Sheryl Sandberg On How To Help Someone Who's Grieving; NPR, April 25, 2017

Ari Shapiro, NPR; 

'Just Show Up': Sheryl Sandberg On How To Help Someone Who's Grieving

"On the best way to be there [sic] someone who's going through a hard time

I used to say, when someone was going through something hard, "Is there anything I can do?" And I meant it, I meant it kindly. But the problem is ... that kind of shifts the burden to the person you're offering the help to to figure out what they need. And when I was on the other side of that question, I didn't know how to answer it. Is there anything you can do? Well, can you make Father's Day go away so I don't have to live through it every year? No.

Rather than offer to do something, it's often better to do anything. Just do something specific. My wonderful friends ... tragically lost a son and they spent many months in a hospital before that. And one of his friends texted him and said, "What do you not want on a burger?" Not, "Do you want dinner?" Another friend texted and said, "I'm in the lobby of your hospital for an hour for a hug whether you come down or not." Just show up.

Now, there's no one way to grieve and not everyone will want the same thing. So the best approach is really ask people. Say, "I know you're going through something terrible. I'm coming over with dinner tonight. Is that OK?""

It Gets Better: U.S. Patent and Trademark employees share their stories; U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, 6/25/15

[Video] U.S. Patent and Trademark Office; It Gets Better: U.S. Patent and Trademark employees share their stories:

[Kip Currier: While prepping for a patent lecture for my Intellectual Property and "Open" Movements course next week, I serendipitously found this inspiring "It Gets Better" video from 2015, featuring USPTO Director Michelle K. Lee and openly LGBT employees in the USPTO.]

"“Do not let the bullies of the world distract you from the commitment to achieve your fullest potential,’ says USPTO Director Michelle K. Lee in this video featuring stories from our employees, “It does get better.”"