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.”"