Thank You for Stirring the Pot
"Poetry isn't a profession, it's a way of life. It's an empty basket; you put your life into it and make something out of that." -Mary Oliver
Mary Oliver’s observation that “poetry isn’t a profession, it’s a way of life,” reminds me that writing a newsletter and producing content for the machine isn’t my profession. It’s more like a hobby bordering on an obsession.
Sometimes I ask myself what this newsletter can be beyond a shared collection of thoughts and updates. There are hunches and formulas to follow, but what if I want the newsletter to be a vehicle for transcending the digital environment and fostering offline connections? There’s no formula for that!
If you’d like to discuss this with me or if you have anything else on your mind, just reply to this email or use the Messaging function here.
A Little Color Here, A Little Color There
I paint more than I write today. This might change, but I love to paint and I feel that it’s helping me develop new neural pathways to and from the creative parts of my brain. Painting stretches me and stretching is good.
The Election Looms Like A Storm
How are you feeling about the upcoming election? I feel like it’s another storm approaching our shores. We see it coming and try to prepare, but we’re uncertain.
“The election is coming November 5th, and I'm scared to death,” James Carville said this week. “I'm not in a particularly reflective mood right now. I'm very concerned.”
It’s his business to be concerned but the concern is widespread. “If Democratic worrying were a natural resource, there would never be an energy crisis again,” wrote Susan B. Glasser of The New Yorker.
I want to believe in the American people and our collective ability to choose between right and wrong, and between law and lawlessness. But it’s hard for me to go there because we’ve been here before, and today the distortion field is even stronger than it was eight and four years ago.
Even when people know the truth, I am concerned that many men and women of all races and economic and educational backgrounds will not vote for a woman for President. Even now, in the face of utter madness and national insecurity.
The Dangerously Meddlesome Among Us
Mother Jones offers a harrowing look at the New Apostolic Reformation, a group of radical Christians threatening to “go to war” to impose their will on the American people.
Leaders in the New Apostolic Reformation, a charismatic evangelical Christian movement believe that Christians are called to wage a spiritual battle for control of the United States. In the vanguard of an ascendant Christian nationalist movement, they are seeking an explicitly Christian command of public schools, social policy, and all levels of the government, including the courts.
The Southern Poverty Law Center calls the movement, “the greatest threat to US democracy that you have never heard of.”
Do you want Christian Nationalists to hold all the cards in American life? I’m asking, but the fundamentalists are not going to ask. Fundamentalists only give or follow orders.
Musk Drops Another Pin in Rural Central Texas
The company formerly known as Twitter is now headquartered a long distance from downtown San Francisco. The new HQ of the social media company is located on a rural road in Bastrop County, Texas, along with sister firms SpaceX and The Boring Co.
As it happens, we live nearby.
Bastrop City Manager Sylvia Carrillo-Trevino told the San Antonio Express-News, "I'd like to tell people that, no, it's not going to change Bastrop proper, the middle of Bastrop, where we have all of our historic homes and things, but it is absolutely going to change the landscape."
Carrillo-Trevino predicts Bastrop will have a 42% population increase within five years. "We're trying really hard to amend our ordinances, and to be able to keep Bastrop, Bastrop," Carrillo-Trevino said. "But folks are very, very nervous.”
I’m not “nervous” about Big Tech’s presence in Central Texas, but maybe I should be.
The pace of change in Austin and throughout the region is unlike anything I’ve seen. It’s also weirdly attractive and interesting. People from all over the U.S., Mexico, and elsewhere move to the Austin metro every day. There’s energy and possibility in the air.
Lagniappe
Dan Osborn, an Independent, is a man who fixes things. Can he fix the Senate? [Source: Adpulp]
Texas conservatives have undertaken a campaign of censorship in schools that is unprecedented in its breadth and ferocity. [Source: The Atlantic]
PepsiCo Inc. has entered a definitive agreement to acquire Austin-based and family-owned Siete Foods for $1.2 billion. The company is just 10 years old. [Source: Austin Business Journal]
I recently read an excellent book of short stories by Roald Dahl, the famous children’s book author. He has a gift for the fantastic. In one story, a boy who talks to animals rides off on the back of a sea turtle.
Sari Botton—who writes a great newsletter about aging—will teach “Writing Compelling Personal Essays,” at this writer’s conference in Vermont next Spring.
Will the dream of an Austin-Monterrey rail line come true? Leaders from both sides of the border, as well as advocates from Amtrak, recently came together to show their support for the project. [Source: Texas Standard]
Deep bow of gratitude for being here now,
In April, I started working part-time for Habitat for Humanity of Collier County. I love their mission and I’m happy to be a small part of the solution for people in need of safe, affordable housing.
When you are ready to grow a mission-based organization, spark a social change movement, or invest in an arts or culture project, let me know. I’m confident that we can benefit from each other’s experience and points of view, and introduce each other to new people and ideas.