I am sure it comes as no surprise that I have had this as an earworm all week.
This got me thinking about the history of protest songs, which I learned goes back centuries. It wasn’t until the 16th century and the invention of the printing press that protest songs were written down. They existed word of mouth before this. After Guttenberg, protest songs were often printed as broadsides and handed out in the streets. They were also sung in taverns and other meeting places. They were composed in response to religious and political upheaval as well as poor working conditions and economic inequality.
I found a recording of a very early German protest song from the 16th Century Peasant Revolt. It champions freedom of thoughts and ideas. It has been somewhat modernized, of course. It is amazing to see how many centuries-old protest songs are available to listen to on-line. One good source was the website for The First Amendment Museum, a museum located in Maine.
Yankee Doodle and A Mighty Fortress are protest songs. I imagine Baboons are most familiar with protest songs from the 1960’s and 1970’s. Husband recomnended this one:
I hope there are protest songs being written right now, and that we get to hear them. They are the earworms we need to have.
What protest songs you are you familiar with? Do some research and find older protest songs from other centuries.
Backstory. For many years, I have kept dog treats in my car – a box in the backseat and usually two or three in the little well in the drivers side door. Most of these go to dogs at the hardware store – there are two official hardware store dogs but there are also often shoppers who bring their dogs in. Occasionally if someone asking for money on a street corner has a dog, I will stop and talk to them a bit. Dollar or so if I have it and a couple of treats for the dog. I haven’t changed the type of dog treat – ever.
This summer, I went to grab a treat from the little well and there were none there. No big deal, I must have used them the last time I was at the hardware store. I went to get a few from the box and the box was empty. It’s completely within the realm of possibility that I took the last few treats out the box the last time I filled up the well, but I couldn’t grab a memory of doing that. I bought another box, opened it and put a few in the window well. A couple weeks later I noticed the well was empty, so went back to the box. It was open and tipped over in the storage box where it sits. Hmmmm. This is where it gets tricky. I am not 100% certain that I put any treats in the well at that point but the next week when I wanted one, the well was empty.
There is absolutely no evidence that critters are the culprits of all this. No crumbs, no droppings, no scratch marks, no odor, no damage to anything else in the car. Even in summer, I never leave the car windows open. I could do a more scientific investigation (other than relying on my perhaps faulty memory) by taking a photo and jotting down the date and time to compare it later if I find the well empty. Same with the box – picture and date of it closed. So far, I’ve been too lazy to do that, although truly, how long would it take to snap a photo with my phone as I’m getting out of the car?
It’s hard to imagine a squirrel getting into the car and it’s harder to imagine mice getting in and traipsing off with whole dog treats without leaving some kind of trail.
When I started in the travel department of my company (35 years back), nobody had cell phones. Of course, mobile phones did exist, however they were huge and very expensive. Nobody I knew had a cell phone until the 90s. The first small phone, the flip phone, came out in 1989.
If you needed to call home while you were traveling, you needed to call through the hotel and it was exorbitant. (This was also before everybody had laptops.) My company had a strict “once every three days” rule for these expensive calls. We all know how much technology has changed the world. Now the company doesn’t even have a rule about calls home.
This morning, I got up to the above photo texted to me from YA, who is on a work program right now. Up until that moment, I had thought we were having a really warm couple of days. Everything is relative, I guess. The caption under her photo was “Breakfast on my balcony.”
The first bookstore that I worked in was teeny. Teeny tiny. Because we were so small, we did not have any subsections of Fiction. Romance and science fiction and mystery were all filed together by author with the “regular fiction”. I don’t ever remember this being a problem. My next store was larger; Romance and Science Fiction got their own shelves but Mystery was still mixed in with Fiction. By the time I got the store #1 at Southdale, even Mystery had a neighborhood of its own.
I remember when Fantasy started being differentiated from SciFic (although it never had its own section when I was in stores). And I also remember when I first started hearing folks use Literary Fiction as a subgenre. (This one always bothers me because it sounds kind of snooty.) And although I’ve never seen it listed anywhere officially (although I’m sure it’s out there), I’ve used Dystopian Fiction myself for books like Station Eleven and Red Rising.
Last week when I was in Barnes & Noble I turned a corner and found two big tables of “Speculative Fiction”. This is a new one on me. The signs said “the perfect mash-up of your supernatural, fantastical, magical and futuristic dreams.” Doesn’t this encompass fantasy and science fiction and maybe even dystopian? Fellowship of the Ring was on the table – I would clearly call that Fantasy. Both of Andy Weir’s books (The Martian and The Hail Mary Project (both excellent by the way)) were piled up. I would absolutely call both of those Science Fiction. Station Eleven was on the other table. I would put that in Dystopian since it’s not supernatural, fantastical or magical. Wouldn’t Mystery fall into Speculative? I was thinking that just about every fiction title might qualify for Speculative. Except the romances – as they pretty much always end the way we think they will.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m not actually against putting books together by fairly specific genres; it does help folks find books they might like. But Speculative seems to be a more expansive genre rather than a whittled down category. Not sure it will help, but it was a nice sign.
Do you have a title that you think qualifies for the Speculative Fiction section?
We have a new baby in the neighborhood; they came home on Saturday. These are newish neighbors so I don’t know them super-well. With folks you don’t know, and young to boot, it’s hard to gauge what kind of gift to get. I wasn’t invited to any showers and these days new parents seem to want the types of stuff that I either have never heard of or is out of my price range. I need a small, casual gift. My go-to is the chunk journal.
This is a small photo album, just 4 x 4, with lots of pretty paper and embellishments. The front and back cover is made with corkboard – I get the 4 x 4 coasters online. It’s easy to make and I get to use up stuff from my way-too-big craft stash. Papers, ribbons, stickers, bling. The only problem with the chunk journal is the mess:
I don’t have a plan when I start a chunk journal except the number of pages (I usually do 24 pieces, so places for 48 photos. As I cut paper and take out various embellishments, I don’t put them back right away, as I may want to use them again on later pages. This means my desk is covered in all kinds of stuff that I’m not willing to return to its home until I’m all done with the journal. As I get closer and closer to the end, I get a little more ruffled about the mess. I start to put stuff away in my head. That means I get two endorphin kicks at the end. I’ve finished the gift and I get to start the clean-up. Unfortunately, this is the only time I get all excited about cleaning up in my studio. Rats.
Do you have any go-to gifts (any occasion)? Do you purchase gifts off folks’ registries?
We got a little bit of rain last week so the driveway and yard, being a little bit snow-covered, got pretty slippery. I went out with the tractor to try and rough up the ice and scrape some of it off. Using both the front loader and the rear blade I got 90% of it. At least we’re not sliding sideways across the yard. And then we got a whole bunch of rain Thursday night. I know they were predicting over an inch, I don’t have any gauges out so I don’t know what amount it amounted too, but jeepers we don’t need rain in January. Still a bit of an adventure getting down to the chicken coop and over to the feed room.
At the college I’ve had an outside rental this past week so that took up my evenings.
Out in the shop I enjoyed the time last weekend just putzing around out there. Stocked up the new fridge I got for Christmas, and finished assembling the pallet rack.
Frozen Little Debbie crunch bars are the best!
I am looking forward to storing stuff!
I moved the 630 out and brought the gator in. Swept the floors creating a cloud of dust. Something I should’ve thought of when I was building the shop was a fresh air intake and an exhaust fan. It sort of flitted through my mind once, but I wasn’t listening. I’m not running equipment inside very often but by the time I start up a tractor, open the door, bring in something else and close the door, the CO2 alarm is going off. And then when I sweep, a cloud of dust fills the air and then I wish I had a filter. I have a ventilation guy coming to the farm next week to give me some ideas. Whether I have them do it or whether I do it myself remains to be seen, I just need to figure out what to do.
I was cleaning up my desk at work. I threw out a bunch of magazines from 2007. It shouldn’t take that long to throw out a magazine, but you know, you put something down, and there it sits.
But I’m saving the kazoo’s. The theater conference I attend every so often has a kazoo parade through the venue at some point. Organized by a group called the ‘Long Reach Long Riders’ LRLR.org.
It’s a bunch of people who ride motorcycles and raise money for theater related causes. From their website:
Long Reach Long Riders are a collective of strangers, friends, and families alike; who share a common passion for the entertainment arts.
For over 20 years, we’ve come together once a year to ride motorcycles together and raise funds for the Behind-the-Scenes Charity, which provides essential support to entertainment technology professionals who are seriously ill, injured, or in need of mental health or substance use support.
Each year the ‘ride’ takes place in a different area of the United States, where good roads and good sights are to be discovered.”
It’s a fun bunch of people. So I’m keeping the kazoo’s.
Our big dog Humphrey turned 11 on January 5. He is such a good dog. Luna-tick, keeps him engaged and young and he has no qualms telling her when he’s done playing.
Humphrey enjoying his birthday treat. (Bacon strip)
Humphrey as a puppy
Bailey is still trying to prove she’s the number two dog.
Let’s take a pause here and I’m just gonna do some fun photos.
My folks.
My sister making a snowman for her granddaughter in South Carolina who wanted a snowman.
“Fred is up to his neck. Snowflake is trying to pull him out.”
T-shirt from Etsy
From the site: ‘Disappointing affirmations’ on Instagram or FB
Must be long lost relatives. Check out the tiny mom! Eleven kids from Tiny Mom! My mom had this picture, but we don’t know who it is. Nothing written on it.
Well, I admit defeat. I am old. I am out of shape. I am stiff and sore. I need exercise.
I went to a SAIL class on Thursday at the American Reformed Church. (That is the less conservative Dutch Reformed Church in town, in contrast to the Christian Reformed Church, which is uber conservative.) SAIL stands for Stay Active and Independent for Life. It is operated by a community organization that provides services for senior citizens, and aims to prevent falls and keep older citizens in their homes.
I realized after my decision to attend that I had no work out clothes. I haven’t owned sneakers for 10 years. We made a trip to Sioux Falls earlier in the week to remedy that.
The class lasted an hour. We marched around, worked on balance, and stretched. They supplied hand weights. Some exercises were done standing. We worked on upper body and shoulder strength and thigh muscles. For some exercises we sat. I was the youngest person in the class. Some of the folks knew my parents.
It amazes me how woefully weak and stiff I have become. I will attend these free classes twice a week. We want to get a Cesky puppy in the spring, and I need to get into shape.
How often do you exercise? What defines “old” for you? Getting any new animal companions soon?
January 8. I am not willfully ignoring the events of yesterday or the day before that. Or the day before that. I don’t want us to become a source of dissension that could attract trolls. And on a more personal note I need at least one place/forum separate from the insanities that are surrounding us on a daily basis. If others disagree, I bow to the majority but will mostly likely be quiet.
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I saw a news story that some residents of the town of Haverhill, Massachusetts are upset at the smell emanating from the new Dunkin’ Donuts factory there in town. They complain about the fried dough smell and that their homes and clothes reek of it. Of course, quite a few others think it’s a nice smell.
It was a surprise to me that the donuts are made in a factory; while I never really thought about it, I assumed they were made in each Dunkin location:
Turns out it’s a little of both worlds. Most Dunkins get frozen dough from various partner factories. They thaw the dough, shape, fry, ice, etc. in the individual locations but there are also franchises that have the donuts made in their local factory. Who knew? Truly I do like the idea of the donuts being made right in my little store, but as long as they taste good when I get them in the drive-thru, I guess it doesn’t really matter to me.
However I do sincerely understand how the anti-smell folks in Havervill feel. When I was working in the bakery, I came home every single day and took a hot shower before I did anything else. I even convinced the owner to include me in the uniform rental (the other women in the bakery didn’t want this) so that I could leave the odor-drenched clothing at the bakery. I could FEEL the bakery smell on my skin. It wasn’t even that it was a bad smell just that it was so enveloping. And, of course, I believe I told the pumpkin pie story more than once, but my aversion to that smell is just as strong now as it was back then.
I guess that means I would be in the “ew, it stinks” camp if I lived near the factory. But I’m not sure I’d be willing to complain about it out loud.
What kind of a factory would you prefer not to live near?
The holidays brought me a nice cache of giftcards so yesterday I had a “gift card day”. Dunkin for breakfast on the way to knee therapy. Blicks Art Supply. Barnes & Noble. Taco Bell. A great day.
I spent about an hour wandering around Barnes & Noble. As a dedicated library patron, I have to admit that I haven’t been inside a bookstore since last year when Jacque’s sister was signing her latest book at Once Upon a Crime. Nothing against bookstores but my pocketbook prefers the library system.
Anyway… as I was checking everything out, I found two tables that had various history books piled up. I’m assuming that B&N stores get table recommendations from headquarters with a few title suggestions but that most of the books are picked for display by store employees. (That’s how it was back in my day in the bookstore.) The history tables had the look of employees having a bunch of fun. History of the World in Twelve Shipwrecks, History of America in Ten Expeditions, History of the World in Six Glasses. Clearly this is a trend and it reminded me of a couple of titles I’ve read – A History of the World in 100 Objects and Orchid Muse: History of Obsession in Fifteen Flowers. 100 Objects started as a BBC radio series – I stumbled upon in once it was published in book form. It looks at objects from all over the world, from as long ago as 2 million years. It was absolutely fascinating. Orchid Muse was a book I read last year as part of my Rivers & Ridges Book Festival experience. The author was at the festival so I got to hear her speak – a lot of extra little details that weren’t in the book.
I didn’t realize that history in a set number of lessons was a thing but if you do a quick internet search, you can find a glut of these books. 47 Borders, 50 Books, 50 Failures, 12 Maps, 500 Walks, 50 Lies. I could go on but this is enough and it makes me wonder if authors are starting out to do a “number of things” or if they have an area of interest and publishers/agents push them in that direction?
Any other suggestions for “History of the World in”…….?
One Good Thing. That’s the name of my journal – short and sweet – one good thing a day. Every now and then if I just can’t whittle it down, then two. Doesn’t have to be earth-shaking.
Every now and then, like yesterday, I am just not feeling it. Gray and cold. No good news in the world. Found out my supplement program has stopped doing the $50 of pharmacy freebies. My checks haven’t come in yet. The mail didn’t arrive. I started three different books and none of them lit any kind of spark. Just a crumby day. What in heaven’s name was going to be my one good thing?
Back in December I went to get my hearing aids checked before my 3-year warranty was up. It was pretty cursory but when “Opal” (name changed to protect the innocent) asked me if I had downloaded the app, I remembered when Jacque was helping Lou with his hearing aid once at a Blevin’s meeting using his phone. Opal and I discussed it for a bit, what it could do for me and if it would fit my needs. And then she said the magic words…. “do you ever listen to audio books?” You all know I perked up immediately. Turns out that even without the app, I can have audiobooks (and also my phone) stream through my hearing aids! Who knew.
My phone does have the Libby app on it already but it hasn’t too useful. If I had it too loud, YA would comment. During the summer, when windows were open, traffic made it hard to hear sometimes. If I would get up and leave the room, I’d have to remember to grab the phone. I didn’t use this feature often. But through my hearing aids, it’s a whole `nother world! No irritating YA, no traffic noise, no having to remember to take the phone. I can walk all over each floor of my house before I get out of range. It’s amazing.
This has been life-changing for me and I’m trying not to regret that I spent three years not knowing about this. Oh well. Even though Opal clued me into this in December, since one of my “meh” books today was listened to via my hearing aids, I’m gonna take it!
Trail Baboon 