Just for a moment there, I thought Spring had sprung. I woke yesterday with a… forgive me… spring in my step and the air was full of singing birds this morning. There was also an email in my inbox from one C.Prophet concerning last week’s article. How nice to be so well-read by such lovely people – all of you. There was a smell of plants budding and the promise of heat as the day progressed and so it turned out. Just for a day, it appears, as my old friends drizzle and frost returned this morning as I trudged to the shed for my weekly missive.
Curses! And then I think about others and feel churlish about my first-world problems. Just a bit of weather I can escape from into a reasonably warm space with music to listen to and no one trying to deport me, bomb me, or just hate me for no apparent reason. I’ve given up watching the news, I must confess, as the increasing gap between basic humanity and the ideologies of some of the most powerful people on the planet continue to diverge at a frightening pace.
All I know is that if I fail to make my thoughts and protest heard then that is exactly what ‘they’ want but it is becoming increasingly frightening. As an ex-20th Century History teacher I am finding the parallels with the rise of fascism 100 years ago and what is going on in the US deeply disturbing. Maybe that’s what’s happening here. Maybe someone in the Trump administration has actually read some history and this is like some convoluted birthday celebration of the spread of fascism in Europe in the twenties and thirties. I’d like to think so, if only so that when they get to chapter 2 that person will realise what’s coming and change the narrative. I f**king hope so. Tom Waits is still standing up for things as reported in the news and Pat Sansone of Wilco also stuck his head above the parapet this week with this post. Gawd bless ’em both but we all have to do it in every conversation no matter how big or small. Not saying anything isn’t enough right now.
This week it’s the aforementioned Tom Waits (this is a wonderful clip) and some lovely Anais Mitchell I was promoted to look for by a listener to the radio show. Thank you. This week’s show itself features three from Chuck, CSNY, DBT, Joni, Geese, and three from The Delines amongst others. As ever..
