Openers: Hautley Quicksilver, who was among the most celebrated and certainly the most distinguished of the Licensed Legal Criminal and confidential Agents in the Near Stars, lived with all the luxurious refinements and civilized comforts available to those who have achieved the ultimate peak of their profession.
He had a castle of organic pink quartz on the planetoid Carvel in that asteroid belt known as The Chain of Astarte. It had been designed to his specifications by none other than Smingoth Whibberley, the most noted, controversial, and widely imitated architectural philosopher of the 36th century A.C. There Hautley lived alone with his quaint hobbies, his curious pets, and his extraordinary collection of hand weapons culled from 1,376 different planetary cultures. no less than sxiteen hundred varieties of weapon were represented in his arsenal -- among them devices designed to stab, slice, puncture, detonate, envenom, stun, paralyze, render immobile, implode, decapitate, unlimb, eviscerate or otherwise render hors de combat an unwary opponent. With each of these, Quicksilver had made certain he acquired a thorough professional competency upon which depended (and not infrequently) the adroit performance of his occupational duties, if not indeed continuance of life itself.
--The Thief of Thoth by Lin Carter (1968)
This is the first adventure (of three) of Hautley Quicksilver. It first appeared as a short story, "The Crown of Stars," in Worlds of Tomorrow, November 1966. The story was expanded to The Thief of Thoth for book publication in a double volume (with Frank Belknap Long's ..And Others Shall Be Born), Belmont, 1968; it was reprinted by Belmont, this time paired with Harlan Ellison's Doomsman, 1972, and released as a single title by Gateway/Orion in 2020. (Quicksilver's second adventure was also published as a Belmont Double, The Purloined Planet, with John Brunner's The Evil That Men Do, 1969. Quicksilver's final outing was the short story "Murder in Space," in the January 1987 issue of the small-press magazine Astro-Adventures: Tales of Scientifiction.)
Here's Carter's description of Hautley Quicksilver: "This /quicksilver, foremost Licensed Legal Criminal and confidential Agent in half a galaxy, was a lean, lithe, agile young man of only seventy-six, patently of humanoid stock, although, perchance, admixed with a touch of anthrofelinesque blood inherited from a paternal great-grandmother."
In rapid succession, Quicksilver is approached by two different parties to steal the Crown of Stars, a relic of the extinct, primordial Cavern /kings of the planet Thoth IV in the Derghiz /cluster; the Crown is "venerated and guarded by a fanatic cult who have sworn death to the interloper and crown-lifter -- death according to indescribably bizarre and barbaric torments." Thus far, thirty-nine serious attempts had been made to steal the crown. All had failed, and all but one of the would-be thieves had been executed "in an impressive variety of methods by the grimly fanatic Neothothic Priesthood." As Quicksilver is deciding what action (and which commission) he would take, he is approached by the lovely Senior Inquiry Specialist Barsine Torache with a Crown commission from the Curina Intelligence Depot -- the organization which controls his Legal License, to steal the Crown of Stars. three different partiers, all within the space of half a day want Quicksilver to steal the Crown. What gives?
Lin Carter (1930-1988) was prolific writer and editor, perhaps best known for his work within the Conan franchise and for his editorship of the Ballantine Adult Fantasy book series. Carter was an immensely talented writer who was never able to shake his fanboy roots, mechanically imitating his favorite writers and tropes in the fantasy and science fiction fields -- Robert E. Howard, H. P. Lovecraft, Clark Ashton Smith, Edgar Rice Burroughs, J. R. R. Tolkien, Leigh Brackett, Lord Dunsany, and the pulp adventures of heroes such as Doc Savage. As a writer, his slavish idolatry never allowed him to achieve his full potential.
(BTW, Carter was a member of a literary dining club called the Trap Door Spiders, which was fictionalized in a series of short stories by Isaac Asimov as the Black Widowers. In the series, Asimov based the character of Mario Gonzalo on Carter. Other real-life Spiders with Widowers counterparts include L. Sprague de Camp [Geoffrey Avalon], Lester del Rey [Emmanuel Rubin], John D. Clark [James Drake], journalist Gilbert Cant [Thomas Trumbull], and Don Benson [Roger Halsted].)
The Thief of Thoth is an entertaining butt of inconsequential fannish fluff that managed to pack an encyclopedia's worth of exposition into a few pages, marred by rapid writing and groan-worthy anachronisms. Does one really believe that more than 3000 years from now and in a galaxy wide civilization, people will automatically remember the "Immortal Sherlock" and Irene Adler? Or that a phrase such as phonus-balonus would be common? and then there's this telling sentence in which we first encounter Barsine Torsche: "She grinned hoydenishly." And let us not forget the had-I-but-known tropes ("Intenser bafflements awaited in the near future, though Quicksilver knew it not!" and "Although Hautley knew it not, a fourth claimant was interested in the Crown of Stars!"), as well as the obligatory futuristic cursing ("by Onolk's iridium duodenum"). And did I mention exclamation points galore?
A fun and harmless read, earnestly and somewhat incompetently told.
Incoming:
- Dan Abnett, The Horus Heresy: Horus Rising. Warhammer 40,000 tie-in novel, the first in a series of 54 volumes by various authors. "It is the 31st millennium. Under the benevolent leadership of the Immortal Emperor the Imperium of Man has stretched out across the galaxy. It is a golden age of discovery and conquest. But now, on the eve of victory, the emperor leaves the front lines, entrusting the great crusade to his favorite son, Horus. Promoted to Warmaster, can the idealistic Horus carry out the Emperor's grand plan, or will this promotion sow the seeds of heresy amongst his brothers? Horus Rising is the first chapter in the epic tale of the Horus Heresy, a galactic civil war that threatens to bring about the extinction of humanity." There are hundreds of books and short stories in the Warhammer 40,000 universe and its subsets; someone must be buying them.
- James Anderson, Murder, She Wrote: Hooray for Homicide. An early television tie-in, pre-Donald Bain; this one is based on two episodes from the series. "Cabot Cove's own best-selling mystery writer, Jessica Fletcher, is busy slaying her latest victim (fictional, of course) when two real life homicides turn her once more from scribbling to snooping. The first murder blows in with a hurricane and docks a baffling conundrum right in the local harbor. A yacht containing four beautiful daughters of a millionaire is the scene of the crime, the corpse is somewhere at sea, nd the dead man has surprises in store for a storm-tossed town...and a secret to share with an unsuspecting Jessica. But no sooner does Jessica solve a Down East homicide, when a truly heinous act sends her west. Tinsel Town's most controversial producer is transforming her wonderful mystery novel into a bloody horror film. And what's written into the script is a clever off-camera killing -- in a case that nominates out leading lady of detection as the star suspect in a spectacular Hollywood whodunit!"
- Max Allan Collins 7 Terry Beatty, Ms. Tree: Deadline. Volume 4 of the Collected Ms. Tree from the comic books. The six foot, 9mm-carrying private eye is as tough a tec as you'll ever meet. Stories collected here are "Deadline," "Skin Deep," "Runaway," "Runaway II," and a Ms. tree-Mist Mist mash-up (Mist-Tree), "Death, Danger and Diamonds." It is great to have her back in print in six gorgeous volumes.
- John Creasey, Blood Red. (Originally published as Red Eye for the Baron by "Anthony Morton.") Mystery. "John Mannering, the former jewel thief known as 'The Baron' and now a respectable antique dealer in London's Mayfair, was selling a fabulous diamond ring known as the 'Red Eye of Love'. The ring, however, was not wanted by the intended recipient, who only reluctantly placed it on her finger. could a sixth sense be at work, as the ring is surely associated with death?" John Mannering is the Creasey character most like Leslie Charteris's The Saint, even more so than that other "Saint-like" Creasey character the Toff. If I counted properly, there were 47 novels in the series; in the first eight, the character was called "Blue Mask" in the original printings.
- Lee Goldberg, Dream Town. Eve Ronin mystery #5. "Hidden Hills is a private celebrity enclave of white picket fences and horse trails that seems to exist in a dreamworld. But when reality superstar Kitty Winslow is killed within their gates and corpses are found in the vast state park outside them, LASD detective Eve Ronin realizes there is a deadly razor-thin line between what's real and what's imagined. Eve discovers that Kitty's surreal on- and off-camera life, a blur of fact and fantasy, shockingly mirrors her own as she struggles to investigate the killings, wade into a music industry war, and battle a vicious Chilean gang -- all while her life is being turned into a fictional cop show directed by her estranged father. Eve's grip on reality and the case is strained to the breaking point as the slayings continue, the media frenzy reaches a fever pitch, and the only inescapable truth she can see is death...and it's coming for her." Goldberg just keeps getting better and better.
- [High Adventure #140, January 2015], edited by John Gunnison, pulp reprint magazine. This one contains the third (and final) adventure of Malay Collins by Murray Leinster, "Black Stone of Agharti" (Short Stories, 10, 1930). Also, Leinster's "The Great Joke of Lope Da Gamma," from Far East Adventure Stories, April 1931; this one carries over a typo from the original appearance -- the character's name is actually "da Gama"), and H. Bedford Jones's novella "The Man Who Could Not Die" (Two Book Detective Magazine, May 1934), "Blue Heaven" by Chester L. Saxby (Far East Adventure Stories, February 1932), and "Bared Fangs" by William Byron Mowery (Rapid-Fire Action Stories, November 1932). A bargain for pulp fans.
- Richard Jessup, A Quiet Voyage Home. Suspense novel. "The setting of the story is the magnificent ocean liner S. S. New York: our world in microcosm. Here is the establishment, complete with power figures: captain, mate, purser, ship's doctor. Here, too, is a silent majority: the well-heeled and well-fleshed middle-class passengers in the first- and second-class cabins. and here, teeming in overcrowded tourist-class cabins, are the young: sixteen hundred kids coming home from a summer's roving in Europe. A lot of the kids are on pot or speed or worse: all are ripe for excitement. And one young man on board is ready to give them all the excitement they can take. He is called Indian, he is a nihilist and an anarchist and revolution is his thing..." A novel of a certain age that most likely does not read well today.
- "J. J. Marric" (John Creasey) - Gideon's Mem. A Commander George Gideon novel. "In Dartmoor Prison a man named Entwhistle was serving a life sentence after being convicted for the murder of his wife, though he had not killed her. And someone was coming to visit him, without permission. In Notting Hill Gate, where thousands of Pakistanis lived, crowded together in deplorable conditions, a building had collapsed, trapping nobody-knows-how-many people. And the police were looking for a man who rode a bicycle with a loose-fitting read mudguard. but a policeman's time is not all spent solving crimes. Commander George Gideon of Scotland Yard, his wife, Kate, his daughter Penny, and a good-looking woman from the Yard's typing pool had all gone to the Yard's Fiftieth Criminal Investigation Ball. It had been a formal and elegant affair -- but Gideon was aware of the many undercurrents present. Policemen do have problems common to other men -- they vie with each other for the preferred job; they strive to impress their superiors; they hope for promotion; and they try to make their marriages and their love affairs run smoothly. But, unlike most other men, policemen risk their lives not infrequently in their daily routine. Gideon, who kept an eye on the private affairs of his men as well as on their pressing public duties, was well aware of the rewards as well of the dangers he and they constantly encountered. And sometimes his responsibilities seemed too heavy, even for him." Creasey's Gideon novels rank with the very best of his work.
- Phil Rickman, December. As much as the author disliked the term, this is a horror novel. "In the twelfth-century ruins of the Abbey, it is said that every stone was cemented in blood. On December 8, 1980, that blood will run again...The Abbey's tower house is now a recording studio, and a hot young band called The Philosopher's Stone has gathered to tap into the site's dark history. But no one could predict the powerful forces that rise the night of December 8. The explosive tragedy. The horrifying death. and in the aftermath of that fateful session, the members of the band agree to destroy their tape...and never meet again. But thirteen years later, the Abbey tape -- known as The Black Album -- resurface. And the scattered members of The Philosopher's Stone know that it's time for a reunion. time to return to that dark December night -- for one last performance..." Rickman, who past away late in October, is perhaps best known for his series of Merrily Watkins novels.
Historic Sounds: On January 27, 2003, the first fifty recordings to be named to the National Recording Registry were announced; all had been chosen the previous year by the National Recording Preservation board, whose members are appointed by the Librarian of Congress in accordance with the National Recording Preservation Act of 2000. The recordings are elected for being culturally, historically or aesthetically significant and have informed or reflected culture in the United States. Fifty recordings were selected for each of the Registry's first four years; thereafter twenty-five recordings have been selected annually. As of 2024, more than 650 recordings have been preserved in the Registry; among the many nominees to be considered for this year's induction are speeches by Malcolm X. Elie Wiesel, Hilary Clinton, and Barack Obama, songs from Eminem, Cream, Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young, Lynryd Skynryd, The Byrds, Britney Spears, and Celine Dion, the Pokemon theme, a story read by Vincent Price, and the essay "The Santaland Diaries" by David Sedaris.
Here are the first fifty recordings in the Registry, as selected in 2002:
- Edison Exhibition Recordings, three cylinders, 1888-1889 ("Around the World on a Phonograph," "The Pattison Waltz," "Fifth Regiment March")
- Passamaquoddy Indian Field Recordings by by Jesse Walter Fewkes, 1890
- "Stars and Stripes Forever" (Berliner Gramophone disc recording), 1897
- Metropolitan Opera cylinder recordings, Lionel Mapleson and the Metropolitan Opera, 1900-1903
- "Casey at the Bat", DeWolf Hopper, 1906
- "Vesti la glubba" from Pagliacci, Enrico Caruso, 1907
- 1895 Atlanta Exposition Speech, Booker T. Washington, 1908 recreation
- "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot", Fisk Jubilee Singers, 1909
- Lovey's Trinidad String Band recordings for Columbia Records, 1912
- Ragtime compositions piano rolls, Scott Joplin, 1916
- "Tiger Rag", Original Dixieland Jazz Band, 1918
- "Arkansas Traveler" and "Sallie Gooden". Eck Robertson, 1922
- "Downhearted Blues". Bessie Smith, 1923
- Rhapsody in Blue, George Gershwin, piano; Paul Whiteman Orchestra, 1924
- Louis Armstrong's Hot Five and Hot seven recordings, Louis Armstrong's Hot five and Hot Seven, 1925-1928
- Victor Talking Machine Company sessions in Bristol, Tennessee, Carter Family, Jimmie Rogers, Ernest Stoneman, and others, 1927
- Highlander Center Field Recordings Collection, Rosa Parks, Esau Jenkins, and others, 1930s-1980s
- Bell Laboratories experimental stereo recordings, Philadelphia Orchestra, Leopold Stokowski, conductor, 1931-1932
- "Fireside chats" radio broadcasts, Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1933-1944
- Harvard Vocarium record series, T. S. Eliot, W. H. Auden, and others, 191933-1956
- "New Music Quarterly" recording series, Henry Cowell, producer, 1934-1949
- Description of the crash of the Hindenburg, Herbert Morrison, May 16, 1937
- The Cradle Will Rock, Marc Blitzstein and the original cast of The Cradle Will Rock, 1938
- "Who's on First?" (earliest existing radio broadcast version), Abbott and Costello, October 6, 1938
- The War of the Worlds, Orson Welles and The Mercury Theatre on the Air, October 30, 1938
- "God Bless America" (radio broadcast premiere), Kate Smith, November 11, 1938
- The John and Ruby Lomax southern States Recording Trip, John and Ruby Lomax, 1939
- "Strange Fruit", Billie Holiday, 1939
- Grand Ole Opry (first network radio broadcast), Uncle Dave Macon, Roy Acuff, and others, October 14, 1939
- Bela Bartok and Joseph Szigeti in concert at the Library of Congress. Bela Bartok, piano, Joseph Szigeti, violin, April 13, 1940
- The Rite of Spring, , Igor Stravinsky conducting the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, 1940
- Blanton-Webster era recordings, Duke Ellington Orchestra, 1940-1942
- "White Christmas" (original 1942 single), Bing Crosby, 1942
- "This Land Is Your Land", Woody Guthrie, 1944
- D-Day radio address to the Allied Nations (June 6, 1944, order of the day and People of Western Europe speech), Dwight D. Eisenhower, June 6, 1944
- "Ko Ko", Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, and others, 1945
- "Blue Moon of Kentucky", Bill Monroe and the Blue Grass Boys, 1947
- "How High the Moon", Les Paul and Mary Ford, 1951
- Songs for Young Lovers, Frank Sinatra, 1954
- Sun Records sessions, Elvis Presley, 1954-1955
- Dance Mania, Tito Puente, 1958
- Kind of Blue, Miles Davis, 1959
- "What'd I Say", Parts 1 and 2, Ray Charles, 1959
- The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan, Bob Dylan, 1963
- "I Have a Dream" speech, Martin Luther King, Jr., August 28, 1963
- "Respect", Aretha Franklin, 1967
- Philomel: for Soprano (Milton Babbitt), Bethany Beardslee, recorded soprano, and synthesized sound, 1971
- Precious Lord: New Recordings of the Great Gospel Songs of Thomas A. Dorsey, Thomas A. Dorsey, Marion Williams, and others, 1973
- Crescent City Living Legends Collection (New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Foundation Archive/WWOZ New Orleans), Clifton Chenier, Professor Longhair, Queen Ida, and other performers, 1973-1990
- The Message", Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, 1982
These recordings are available on the internet, Check them out.
Auto Ignition Electric Starter: How many times have you laid in bed wishing you knew more about 1920s electric starters? If you are like me, probably more than you can count. Well, help is at hand with this silent educational film that uses stock footage, live action, title cards, and animation to explain it all. (It's kind of a boring way to spend twelve minutes, actually.)
https://archive.org/details/xd-49824-the-electric-starter-flipped-mos-vwr
Holidays, We've Got Holidays: It's January 27th, which means it's time to celebrate...
- Auschwitz Liberation Day. On this day in 1945, the infamous Nazi concentration camp in Poland, where over a million people were murdered as part of the "Final Solution" to the Jewish "problem", was liberated by Soviet troops, during the Vistula-Oder Offensive. Almost 60,000 prisoners had been forced into a death march but some 7000 prisoners were left behind. Most of those left behind were too ill to take pat in the death march, were middle-aged, or were children under 15. The scope of the horror that faced the Soviet rescuers is still difficult to comprehend. Along with the survivors, the Soviets found 600 corpses, 370,000 men's suits, 837,000 articles of women's clothing, and 7.7 tons of human hair. The liberation of Auschwitz was not a specific goal of the Red Army but the camp happened to be along their westward march through Poland. January 27 is also recognized as International Holocaust Remembrance Day, and (in Britain) as Holocaust Memorial Day. As the world seems to be sinking further and further into authoritarianism, it is vital to remember what can happen when Fascism -- no matter what guise it is going under -- gains power, or when the world's richest human being (and I use the term loosely) is prone to giving a Nazi salute. Never forget.
- Bubble Wrap Appreciation Day, celebrated on the last Monday in January. Bubble wrap (actually a trade name, but has become a generic trademark over the years. It was invented in 1957 by Albert Fielding and Marc Chevannes, who were attempting to create a three-dimensional wallpaper. commonly used as a packing material, bubble wrap makes the most delicious sound when the bubbles are popped. Bubble Wrap Appreciation Day came about after a radio station in Bloomington, Indiana, received a shipment of microphones wrapped in bubble wrap and broadcast the sound of the bubbles being popped. who would have thought that popping bubbles could be so soothing...or so much fun?
- Chocolate Cake Day. Yippee! To help you celebrate, here's eight ultimate chocolate cake recipes: https://www.bing.com/videos/riverview/relatedvideo?q=chocolate+cake+recipess&mid=8EC7CB015402821522958EC7CB01540282152295&mcid=CD029AE08803494FBD772C5A77C6211F&FORM=VIRE
- National Bible Day. Please do not celebrate with a Trump Bible, although the (non-Trump) bible that he was supposed to be sworn in on isn't doing anything (or, at least, wasn't on January 20) and may be available.
- Thomas Crapper Day. Crapper (1836-1910), an English plumber and businessman, held nine patents, three of them for water closet improvements -- the floating ballcock, an improved S-bend plumbing trap, and the U-bend. He founded the London plumbing equipment company Thomas Crapper & Co, which was given a royal warrant by Prince Albert (later King Edward VII) in the 1880s; Albert asked Crapper to supply the plumbing -- including thirty lavatories with cedarwood seats -- for the newly purchased Sandringham House. Later royal warrants came from Edward as king and from George V, both as Prince of Wales and as king. You might say Crapper was flush with success. Although Crapper's name is synonymous with the flush toilet in modern eyes, none of his inventions dealt directly with the flush toilet itself. Yes, he did set up public showrooms for sanitary ware and popularized the nation of installing sanitary plumbing inside the home, but his company's advertisements falsely implied that the siphonic flush was his invention. A 1969 fictional biography by satirist Wallace Reyburn has helped join Crapper and the flush toilet in the public mind. Why celebrate Crapper on this date? He happened to die on January 27, 1910. [By the way, contrary to popular opinion, the word "crap" did not originate with his name; the word is of Middle English origin and once referred to chaff, weeds, or rubbish; it was first used to refer to bodily waste centuries later, in 1846, ten year after Crapper was born.]
- World Breast Pumping Day. Created in 2017 by Wendy Armbruster, creator of the PumpEase hands-free pumping bra, to encourage pumping parents to take pride in their accomplishments and to acknowledge the time, energy, and dedication pumping requires. It acknowledges "that it's okay not to be okay. We're here to hold space for the complicated feelings pumping can bring to the surface. Plans change, milestones are met, hopes and dreams are not realized, accomplishments are achieved, and through it all pumping parents persevere, one drop at a time." you cannot underestimate the significance breast milk plays in healthy infant development.
Not a Holiday: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's birthday, born January 27, 1756.
Here's his Symphony no. 40 in G minor, by Nikolaus Harnoncourtand and the Concentus Musicus Wien:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_4jMxbwmVc
Math Query: Why do some people use fractions instead of decimals? It's pointless.
Hard Times, Come Again No More: The Stephen Foster song, from a 1919 RCA Victrola recording by Louise Horner. Horner (1871-1947), a contralto, had an active opera and music hall career from 1895 to her retirement in 1932. She was a member of the Metropolitan Opera from 1900 to 1919, and again from 1927 to 1929. Soprano Nettie Melba once hailed her as "the world's most beautiful voice," and in 1923 and 1924, she was named one of the 12 greatest living women by the National League of Women Voters.
https://archive.org/details/78_hard-times-come-again-no-more_louise-homer-stephen-c-foster_gbia0044242a
Florida Man:
- Florida Man and dessert chef Shannon Atkins, 46, of West Palm Beach, has been arrested for Facebook threats to kill President Donald Trump. Police said they found cocaine in his car during the arrest. Atkins ran big Mama's House of sweets from 2016 to 2020 and was now running big Mama's House of Sweets, Catering & More out of his home.
- An unnamed Florida Man has been arrested for a crime that is rarely committed in Florida -- throwing snowballs at a police officer. During the recent snowpocalypse, Tallahassee police were called out because a group of people were throwing "snowballs" at passing cars; an occupant of one of the cars reported being struck in the head. Police ordered the crowd to disperse and one officer was reportedly struck in the face by what was termed an "ice projectile." The officer chased the man but lost him when he ran into the crowd. Other officers were reportedly struck by by snowballs. When the crowd still refused to disperse. officers used pepper balls to disperse them. According to police, no one was struck by a pepper ball. One person was arrested for battery on a police officer. no further details were available.
- Florida Man Johnnie Toler, 33, has been arrested for exposing himself and rubbing himself in front of customers and at least one child in the shoe aisle of a a Daytona Beach TJ Maxx store. Police said they had found Toler inside the store with his genitals exposed. Toler reportedly told police that he did not know his genitals were exposed and that he had no intention of exposing himself to others. Store surveillance video seemed to dispute this, while also recording Toler making rude gestures to store customers. Toler was arrested on charges of lewd and lascivious behavior and for providing false information to law enforcement officers. He may end up getting "the Maxx for the minimum."
- Could this story be more Florida? 33-year-old Max Krejckant of Clearwater got a Waffle house tattoo...then refused to pay for it. He was arrested on a petit theft charge.
- And in Fort Myers, an unnamed and uncaught Florida Man walked into a Bass Pro Shop, grabbed a fishing net from a shelf, scooped a 50-ound live tarpon from the store's live fish pond, and escaped with his piscatorial bootie.
- In the "I Could Have Told You This Would Happen Department," Florida Man and January 6th rioter Daniel Charles Ball, was arrested on federal gun charges after President Donald Trump gave a blanket parson to the January 6th rioters. Ball had been held in pretrial detention on multiple charges, including entering the Capitol, breaking a window shudder, and throwing an explosive deice at law enforcement officers. For some, freedom is but a fleeting thing.
Good News:
- One million dollar reward offered to decipher ancient writing https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/indian-governor-offers-1-million-to-anyone-who-can-decipher-this-5300-year-old-writing-system/
- Miracle drug eliminates breast tumors in mice...with no side effects https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/breakthrough-single-dose-drug-wipes-out-breast-tumors-in-mice-without-side-effects/
- In this Danish city, people are paid to return their carryout coffee cups https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/people-are-paid-to-return-coffee-cups-in-this-city-spoiler-alert-it-worked/
- Even sunfish can get lonely https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/japanese-aquarium-cheers-up-lonely-resident-sunfish-with-cardboard-cutouts-of-people/
- 18 months ago she was unable to walk due to a rare brain condition,,,now she has completed a 268-mile race https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/runner-completes-268-mile-race-18-months-after-being-unable-to-walk-due-to-brain-condition/
- Know cursive? your talent is needed https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/volunteer-for-the-national-archives-to-translate-cursive-handwriting-for-modern-newbies/
Today's Poem:
lady liberty
for liberty, your day filled in splendor,
july fourth, new york harbor, nineteen eighty-six,
midnight sky, fireworks splashing,
heaven exploding
into radiant bouquets.
wall street a backdrop of centennial adulation,
computerized capital angling cameras,
celebrating the international symbol of freedom
stretched across microchips,
awacs surveillance,
wall-to-wall people, sailing ships,
gliding armies ferried
in pursuit of happiness, constitution adoration,
packaged television channels for liberty,
immigrant illusions
celebrated in the name of democratic principles,
god bless america, land of the star
spangled banner
that we love.
but the symbol suffered
one hundred years of decay
climbing up to the spined crown,
the fractured torch hand,
the ruptured intestines,
palms blistered and calloused,
feet embroidered in rust,
centennial decay,
the lady's eyes,
cataract filled, exposed
to sun and snow, a salty wind,
discolored verses staining her robe,
she needed re-molding, re-designing,
the decomposed body
now melted down for souvenirs,
lungs and limbs jailed
in scaffolding of ugly cubicles
incarcerating the body
as she prepared to receive
her twentieth-century transplant
paid for by pitching pennies,
hometown chicken barbecues,
marathons on america's main streets,
she heard the speeches:
the president's
the french and american partners,
the nation believed in her, rooted for the queen,
and lady liberty decided to reflect,
on lincoln's emancipatory resoluteness
on washington's patriotism,
on jefferson's lucidity,
on william jenning bryant's socialism,
on woodrow wilson's league of nations,
on roosevelt's new deal,
on kennedy's ecumenical postures,
and on martin luther king's non-violence,
lady liberty decided to reflect
on lillian wald's settlements,
on helen keller's sixth sense,
on susan b. anthony's suffrage movement,
on mother cabrini's giving soul,
on harriet tubman's stubborn pursuit of freedom.
just before she was touched,
just before she was dismantled,
lady liberty spoke,
she spoke for the principles,
for the preamble,
for the bill of rights,
and the thirty-nine
peaceful transitions,
and, just before she was touched,
lady liberty wanted to convey
her own resolutions,
her own bi-centennial goals,
so that in twenty eighty-six,
she would be smiling and she would be proud,
and then, just before she was touched,
and then, while she was being re-constructed,
and then, while she was being celebrated,
she spoke.
if you touch me, touch ALL of my people,
who need attention and societal repair,
give the tired and the poor
the same attention, AMERICA,
touch us ALL with liberty,
touch us ALL with liberty.
hunger abounds, our soil is plentiful,
our technology advanced enough
to feed the world,
to feed humanity's hunger...
but let's celebrate not our wealth,
not our sophisticated defense,
not our scientific advancements,
not our intellectual adventures,
let us concentrate on our weaknesses,
on our societal needs,
for we will never be free
if indeed freedom is subjugated
by trampling upon people's needs.
this is a warning,
my beloved america.
so touch me,
and in touching me
touch all out people,
do not single me out,
touch all our people,
all our people,
our people,
people.
and then I shall truly enjoy
my day, filled in splendor,
july fourth, new york harbor,
nineteen eighty-six, midnight sky,
fireworks splashing,
heaven exploding,
into radiant bouquets,
celebrating in the name of equality,
in the pursuit of happiness,
land of star
spangled banner
that we love.
-- Tato Laviera