#19 / Peace Amidst The Shambles
Hey y’all,
I’m working on a couple of essay-type pieces that I’m hoping to be able to share soon (he said convincingly), so this week I’ll highlight a delightful trip we took to the Jarvis Migratory Bird Sanctuary on the lakeshore this morning.
Actually, first, check out this car that’s currently parked outside our place.
Badass. Okay, so we almost stayed home today because there were severe thunderstorms rolling through town. But we wanted to see our friends, and birds, and we needed that lake breeze amidst all this heat. And we were really glad we stuck with the plan, because we had the place to ourselves.
It was just us, our friends, our friends’ dog, and the storm in the distance.
After arriving at the shore, the rain started up again.
Luckily the rain stopped soon after, because we realized it was a bad idea to be holding a long metal stick up in the air.
Facing the lake is a condominium for purple martins. So many questions about this. These are birds that, according to a sign in the sanctuary, only live in birdhouses that humans build for them. Where did they live before we built birdhouses? And how did the rest of the birds know that these homes were only for purple martins?
At first, it looked like this bird was wearing a fancy crown, like a rockhopper penguin. No, it is carrying a dragonfly in its beak. It was like the proverbial dog that catches the car: this bird kept flying around in circles and calling out as if to say, “what am I supposed to do with this, again?”
The sanctuary itself was amazing. It does not feel like you’re in the city at all: the only indication that you are is the high-rises that appear beyond the trees, but you could convince yourself that these are just very large birdhouses, if you are in an imaginative mood.
We immediately saw several birds and plants we had never seen before, including a Carolina wren and a great crested flycatcher. And of course, all our favorites were there, too: cardinals and robins and goldfinches and more.
When we’ve tried to birdwatch out in the woods, we’ve found it hard to actual spot the birds. There are so many trees, and they’re so tall, and the birds are sometimes few and far between. This wasn’t like that at all. There was a platform where you could look out into the fenced off part, which was the actual sanctuary, but there were also tons of low bushes behind us which were full of birds.
I felt enormous gratitude for the volunteers who have been taking amazing care of this sanctuary, expanding the ponds and improving the walkways, planting new bushes and trees to attract new birds; apparently they’ve been successful in convincing several species to begin taking up residence over the summers, instead of making pit stops.
The birds and the greenery and the breeze and the clouds and the moisture in the air and the good company all combined in a way that made me feel relaxed and energized at the same time. How have I missed this place before?
It was a good time. And then, walking back to the car, there was the most ridiculous lamppost I’ve ever seen.
And one more bird for the road.
Caterpillars
We continue to get lots of visits from female black swallowtail butterflies, and they continue to lay lots of eggs on our parsley. But we’re also seeing more and more wasps come through, looking for lunch. We had a couple eggs hatch earlier in the week, and then the babies vanished a couple days later. The vicious rains and wind can’t be great for them, either.
We’re considering attempting to raise them indoors, but maybe at this point we should just get a dog or a cat.
Books
Ian Mortimer — The Time Traveler’s Guide to Medieval England
Focusing on books is hard when there’s always more news and articles to read, and more shows to watch, and more everything else, too. I’m doing it, though, and I finished another one!
This was a delightful combo of social history and travel writing. The whole thing is written in present tense, as if you are actually witnessing the place, and the chapter titles are things like "What To Wear," "The Medieval Character," "What To Do," "The Law," etc. Most of the time he has you pretending to be either a really well-off yeoman or a modest merchant, because anyone lower on the status chain has a relatively boring life. But you do see how the unfree peasants live, and of course there is plenty of detail on the royals, since there's a wealth of primary source material.
It would have helped me to have read an actual history of 14th-century England first, so I could know more about some of the people and events who are referred to basically in passing. But that's not really a blocker, and of course there's Wikipedia.
Richard Rothstein — The Color of Law
This book shows convincingly how American government—federal, state, and local—explicitly segregated our country, starting in the late 19th century and continuing to nearly the present day. It also denied generations of Black people access to home loan programs, preventing them from accumulating wealth at the same level as white people, a distinction which reverberates today. Combined with sinister private practices like contract selling and blockbusting, it’s hard to reconcile the full measure of housing’s impact on the inequality we see today.
The courts have long argued that these injustices were largely social, rather than a matter of public policy, and that as such, no constitutional violations were committed, for which no remedy is called for. Rothstein proves otherwise.
Articles
Activists, officials slam Chicago police for alleged brutality in Columbus statue standoff
My city—and not just its police, but ultimately its mayor’s office—decided that protecting a piece of rock, put up to honor a man who committed genocide, is more important than people’s lives. I had friends at this rally, and I'm angry that people were battered and their property was stolen. I also don't think the police officers surrounding the statue, at whom rocks and bottles were thrown, should have been placed there. The police's behavior was criminal, but I want to know whose idea it was to get them involved.
Charlie Kaufman Is Sorry, He’s a Bit Distracted
For some comic relief, here’s an “interview” with my favorite screenwriter, in advance of his debut novel.
Mood
Nina Simone — Ain't Got No - I Got Life
I've got the life
And I'm going to keep it
https://open.spotify.com/track/7icbbwN02IsuzsL4bjTO44?si=JUEGT2-jQ2a0wjWodK-i4A
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Thanks for reading. Please take care, and write back if you can!
Love,
Aaron