Francesca Forrest's Blog, page 85

The first in osprey_archer's "How to be a better dictator" series

osprey_archer , who is reading The Hunger Games for the first time, remarked that President Snow wasn't living up to his despotic potential. Based on her knowledge of dictators, particularly Soviet ones, she had some words of advice.

Verdict: Needs Improvement

source

It just so happens that osprey_archer is also be offering fics in return for donations to the ACLU. She agreed to expand on her advice to dictators in exchange for a donation, and now the first entry in the series is live--take a lo...

Time flies

Pictures from a snowstorm

It's snowing at a rate of about three inches an hour--a ruler we have on our porch just topped 14 inches.

Our road isn't plowed yet:



Can you make out the mail truck?



The woods are lovely, dark, and deep





Pickup truck driver clears his windshield



In the time I've taken writing this, it's now at 15 inches.

ETA: 16 inches and still falling:

Meditation on "for want of a nail"

You've probably heard this before: I came across it in A Wind in the Door.

For want of a nail the shoe was lost.
For want of a shoe the horse was lost.
For want of a horse the rider was lost.
For want of a rider the message was lost.
For want of a message the battle was lost.
For want of a battle the kingdom was lost.
And all for the want of a horseshoe nail.


(source)

I had some thoughts.

1. First, the progression is important here. Sometimes a seemingly insignificant item has a giant effect right away...

terrifying bright beings within

On my way home two nights ago, I passed a church blazing with light, and it was so unearthly and beautiful, I stopped to take a picture.

The picture turned out even more unearthly than the actual scene. Creatures of pure light, with too many wings and eyes, must have been gathered within, flaming coolly in the February night, singing hymns in forgotten languages and in frequencies beyond the range of human ears.

the drop that controls the ocean

I realize I've fallen prey to magical thinking, believing that if I fail to do X or Y activist thing, then the whole resistance will fall apart. It arises from erroneous logic that goes like this: "This situation is so bad it caused me to cancel plans with a friend to go protest. I'm not alone; other people feel that way too. That's why there are so many people protesting. But if I let up, then they will, too, since they're like me. So I have to prevent that from happening by not letting up."...

Copley Square Protest, Boston

I'm making a T-shirt. On the front it will say, "I was a stranger" and on the back it will say "And you welcomed me." I haven't finished it yet, however, so I just carried a sign that said "Welcome Refugees."

I took a bunch of pictures, but this is my favorite:



This woman's message, at Alewife Station (on the way into Boston), was very moving:



"I am: Arab Irani American"



This looked like the rugs you can see in the prayer room of a mosque. They're set out by a statue of Phillips Brooks, an Episc...

May you grow up to be righteous

One of the women I work with at the jail is in the choir there. I got permission to go in for the performance. The jail choir group is called the Majestics, and they've been mentored by a senior-citizen choir called Young at Heart, all of whom were wearing T-shirts that said "We put the 'zen' in 'senior citizen.'" Young at Heart performed as the opening act, so to speak, and they were delightful and good, singing things like the Jackson Five's "I Want You Back" and Bananarama's "Venus" and to...

What I learned, week 3

There are things I learned related to the marches on Saturday, but I think I'm still working on that learning, so I can't really post about it, though, tangentially, my apolitical neighbor and friend has sent round an email to a bunch of her friends (me included) about staying active and engaged after the marches and after the anti-bigotry potluck that a group in town sponsored last Monday, so one thing I learned is: this is how people become activists. I was full of awe and respect.

At that p...

Quick-rejecting Netflix shows--and two we like

Now that we have Apple TV, we can watch Netflix on our TV, which is great, as we don't have cable. We've watched a few series and tried others, and we're getting pretty good at the quick reject. Below are three we rejected, plus two we're currently watching.

Travelers--quick reject
This came highly recommended, and since I've liked other things the recommending friend has suggested, I'm willing to bet that the storyline is good, but it had the violence turned up to high within the first ten min...