The purest treasure mortal times afford Is spotless reputation; that away Men are but gilded loan or painted clay… Mine honor is my life; both grow in one; Take honor from me, and my life is done.
—William Shakespeare, Richard II
Answering the Call in Minnesota
Apologies in advance… Sometimes your intended meaning eludes me, so it’s better just to ask, right?
Are you traveling, WT?
Yeah, ambiguity is all well and good as a poetic device, but it can sometimes come back to bite you in the ass if you use it indiscriminently. No, I’m not in Minnesota, on my way to Minnesota, or on my way back from Minnnesota. My post was intended as a tribute to the brave citizens who live there, and whose spirit was captured in this remrkable image. They have no choice but to be where they are. I can only hope that if I’m ever put in the spot they find themselves in today, I’ll have half the courage and resilience they’re showing to the rest of the country and the world.
As a side note, I’m afraid I also jumped the shark in my previous post. A couple of days afterward, even I have to take a moment to remember that it was Tim Cook’s craven appearance in the audience at Melania’s premiere mere hours after her husband’s thugs murdered Alex Pretti that set me off. That, and the tech bros’ silence generally in the face of the atrocities being visited on people outside their inner circle. To call them collaborators is too polite. Quislings would be more appropriate.
PS: By all means ask. I’m not being intentionally obscure, but I know I’m often too self-referential for my meaning to be clear to anyone who isn’t me. The vices of self-editing are always present, even when you think you’re compensating for them. So thanks, I really do appreciate the heads-up….
Whew. Ok. If you were/had been I’d be wishing you god speed and be safe… thinking maybe I should be there as well… but arguing instead to conserve energy and intent for when this “party” arrives on my own doorstep as being in a resisting Blue state it surely will.
This quote just wrecks me. Your visual for this entry is apt.
“If I am killed doing this, throw my body at the White House, martyr the shit out of me & raise hell. Do not be sad. Do not think I would do anything differently. I would do it over & over again — this is too important to sit down & shut up and not do anything.”
https://bsky.app/profile/jcollins.bsky.social/post/3me27sqikes2f
As for Tim Cook, I had to do a bit of online searching before I could decode the previous entry, but it wasn’t hard to suss out. FWIW, I concur. Side-eyed all my Apple products and gnashed my teeth over whether there were truly alternatives.
That IS a quote for sure. Reminiscent of Tom Paine, or Joe Hill. Something to reflect on when a bloated gasbag like Trump, or a toy soldier like Hegseth presume to tell us what it means to be an American.