Soon they had all the hay,
all the straw, all the string,
all the stuffing, all the horse hair, 
and all the man hair they could carry.

They took it all back 
to build their nest.

                                              from The Best Nest
                         written and illustrated by P. D. Eastman
                            Random House/Beginner Books, 1968
                                     (accessed on Hoopla 3/2/26)

    Last week, I saw two robins. My husband saw one also. A bluebird landed on the wire outside my kitchen window at the end of January. I took its picture. I used to think robins all went south to avoid the cold weather. I had no idea about bluebirds.
    So of course I looked it up, hoping against hope these early sightings were not yet another ominous sign of Climate Catastrophe. 
    Turns out that while it’s still crucial to avoid single-use plastic whenever you can, reduce as much as you can those consumable everythings to cut down items for the landfill, and eat as low as you can as often as you can on the food chain (more plants, less animals) some robins stay in Ohio (and other northern states) all year round. Bluebirds, too.
    Robins are typically not seed-eaters. Whenever they can, robins eat earthworms. In winter, though, they switch to juniper, holly, serviceberries, and any other berry they can find, crabapples, and other fruit, even seeds and crushed peanuts. Same for the bluebirds who decide to stay. 
    So robins might not be the harbinger of Spring after all. But like my friends who return from Florida, South Carolina, and Arizona in April and May, it feels comfortable and right that they’re here.
    We all saw (or at least heard about) Punxsutawney Phil, or Buckeye Chuck, or even Benny the Bass tell us to expect six more weeks of winter. That puts us in the middle of March. 
    The Spring Equinox will occur on March 20, this year at 10:46 am. It is the day when the amount of daylight equals the amount of darkness. and the astronomical start of Spring in the Northern Hemisphere. It’s almost now. But…
    For those of us who can’t wait that long, we can celebrate the meteorological beginning of Spring on March 1 each year. (I know It’s a few days late, but we’re celebrating Spring, after all!) Meteorologists like to divide the calendar into equal segments based on typical temperatures. That makes it easier to calculate statistics. And much less cumbersome to talk about. 
    Any way you look at it, Spring and Daylight Savings Time (yes, *that* again) are intertwined. 
    This coming Saturday night (3/7), set your clocks ahead one hour before you turn in for the day. We will wake up Sunday morning to a magically disappeared hour. It evaporated while most of us were sleeping. So we wouldn’t notice? 
    On January 3, 2025, Rep. Vern Buchanan (R-FL) introduced The Sunshine Protection Act of 2025. It was referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, and there it sits. It would make daylight savings time the new, Permanent Standard Time. 
    It’s been sitting in committee for over a year. No discussion, no debate, no votes.
    Perhaps the legislators have more important issues on their plates?
    And so, while I’m partial to bluebirds for political reasons, ;-) it’s pretty exciting to watch the bright red breast of a robin as it pulls up a wiggly worm in the green, green grass of home.

I’m reading Asterwood by Jacquelyn Stolos (RandomHouse Children’s Books/Delacorte Press, 2025). Written for 5th - 8th graders, the main character, Madelyn, discovers a wild and magical world through the woods behind her house. With the help of her new friends, she works to save this world and discover its secrets, while uncovering some pretty fantastic secrets of her own.
  
                  --Be curious! (and watch for signs of Spring)

C. J. saw the perfect rainbow arching over their soup kitchen. He wondered how his Nana found beautiful where he never even thought to look.
from Last Stop on Market Street
words by Matt de la Peña
pictures by Christian Robinson
G. P. Putnam’s Sons/Penguin Group, 2015
winner: Newbery Medal, 2016


    I know some people don’t understand the value of volunteering their time for a cause, for an organization, or for other people. But like Nana told C. J. when they reached their volunteer stop in Last Stop on Market Street, “I feel sorry for those boys.” With her spare words, she showed C. J. the importance of being a helper.
    My family was also a family of volunteers. I learned through their examples that money is not the only measure of success. 
    And, when I discovered Project MKC (Making Kids Count) though the Social Action Committee of my synagogue, I took the opportunity to join with several like minded people every second Monday each month to package diapers, personal care items, and care kits for kids entering foster care. Lots of need being met by lots of helpers.
    And even though many people already know about this wonderful organization, I decided to use my blog to shout a little louder about the great work they do. I asked Jana Coffin, co-president with her sister-in-law Shelly Marlowe, if she would be willing to talk to me. 
    This is the first time I actually conducted an interview with a real person and I thought it was a great idea. But now as I transcribe my notes, you can all let me know how I did.
    In 2009, I was thinking seriously about my retirement. Jana was studying for her bar exam and planning her wedding! Jenny Kennedy, Jana’s future mother-in-law, was looking for an interesting and new way to give back her community. 
    She saw an article about an organization who threw birthday parties for homeless children and decided to bring that idea to Youngstown. She put her own twist to it and ran the idea past her two “girls.”
    Jenny’s determination was the fuel that directed Jana’s and Shelly’s organizational skills, expertise, and degrees. Their idea became an outgrowth of their motto: all children deserve to feel special.
    In 2010, the fledgling group’s first donation, a $20.00 check from a co-worker of Jana’s fiancé, was delivered to their P.O. Box.
    Months later, a client called to tell of their need for a crib. Jana told me, “Project MKC didn’t have one. It was a much bigger item than they could keep on hand at that time.” A couple of days passed and a donor called to ask if the organization could use a new crib. Of course, the answer was yes. “And that’s not the only time something like that happened,” she added.
    An individual thank you note was sent in response. The office staff (mostly family members) continues to write and mail a thank you note to each donor.


    The world works in mysterious ways, I thought to myself.
    A primary focus of Project MKC is their Basic Needs Bank. They’re listed as a member of the National Diaper Bank Network, and now they’re able to provide so much more than diapers.
    Project MKC does not distribute their stock including basic needs items to individuals, though. They work through partner agencies who assess their clients and assess their clients’ needs. The system works to keep the organization efficient and honest.
    If an individual calls with their own needs, the Project MKC staff directs them to an agency or agencies who can help. Here's a link to the thirty-three partner agencies listed in Mahoning County. You can also find their partners in Trumbull, Columbiana, Ashtabula, Summit, Cuyahoga, Portage, Jefferson, and Lorain Counties!
    “Half of all children who need diapers are not getting enough to keep them clean, dry, and healthy,” Jana told me. 
    That’s not a misprint. And the huge problem ripples through our society.
    Here’s how it works: Babies and toddlers don’t have enough diapers to get them through the month. They cannot go to preschool without them. Moms stay home to care for their kids. At best, they lose income and have a harder time providing for their children. Maybe they lose their jobs. 
    And so it goes.
    WIC, the federal government’s Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children, (part of SNAP formerly known as food stamps) provides milk, eggs, infant formula, fruits, vegetables, and whole grains. No diapers. no personal care items like shampoo or wipes. No toothbrushes or toothpaste. WIC was set up and continues to meet nutritional needs on a very basic level. 
    There is no government program to help with personal needs items.
    And Project MKC is more than a diaper bank. Click on the “Programs” tab on the Project MKC website to find Hope Kits for kids undergoing chemotherapy. 
    Click on the Comfort Kits tab and find out that Project MKC supplies children entering the foster care system with a duffel bag full of age and gender appropriate items. All theirs to keep, including a new pair of pajamas, a “security blanket” even the duffel. 
    Through the generosity of The Italian Scholarship Foundation, Project MKC’s Best Foot Forward brings boots to students in Mahoning County. 
    Who’s to say which program of the many, many they provide is the most important? Each one, indeed, each person, whether it’s Project MKC and their staff, their partner agencies, the volunteers everywhere, the donors, and the clients themselves, our whole society runs because of the multitude of caring people all around us, quietly doing their best to give a helping hand.
    When I asked Jana for a favorite story about Project MKC, she told me about the family who were the recipients of their Holiday Adopt-A-Family. They were so grateful that they came back the next year with a donation of their own. That’s what I call paying it forward.
    “What makes Project MKC work?” I asked. 
    “The world works in mysterious ways.” Jana mused. “I trust in the goodness of humans. I find gratitude for helpers everywhere.” 
    Real love really does make the world go around. Maybe it’s not so mysterious after all.
I read Anna Quindlen’s memoir, Lots of Candles, Plenty of Cake (Random House, 2012). Her spot-on vignettes recall the value of female friendships, the importance of family, and the bittersweet joy of aging, all from the “perspective of a woman of a certain age.”  Recommended.


Be curious! (and love your neighbors)


FB: It’s winter again here in Northeastern Ohio. Snow is covering the grass and my solar panels, my daffodils and crocuses are waiting patiently, and I saw a robin the other day. Maybe the sun will come out tomorrow. Is that a metaphor?  
​

I'm afraid I'm still playing catch-up with last week. Looking forward to later sunsets and warmer temps. See you next week!
                                           --Be curious! (and take time to play) 

“Room for one more?” asked Orange.
        …
None of the games worked for three, but Orange and Little Pear didn’t think to notice.
Big Pear, however, was very bothered.
She was feeling squeezed out, replaced by someone new and zesty.
                                           from A Pair of Pears and an Orange
                                       written and illustrated by Anna McGregor
                                                                       Scribble, 2021
                                                   (accessed on YouTube, 2/9/26)


    When my girls were in high school, my husband and I added football games into our weekly schedule. The girls were in marching band. Enough said. 
    My husband watched the game. I only saw boys running around, chasing a ball, and sometimes hurting each other, or less often, themselves. 
    The injuries were accidental, I’m sure, but the pain was no less for that, I’m also sure. Football is a dangerous game and I couldn’t (and still can’t) see the point of it all.
    The high school half-time show was always entertaining, though, and always too short for my taste.
    But the Super Bowl is big business. From the special coin re-struck in honor of the US’s 250th anniversary, (which will reside from now on in the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History) to the $188,000 check each player on the winning team will receive (in addition to their regular pay), extravagance is another name for the game.
    Even though Bad Bunny was not paid directly, (none of the half-time performers are) all his expenses were paid, and the NFL pays the tab for all the production costs, too. The estimate for this year’s show is $17,000,000 (million). Also, the exposure in front of so many fans can only help his image and streaming numbers. 
    And what about the ads? The average cost for a 30 second ad this year was $8,000,000. 
    Putting aside the business aspect of sport in general, let’s focus on the way rooting for a team brings people together. The team spirit, the way we feel when we root for something together, that camaraderie is a real thing. We need that sense of belonging to boost our self-esteem and help us identify what is important to us, what we stand for, our shared values.
    Discovering that humans are social beings and need to identify with a group, deeper study of social psychology was in order.
    Henri Tajfel, (1918-1982) a Polish social psychologist, did pioneering work on how people learn prejudice. It was a relatively short leap from there to defining and identifying group behavior.
    Social Identity Theory grew out of Tajfel’s work and has been popular since the early 1970s. Briefly, the theory explains the three stages of development people grow through to learn where and how to “fit” into our society. 
    First is Self Categorization. We identify with particular groups and not with others. Some of my groups include mothers, women, librarians (even though I’m retired), writers, (even though I have not been traditionally published yet), environmentalists, religious Jews, baby-boomers, you get the idea. I match my behavior to my self-chosen groups. I’m kind, generous, caring, and helpful. I’m also stubborn, impatient, and tend to procrastinate, but we’ll put those aside for now.
    The problem with this type of categorization comes when people see themselves more on a continuum, than on one side of a dichotomy. It puts us in an us/them framework, and leads to the preference of our own group(s) over those we perceive as different. Tajfel discovered this in his work on prejudice.
    Next is Social Identification. As I identify with my groups, I match my goals and values to what I perceive these to be. I’m emotionally invested with my family and friends. That’s where I find acceptance and reinforcement of my behaviors in my self-chosen groups.
    Finally, Social Comparison involves the belief that membership in my group is necessary to my vision of my self. Since it is most common (and most helpful) to think kindly of ourselves, I must maintain a favorable opinion of my groups, including behaviors, goals, and values. This can lead to feelings of superiority, but it doesn’t have to. 
    So, back to the Super Bowl in particular, and football in general.
    In his halftime show, Bad Bunny portrayed himself as Puerto Rican and American. He called attention in a very large way to his own broad and inclusive American identity. 
    Our society is in flux. To be overly simplistic, we Americans are redefining ourselves. We highlight our differences in order to define and distinguish ourselves from those who hold different beliefs.
    I understand the need to belong to a group that shares my values. Even though I don’t identify as a football fan, I am a fan of renewable energy, religious freedom, and democracy.
    But to survive, our values must align. If our common group is Americans, then our values must be what they’ve always been: Patriot dreams that see beyond the years, The Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave, Liberty and Justice for all. 
    Let freedom ring. 
My next read is Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman (Pamela Dorman Books/Viking, 2017). More on that next time.
                                              -—Be curious! (and show your colors)

“It’s dangerous,” warned the mayor.
“It’s scary,” said the city planner.
“Who knows what the Dark will bring with it,” said the lantern keeper.
“But the Dark isn’t scary,” Millie Fleur assured them.
“You just need to get to know her.”
                             from Millie Fleur Saves the Night
                     written and illustrated by Christy Mandin
                                          Orchard Books, 2025
                                 (accessed on YouTube 1/31/26)
    
    Millie Fleur misses her nocturnal friends, so with her mother’s help, they block out some of the city lights that are keeping the night-time critters away. The critters come back and all ends well for everyone.  
    But these days, in this time, I’m not thinking of the cozy, warm dark where we watch the stars blink on when the sun sets early in the fall and winter, and when we cuddle wakeful babies.
    These days are metaphorically dark. It’s a challenge to be hopeful, even to muster up optimism, and not run into Pollyanna territory. Crickets, spiders, bats, and katydids flew around the “sweet smell of moonflowers, snoozing sugarplums, and twilight tulips” in Millie Fleur’s moon garden. 
    The comfort I find in my own midnight garden is a quiet joy to discover, on Monday morning that I was one of over 5,000 people who called our Representative’s office.    
    House Speaker Mike Johnson expects to agree very soon on DHS and ICE policy. Some of what is being asked includes unmasking ICE personnel and requiring them to use body cameras is. A discussion about funding is also included on their agenda.
    An agreement will allow the partial government shutdown begun last Friday at midnight to end. DHS will remain funded for just two weeks. Enough time to reach an agreement? We’ll see.
    Meanwhile, citizens in Springfield, Ohio are gearing up to protect their Haitian neighbors whose TPS (Temporary Protected Status) is scheduled to run out tomorrow (2/4/26) at midnight.    
    Published on the Ohio Statehouse News Bureau's website, we learn that “Gov. Mike DeWine said Friday [1/30/26] it is unwise and a ‘mistake' for the federal government to take legal status away from hundreds of thousands of Haitians living in the U.S., including Ohio.” (i.e. revoking their TPS status.)
    The shadow that looms is his statement in the same article: that as a state governor, he will acquiesce to the decision of the President. Does that mean he feels inadequate to stand up for what he knows is right? We’ll see. 
    Haitians began moving to Springfield, Ohio over ten years ago. According to The American Immigration Council “officials say there are anywhere from 12,000 to 20,000 Haitian immigrants living in [Springfield, Ohio], near all of whom have some form of lawful status.”
    In 2010, a devastating earthquake in Haiti left 300,000 Haitians dead and displaced hundreds of thousands more. Some came here to Ohio. They helped grow an economy picking itself up after the continued population loss that turned the area into part of the Rust Belt. As conditions in Haiti continue to deteriorate and jobs in Springfield stay plentiful due to the hard work of city planners, Haitians came to Ohio for its low cost of living and availability of good jobs. They wrote home and more came. 
    And Ohioans welcomed them.
    Now, following Minneapolis, MN, and Portland and Lewiston, ME, Springfield may be ICE’s and the president’s next target. 
    Consider this: it’s not the dark we are really afraid of. Maybe we really have a more general fear of the unknown, what we can’t see or understand. And the uncertainty that goes hand in hand with it.
    What happens when “darkness comes and pain is all around”? 
    According to Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel who won a Song-of-the-Year Grammy in 1971 for “Bridge Over Troubled Water,” “if you need a friend, I’m sailing right behind.” 
    We need to have each others’ backs. 
    We need to be courageous, not foolhardy. Brave, but with a drop (or a gallon) of skepticism. Practical, but willing to share our sense of wonder.
    And, carry a flashlight into the dark.

Revolving around the real story of a real thoroughbred, The Horse by Geraldine Brooks (Viking/Penguin Publishing Group, 2022) elegantly weaves three different time periods into a cohesive tapestry describing the love of a horse, the skill of the artist who painted him, and the dedication of the scientist/historian pair who studied together and tell his story against the ever-present backdrop of the Civil War. Recommended.
                                    -—Be curious! (and neighborly)​

“…And most generally there is something about everything that you can be glad about, if you keep hunting long enough to find it.”
                                                   from Pollyanna
                           written by Eleanor Hodgman Porter
                                               various illustrators
                                first published by L.C. Page, 1913
                           (read on Libby downloaded 1/24/26)

    My mom often cautioned me not to be a Pollyanna. And although I had never read any of the Pollyanna books, I knew just what Mom meant. 
    Pollyanna hardly remembered her mother. And before her minister father’s untimely passing, he taught Pollyanna “the glad game.” They played the game together when a situation was not particularly to their liking. She played it with her Ladies Aiders when they brought her donated clothing and when she was sent to live with her Aunt Polly.
    Making the best of a bad or unfortunate situation was the point of the game. Pollyanna was very good at playing it and taught the game to all the people in her world.
    It could go something like this. The largest snowfall buried most of my small city in well over a foot of snow. The single-digit temperature added a layer of challenge for anyone needing to leave their house. 
    The possibility of homeless people freezing to death or at the very least dealing with frostbite, shut-ins not able to get medicine, or a medical emergency or a fire, would have occurred to Pollyanna and her father. They chose to ignore the dire consequences though, and instead concentrated on the beauty of the fresh snow, the industry of snowplows and their drivers, and families reconnecting over board games and hot chocolate.
    Then there’s the ostrich and its very interesting maxim (false, by the way) of burying its head in the sand.
    Unlike Pollyanna and those glad souls whose default is optimism or (false?) cheer, when an ostrich finds itself in a difficult situation, if it thinks it can get away with it, an ostrich will freeze in place to blend in with its background.
    Ostriches are too heavy to fly and their wings are too weak. But ostriches can run. It’s stride reaches over 10 feet and it can run at a continuous speed of up to 43 miles per hour.
    So when an ostrich is afraid, it does not bury its head in the sand. In any case, it would not be able to breathe, and even an animal with a bird brain will not suffocate itself on purpose. 
    Ostriches build their nests on the ground, sometimes in sand, sometimes in dirt. Several times a day, they must turn their eggs to make sure they hatch. Since their heads are very small compared to their bodies, from a distance it could look like they are burying their heads when in fact, they are reaching into their large nests or possibly pecking for food.
    Some people are like Pollyanna, always finding cheer in difficulty. Some are more like an ostrich, avoiding difficulty altogether. 
    I propose that neither ignoring what is difficult like Pollyanna nor running away like an ostrich is an effective way to face our current challenges. 
    We need to practice a middle way. Aware but not consumed. Angry but not violent. Vocal but not belligerent. 
    Observe our circumstances.
    Determine a course of action.
    Act.
    Will you join me and millions of others who use 5 Calls? Find all about them here. Use your phone to download their app.
    Mom also advised me not to wear my heart on my sleeve. That’s a bit harder for me, and a subject for another day.

I’m reading Pollyanna by Eleanor H. Porter (since the title is in the public domain, it is available from many publishers and as an ebook). A little corny, but still relevant and moves along quickly.
               -—Be curious! (and stay as involved as you can)

     “Why did you decide to live here in Greenland?” [Jack said].    
    “I wanted a new life,” Erik said. “People call us pirates. But I am a seafarer who searches for safe harbors where I can live with my family. I have found one here at the edge of the world. I named it Greenland.”
     from Magic Tree House: Narwhal on a Sunny Night (#33)
                                  written by Mary Pope Osborne
                                             illustrated by Ag Ford
                  Random House/A Stepping Stone Book, 2020

    In Mary Pope Osborne's Magic Tree House series, brother and sister, Jack and Annie, discover a magic tree house filled with books that take them on time-travel adventures while introducing young readers to people and places in world history. 
    In Narwhal on a Sunny Night, Jack and Annie are whisked off to Greenland where Leif Erikson helps them free a narwhal that had become trapped in a shallow pool as it tried to escape from an orca. During the course of the story, the kids also meet Leif’s father, Erik the Red.
    Most knowledge of him comes from various medieval and Icelandic sagas written and performed long after his lifetime. So a grain or two of salt is advised.
    Erik Thorvaldsson, known as Erik the Red for his flowing red hair and beard, was born in Norway in about 950 CE. When Erik’s father, Thorvald, was exiled for murder in about 960 (a common punishment in that time), he traveled about 900 miles from Norway, across the Norwegian Sea, to settle his family, including young Erik, in northwestern Iceland.
    All went well for the first 20 years. But in about 980, when Erik was about 30 years old,  several of his servants accidentally triggered a landslide that crushed his neighbor’s house. In revenge, the owner’s kinsmen killed Erik’s servants. 
    Erik moved his family farther north. 
    Two years later, he was involved in a “massive brawl,” and killed two of his new neighbors’ sons. Erik was banished for manslaughter.
    But Erik was finished with Iceland anyway. He knew of a large landmass about 1,000 miles due west and headed across the open ocean. The voyage was dangerous, but Erik the Red was was an expert navigator and his ship’s design was well suited to the danger.
    And Erik the Red was a Viking. He named the land Greenland.   
    Vikings were known for sailing great distances. In (now extinct) Old Norse, the word Viking translates to ‘a pirate raid.’ According to legend, the Vikings traveled from Scandinavia between 800 and 1066 to raid, plunder, and fight wars to acquire and control more land. (It was William the Conqueror, Duke of Normandy, who invaded England in 1066 and in a land grab, claimed the throne, changeding the course of British history.)
    Vikings fought with longbows and arrows, swords, and axes. Since metal was expensive, many weapons, even axes and spears, were made of wood. They carried round wooden shields, but did not use much armor.
    Berserkers were Viking warriors who went into battle wearing wolf or bear skins. Believing that Odin, their god of war, would protect them with superhuman powers, berserkers charged into battle fearlessly, wildly and out of control. It’s where our word berserk comes from.            
    Early Viking society was divided into three classes. Jarls were rich landowners and traders who protected and provided for their workers. In return, the workers heeded the call of their jarl when he called them to join him in raids and battles. 
    Karls made up the middle class of workers and artisans. Thralls were slaves. They did the work no one else wanted to do and said no on pain of death. Some were able to earn enough money to buy their freedom.
    After many years, some jarls became rich and powerful enough to claim Kingships. Kings and Queens took over the rule-making and decision-making that had previously been worked out in community meetings called Things (no etymological connection to the English word).
    Islandic sagas note that early Norseman had discovered Greenland long before Erik the Red. When his banishment expired in 985, he returned to Iceland to recruit people for his return to Greenland. 
    He assured them the land held great promise. Of the 25 ships that left with Erik, only 14 arrived in Greenland. The survivors established two settlements and according to biography.com,“Erik lived like a lord with his wife and four children” including Leif.
    It is thought that both colonies survived for several hundred years, making Erik the first known successful and permanent settler of Greenland. The colonies died out around the time of Columbus.
    Here’s a success story, though, from the BBC. The oldest parliament in the world was set up in 930 CE by Vikings. It is called the Althing and is currently functioning very nicely in Reykjavik, Iceland. But Iceland is mostly green, and should not be confused with Greenland.
    Greenland, the world’s largest and mostly icy island, is part of the Realm of Denmark. Greenland was a Danish colony until 1953 when it was redefined as a district of Denmark. Its economy is based on the Danish kroner, but has its own local government and sends two representatives to the Danish Parliament.
    While Greenland’s economy is still heavily dependent on fishing, climate change is reducing its sustainability. Tourism is growing,  but the government is looking to its natural resources: gold, natural gas, diamonds, lead, and zinc as sources of income through foreign investment.
    But at what price?
    Burt Bacharach and Hal David may have said it best through the voice of Dionne Warwick.
    “There are corn fields and wheat fields enough to grow
     There are sunbeams and moonbeams enough to shine
        Oh listen Lord, if you want to know
     What the world needs now is love sweet love
     It’s the only thing that there’s just too little of
       What the world needs now is love sweet love
       No not just for some but for everyone…” 

I’m reading The Birds of Opulence by Crystal Wilkinson (University Press of Kentucky, 2016). A saga told through several generations of Kentucky women living in a small, rural town, it’s a story that explores the many faces of mother-daughter relationships, a young girl's growing sense of her own sexuality, guilt, shame, mental illness, and oh yes, redemption. A little graphic, though, so choose knowingly.
    -—Be curious! (and call your senators and representatives)
                                                           senate.gov
                                                            house.gov
                    download the 5 calls app or click 5calls.org

They kept paying money. They kept running through
Until neither the Plain nor the Star-Bellies knew
Whether this one was that one . . . or that one was this one
Or which one was what one . . . or what one was who.
                        from The Sneetches and Other Stories
                             written and illustrated by Dr. Seuss
                                               Random House, 1989

    When they were growing up, one of my younger daughter’s favorite stories was “The Sneetches” by Dr. Seuss. She loved it so much that I renewed it until I was embarrassed. I ordered a copy from our local bookstore and told my daughter that we’d need to take the library’s copy back so another child could read the story and love it as much as she did.
    When her own copy of the book arrived, we continued reading it over and over.  
    The story, whether it was Dr. Seuss’s intent or not, is about fairness, control, and the sanctity of a space. Both types of Sneetch wanted to be the best on the beach. Their disagreement failed to escalate, though, when both groups decided the best way to live well is to live well together. Neither type of Sneetch was best. Each group had something to offer the other, and each individual, too, while maintaining their own identity. Most learned they are all happier when everyone decides to work for the betterment of the group. 
    No, Seuss did not say that. I did. And I’m not sure that’s exactly what he had in mind when he wrote his story about made-up animals one-upping each other on a fictional piece of land. But it helps me get to the next point.
    By 1820, the War of 1812 had ended in a military draw and both sides claimed some victories, proving to the rest of the world that the United States was truly a country that could defend itself by standing up to European powers.
    The United States was coming out of a widespread depression. James Madison was finishing up his last moments as our fourth president.
    In 1820, our fifth president was elected without the need of a two-party system. Imagine most Americans agreeing on something as crucial as that!
    Maine and Missouri entered the Union with a Compromise that “kicked the slavery can” down the road about 30 years, and the beginning of James Monroe’s presidency was nicknamed “The Era of Good Feelings.” 
    Our fifth president believed firmly in the American Experiment. His strength, though, was on the international stage. In South and Latin America between 1821 and 1822, ten Spanish colonies declared their independence. With the counsel of his Secretary of State, John Quincy Adams, Monroe prepared a talk to Congress to clarify his position regarding the American relationships he envisioned. 
     Although purporting to dissuade colonialism, Monroe’s well-thought-out doctrine announced to Europe that the Western Hemisphere was closed to any further colonization. He promised the United States would not interfere in European affairs or with existing colonies in the Americas. He declared that if any European nation tried to interfere with the United States, it would be viewed as a hostile act. 
    In essence, if the United States were to gain any more territory, that territory would become part of the United States.
    Monroe did not say what would happen if Europe decided to see how serious the declaration was. (Probably nothing much could happen to retaliate and probably, most of Europe knew that.) Through this foreign policy statement, though, Monroe sent diplomats to the new South American and Latin American countries to form alliances with them. 
    Eventually, both the European nations and the United States did interfere with the new countries. But in the 1820’s, the United States, by enforcing the Monroe Doctrine, was able to play the upper hand in the Western Hemisphere.
    During the Banana Wars, (reports ResponsibleStatecraft.org in a Jan. 9, 2026 article), “from 1890 through the early 1930’s, the US interfered in seven Latin American countries. Several presidents used military force to protect American agricultural interests.” The article continues that by the mid-1920s, a diverse group of Americans “from religious pacifists on one end, to xenophobic populists on the other,” saw these actions as blatant imperialism. They called the military action “wasteful, pointless, and morally abhorrent.”
    In the 1930s, during FDR’s Good Neighbor policy, the US turned toward mutual respect and economic engagement, encouraging neighborliness.
    The Monroe Doctrine has never been without controversy. It’s been interpreted and reinterpreted. Through the years it’s been called outdated and irrelevant, but now it’s been claimed vital by the current president. 
    Just looking at the words and the intent of the original, I extrapolate. I see the Monroe Doctrine as a document that seeks to inhibit colonization and dominance of one country over another while maintaining an attitude of co-operation, if not benevolence, and still putting the interests of the United States in the forefront.
    To use it for any other purpose, like blowing up fishing boats and killing their captains and crew, kidnapping a head of state of another country and appropriating their oil and the money it brings, and claiming to be “Acting President,” of Venezuela (Time.com 1/13/26) seems to me, a gross overstep and just plain wrong.
    
I’ll have a book review next time!
                          -—Be curious! (and respect each other)

“It’s fun to have fun 
But you have to know how.
I can hold up the cup
And the milk and the cake!
I can hold up these books!
And the fish on a rake!
    .  .  .
I can fan with the fan
As I hop on the ball!
But that is not all.
Oh, no.
That is not all. …”
                                           from The Cat in the Hat
                               written and illustrated by Dr. Seuss
                                            Random House, Inc., 1957

    News is spewing non-stop like a fire-hose at full blast with no one holding on. It’s flopping every which way, and I kinda am, too. You probably are, too. And it’s only the first week of the new year. And today is the fifth anniversary (is that even the right word?) of the frenzied mob who stormed our Capitol to prevent the 246-year-precedent known to all as the peaceful transition of power.
    The transition was anything but peaceful. You remember. Since then, “DOGE,” undoing USAID, federal employee firings, cancelling the Department of Education, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and childhood immunizations. Ripping off the East Wing of the White House.
    Here's what happened to the 2026 quarters that were agreed on by a congressional committee. In short, Frederick Douglass, Ruby Bridges, and Suffragists were replaced by pilgrims, the Revolutionary War and the Gettysburg Address. The first quarter is being released today.
    Trump wants his face on a new $1 coin. Whoo, boy!
    Pardons, tariffs, ICE, National Guard in our cities. Threats, rants, and dozing off in important meetings. Swooping up immigrants and hustling them into detention without due process, CECOT. 
    So much more. 
    Targeting, bombing, and killing people in fishing boats in the Caribbean, military build up off the coast of Argentina and kidnapping the ruler (whether legitimate or not) and his wife and bringing them to New York to face trial for drug trafficking. When I first read that piece of news I thought it was a sick joke. Really. 
    Who’s in charge of Venezuela? What’s next? 
    Are the wheels that turn our Earth still greased with extracted and processed oil?
    
    The only way to stay somewhat centered and somewhat able to concentrate on going to work, doing the laundry, and cooking dinner is to stay as informed as we are able (this will look different for each one of us) and take as much action as we can (this will also look different for each one of us).
    It’s been a minute since I fired up my 5 Calls app. I’ve spent less time reading Substack and listening to the news and I do feel calmer. Actually I’m calm and angry. It’s time to make some calls.
    It’s easy to download the 5 Calls app. Then type in your zip code and your Representative and Senators will be listed for you. Choose your issue(s) and read the script(s).
    You can also find your Representative and Senators by typing in your address here: https://www.congress.gov/members/find-your-member. Their name, address, and phone number will appear. You can send your message with a click or phone call. Or, use the Postal Service.
    A little hope for the future is always a good thing, so here’s my version of an old Jewish folktale I remember hearing when I was young, and telling when I was much older.
    Once a kind, old man, who dripped wisdom from the tips of his neatly trimmed beard, finished his chores and went on his morning walk. He stooped to pick up a fig lying in his path. He took it home and prepared the seeds for planting. 
    When the seeds were ready, the man walked out to a warm sunny patch of land on the outskirts of his town. He scratched the earth with a small rake and scattered the seeds over the damp ground. A small sprinkle of water finished the job.
    Every day, sometimes more than once if was a hot day, the man watered his fig seeds. He expected at least one would grow into a large fruit-bearing tree.
    He pulled weeds that competed for the soil’s nutrients. He chased away insects that hovered around causing distractions. More than once he shooed away a raccoon or a stray chicken.
    Years later on a particularly warm Tuesday, a small boy approached an old man tending a young sapling.
    “What are you doing?” he asked.
    “I’m tending my fig tree.”
    The boy laughed so hard he held his sides and fell on the ground, still rolling with raucous laughter.
    “Why do you laugh?” asked the wise, old man.
    “You are so silly," said the boy. "You are old. It takes years and years for fig trees to grow big enough to bear fruit. You may not live to eat them.”
    “But, I am not planting them for myself,” answered the wise man. “I am planting them for your children.”

    To answer the question of why I care so much about what I, as only one person, can not control and hope only to minimally influence, I answer, I do what I do for our children and grandchildren. 

I’m still finishing A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles (Penguin Books, 2016). I’m still liking it. I’m still recommending it. (See last week’s blog for my “review.”)
                                 -—Be curious! (and stay positive)
FB: It’s January 6th again. Remember. Reflect. Act (in whatever way you can, large or small, or something in between). 
    

    “Put those down and listen,” said Judy. “I’m going to read the instructions:
                                                         from Jumanji
                     written and illustrated by Chris Van Allsburg 
             Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company, 1981
                                       Caldecott Medal winner, 1982
                                     (accessed on Libby 12/28/25)

    I grew up playing board games. They all came with their own foldable game boards, unique playing pieces, and rules that ranged from clear and simple to many varieties of complex.
    Our family’s favorite game was Parcheesi. The complicated rules involved rolling doubles, skipping turns, and remembering what we did the last time we played. Besides, we could decide to whether or not to send our opponents back to “start,” sometimes resulting in foot-stomping and hurt feelings. “It’s only a game, for Pete’s sake!” someone would say, leading the game to a quick end.
    We also played BINGO! A caller pulls a letter-number combo at random. Players check their cards and mark their spots. The first to complete a row or column yells “BINGO!” and wins.
    Simple. Lots of ways to win means lots of winners! And no hurt feelings!
    Besides the fun of winning BINGO!, playing can teach any subject from arithmetic to zoology! To teach addition, make an answer key with all the facts you want your kids to learn. Then make a unique card for each child. Call random facts from your answer key and have the kids mark their cards with each correct answer. When someone calls BINGO!, check their answers, and Bingo! you can start over or keep playing until everyone wins.
    This works for language arts skills, science facts, and geography. Just read off a definition and have the students mark the right answers. 
    Even easier than that, use Google. MyFreeBingoCards.com is a source that will help you generate a set of unique cards.
    It seems like BINGO! has always been around as a fund-raiser to benefit churches, synagogues, cultural events, local communities and governments. And as party entertainment.
    And that’s almost true.
    According to History.com, in the 6th century BCE (Before the Common Era), Athens, to prevent corruption in the government, chose its leaders not by elections, but by using “a system of random allotment…” Candidates’ names were placed in a device called a kleroterion. Small slots were carved in a stone slab into which identifying tokens for each candidate had been placed. Then, “black or white pebbles were funneled into a tube on the side of the slab. Candidates were either selected or dismissed depending on where the pebbles landed." Using the Kleroterion assured the drawing was truly random. You can see the ancient device here. 
    According LocalBingoHalls.com, modern Bingo had its start in Italy around 1530 CE (Common Era). The anticipation of winning is engaging, captivating, thrilling. Lotto’s social aspect plus its entertainment value to provided the government with a voluntary tax.
    When the Italian government legalized and created a structure for the game, its popularity was assured and its official state lottery status guaranteed standard winnings. 
    “Merchants, diplomats, and travelers played a crucial role” in spreading Il Gioco del Lotto d’Italia, Italy’s Lotto to France and Germany in the 1700s and Britain by the 1800s. Soon, lottery games as well as gambling were common pastimes throughout Europe.
    Lotto is a game of chance. The words Lotto and lottery stem from the Old English “hlot,” which referred to an object like a stone or a wood chip or dice, that when tossed was used to determine a person’s share, or allotment of something. It’s where the word lot, meaning a parcel of land, came from. Also think of a lot and lots of similar items, even personality traits. 
    In the 1930s Milton Bradley started selling an educational Lotto game. Its Sesame Street version, designed in the 1970s, is still in production. 
    Lotto and BINGO! are both games of chance. Prizes are awarded based on number/letter combinations chosen at random. In Lotto, individuals choose their own numbers and win if their selected numbers are chosen in a random drawing. 
    In BINGO! though, players are given a grid made of letter/number combinations. When a caller randomly announces a letter/number combination, players mark their cards when they have a match. The first player to complete the correct pattern wins.
    An article from the Pittsburgh Sun-Telegraph (November 22, 1935) credits Hugh J. Ward, a Pittsburgh inventor, for creating the game after seeing a version being played in Toronto in 1916. Edwin Lowe, a toy seller, popularized it when he saw Ward’s game being played at a  carnival in Atlanta.
    In 1929, as the story goes, Lowe changed Beano, (named for the beans players used to cover the called numbers) when a player won and shouted out the word BINGO! by mistake. 
    Learning through play is still accomplished when teachers play BINGO! in their classrooms. Community organizations and religious institutions still raise funds by offering BINGO! games as entertainment. Governments still raise funds through lotteries.
    December is designated as Bingo’s Birthday Month. I cannot verify when December was chosen, but, coincidentally, on December 2, 2025, a single Mega Millions ticket-holder won a $90 million jackpot and the latest Powerball winner walked away with almost $2 billion dollars a few days ago, on Christmas Eve. 
        
I’m about halfway through A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles (Penguin Books, 2016). It’s a character study of Count Alexander Rostov, an aristocrat who finds himself on the wrong side of  the Russian government. As it turns toward the Bolsheviks’ definition of communism, Rostov is sentenced to live out his days in a formerly-luxurious hotel. From the publisher, “…this singular novel casts a spell as it relates the Count’s endeavor to become a man of purpose” with humor, insight, and beautiful turns of phrase. Recommended.
                  --Be curious! (and if you play, play responsibly)