In libraries and bookstores, I can most often be found in the nonfiction or biographical sections, searching for truth and inspiration.
Currently, I’m getting motivation and education from my latest secondhand bookstore purchases:
“Rocket Girl” by George D. Morgan
“A Sand County Almanac” by Aldo Leopold
“Dictionary of Theories” by Jennifer Bothamley
“Scientists: Extraordinary People Who Altered the Course of History” edited by Meredith MacArdle
And new favorite library books:
“Silent Spring Revolution: John F. Kennedy, Rachel Carson, Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, and the Great Environmental Awakening” by Douglas Brinkley
“Science in 100 Key Breakthroughs” by Paul Parsons
“Ingenious Patents: Bubble Wrap, Barbed Wire, Bionic Eyes, and Other Pioneering Inventions” by Ben Ikenson
“100 New Scientific Discoveries: Fascinating, Unbelievable and Mind-expanding Stories” by Time, Inc.
“How to Build a Time Machine : the Real Science of Time Travel” by Brian Clegg
I’m learning new things. I had assumed that the Renaissance Age was when all the great world-changing literature, philosophy, math, and science discoveries were made, and because of this, I have a fascination with the 1300-1600’s. But I’m learning that some great discoveries were made much earlier. Geometry was developed in 300 BC. The Circumference of the Earth was deducted in 240 BC. The first ever Star Catalog was compiled in 135 BC by Hipparchus. Algebra was discovered by a Persian scientist in 820 AD. In Aviation, the first successful flight was achieved by Islamic scholar Abbas ibn Firnas in 875 AD.
If such fascinating discoveries can be made that long ago, there’s definitely hope that with focus, drive, and willingness to learn, we can figure out how to make this world fabulous now.
All of my life I’ve believed if we worked really hard, learned all we could, and developed our ingenuity, we could build a fantastic world. Imagine saving the entire world in its perfect beauty, and living on a planet where everyone matters and is loved.
I still believe this is possible. If it weren’t, then I have no idea what we’re doing here.
Growing up without money meant if I wanted to survive, I’d have to do things differently than I had ever seen them done. I had to make learning a priority; I had to graduate high school even though my parents didn’t. I had to put myself through college because no one else could help. I had to work tons of jobs for any hopes that my future would not repeat my past.
What kept me going was my imagination about what the future could look like.
I dreamed of a beautiful world. People told me I was naïve, that I was just a big dreamer.
I don’t believe that’s true. I can’t be the only one who wants the world to be a better place, to see a planet saved, to see people equal and loved?
I grew up in a super large family, where we didn’t have time to talk. So, I held all my words inside until I could get them out on paper at a later time – usually at night by the yard light.
As I learned all I could, I envisioned one day, in the future, I’d be together with family and friends, and we’d have awesome discussions. I assumed every book I read and every class I took would automatically find ways into conversations that would change the world, into the one of my dreams.
Instead.
I’m a terrible speaker. Even after choosing to take 2 speech classes in college. Even after working in careers that required me to speak with the public. As I get older, words that were “right there” slip away as soon as I open my mouth.
Still.
I can’t let my dreams go.
I keep learning, hoping we’ll have better discussions leading to great actions.
A Better Life, a better world is just ahead. I can see it.
“Whenever you are fed up with life, start writing: ink is the great cure for all human ills”… ~ C. S. Lewis
Prince William, (who sounded a bit like my mother when she thought I should spend my entire life living at home, ‘there’s nothing for you out there’) said billionaires need to stay home and fix the problems here instead of gallivanting around space:
I think you may be mistaking ‘rich’ for ‘having great brains and minds’. They are not the same thing. Jeff, Elon, Mark, Bill, Donald, Joe – they may all have money, but that is not an indicator of intelligence. It simply shows that they know how to pry hard-earned cash away from the rest of the population, and stuff it into their own pockets. This is all their billionaire status proves – their impressive greediness. They are not a Billion times smarter, nor did they work a Billion more hours, than the rest of us. Sure, they were ‘intelligent’ enough to overwork/underpay employees, and hire people to design and build rockets. They were ‘intelligent’ enough to buy items at a low price, and sell them to us at outrageous prices. Their success comes from taking advantage of a good idea, mixed with a little well-to-do family funding, some shrewd manipulations, a bit of nicely-placed timing, and a little luck, and there you have a billionaire. https://www.technologyreview.com/2018/03/01/144958/if-youre-so-smart-why-arent-you-rich-turns-out-its-just-chance/ There are far smarter people who have no interest in starving entire populations by overworking and underpaying them, and then turning around and forcing them to buy products and services they need for outrageous prices. Or wrecking the whole planet while harvesting all its resources, and then dumping the unending trash on unsuspecting people. Or destroying the policies of nations.
It will take more than ‘intelligent’ people to save Humanity. It will take a combination of ‘Intelligence and Caring’. We have to learn to use both brain hemispheres, and our hearts to do the right things. Those are not always allotted in the same measure to each person. There are plenty smart people who are busy doing smart things. There are plenty kind people doing kind things. But until we can get them together to share their information and resources, people will continue to snark at each other and won’t make much of an impact.
Rocket ships are not the only place to find smart people. Smart people do not live in the ‘public eye’. Kind people aren’t out ‘glory-hogging’. Smart, kind people are busy inventing, discovering, exploring, learning, and creating, in their barns, back yards, fields, forests, classrooms, labs, and libraries.
Smart and kind people are busy people. They are protecting, caring for, and offering hope to the hungry, the homeless, the abused, the displaced, the addicted, the lost, and the lonely. They are cleaning up human-made trash from oceans, shores, beaches, ditches, cities, towns, lakes, ponds, and forests. They are reducing, reusing, recycling, rebuilding, remaking, and reinventing better options for all the destruction they see around them.
Humans should be smart and kind enough to never hunt or fish animals and plants to extinction. We should not need such things as the Endangered Species Act and the Lacey Act.
Instead of having a spot on our social media accounts for intimate relationship status, the spot should be assigned to, “What are you doing to make the worldbetter?” Your relationships, who you love, are no one’s business but your own. Your love should be a special sacredness that only you and your true love get to enjoy. On the other hand, what you’re doing to save the world, that concerns all of us.
I’m not advocating the immediate shut-down of our current energy sources – oil, coal, gas… But it makes no sense to me that ‘smart billionaires’ haven’t learned to utilize abundant resources, and interconnect these energy sources. We have a never-ending abundance of huge Trash Mountains, and Donated Clothes Mountains, and Technological Waste Mountains – all of these could be used for energy, or reused in a million different ways. We also have plenty of sunshine, blowing winds, and flowing waters – there must be a better way to harness these energies and interconnect them to our old sources, so we don’t have to keep mining the earth in search of such few old energy sources. We should be able to figure this out, and create thousands of jobs, design the means to connect the resources, and manufacture and install the technology and software to do this correctly, with the least impact on the earth.
Humans do not understand the actual size of our planet and what resources are available. They do not understand that they must keep the population growth in line with what our planet can hold. When humans are told this, they ‘fight back’, ‘the government can’t tell them what to do’. The sobering truth is, the government shouldn’t have to tell people what to do! Humans should be smart enough to control their own family growth. We should be smart enough to learn how to slow down, or increase populations depending on what our environment can comfortably care for.
Like billionaires, all humans just want a shot, an opportunity to make something great of their lives. We want to leave a great legacy behind, so our children and grandchildren can be proud of us for paving a path to their best future. We want to be loved and valued. We want to be seen and heard. We want our amazing best to be highly visible. We don’t want to be treated as less than, as something to be made fun of, or worse be judged less worthy because of our gender, race, religion, or some other random marker. We want to be appreciated as individuals, who make wonderful contributions to our communities. Billionaires are not the only ones who are trying to make their dreams come true.
If humans refuse to use the brains and hearts given them, to protect this planet and to protect each other, then we must ‘look for other places to live’. Or we will all die here.
If billionaires actually had ‘great brains and minds’ they would know all this is true. They would be encouraging people to understand and comprehend the earth’s capabilities. They would find ways, to explore space, and to also save our planet. They would stop starving people to death, stop wrecking the planet, and stop trying to control other nations. This is plain to see, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure this out.
For goodness sake, even I know we should be doing so much more. Here’s a few random links I copied and pasted from the internet offering creative ideas. Answers are out there if only we’d search a little harder and escape the poorly defined predictive analytics of our search engines.
A lot of billionaires are now signing pledges to donate all their wealth when they die, leaving their kids with nothing. That’s dumb. If I was rich, I’d set my family up so they never would starve again, AND I’d expect them to contribute to making this world Fantastic! This is what billionaires should do. 1. Leave your kids some money and expect them to use it to create even greater ideas. 2. Why wait until your dead to do something Utterly Amazing? Do Amazing Things Now! https://www.businessinsider.com/swiss-billionaire-hansjoerg-wyss-donates-1-billion-to-help-save-earth-2018-10 A Swiss billionaire is donating $1 billion in an attempt to save the planet’s wild lands and waters from destruction.
Surely with their ‘great brains and minds’ the super-rich should be able to think up something far better than what all these regular folks are doing!
The world is supposed to be getting better. Humans are supposed to be getting wiser, kinder, and healthier. Is it too much to ask, to live in a world where humans care for their planet and each other? Every horrible thing we do to this planet, we do to ourselves. The endless pursuit of wealth and power will not stop the pain that consumes us.
Things won’t change until we use our caring and intelligence to make wiser, healthier, heartfelt choices to protect our planet and each other.
As long as 7.9 Billion Humans continue to wreck our planet and hurt each other, then those billionaires better get some bigger space ships ready.
Soon it will be my adult son’s birthday. He’s in his early 30’s already. That does not seem possible!
It seems like just a few short years ago, I spent 12 hours and 44 minutes in painful labor. When my baby finally arrived, he had his arm over his head – all relaxed, zen-like, and ready to take on whatever the world had in store for him. He was born during the annual week of the Perseid Meteor showers, making him feel like an extra special gift from Heaven.
This child made my life blossom! He made me courageous and brave and determined to chase down dreams and make them a reality just for him. I was the most fortunate mom in the world. This snuggly, sweet baby was sleeping through the night at 3 weeks old. So many moms told me terrible stories of their babies never sleeping. He was not a fussy baby – only crying when hungry or needing changing. So many other moms told me frightening stories of colicky babies who never stopped crying.
He preferred his veggie baby foods, like beans, peas, and carrots over the fruits – I usually ended up eating his bananas and applesauce.
He liked to be on the move. When in his little walker, he would run around the room and down the halls. He walked early. And soon he was running everywhere. Lucky for me because we always had to be somewhere fast.
He babbled/talked all the time – whether he was by himself or being held by his mommy. It was the sweetest joy to sit on the floor by his crib in the early morning and listen to him carry on conversations and giggle with his Angels.
He was so cute that the local college childcare used his photo in a brochure as a promotion.
He was writing his name at 3 years old. By the end of elementary, he was reading at a 12th grade level. He was on honor rolls and received perfect attendance awards. He even received a letter from former State Representative Larry Howes for his honor roll achievement.
He always had a great idea. “Oh mom, I have a great idea…” he’d say with an excited smile on his face. And usually he was right, it was a great idea. He was often building, creating, designing, organizing, or thinking up something amazing.
Parks and playgrounds were our favorite places.
We loved to pretend to be Super heroes. We often were Batman and Robin – I’m still not sure which one of us was Batman and which one was Robin, because we always switched roles. We had a favorite Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle – which changed as their character traits were being portrayed on tv. Leo was smart, Raph was strong, Donnie was a geek, and Mikey was fast and funny.
He was in many different sports – tae kwon do, wrestling, football, BMX, and basketball. He went to basketball camp at St. John’s and got a “Best Attitude” Award for being ‘coachable’ and doing the work with a good attitude.
He eventually joined track in middle school and outran many older opponents. He broke school records and had his name written on the gym wall. I’m sure that started all the way back when he was running in his little walker.
We have hundreds of his awards, ribbons, and trophies from all his extracurriculars, sports, and achievements. He’s been in many different clubs from 4-H to Boy Scouts to Awanas.
We’ve both had a poem published – his in an anthology in elementary school, and mine in an anthology during college.
He is a good artist. When he sits down to draw or color, he goes into a zone. And what might start out as a scribble, turns into an amazing piece of art. I’ve been hanging his art on my walls since he was a toddler. He’s especially good at creating car designs.
He has compassion for others. As a 3-year-old, he saw a little girl crying, and gave her a flower to cheer her up. He often befriended, protected, and defended people who needed help.
He created tons of handmade cards for us over the years – tiny, regular, super-large, cute, sweet, silly, artistic, thoughtful, loving. When a child tries to make you laugh during the hard parts of life, or draws tears to share in your heart ache, or says they have faith in you, and loves you, there is no other way to see this child, except as perfect.
He graduated, grew up, and worked hard, even having his own LLC company. He’s been through some deep, deep pain. Life did not know who it was messing with, though. My boy is a survivor and a thriver, he is a winner. And his momma is a bear who will never let up until things get better.
He is naturally strong, fast, smart, kind, artistic, and happy.
His children are the most adorable, intelligent, kind, sweet, smart, fun, creative individuals.
My sweetest boy, I’m wishing you the most amazing birthday ever, and the most blessed life from here onward!
Love you forever, like you for always, mom
Parenting and the Unexpected
Being a parent is complicated. You can read all the books, and take all the classes in hopes you’ll gain all the skills you’ll ever need to raise this brand new amazing little human who has entered your life and stole your heart. Every day you pray to all the angels to help you do this job right. This sweet baby you hold in your arms is the most precious, most important thing in the world.
Nothing would make a parent happier than knowing they were successful in this life-long endeavor.
If you’re like me, you’re absolutely determined to be the best example for your child, and give them an opportunity to have the very best future possible. When my child was born, I took inventory of my life. I removed everything that didn’t improve our situation, and added what made our futures better.
It was such a joy when things seemed to be going exactly as I’d planned. Our child hit honor-rolls, perfect attendance, and broke school track records. Our boy was so creative, we easily saw careers in tech/art/design. I was so sure I broke all the chains of the past generations.
Sometimes we can do things right as parents, yet our child ends up in a place we never expected.
This is what was left of my son’s vehicle after his accident.
In our society, it’s awkward and embarrassing to share what hurts us the most. Sure, we rant about the economy, religion, politics, and war. But the deep, real, personal pains; we kind of keep to ourselves. We don’t want people to avoid us or think any lesser of us. Or look at us pitifully when we open up about our heart feeling like it’s been through a woodchipper. Or give us more unwanted, unhelpful, condescending advice. We want people to see the best in us, and allow us to laugh when we can.
I’m sharing a bit of our personal story because our lives revolve around it. It’s the epicenter of our universe.
Several years ago, our son was in a very serious accident. He worked in fiber optics on the far west side of North Dakota. He stayed there during the week, and on weekends he drove many hours to make it back to his family in Minnesota. One evening he was driving home from a long work week on the Interstate where the speed limit is 70mph. Suddenly he rear-ended a dust-covered construction-semi that was stopped on the Interstate. The impact crushed the front end of his vehicle, shattering his leg, breaking his wrist, and causing severe bruising across his body from his seatbelt. He lost consciousness, was repeatedly in and out of it, had trouble focusing, and remembering what happened.
Multiple miracles occurred that day. A good Samaritan ripped the driver’s door off and pulled him from the wreck before the vehicle burned. An ambulance happened to be driving by and was able to rush him to the hospital. The doctor on-call happened to be a military doctor. Our son was in surgery for hours as they tried to repair his leg.
Our son lived.
My heart still stops every time I remember the phone call, and our frantic race to the hospital. We paced the waiting room floor all night long waiting for updates.
He has a titanium rod in his leg with screws holding it in place. He experiences frequent pain and nightmares. He never received proper care for brain trauma, and trying to get the authorities and others to understand this has been an absolute battle. Instead of brain trauma care, doctors overprescribed him pain medicines. This is where I learned that most people don’t abuse medicines to have fun; they do them to relieve their deepest pain. I’ve learned lots of things I never learned in the parenting books or classes.
There are tons and tons of things I won’t share here. Because this is his story to tell. However, the accident didn’t just happen to him. It happened to every person who loves and cares about him. It affects every relationship in his life.
No doubt you can feel and understand the anguish of parents who have high hopes for their only child’s future. Our sweetest little boy deserves so much better. And you can imagine how brave, and strong, and amazing all our grandchildren have been through this lengthy crisis. We’ve all had to seek our own help in dealing with this.
All of us have spent time between:
heart-crushing tears, anger, and frustration
hoping this ‘new team’ will finally hear us and actually help, because we are not giving up until someone does!!!
and trying to live our best lives in the meantime, finding joy and peace where we can
Of all the things I’ve ever dreamed: I dream of my son and family healed and healthy. I dream of Sunday dinners full of laughter. I dream of Pow Wows of celebration. I dream of joyous Christmases where my home is filled with happy, healthy, honorable, loving, wise, wealthy, generous, and grateful family. I dream of being free from chaos and crisis, demands and duty. I dream of deep peace, knowing that each loved one is safe and living a wonderful life.
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For everyone who is working to recover from accidents, trauma, addiction, or mental illness, I am so very proud of you and feel very protective over you. It’s not easy to find help, face those difficulties, and make changes.
Please know that as you walk this road, when your loved ones tell you they “love you”, they mean it. We mean it every time we say it. Nothing will ever change that.
John Steinbeck wrote – “And this I believe: that the free, exploring mind of the individual human is the most valuable thing in the world.” – in his 1952 novel “East of Eden”, chapter 13, section 1, another banned book I own.
“Don’t join the book burners. Don’t think you’re going to conceal faults by concealing evidence that they ever existed. Don’t be afraid to go in your library and read every book…” ~ Dwight D. Eisenhower
Banning books is another indication that society is losing its collective mind. It shows that politicians have no idea the work that goes into the jobs of teachers and librarians. Your public library is filled with books that your local community members have requested. If your library has books about computers, philosophy, psychology, religion, social sciences, language, pure science, technology, arts and recreation, literature, history and geography, it could be that your neighbors requested them. And then your librarian did a wonderful job cataloguing them into the system and placing them on the shelves where you can find them and check them out.
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When librarians feel compelled to make films like “The Librarians”, a true story about the threats they face from uninformed people who label them deviants based on a politically motivated banned-book list, I reiterate, that’s when we know society is losing its grip on reality. https://thelibrariansfilm.com/ (I was able to stream this movie for free not too long ago, but it might take some research to find where it can be viewed now.)
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For another disheartening story about how librarians are treated:
The Rutherford County Library voted 8-3 to remove her from her position.
“In March, James wrote a letter to the board after it directed her to hide the books and declared, “I will not comply.”
“Our libraries are funded by and for the citizens; therefore, the right to access information–free from government interference–is a protected hallmark of our democracy.”
Shockingly!! – “She also accuses York of directing her to provide a list of patrons’ names and addresses for those who checked out books containing LGBTQ+ themes.”
“The board also voted at the meeting to cut ties with the American Library Association and thus is no longer adhering to its code of ethics, which includes directives like, “We uphold the principles of intellectual freedom and resist all efforts to censor library resources””
“Support for James was widespread, with a GoFundMe campaign reaching over $127,000 in a single week after she was fired to help support her living expenses.
“Luanne has dedicated nearly her entire adult life to public libraries, working tirelessly to expand free access to information, technology, and essential services for library patrons and local communities,” the fundraiser stated. “She has 25 years of combined experience as a library director and grant writer, during which she secured approximately 6 million dollars in grant funding.”
“These funds made it possible to create and expand public programs, improve computer access and connectivity, renovate and repair existing facilities, construct a new library building, and the purchase of a bookmobile and wheelchair accessible Sprinter van for community outreach.””
My two cents: When people are more worried about children reading a book about a penguin with 2 dads, or reading the ‘wrong’ book, than we are about kids being bullied and killed in schools, being homeless, hungry, abused, trafficked, or living in a world filled with hate and war, something is wrong with us. Our priorities are so out-of-whack.
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Librarians know that not every bit of reading material is appropriate for every patron. Libraries are sectioned off by age/grade level. There are children’s sections, teen/young adult sections, and adult sections. There are fiction and non-fiction sections. Thank goodness that libraries can separate fiction from non-fiction, because society currently lacks the ability to do so. Please stop following political parties’ agendas and go to the library and look for yourself – what’s on the shelf, where is it located, how can you volunteer without interfering with other people’s right to read, how can you get to know and support your community…
Libraries offer so much more than just books. Please go to the library and look and listen and ask. Get your library card and be part of an underground network that helps your community thrive.
Here are a few of the Banned Books I own. As a reader, I mostly enjoy nonfiction, but will read anything when I feel the need to read. In my home, there’s a variety of books in lots of locations. Each bookshelf/table/workstation/nightstand/children’s room holds different types of books. What I read is different from what my husband reads. What my youngest grandchild reads is different from what my oldest grandchild reads…
In elementary school, I was reading far above my grade level and placed in the highest reading group with one other person. At home, I had already lived through my parents’ divorce, lived in a car, and then a shack, and then a house without plumbing. And endured the foster care system. For me to find stories like the Boxcar Children, Laura Ingalls, Are You There God, The Catcher in the Rye, The Handmaid’s Tale, East of Eden, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings… stories that told of homelessness, poverty, hardship, breasts and periods and other personal traumas and tragedies that no one talked about… helped me to overcome, to think through, and to not feel alone. Life can be downright extremely horrible. And some of us need stories we can relate to, so that we know we can overcome any ugly tragedy thrown our way.
Reading is one of the most important tools in helping create a future you love.
“Libraries matter for the same reason parks matter. Because to blossom, human beings need public spaces that enable play, freedom and social contact without any ties to consumption. Think about it for a moment: there aren’t that many left. All we see in the street is for sale, pushing us to measure ourselves by how much we can own instead of how much we can feel and think and imagine. A library is a contemporary haven in that sense. A place that holds a million doors into a million worlds, and they’re all at your reach. For free.” ~ Laia Jufresa
Photo of me reading to my students in an elementary school library in 1990-something.
I have a Bachelor’s in Education with a minor in Library Media and have been an assistant librarian in 2 college libraries and one public library. I can’t even begin to tell you how amazed I am with all my coworkers. Librarians are valuable to communities in ways that many people do not realize. Society tends to focus on the people who make ridiculous amounts of money. Librarians support, connect to, and encourage all the people that society disregards, ignores, neglects, forgets – including the poor, hungry, homeless, abused, children, families, elderly, lonely, hurting…
“Whatever the cost of our libraries, the price is cheap compared to that of an ignorant nation.” ~ Walter Cronkite
“The only thing that you absolutely have to know, is the location of the library.” ~ Albert Einstein
“Librarians have always been among the most thoughtful and helpful people. They are teachers without a classroom.” ~ Willard Scott
“I have always imagined that Paradise will be a kind of library.” ~Jorge Luis Borges
If I had a vast Hidden Library leading to an Inventor’s Lair, that would be the most exciting and fantastic thing imaginable! A dream come true!
“Did you know that data center demand is actually driven more by social media, video platforms, and blogging than AI? We as bloggers, vloggers, and social media users are part of the problem. Therefore, I will continue to scale back on social media, blogging, and likely stop following bloggers who post daily or more frequently. Maybe you will consider scaling back on your data use too.”
Brad’s entire post is a good one to read and learn from. I’ll be blogging less often. But I want to stay connected to this community. There’s a fantastic group of people here, who teach us all so much. If we all lived closer, I’d love to invite each of you over to sit on my porch and discuss all the amazing topics you write about…
I’ve been away from WordPress for a while but when I returned, I noticed I’ve suddenly received far more views from China, and was curious as to why. There was no interaction except “Views”.
I asked an online search engine and received the answer below…
“It’s not uncommon for WordPress and other websites to see sudden spikes in traffic from China, but in most cases these spikes are not from real users — they’re usually bot or spam trafficWordPress.com+1.
Why This Happens
Bot scanning: Automated bots scan WordPress sites regularly, harvesting URLs and visiting them to inflate stats WordPress.com.
Referral spam: Some bots or malicious actors use Chinese IP addresses to send referral spam, often via platforms like BlueSky WordPress.com.
Proxy/VPN abuse: Malicious actors may route traffic through Chinese IPs to mask their origin Proceed Innovative.
Crawlers or indexing systems: AI-driven crawlers or indexing tools can trigger large “direct” traffic entries in analytics Proceed Innovative.
Why It’s Sudden
Since early October 2025, many site owners worldwide have reported identical spikes in direct traffic from China (often Lanzhou, Gansu) and Singapore rwdigital.io. This suggests a coordinated or automated campaign rather than a random spike.
Signs It’s Not Real Traffic
Near‑100% bounce rate and session duration near zero (often 0–10 seconds) rwdigital.io.
High page views but very short visit timeWordPress.com.
Low engagement: No comments, no conversions, no navigation between pages rwdigital.io.
Desktop traffic from outdated Windows systems (Windows 7/10) rwdigital.io.
Is It Harmful?
In most cases, it’s harmless — it doesn’t damage your site or SEO, but it inflates stats and can make your analytics misleading WordPress.com. However, if it’s spam, it can also bring unwanted comments or spammy links.
What You Can Do
Ignore it if it’s just bot traffic — it won’t hurt your site WordPress.com.
Filter in Google Analytics 4: Create a filter to exclude traffic from China/Singapore if you want cleaner stats WordPress.org.
Block bots: Use Jetpack security features, firewall tools, or server-level blocking to prevent bots from reaching your site WordPress.org.
Monitor engagement: If you see real interaction (comments, shares, conversions), then it’s likely legitimate traffic.
Bottom line: The sudden spike from China is a known pattern, often caused by bot or spam traffic, and it’s not unusual for WordPress sites to experience it. If you want accurate analytics, filter or block the traffic rather than trying to stop it entirely.”
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It looks as though this has been occurring on WordPress since early October 2025.
While ‘the answer’ tries to sound ‘reassuring’, it bothers me that I don’t know why my posts are being viewed, what happens once they’ve been seen, do they mean anything to the viewer, what details are being gleaned if any…?
I’d like to think my words are being used in a way that connects the world and makes us all more understanding of each other… But again, I go back to how wrong I was about Facebook bringing us together and making the world great. Now it’s more known as a political dumpster fire, a place to hate and ridicule others, a technology used to spy on people, and a support system for the rich getting richer…
Has anyone else received spikes like this in their viewership? Did you receive satisfying answers for why it happened? Did you do anything to correct it?
Seriously!?!? This is what our government is wasting its time on.
I see greedy politicians wasting time renaming mountains and bodies of water simply to provoke our nation’s neighbors.
Meanwhile, I’m running myself ragged trying to help loved ones who desperately need healthcare they can’t afford. I have repeatedly asked agencies for help, only to receive no response or to be sent in circles.
The elected officials below are supposed to represent me, yet I don’t see them taking action to help me, or the many, many other people whose basic needs are not being met. But they’ll vote to destroy protected lands, and let corruption drain our state’s funds.
Josh Heintzeman (R)
MN House – 06B
Keri Heintzeman (R)
MN Senate – 06
Pete Stauber (R)
U.S. House – 8
Amy Klobuchar (DFL)
U.S. Senate
P
Tina Smith (DFL)
U.S. Senate
Does political power corrupt people? If so, this is a great reason to have political term limits!
I see politicians growing insanely wealthy while the rest of us work too hard and pay too much: pay too much in taxes; pay too much for food, housing, healthcare, and education; pay too much in donations to food shelves, homeless shelters, and GoFundMe’s to save our family, friends, and neighbors; pay too much to protect habitats, land, and animals; and pay too much caring for loved ones when agencies created to help them fail to do so.
While billionaires get their homes, businesses, planes, parties, and security services paid for by us, citizens who can barely survive on our own funds. Whether they are getting billion-dollar contracts from our government, getting tax exemptions from our government, or monopolizing markets that control every thing we need to survive – they are living off of our income and our taxes.
How is this right?
Fred Rogers told us to “look for the helpers.” I don’t see enough helpers in our government. I see greedy, corrupt, ignorant, stalwarts, loyal only to party. They aren’t loyal to the documents our nation is built on, to our citizens, or to a code of honor.
Our country survives because poor and middle-class people continue to help one another.
So, in utter rebellion and angry exhaustion, here’s my plan: I’m renaming the United States of America to “Rebel Rosie’s United States,” and this is what we’re going to do:
We’re going to ask every citizen to work hard and to do good in every way they can.
We’re going to stand by the law as it was meant to do – protect the innocent and hold the guilty accountable.
We’re going to recover wealth that corrupt politicians gained through shady insider trading, crooked corporate influence, and other illegal or ill-gotten means. We’ll send that money directly to every person who needs food, a home, healthcare, and an education.
We’re going to stop wasting time provoking our nation’s neighbors. Instead, we’ll ask what they need, and negotiate practical ways to help each other.
We’re going to put people with genuine military experience in charge of the military. We need someone who sees the value of intelligence, and knows better than to deplete all our protective resources by creating random wars with no goal or plan.
We’re going to put experienced healthcare professionals in charge of our health systems, and they will lower costs and support the development of medicines that heal and cure – not cover up and create addictions.
My local doctor could fill either role. She has a lifetime of military service, she is also a physician, and is brilliant, kind, caring, and tough. Those are the qualities I want in the people who lead.
We’re going to put honest, hardworking people in charge of protecting our planet and natural environments, supporting farmers and ranchers, strengthening our food systems and keeping them safe, and standing with the people who make and build our communities.
We’re going to create an agency that works alongside the military with a clear mission: making peace.
We’re going to protect children, families, veterans, and the elderly from scams, abuse, sexual exploitation, and violence. How many discombobulated dystopian/‘feel-good’ stories do we need to watch on tv about our elderly working minimum wage jobs to survive?
We’re going to stop wasting money covering the White House and statues in gold, and stop building statues to people. Dolly Parton was a powerful example to follow here – she asked people Not to build a statue of her, and she refused medals from both political parties! There is no Human Being perfect or worthy of a statue.
We’re going to take good care of what we have, and make sure every penny (or nickel) is spent responsibly.
We’re going to develop a better understanding of artificial intelligence and robotics so that we can protect people from harm.
In Rebel Rosie’s United States, everyone contributes because everyone has something valuable to offer, whether it’s physically, mentally, emotionally, with jobs outside the home or inside the home. Everyone deserves the opportunity to do what they can to help their neighbors and their nation. And everyone gets decent pay and a vacation. No one should have to work 3 jobs to cover basic necessities!!!
People need healing!
From illness, accidents, war, terror…
So, they can live and love and help others.
If all of this sounds far-fetched, foolish, or naïve, I ask: how is it worse than what the last two presidents have done?
I am exhausted by a two-party political system that only offers us the worst possible political choices and asks us to select the lesser of two evils.
Our government too often lacks both common sense and common decency.
And the rest of America is paying the price for that indifference and incompetence.
In my local area there’s a nonprofit named “Happy Dancing Turtle”.
“Happy Dancing Turtle is a nonprofit (based in Pine River, MN with a hub in the Driftless Region of MN/WI) dedicated to growing good stewards of the planet by providing education, programs, and experiences that inspire wonder and empower change.”
Last Thursday they had an Open Garden event I wanted to attend.
Their description and photos on Facebook:
“Gardeners and aspiring gardeners! Join us Thursday afternoon for the free Open Garden at Happy Dancing Turtle! Wander the beautiful outdoor garden and hoop house or ask your questions of our friendly garden staff. Learn the why and how of soil health. Or just enjoy the lush colors that are EVERYWHERE! We are expecting a sunny afternoon, but we will be here🌧️ or ☀️”
The morning of the event was rainy, and I had a million things to do, so I didn’t know if I’d have time. Some of the errands I had to run brought me to their town – and surprisingly all those errands went exactly as planned and were done quickly. Then the rain ended.
I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to tour the gardens and ask questions. Even though I didn’t get there until 2pm, everyone was most welcoming. Liz was the first person I talked to and she was so nice!! She explained a bit of the layout of the garden areas and told me to feel free to wander around, ask questions, or sit with a book. Enjoy!
Near the garden building are several barrels of plants. I probably should have taken more photos. But looking around, I immediately felt some of the stress melt off me, and I didn’t want to spoil my time with my cell phone in hand intent on capturing every image.
Raised round gardens containing many different types of plants.
The sign reads: “EDIBLE FLOWER GARDEN”
If you’ve ever watched the Forager Chef, you may have learned that not only can you eat flowers but also a wide variety of ‘weeds’ from your garden.
In this garden with the gate open, I met Anna. She told me about some of the plants in this section, and how they grew them using in-ground raised beds with mulch.
We saw several little hummingbirds while we were talking.
My next walk-about was to the Hoop House.
The Hoop House contains several types of Raised Beds.
Here I explained to Dave the travesties of my fenced in garden – how many times we’ve added black dirt and compost, how there are some trees around it, and I suspect their root systems are keeping our plants from getting a firm footing in the ground. I could remove trees but I’m unsure if I want to do that.
Dave told me about their Raised Beds. He offered ideas on what woods can be used for the frames. And he mentioned the Hügelkultur method of planting. It layers materials using bigger items at the bottom such as logs, branches, and leaves, then adding the appropriate amounts of manure, compost and soil on top.
These round raised beds held various types of vegetables, herbs, and flowers.
Another type of Dave’s raised bed includes using straw bales; if you’re curious to learn more, you’d have to ask Dave.
He also gave tips on what types of materials he didn’t recommend using to create a raised garden bed.
Anna and Dave asked if I had any more questions, and I did not. So, they went on to talk with newly-arrived visitors to the gardens.
I meandered around a while, occasionally taking photos when I remembered to.
There were many pretty flower clusters near the end of rows.
Tall sunflowers dotted the outdoor garden area.
I’ve read that sunflowers are good for the soil. I tried planting sunflowers in my fenced-in garden and still they didn’t do well there – the terrible soil, the tree roots…
Rows of vegetables.
And I had to take one more sunflower photo. This plant was so awesome with all its beautifully perfect sunflowers on one stalk!
To learn more about Happy Dancing Turtle – their story, their mission, and all they have to offer – go to their website: https://www.happydancingturtle.org/
I miss you, friend. It’s been over a year since you left us. Today our town is filled with Bike Riders for MS. It surprised me as I didn’t know this was happening.
I looked online and found this info:
“Bike MS is one of the largest fundraising cycling series in the world, dedicated to supporting research and programs for people living with multiple sclerosis. The 2026 Ride Across Minnesota will run July 27–31, 2026, starting in Menahga and finishing there after visiting Park Rapids, Wadena, and Pequot Lakes.” https://www.bikemn.org/get-involved/donate/
I remember how many bad and terrible days you suffered with Multiple Sclerosis. I remember the numerous times you were in the hospital, and we didn’t know if it was the last time we’d get to visit. You often said you had 9 lives, like a kitty cat.
The last time I saw you in the hospital, I didn’t believe it would be the last time I’d see you. You had proven time and again that you could overcome anything.
I remember how you took everything in stride while I stood on the sidelines angry and frustrated with people who didn’t treat you as good as they should have. I remember when I tried to plan a friendship getaway, booking a room that claimed to be “Accessible”. I remember how we fought to get your wheelchair in the door. We were both so worn out as we tried to push, shove, pull, drag that dang wheelchair over the threshold. Finally, we made it inside. Only to find that you couldn’t close the bathroom door when you went in with your wheelchair! What a joke – Accessible my ass! I was so angry at their claim. But you were just happy to go somewhere and hang out. And then we went to the Mall. The carpeting at that time made it extremely exhausting to push your wheelchair around. Obviously, none of those locations were designed by someone with actual differing abilities!
I really wanted to yell at all those people for you. What a bunch of stupid, inconsiderate…
Instead, we talked.
We talked about how long we’ve been friends, since 1980-something.
You were there for me, you showed up for me. I hurt my knee and had to have surgery and couldn’t go to school. You brought me my homework. You made me cards. You kept me hopeful. You kept me alive when life sucked.
We talked about our kids, how much we loved them, how much hope we had for their futures. Our kids made us into some tough momma bears. For our kids we would take on the world. We put ourselves through college, and got the best jobs we could, and tried to live life in a way that would make our kids proud of us.
And then MS struck, and slowly tried to take away your freedom and choices. You fought MS for 33 years. 33 years. That’s not fair. I was so sure that soon there would be a cure. I was positive there would be a cure because I prayed for it so often, I was sure God was tired of hearing my damn voice. You deserved better.
This year will be the second time I haven’t gotten to see you for your birthday. 2 years in a row. Again Not Fair!
I’m embarrassed to tell you how many times I think, “I need to call Jody…” and then I remember I can’t. Sure, I can talk to you any time I want now. I just can’t hear your voice. I can imagine what you’d say. You’d rejoice with every joy, and be angry at every injustice. You’d offer great advice for every problem. You were so fantastically supportive like that.
I’m embarrassed to say how often I think of your mom and all of your children. I worry about them without you there to guide and protect. I worry about all the things they have been through, and are going through without you to listen and help and cheer. I wonder if they know how much you loved them. I wonder if they know how much I love and worry about them all. And your grandbabies – your littlest sweet granddaughter born just months before you left. Will she and all her cousins know how much Grandma Jody loved them all? Do they know how much Auntie Rose misses hearing about how they are all doing? I keep thinking of sending letters and cards, is that weird? Do your children and grandchildren know me? I didn’t live nearby; they only saw me maybe once a year. Do they want to receive letters from some odd old lady they don’t know?
Your daughter has been so sweet to include me in her child’s celebrations.
I suppose this is part of getting old. When the younger generation doesn’t know us or remember us, even though we’ve known them their entire lives, being there the day they were born. And we knew how much their parents loved them, and worried about them, and wanted them to have a perfect life.
If you were here, you’d know exactly what I mean, and why I’d write all this oddball stuff. We were friends since we were teens. You’ve known me over 40 years. You know where I came from, what I overcame, and how much I wanted to change the world.
Today was a hard day of missing you. Your birthday is Sunday; I have to tell you because sometimes you forget or mix up the day. I never forget and I always tried to plan how to make a trip to visit you and what I could bring and what kind of card I should make – you loved the color purple, and you loved your pugs and your long-gone dog Sandy (the one with you in your obituary photo). Did you remember you wrote me a story in high school about a character named Sandy? I’d have to dig it out of my memory box to see how the story went.
Today was a hard day. Especially when my town was filled with MS signs and hundreds of MS Bikers everywhere. It almost felt like you were surrounding me with small messages of encouragement, reaching out from the Heavens, knowing that I might struggle to get through your birthday without you. Will it hurt like this every year? How is it possible to spend a lifetime with your best friend, and then one day she’s gone?
We have a funeral to go to on Saturday, for my husband’s best friend’s mom. Best friends are the best.
Remember when we used to sign everything “BFF”, “Best Friends Forever” or “Best Friends For Life”?
Here’s one thing I learned, not MS, nor even Death can defeat “Best Friends”.
You always have been, and always will be my best friend.
Blogger friend Audrey, author of Minnesota Prairie Roots https://mnprairieroots.com/ , has written several articles about Northfield, Minnesota, on topics such as poets, books, bank robbers, art, sidewalk poetry, etc… To read all her stories go to her site and search for Northfield.
Audrey’s stories had me really wanting to visit Northfield, MN.
Even with a million things to do – and even though I only had half the deck torn apart in hopes of replacing it – my husband and I made a spur-of-the-moment decision to spend the weekend exploring the town.
First the negatives – which my sweet friend Audrey apologized for. But none of these were her fault. Her positive views were found the next day.
Sometimes you have to look past the negative to find the positive and the beauty.
I chose to add the negative because often it appears that all travels are perfect, as we capture the beautiful stories and images, and leave out the disappointing, real life parts.
We arrived late Thursday evening, after Northfield’s Crazy Days event. The streets were still a bit crowded, with the ‘younger crowd’ revving their engines and honking their horns for no apparent reason.
Small groups of e-bikes and e-scooters whizzed by on sidewalks and across the streets.
Pedestrians walked right out into traffic without using crosswalks. This was unusual for us to witness. We’ve always known to be watchful at crosswalks for peds, but were surprised when people would step out into traffic.
We finally made it to our hotel. It was a bit older, which was fine. But it needed cleaning and smelled musty. Luckily, I always bring disinfectant wipes. We went out and bought a small air cleaner. We’ve stayed in worse places and survived. Sometimes it takes a bit of hard work and ingenuity to make things better. (I worked as a maid briefly and have some idea what hotel cleaners are up against when cleaning up after the public. People can be gross and disrespectful. I’d like to direct these tips to Hotels to keep rooms from being stinky: 1. Get rid of the carpet! 2. Clean those heating/cooling system filters often. 3. Clean the microwave inside and out, and clean the mini fridge, especially the tray underneath…)
—
The next day is when the Good Stuff happened! We started our morning at Nerstrand Big Woods State Park which is just minutes away from Northfield. I’ll add those few photos later to the Nerstrand Big Woods post from our state park adventures.
One of the first places I wanted to see in Northfield was the Japanese Garden. The garden is at Carlton College, located behind Watson Hall, and is open to the public. Learn more here: https://www.carleton.edu/japanese-garden
Step along the sunken granite slabs and leave the work-a-day world behind – Yes please!
JORYO EN – The Garden of Quiet Listening. The Japanese garden is a miniature, so it was small. It offered an idealized view of nature. Rocks represent mountains, and gravel represents seas.
Entering the garden there’s a water basin (chozubachi) dripping water where, by custom, a visitor will pause to wash hands in a symbolic gesture of cleansing.
These are the basic elements in the kare-sansui, or dry landscape garden.
This would be a lovely spot to sip tea and relax into the beauty of nature.
Wooden benches offer a place to sit and contemplate in peace and quiet.
The garden is designed to be a quiet oasis, and an opportunity to notice the sounds and plants. We were able to use our Merlin Bird app to identify bird songs, and our iNaturalist Seek app to identify plants.
Literary Steps. Artist Kathy Ness, a retired children’s librarian in Northfield, applied for a grant to create this project.
Kathy, along with the help of the art teacher from Spring Creek Elementary School, painted replicas of children’s book spines (with titles crowdsourced from the community) on the 16 steps going up the Division Street side of Northfield Public Library.
How adorable are these steps?!?!
At the top of the steps and to the right is a sitting area. There are tables and chairs, but this bench caught my eye.
“Time is never wasted if you remember to bring along something to read.” Thomas Pynchon.
“Remembering Lynne E. Jordan, who loved Northfield and its library”
The seating area looks out over an inspiring cluster of flowers.
Across the street is an art installation, disguising an area where there was once a burned building. The Northfield Public Library worked with local Latino artist Rocky Casillas Aguirre on this project. This is not the best photo, but I wanted to try show how large an area the printed art covers.
Notice each section of fabric has a pile of books. Northfield authors are featured, with over 100 titles spanning fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and children’s books.
Notice the unique characters reading. To learn more about the artist who created this, visit his site. https://rokaturas.com/
The reading, books, art, and learning doesn’t end there. There are sidewalks stamped with poetry! The Arts and Culture Commission launched the Sidewalk Poetry Project in 2011. To find sidewalk poems go here – https://www.northfieldmn.gov/630/Sidewalk-Poetry
Our children teach us
hard work and hope
by need and example:
fall down, get up,
fall down again, and soon –
race you to the corner!
The Sidewalk Poetry deserved a better camera than what I had, but still it was all so lovely.
Tonight, a red star
catches in the elms,
the moon burns
on the horizon,
the whole world
glitters,
even my breath.
We met with my blogger friend and her husband for supper at a corner restaurant where we dined outside, and had a friendly and kind waitress. Afterwards Audrey and Randy took us to a part of the Riverwalk we hadn’t yet seen. This stairway was another fantastic glimpse of poetry.
Poem Steps
We come to the river starry-eyed,
across bridges reaching out to neighbors
over the river’s rushing waters: nuestro río
está lleno de vida y vida para nuestras familias.
Two deer, silent as shadows, bend & drink.
Clouds tumble and lift, kiss and part.
Train sounds shape our dreams.
Linger here till the wind shifts,
under sun’s sweet touch and winter’s raw chill,
the funk of damp moss, sweet hints of sap.
In fish and flood, in unmoving stone,
the river remembers, stirring up the waves
of childhood, so melancholic and so eager.
Listen to the words of these speaking waters:
calling my name to the south, to the north calling yours.
Hermosas esas corrientes de agua que llevan
tantos recuerdos tristes y felices pero dan un placer
de verlas correr a través de nuestro lindo pueblo.
Listen. The river tells us where it needs to go.
We did way more talking than taking photos. Audrey also has a journalism background, if you visit her site, you’ll see her words and images capture some of the best of Northfield.
There is so much more to see on the Riverwalk, and Bridge Square, and downtown Northfield.
*Note: Audrey and I first “met” through blogging, but we’ve since met several times in person. She is a genuinely wonderful person, and I’m grateful to call her my friend. 😊 She’s one of those remarkably kind bloggers who always seems to teach us something meaningful.
Hopefully you can listen to these songs as you skim the rest of this.
“I’m Gonna Be an Engineer”
Margaret “Peggy” Seeger (born June 17, 1935) is an American folk singer and songwriter. She has lived in Britain for more than 60 years and was married to the singer-songwriter Ewan MacColl until his death in 1989. She is a member of the Seeger family of musicians.
This is another good song by Peggy:
“Lady, What Do You Do All Day?”
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If you weren’t able to access Peggy’s songs, here’s me getting to the point:
I hate the way women have been treated in this country, in the land of Equality, Justice, and Freedom.
It disturbs me that I grew up watching neighbor women go to work, hand over their paycheck to their husband, and then start their next jobs of cooking, cleaning, and child-rearing. And then we were told stories of how much ‘he owns’. Even though she brought home the paycheck – ‘he owns everything’.
I hate that many women had to protest, go to jail, and die, just so we could finally get the right to vote in 1920 with the 19thAmendment.
I’m deeply disappointed that our quest for equality is being seriously undermined.
I’m disgusted by the way our current government is removing women from roles in every area of our government, military, industry, and websites that mention their accomplishments.
Why aren’t all women speaking up, and Demanding Equality?
—
Take for example the secretary of war who is removing women and people of color from the military and turning it into a white-male-only testosterone mosh pit of disease, distorting every good and decent thing the Bible has ever said, and removing other religious choices:
Pete Hegseth.
Peter Brian Hegseth was born on June 6, 1980, in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Yes, this guy was born in my state. I didn’t realize we had men like this in our own neighborhood. (Ok I did, but I thought that soon we’d all be living fair, equal, peaceful, loving lives when people learned to think, do, and behave better).
He was the first child of Brian and Penelope “Penny” (Haugen) Hegseth. Hegseth’s father was a basketball coach for high schools across Minnesota before retiring in 2019. Hegseth’s mother is an executive business coach who has taught with the Minnesota Excellence in Public Service (MEPS) Series, a fellowship and leadership program for Republican and center-right women.
In 2004 Hegseth married Meredith Schwarz; Meredith filed for divorce in December 2008 after Hegseth admitted to five affairs. The following year he wed Samantha Deering, and they later had three children. In 2017 Pete Hegseth had a child with Jennifer Rauchet, who worked at Fox News, where he worked. Later that year he and Deering divorced, and Hegseth married Rauchet in 2019 and became stepfather to Rauchet’s three children from a previous marriage.
His mother tells us everything we need to know about him. Yet women still support him. Are they unaware? Or are they ‘happy’ being wives of “abusers of women”? Are they ‘content’ with the possibility of having no career options, no right to vote, and no say in how the world works?
Has he changed since his mother sent him this email? I don’t think so based on his policies towards women in the military and his pastor/mentor relationship…
Penelope Hegseth wrote:
“Son,
I have tried to keep quiet about your character and behavior, but after listening to the way you made Samantha feel today, I cannot stay silent. And as a woman and your mother I feel I must speak out…
You are an abuser of women — that is the ugly truth and I have no respect for any man that belittles, lies, cheats, sleeps around, and uses women for his own power and ego. You are that man (and have been for years) and as your mother, it pains me and embarrasses me to say that, but it is the sad, sad truth.
I am not a saint, far from it.. so don’t throw that in my face, but your abuse over the years to women (dishonesty, sleeping around, betrayal, debasing, belittling) needs to be called out.
Sam is a good mother and a good person (under the circumstances that you created) and I know deep down you know that. For you to try to label her as “unstable” for your own advantage is despicable and abusive. Is there any sense of decency left in you? She did not ask for or deserve any of what has come to her by your hand. Neither did Meredith.
I know you think this is one big competition and that we have taken her side… bunk… we are on the side of good and that is not you. (Go ahead and call me self-righteous, I don’t’ care)
Don’t you dare run to her and cry foul that we shared with us… that’s what babies do. It’s time for someone (I wish it was a strong man) to stand up to your abusive behavior and call it out, especially against women.
We still love you, but we are broken by your behavior and lack of character. I don’t want to write emails like this and never thought I would. If it damages our relationship further, then so be it, but at least I have said my piece. [Redacted]
And yes, we are praying for you (and you don’t deserve to know how we are praying, so skip the snarky reply)
I don’t want an answer to this… I don’t want to debate with you. You twist and abuse everything I say anyway. But… On behalf of all the women (and I know it’s many) you have abused in some way, I say… get some help and take an honest look at yourself…
Mom”
As a mother of a son, I can only imagine it must have completely crushed her heart to have to write this. Most moms work extremely hard to raise sons who are honorable, considerate, and respectful.
Note that later she apologized to him for writing it…
—
The next few copied and pasted quotes come from the Military Times:
On Women in Combat:
“I’m straight up just saying we should not have women in combat roles. It hasn’t made us more effective,” Hegseth said on a podcast. “Hasn’t made us more lethal. Has made fighting more complicated.”
On Removing 2 Black, 2 female Army officers from 1-star promotion list:
““Since taking office, Hegseth has fired generals, renamed ships, and systematically targeted women and people of color in uniform.”
“The depth of Secretary Hegseth’s prejudice is only overshadowed by the breadth of his incompetence,” said Richard Brookshire, co-founder and co-CEO of the Black Veterans Project. “The Trump administration is intent on instituting a caste system across our military, whereby anyone who isn’t white, male, straight and Christian is deemed less capable and deserving of leading our troops. Americans must all reject his bigoted, nonsensical and dangerous beliefs.”
On the Flu vaccine requirement discarded ‘effective immediately,’ Hegseth says
And On Flu outbreak sickens 200 trainees at Lackland Air Force Base
On Hazing, bullying reports up
On Testosterone Testing:
“The Pentagon will begin annually screening service members for testosterone deficiency, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced on Wednesday, citing the need to ensure troops maintain the “biological foundation” to fight.
Under the new program, the secretary said service members aged 30 and older will be tested yearly for testosterone deficiency as part of routine health assessments. Troops under 30, meanwhile, will have the option to be tested, he said.
The decision to receive testosterone replacement therapy — if recommended by a medical professional — will remain up to the individual service member.”
On Waist-to-height Ratio:
“… airmen are required to upload their current ratio into myBodyComp by July 31 for active-duty service members and August 31 for air reserve component members.”
On Shaving Waivers:
“Service members specifically suffering from a diagnosed skin condition like pseudofolliculitis barbae are instructed to provide “medical findings, recommendations and a medical provider signature” to their command so that they may be approved for a shaving accommodation.
Commanding officers will make the final decision on whether a service member is approved for a shaving waiver.”
In other news articles:
ABC News: On Hegseth’s pastor/mentor:
“Some of the most contentious ideas promoted by church leaders relate to the role of women.
Mr Wilson said he believed their “priority is the home”. They should submit to their husbands and fathers, and should “not ordinarily” hold political roles, he told the ABC.
Mr Hegseth has publicly backed some of these views in interviews and online.
Last year, he shared a CNN segment on social media featuring church leaders, including Mr Wilson, arguing that in an ideal society, women would not be able to vote.
“What’s different in the case of somebody like Pete Hegseth is just how extreme his ideas are, how far outside of what we could call mainstream American Christianity he is,” Professor Taylor said.
Conservative religious beliefs become “extremely concerning”, he said, when they are so publicly and unapologetically projected from a position of authority.”
ACLU on Gender Standards in the Military:
“Among Hegseth’s pronouncements was that “each service will ensure that every requirement for every combat [military occupational specialty], for every designated combat arms position, returns to the highest male standard only… Hegseth added, “If women can make it, excellent. If not, it is what it is.”
Hegseth’s directive has puzzled military observers, because all combat occupational specialties already impose gender-neutral physical requirements. That has been the case since the early 1990s, when some branches—notably the Navy—first began accepting women into certain combat roles. That means that the thousands of women now serving in artillery, infantry, armor, and combat engineer jobs, and the women who have entered special operations forces like Army Rangers and Green Berets are meeting the same standards as their male colleagues.”
“Regardless of whether Hegseth’s misrepresentation of the current physical demands on women in combat was intentional or the product of ignorance, his purpose is unmistakable: smear women as unqualified while imposing physical fitness standards that he believes they cannot meet.”
“women had been serving in the military since the Revolutionary War”
NPR on stopping promotions:
“Denying the promotions of individual officers based on their race or gender would betray every principle of merit-based service military officers uphold throughout their careers.”
That should be enough to disgust every human being on the planet, but it probably won’t because often after hearing this, men in government say, ‘move to Iran’ or some other country where women are treated even worse. As if that makes all of this miserable treatment here good!?!?
And after all of that exclusion, a new Army study has found that women are physiologically more resilient than men to the extremes of Ranger School (from the Military Times):
The study, first reported by Task & Purpose, found that while both men and women lost weight and body fat during the course, men experienced more widespread changes across hormone systems and blood markers. Women also experienced hormonal changes, but they were less extensive and largely concentrated during the mountain phase of training.
The findings, researchers said, “indicate that multi-stressor environments may disproportionately affect male physiological markers, whereas females exhibited fewer, phase-specific changes.”
There are other people far more capable of holding the secretary of defense job. But here we are, because politics has manipulated DEI to mean ‘weak, unqualified people get jobs’, when in fact DEI means ‘the most capable get the job, no matter their color, gender, identity, who they’re related to, or who their friends are’. DEI stands for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, it creates a fair, respectful, and inclusive environment where individuals from all backgrounds can thrive. With the removal of DEI, we have people put in roles they are incapable of handling at the highest standards.
Recently I heard a story where a child asked why women didn’t invent anything. I literally have books filled with women inventors, creators, and explorers from all through history. We are failing to teach our kids about history, equality, justice, and even the basics of reading, writing, math, and science.
I’m an Independent No-Party Affiliated Voter. I think both parties are highly dysfunctional and need to find better, more honorable people to lead them. I think Pete Hegseth’s current policies are ruining our country.
I’m one of those lucky ones – married to my true love partner, mother of a son, and grandmother of grandsons. I don’t think women are better than men, and I don’t think men are better than women. I’ve seen the sites threatening to take away men’s right to vote, in the same way Hegseth’s pastor/mentor has threatened to take women’s right to vote. I disagree with this. I want a world that isn’t run by bullies of any gender. The world works better when we work together as a team. I want a world that sees the content of our character, our ability, our work ethic, our honor, our kindness, and our strength. I want a world that doesn’t judge us based on the color of our skin, our gender, ethnicity, or religion. I want a world that sees each person as valuable, and offers each person equal opportunities to reach their best selves and do the most good.
I’m just one woman sharing what I believe about how important Equality, Justice, and Freedom are.
Tragedy has struck our local community. Two middle school students have died. There are no public details, and we are asked not to speculate.
Below is an article from our local newspaper – copied and pasted. Because otherwise you would have to pay to read it. And even subscribers are having difficulty gaining access to this article. Hopefully I’ve done nothing wrong by sharing it.
Brainerd superintendent commits to change after 2 student deaths
BRAINERD — Chip Rankin started out his first Brainerd School Board meeting as superintendent with a somber message for the community.
After the death of two Forestview Middle School students over the past month, Rankin said on Monday, July 13, he wanted to apprise the community of steps he and school leaders have taken since the tragedies. He did not name the students or share details about the deaths out of respect for the families’ privacy and asked the community to extend the same grace.
“We do not want to speculate, and we ask our community not to either,” he said. “What families need right now is compassion, patience and some privacy.”
Monday morning, Rankin said more than 30 professionals came together at Forestview to build a coordinated plan of support for students, staff and families. That group included building principals, counselors and student support teams from across the district; Forestview administration; the district’s family liaison; school board members; and partners across the region dedicated to supporting mental health.
Support, Rankin said, is available now for anyone who needs it. Counselors will be on site at Forestview from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday this week, along with the district’s family liaison. He also highlighted the 988 suicide hotline, which is open for calls and texts 24 hours. Northern Pines also operates a 24-hour crisis line in Brainerd at 218-828-HELP (4357). Additionally, confidential support is available to Brainerd Public Schools employees through the employee assistance program.
“Finally, I want to make a commitment to this community on the record,” Rankin said, noting he is not solely a superintendent but also the father of three daughters in the school district.
“This is not just something that is a job,” he continued. “I take it very personal and very serious, and I take it to heart because these kids are in my schools, too.”
School will not continue on in the fall as though the events of the summer did not happen, Rankin said, committing the district to taking a hard and honest look at gaps in staffing, in programming and in training to support the mental health and wellbeing of students.
“And we are going to close them,” he said. “Our people will return better prepared and better supported than ever to care for our kids. That’s a promise I intend to keep.”
Board member John Ward said seeing the group that met Monday morning was touching.
“There was a lot of love and support given by everybody, and everybody understands the significance of what the families are going through,” he said. “Everybody said that they were going to do what they can do for the families and for our community.”
Board member Michelle Brekken added that she feels it’s apparent district staff — especially those at Forestview — are committed to doing what they can to support the school community.
“They have been committed and they will continue to be committed to making sure that kids feel safe, supported and cared for,” she said.
While he won’t pretend to be an expert in the area, board member Randy Heidmann said he will support whatever needs to be done to accomplish what the district wants to do.
Rankin said he’s spoken to both of the students’ families, who were both shocked by their losses.
“I think right now, we need to focus on the healing piece,” Rankin said, noting there will continue to be a lot of information shared in the coming days and weeks out of frustration.
“I want to make sure,” he added, “that everybody knows resources have been pulled in, resources are available, and it’s not just a school solution; it’s a community solution.”
—
I hope the school has great success with the resources that have been made available.
Notice how there is a great deal of support put together for ‘those that need it’. There’s nothing telling readers how bullying will be handled or stopped. This places all responsibility on victims. It’s on victims to report it (or ignore it because usually reporting means more violent bullying later).
It’s on victims to find the right resource to recover:
Whether that’s with a counselor on site…
Or the 988 suicide hotline…
Or a community facility like Northern Pines…
Or the confidential support available to Public School employees…
One of the children that died was 11 years old. How would an 11-year-old be able to find these resources? I won’t post access to her information, but it is easy to find. In the hundreds of photos in her obituary, she looked nothing like what people may think a victim of bullying might look like. She looked happy and excelled at everything she did.
—
I don’t know any details about this child other than what her obituary states.
But I can’t help but feel We failed her.
This is why.
Those of us who have been bullied or abused, in school or at home, and want to succeed in this life – we don’t tell our stories. We stay silent, and people call us shy. We pretend to read or draw or change the subject when people ask us personal questions, and we’re called reserved or private.
Whether we were tortured in school with pushing, shoving, name-calling, and having our privates mangled. Or whether we were abused at home with willows and belts and fists and rage and mentally ill parents. We believe no one wants to hear our story. Other well-meaning adults will tell abused children not to talk about that, and to ‘only think about positive things’. Others will tell children to “Get over the past!”, while sharing their unending past stories of sweet parents and vacations and toys and love and food…. Not for one second grasping that the person sitting next to them had none of that
Bullied and abused children are not allowed to share the facts of their life because it ‘bothers others’, and it sounds like ‘blaming’. “Some people need to stop blaming their parents for their miserable life and grow up.” ‘It sounds like you were weak and didn’t do anything about it. If it was me, I would have…’
And even if we try to explain, people cut us off, interject, interrupt, talk over, and redirect attention back on themselves.
Most of my life, I’ve been very quiet about my childhood. I worked for 3 years at one job, where coworkers believed I was a nice girl from a small, loving Christian family, and I let them believe that because I really liked the idea of growing up in a small, loving family.
In the last few years, I’ve tried to be brave enough to open up a bit more. But I’ve done it slowly, politely, bit by bit, as I read about others who are braver than me. I doubt I’ll ever be the one to share it all. I’ve hinted at how bad it was, but I’ll never tell how bad it really was. I’ll always be ‘known’ as shy, reserved, and private, in any setting where people freely share their childhood. But that’s not who I really am.
I’m full of energy, and defiance, and joy, and adventure. But you can’t see that when you’re sharing your same stories for the a millionth time.
For God’s sakes, Let people talk! Let people who rarely say a word, let them finish a sentence. Let them mumble through a difficult phrase. Listen when someone is struggling to tell you something. Try to share equally. If you just talked nonstop for the last 10 minutes, give someone else the same amount of time to speak.
I’ve tried sharing small bits in real life, in groups where others endlessly share their childhood. But when I start my story with ‘growing up in the woods’ – people interrupt, assuming I had a wonderful, wild, and free childhood, and they tell me I ‘better call my parents and thank them’!
I don’t tell them that ‘wonderful, wild, and free’ is not my story. I feel the punch in the gut, and I put my head down, while those around me share their fantastic camping stories and how much fun they had in the woods. Their laughter is so real and deep. They had food and tents and lakes and good times. I don’t tell them that my life in the woods was nothing like that.
Should I have raised my voice and continued my story? I’m already embarrassed by my reaction; I don’t know what to say next. Every word I want to say will change the entire mood of the group, and that will be my fault. Do I want to be that person, who ruins the joy with a blunt tale of something terrible that happened? No, I don’t. Smile, nod, doodle on my paper and onward they go. Later I’ll write and rewrite pages and pages, trying to figure out how I can be truthful with people, yet not become the person they avoid. I’ve witnessed other victims tell hard stories, and watched as people gradually began to disengage, because ‘I mean I feel bad for them, but who wants to hear that kind of misery every day?’
I don’t tell them that my mom and stepdad are dead so I can’t call them, or that I don’t know my dad. That I have no idea what I would thank them for. Because of them, I learned to take a hit, punch, kick, switch, belt, get dragged around by my hair, and recover with ease. I learned to ignore other’s bad words and misjudgments. I learned I was the only person I could count on and I wasn’t afraid to fight bigger men than me when I needed to protect myself or my siblings. Because of them, I learned a lot of ‘adulting’ at a very young age – foraging in the woods until hunger had me filling out welfare forms while I was in fourth grade so our family could get AFDC and Food Stamps, cooking, cleaning, sweeping, mopping, vacuuming, changing diapers, making bottles, walking the floor with crying babies, making beds, doing laundry, canning venison and fruits and vegetables, taking care of cats, dogs, chickens, calves, rabbits, pigs, pigeons, never-ending chores and constant exhaustion… Because mom was always ‘sick’ in bed and stepdad was gone from dawn to dusk. They called me names to toughen me up, they told me I was ugly and stupid, and wished I had never been born, and that I ruined their life – while at the same time telling me I was stupid to ever consider leaving, getting a job, or going to college, because they needed me there. They called me ‘4-eyes’ and told me I had ‘mouse-shit brown hair’ and to ‘get my fucking nose out of that damn book because I was just going to end up pregnant and barefoot and married to a drunk’. They told me to toughen the hell up when I was crying, and told me to figure it out when I didn’t know what I was doing. “You’re such a stupid Black Jap bastard, too dumb to even poor piss out of a boot.” I was ‘her fucking brat’. What could any bully in school say, that would hurt worse than what the people who were supposed to love me said?
Some of my siblings are dead, some have been in jail or prison or addicted. Only a small handful of us managed to create a good life out of nothing.
And the kicker is, they nevermeant to hurt anyone. They were broken themselves. (I learned this later in psychology classes.)
This is where I’m from.
Yet people say, ‘It couldn’t have been that bad. Look at you. You seem Normal.’ As if kids who were violently assaulted, beaten, neglected, relentlessly overworked, and humiliated, could Never Grow Up to Be Normal?!?!?
And that’s why we don’t tell our story.
And that’s how we fail every child who feels like they can’t tell their story.
Heck when AI even suggests that your childhood filled with violence, rage, hunger, and foster care is somehow ‘better’ than a child raised in a loving home, you gotta wonder if something isn’t wrong with you….
But here’s the truth.
Nothing is wrong with us.
Something is very wrong with them – the ones who hurt others. Whether they mean to or not. Whether they come from hell themselves, or are the spoiled rich with no empathy. Something is wrong with them.
Something is wrong with people who judge others without knowing them. Something is wrong with people who look the other way while others are being tortured. Something is wrong with people who blame victims for the crimes done to them, instead of blaming the guilty. Something is wrong with them.
Not us. Not the ones who forgive and heal and change and grow and succeed. Not the ones whose greatest wish is to make the world a better place, by making people better humans. There is nothing wrong with us.
We need to fix what’s wrong with people. Currently, we really suck at this! We’ve gone the opposite direction for years and glorified evil, mean, and greedy people.
Advertisements say “help is available,” but after calling, emailing, messaging, and submitting website requests on behalf of loved ones, I still haven’t found meaningful help—if it is truly available.
My experience with the ‘helping agencies’:
Budgets are cut so that those in desperate need can’t get any help, or only get a small insufficient amount (our government can fund billionaires, wars, ballrooms, and cover the White house in gawdy gold… But we can’t actually help people who really need it.)
The ‘helpers’ are laid off, fired, quit, or on vacation – you rarely talk to the same person twice, and if you do, they’re so overworked and emotionally drained, they don’t remember your name or need. You are random words on a screen or ‘chicken scratch’ in a file, not a real person suffering.
If you’re lucky, they’ll give you a list of names and numbers of others who might be able to help, essentially sending you around in circles.
They are not open when you need them. They’re only available at certain times. Thank goodness crisis happens on schedule, right?
And I could list so many more roadblocks to receiving help for loved ones in crisis but this is already too long…
We need to stop expecting victims to take all the blame, hold all the shame, and do all the work.
It wasn’t my fault that my parents were the way they were.
As a kid, I thought if I loved them enough: if I showed them how to clean and cook and take care of their kids: if I did enough, they would learn and be ok. And I was fine if they didn’t love me, I just wanted my family to be ok. But they weren’t. They were the same until they died. And even though I was just a little kid, people would ask me, “Why didn’t you tell someone? Why didn’t you get them the help they needed?” We tried once with foster care, both the police and welfare promised to help. And then they did nothing. And I was sent back where nothing had changed.
What was this little girl supposed to do that entire agencies couldn’t?
Which brings us back to the beginning.
What are kids supposed to do?
I don’t know how bullies are created, but I know victims don’t create them.
I don’t know how to heal bullies. I don’t understand why this hasn’t been done yet.
I’ll end with three things:
No one likes the term ‘victim’ but none of the other words fit either (survivor, thriver, overcomer, Post Traumatic Growth… especially when children are dead)
An encouraging poem by Mary Oliver to save at least one life
Comments turned off because victims don’t need pity. They need to be heard. They need action. And they needed that action to happen before they became another statistic.
Sometimes all we really need, is a little time, and room to breathe.
—
Petunias
Sweet Williams
Orange daylilies
Yellow daylilies
Flowering plants and a few painted rocks from my grandbabies line the walkway.
Lobelia
A couple plants I don’t remember the names of:
More Petunias
Red, White, and Blue (sort of)
I spilled Basil seeds in a pot of dirt and they thrived. Love the look of basil leaves, the smell of basil, and making pesto.
Indoors we have several pots of aloe vera.
Here are the orchids (not in bloom but growing lots of leaves, shoots, or roots?…)
This lovely plant is good for the air, and it had a baby! 😊 (Snake Plant or Mother-in-law’s tongue? I dislike both of these names). I prefer the name Sansevieria better.
Plants are amazing!
I know this because I’m a terrible plant parent, and yet these darlings survive, and grow, and blossom no matter what. I could just hug them all for their strength and resilience.
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