“America is the wealthiest nation on Earth, but its people are mainly poor, and poor Americans are urged to hate themselves. To quote the American humorist Kin Hubbard, 'It ain’t no disgrace to be poor, but it might as well be.' It is in fact a crime for an American to be poor, even though America is a nation of poor. Every other nation has folk traditions of men who were poor but extremely wise and virtuous, and therefore more estimable than anyone with power and gold. No such tales are told by the American poor. They mock themselves and glorify their betters. The meanest eating or drinking establishment, owned by a man who is himself poor, is very likely to have a sign on its wall asking this cruel question: 'if you’re so smart, why ain’t you rich?' There will also be an American flag no larger than a child’s hand – glued to a lollipop stick and flying from the cash register.

Americans, like human beings everywhere, believe many things that are obviously untrue. Their most destructive untruth is that it is very easy for any American to make money. They will not acknowledge how in fact hard money is to come by, and, therefore, those who have no money blame and blame and blame themselves. This inward blame has been a treasure for the rich and powerful, who have had to do less for their poor, publicly and privately, than any other ruling class since, say Napoleonic times. Many novelties have come from America. The most startling of these, a thing without precedent, is a mass of undignified poor. They do not love one another because they do not love themselves.”
― Kurt Vonnegut, Slaughterhouse-Five

It is pretty hard to tell what does bring happiness; poverty and wealth have both failed.

 ― Kin Hubbard

They do not love one another because they do not love themselves.

 ― Kurt Vonnegut, Slaughterhouse-Five

The only time some fellows are ever seen with their wives is after they’ve been indicted.

 ― Kin Hubbard

A good listener is usually thinking of something else.

 ― Kin Hubbard 

No one ever forgets where he buried the hatchet.

Kin Hubbard 

To be is to do - Socrates To do is to be - Sartre Do Be Do Be Do - Sinatra

 Kurt Vonnegut

The last thing I ever wanted was to be alive when the three most powerful people on the whole planet would be named Bush, Dick and Colon. Kurt Vonnegut

Dear future generations: Please accept our apologies. We were rolling drunk on petroleum. Kurt Vonnegut

“And I urge you to please notice when you are happy, and exclaim or murmur or think at some point, 'If this isn't nice, I don't know what is.” ― Kurt Vonnegut Jr., A Man Without a Country

A purpose of human life, no matter who is controlling it, is to love whoever is around to be loved.

― Kurt Vonnegut, The Sirens of Titan 

“Hello babies. Welcome to Earth. It's hot in the summer and cold in the winter. It's round and wet and crowded. On the outside, babies, you've got a hundred years here. There's only one rule that I know of, babies-"God damn it, you've got to be kind.” Kurt Vonnegut

“If I should ever die, God forbid, let this be my epitaph: THE ONLY PROOF HE NEEDED FOR THE EXISTENCE OF GOD WAS MUSIC” Kurt Vonnegut

“We have to continually be jumping off cliffs and developing our wings on the way down.” ― Kurt Vonnegut, If This Isn't Nice, What Is?: Advice for the Young

Sing in the shower. Dance to the radio. Tell stories.

 “If you want to really hurt you parents, and you don't have the nerve to be gay, the least you can do is go into the arts. I'm not kidding. The arts are not a way to make a living. They are a very human way of making life more bearable. Practicing an art, no matter how well or badly, is a way to make your soul grow, for heaven's sake. Sing in the shower. Dance to the radio. Tell stories. Write a poem to a friend, even a lousy poem. Do it as well as you possible can. You will get an enormous reward. You will have created something.”
― Kurt Vonnegut, A Man Without a Country

“And on the subject of burning books: I want to congratulate librarians, not famous for their physical strength or their powerful political connections or their great wealth, who, all over this country, have staunchly resisted anti-democratic bullies who have tried to remove certain books from their shelves, and have refused to reveal to thought police the names of persons who have checked out those titles.

So the America I loved still exists, if not in the White House or the Supreme Court or the Senate or the House of Representatives or the media. The America I love still exists at the front desks of our public libraries.”
― Kurt Vonnegut, A Man Without a Country

I want to stand as close to the edge as I can without going over. Out on the edge you see all kinds of things you can't see from the center.

 Kurt Vonnegut, Player Piano

Those who believe in telekinetics, raise my hand. Kurt Vonnegut

Secret Read

As a child I had to hide if I wanted to read because if I was caught reading it was attention away from my mother. I'd be told told to do some menial task. My step father told us that he read at 5 am while my mother was asleep. I hid in my room to read. She had a fear that I was leaving her, by reading. Yes I was. I thank God daily for being able to read.

Going out to buy an Envelope

“(talking about when he tells his wife he’s going out to buy an envelope) Oh, she says well, you’re not a poor man. You know, why don’t you go online and buy a hundred envelopes and put them in the closet? And so I pretend not to hear her. And go out to get an envelope because I’m going to have a hell of a good time in the process of buying one envelope. I meet a lot of people. And, see some great looking babes. And a fire engine goes by. And I give them the thumbs up. And, and ask a woman what kind of dog that is. And, and I don’t know. The moral of the story is, is we’re here on Earth to fart around. And, of course, the computers will do us out of that. And, what the computer people don’t realize, or they don’t care, is we’re dancing animals.”

― Kurt Vonnegut

Anna Karenina

 poem by George Bilgere

Love and Loss

Grief is not just an emotion—it’s an unraveling, a space where something once lived but is now gone. It carves through you, leaving a hollow ache where love once resided.

In the beginning, it feels unbearable, like a wound that will never close. But over time, the raw edges begin to mend. The pain softens, but the imprint remains—a quiet reminder of what once was. The truth is, you never truly "move on." You move with it. The love you had does not disappear; it transforms. It lingers in the echoes of laughter, in the warmth of old memories, in the silent moments where you still reach for what is no longer there. And that’s okay.

Grief is not a burden to be hidden. It is not a weakness to be ashamed of. It is the deepest proof that love existed, that something beautiful once touched your life. So let yourself feel it. Let yourself mourn. Let yourself remember.

There is no timeline, no “right” way to grieve. Some days will be heavy, and some will feel lighter. Some moments will bring unexpected waves of sadness, while others will fill you with gratitude for the love you were lucky enough to experience.

Honor your grief, for it is sacred. It is a testament to the depth of your heart. And in time, through the pain, you will find healing—not because you have forgotten, but because you have learned how to carry both love and loss together.

Anonymous (author unknown)

Don't harden your heart.

advice from my friend Greg down the street.

Robert Frost called his work a lover’s quarrel with the world.

 “I also believe my home state is cursed by ignorance and poverty and racism, much of it deliberately inculcated to control a vulnerable electorate. And I believe many of the politicians in Louisiana are among the most stomach-churning examples of white trash and venality I have ever known. To me, the fact that large numbers of people find them humorously picaresque is mind numbing, on a level with telling fond tales of one's rapist.”
― James Lee Burke, Creole Belle

Every third night a commitee holds a meeting in my head. James Lee Burke, Rain Gods

If there is any human tragedy, there is only one, and it occurs when we forget who we are and remain silent while a stranger takes up residence inside our skin. James Lee Burke, The Glass Rainbow

“Age is a peculiar kind of thief. It slips up on you and steps inside your skin and is so quiet and methodical in its work that you never realize it has stolen your youth until you look into the mirror one morning and see a man you don't recognize.”
― James Lee Burke, Creole Belle

“I sometimes subscribe to the belief that all historical events occur simultaneously, like a dream in the mind of God. Perhaps it is only man who views time sequentially and tries to impose a solar calendar upon it. What if other people, both dead and unborn, are living out their lives in the same space we occupy, without our knowledge or consent?”
― James Lee Burke, The Glass Rainbow

And every good artist knows that the gift comes from somewhere else, and it's there for a reason, and that's to make the world a better place. James Lee Burke

And like most middle-aged people who hear the clock ticking in their lives, I had come to resent a waste or theft of my time that was greater than any theft of my goods or money. James Lee Burke

Humility is not a virtue in a writer, it is an absolute necessity. James Lee Burke

When people make a contract with the devil and give him an air-conditioned office to work in, he doesn't go back home easily. James Lee Burke

It has been my experience that most human stories are circular rather than linear. Regardless of the path we choose, we somehow end up where we commenced - in part, I suspect, because the child who lives in us goes along for the ride.

 ― James Lee Burke, The Glass Rainbow

The fire of one’s art burns all the impurities from the vessel that contains it.

 James Lee Burke

Sourdough (Rye) Story

Last night I told my husband, Keep an eye on the rye dough as I left to go teach. I imagined coming home the kitchen overflowing with raw dough spilling like lava out of the back door. At 10:30 PM The dough had reached the lid of the bucket. My husband was asleep. I punched down the dough and put it in the fridge to slow it. This morning in the fridge she has reached the top again, threatening to take over. There are air bubbles! She is ALIVE!! I just punched her down again. Circus Sideshow! Quicksand! Just like in the movies, swallowing everyone in it's path. My plans have changed. Today will be baking day.

I don’t believe in guilty pleasures, I only believe in pleasures. People who call reading detective fiction or eating dessert a guilty pleasure make me want to puke. Pedophilia is a pleasure a person should have guilt about. Not chocolate. Ira Glass

Red Lentils and Basmati Brown Rice (bowl within bowl method)

I rinsed the red lentils and placed them in the instant pot with water and bullion cube and 2 large chopped onions, 2 TBSP olive oil, and freshly smashed & peeled garlic cloves, a dash of cumin, & ginger. 

Then I rinsed the basmati rice and placed it in a bowl with water on the tray inside the pressure cooker---this way cooking both foods at once in 30 minutes.

It was delicious with sriracha and salt and pepper to taste.

The only problem was the colors of the lentils and rice were too similar. But that can be remedied with some carrots or tomatoes or lettuce on the side if that bothers you.

Great stories happen to those who can tell them.

― Ira Glass  

“...these stories are a kind of beacon. By making stories full of empathy and amusement and the sheer pleasure of discovering the world, these writers reassert the fact that we live in a world where joy and empathy and pleasure are all around us, there for the noticing.”
― Ira Glass, The New Kings of Nonfiction

 

“The most important possible thing you can do is do a lot of work.”
― Ira Glass 

 

“You will be stupid. You will worry your parents. You will question your own choices, your relationships, your jobs, your friends, where you live, what you studied in college, that you were in college at all. If that happens, you're doing it right.”
― Ira Glass   

 

“Nobody tells people who are beginners. I really wish someone had told this to me. Is that [if you are watching this video, you are somebody who wants to make videos right?] all of us who do creative work, we get into it. We get into it because we have good taste. You know what I mean? Like you want to make TV, because you love TV. There is stuff you just like, love. Ok so you got really good taste. You get into this thing … that I don’t even know how to describe it, but there is a gap. For the first couple of years you are making stuff, what you are making isn’t so good... ok, its not that great. It's really not that great. Its trying to be good, it has ambition to be good, but not quite that good. But your taste, the thing get you into the game, your taste is still killer. Your taste is good enough that you can tell what you are making is a kind of disappointment to you, you know what I mean? You can tell it is still sort of crappy. A lot of people never get past that phase. A lot of people at that point, they quit. The thing I would just like say to you with all my heart is that most everybody I know, who does interesting creative work, they went through a phase of years where they had really good taste, they could tell what they were making wasn’t as good as they wanted it to be. They knew it felt short. [some of us can admit that to ourselves, some of us less able to admit that to ourselves] we knew like, it didn’t have that special thing that we wanted it to have. [...] Everybody goes through that. For you to go through it, if you are going through right now, just getting out of that phase, if you are just starting out and entering into that phase, you gotta know it is totally normal and the most important possible thing you can do is do a lot of work. Do a huge volume of work. Put yourself on a deadline so that every week or every month you know you’re gonna finish one story. You know what I mean? Whatever its gonna be. You create the deadline. It is best if have somebody who is waiting for work from you, expecting work from you. Even if not somebody who pays you, but that you are in a situation where you have to turn out the work. Because it is only by actually going through a volume of work that you are actually going to catch up and close that gap and the work you are making will be as good as your ambitions.”
― Ira Glass

When you LOVE cabbage

 https://www.recipetineats.com/everyday-cabbage-salad/ with international variations.

Cruciferous vegetables are vegetables of the family Brassicaceae (also called Cruciferae) with many genera, species, and cultivars being raised for food production such as cauliflower, cabbage, kale, garden cress, bok choy, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, mustard plant and similar green leaf vegetables. The family takes its alternative name (Cruciferae, Neo-Latin for "cross-bearing") from the shape of their flowers, whose four petals resemble a cross. 

Box Elder trees, also known as Acer negundo, a type of Maple tree native to the United States.

Box Elder is a type of Maple tree native to us in the United States. This type of tree is primary wind-pollinated which means it's allergenic pollen can be spread for hundreds of miles.

Box Elder pollen is most prevalent during March to May.

Box Elder trees, also known as Acer negundo, are a type of maple tree found primarily in the Midwest and Eastern parts of the United States. During the spring and early summer months, Box Elder trees produce large amounts of pollen, which can cause allergic reactions in many people.

The peak allergy season for Box Elder pollen typically occurs in late April and early May, although the exact timing can vary depending on the location and weather conditions. Box Elder pollen is a common cause of seasonal allergies, with symptoms that can include sneezing, runny nose, itchy eyes, and congestion.

For individuals with asthma or other respiratory conditions, exposure to Box Elder pollen can be particularly problematic, as it can exacerbate existing symptoms and make it difficult to breathe. As such, it's important for those who are sensitive to pollen to take steps to minimize exposure during peak allergy season.

April is the Cruelest Month... T.S. Eliot

 How these famous words enlighten us about seasonal depression in the spring. Article

American Lives Series Tobias Wolff

 American Lives 

The singular American life is a source of endless diversity, and the methods of telling the life are as important as the details themselves. The American Lives series, called “splendid” by Newsweek, features works of creative or literary memoir that, whether evoking moments of death or disease, in family or marriage, history, politics, religion, or culture, provide glimpses into singular American lives. Taken together, these stories coalesce into a richly textured and colorful portrait of our contemporary culture.

Submissions to the series are accepted annually September 1 – June 1.

All manuscripts must be submitted electronically via Submittable.

Series Editor

Tobias Wolff

Acquiring Editor

Courtney Ochsner

The first thing to do if you’re interested in saving your country is to adopt a posture of cool defiance toward those who would destroy it or pervert it into a mockery of itself.

Josh Marshall

The act of writing turns out to be its own reward.

I still encourage anyone who feels at all compelled to write to do so. I just try to warn people who hope to get published that publication is not all that it is cracked up to be. But writing is. Writing has so much to give, so much to teach, so many surprises. That thing you had to force yourself to do — the actual act of writing — turns out to be the best part. It’s like discovering that while you thought you needed the tea ceremony for the caffeine, what you really needed was the tea ceremony. The act of writing turns out to be its own reward.

ANNE LAMOTT