Although I share many of these sentiments about America, I believe that the qualities of St Francis and great art will outlive Trumpism, Christina. Despair is the greatest enemy.
Thank you for reading, as always, Amanda. Some of the time I believe this and some of the time I don't. It's not actually Trumpism I despair over. It's the information flow that leads to it. And the fact that that, and AI, which will determine our future more than almost everything, is in the hands of the tech bros. But we can't despair, of course. And thank God we have great art - and so much else that makes our lives worth living.
I do agree with you Amanda even though it is worrying times. History shows the pendulum changes direction. It alternates over time between opposites and it doesn't take much (even if it's hard to believe right now, I do agree with whoever is doubtful) to swing the pendulum of opinion the other way. Back to St Francis - he is an excellent role model for us all and I am glad you reminded us of him Christina. I have long wanted to go to Assisi and follow in his footsteps - the memory of him brings hope. Thanks for the reminder Christina.
Thank you, dear Eva, for your encouraging words. I do believe that pendulums swing. What's new is the bots, the algorithms and the fact that most people now get their news via platforms controlled by the tech oligarchs. But there is always hope. You will have to visit Assisi when you come and see us in Umbria! xx
About hope: today it is low. Very low … Yesterday - with Trump returning to power even the most optimistic me feels a great bit of pessimism that we are on a slippery slope for very many many years to come. I despise all those politicians and others who gives him credit just to keep on to their own positions. The system in the US feeds people like Trump.
And Melania Trump in her hat … No showing her eyes. I do think she support her husband and that she is not a victim. But if I am right - why did she have to cower herself? Would love to hear your take on that one Christina.
I completely understand, Eva, but I'm afraid I think what you're feeling is appropriate. I think this is the start of something very ugly and there has already been a great deal of ugliness today.
As for Melania, who knows? She has to be amoral (at best) to be with that man. I suppose the hat was a way to hide her eyes, which are traditionally the "window to the soul". I have no idea what's in hers or his or if they consider themselves to have one. Sending solidarity. xx
I'm getting to an age when able to qualify at 90 as a senior citizen, and old enough during WWII to get scared about the future. We need writers who can and will speak for truth during oppressive times and I reckon you are up for this Christina. I need therefore to support you over the years of uncertainty that probably have arrived today. 20/1/25
Brian, I'm honoured by your kind words and awed by your experience. I find it weirdly reassuring that someone who remembers WWII also has a sense of how dark our current times are. It doesn't help, in the grief, to be told that you're over-reacting. I know I'm not and I'm touched by your support.
Thoughful as always Christina. it truly is a sad day 😕. The rhetoric and the Imagery of Trump over the last week - the apparent desire to disrupt all social and economic systems for the sake of it, the abandonment of truth is frightening. I am constantly hearing “BRACE, BRACE” in my ears.
In one way we have not been here before and in another way we have … many times - WW2 as an example. One man, along with other powerful men controlling messages, doing things that fly in the face of truth and decency. We got through it, decent people held firm even if we lost so much. Where it is different is that never has the world been in such a state of “VUCA” and never have we had so much to lose.
Anyway, back to Assisi ….. “Where there is hatred, let me sow love”. Used as noun here, but he knew love was a verb. He was a ‘doing’ man. All we can do is keep taking actions underpinned with love for ourselves, others and the world.
Big hug coming your way! Drink Negroni and eat salted snacks in between practicing the brace position! xxx
Oh Karina, your comment has brought tears to my eyes. I want to hear that there is hope, of course. And you are right about WW2. I suppose the thing that brings me most to the brink of despair is what's happening to information. When there are no facts any more, then there's nothing. But we just have to hope that someone somewhere will fight the Musks and Zuckerbergs and reinstate them - and that humanity will believe again that there's a difference between truth and lies and that it matters.
Yes, re Assisi and sowing love. And yes, re Negronis and crisps, of course. Big hug to you on this ghastly day. And thank you. xxx
Very hard to maintain positivity about the beauty of peoples and places nowadays. Spoilt by the few, albeit powerful, in whichever sense considered appropriate. Thankyou for putting this into words for us.
Thank you, Rose Marie. I still feel positive about the beauty of people and places, but there are days when it's hard to muster much hope about the future in a broadest sense. At least, when we feel this, we know we are not alone...
I had a brief visit to Assisi when Inter Railing after college. It was during a whistle stop tour of the area. Some of the details are sketchy as it was in 1987! But the whole area is stunning and I still have the olive wood salad servers I bought my mum and carefully got them home in my rucksack unscathed. The world again seems bleak with Trump. A few weeks on from inauguration day it’s just as bad as I feared if not worse.
Hello Louise! I love the idea of you bringing back olive wood salad servers for your mum. When I went on a trip to Southern Italy when I was 22 or 23 I brought back an entire coffee set, with pot, sugar bowl, jug etc. I can’t imagine how I carried it, as I also only had a tiny rucksack. Those were the days etc.
And yes, things look terrible re Trump. We can’t let him ruin our precious, brief lives, though I do think we need to keep our eyes wide open. Sending solidarity.
And once again, it is an audacious and candid account of how it really is. Audacious because you clearly hold the courage of your conviction and have no fear of wearing that on your sleeve. You state what so many are observing but are too timid to fire these controversial balls.
(I, too, have often courted controversy with similar words and actions.)
How lovely it would have been for you to enthral us readers with a potted history and vivid description of the birthplace of the patron of all creatures great and small–in a way only you can.
Yes, this Monday of all Mondays gave way to that, but then you somehow cleverly managed to ignite and inspire the imagination with your tale anyway. Clever!
PS. A local Edinburgh councillor said to me recently:
"God, you've got balls, Lady."
Me: Channelling my best late, great Kenneth Williams "Ooer Matron"!
I thought the presence of his extended family at all events was very sinister this weekend. Seems he is deliberately manoeuvring them into public eye so they all start to be seen as public property like a usa royal family. Trump wants democracy as we know it to ens in America. The complicity of the media by not taking seriously the parts of his speeches this week that far exceeded his power as president. Taking Panama canal into ownership of USA was one if the maddest things he has repeatedly said this week and it's nearly been mentioned by press worldwide. Do a Google search if you don't believe me. I may disagree with things he doing but as long as within his powers I will respect it. When he starts saying things that far exceed his power the media have to hold him to account.
I rely on these lines from the late Derek Mahon.
‘The sun rises in spite of everything
and the far cities are beautiful and bright.
I lie here in a riot of sunlight
watching the day break and the clouds flying.
Everything is going to be all right.’
Thank you so much, Donal for those beautiful words. I will stick them on my wall.
Although I share many of these sentiments about America, I believe that the qualities of St Francis and great art will outlive Trumpism, Christina. Despair is the greatest enemy.
Thank you for reading, as always, Amanda. Some of the time I believe this and some of the time I don't. It's not actually Trumpism I despair over. It's the information flow that leads to it. And the fact that that, and AI, which will determine our future more than almost everything, is in the hands of the tech bros. But we can't despair, of course. And thank God we have great art - and so much else that makes our lives worth living.
I do agree with you Amanda even though it is worrying times. History shows the pendulum changes direction. It alternates over time between opposites and it doesn't take much (even if it's hard to believe right now, I do agree with whoever is doubtful) to swing the pendulum of opinion the other way. Back to St Francis - he is an excellent role model for us all and I am glad you reminded us of him Christina. I have long wanted to go to Assisi and follow in his footsteps - the memory of him brings hope. Thanks for the reminder Christina.
Thank you, dear Eva, for your encouraging words. I do believe that pendulums swing. What's new is the bots, the algorithms and the fact that most people now get their news via platforms controlled by the tech oligarchs. But there is always hope. You will have to visit Assisi when you come and see us in Umbria! xx
Yes! it is quite different times now with the algorithms, AI etcetera. I do agree. But I keep my hope up still ...
Love to visit ...
About hope: today it is low. Very low … Yesterday - with Trump returning to power even the most optimistic me feels a great bit of pessimism that we are on a slippery slope for very many many years to come. I despise all those politicians and others who gives him credit just to keep on to their own positions. The system in the US feeds people like Trump.
And Melania Trump in her hat … No showing her eyes. I do think she support her husband and that she is not a victim. But if I am right - why did she have to cower herself? Would love to hear your take on that one Christina.
I completely understand, Eva, but I'm afraid I think what you're feeling is appropriate. I think this is the start of something very ugly and there has already been a great deal of ugliness today.
As for Melania, who knows? She has to be amoral (at best) to be with that man. I suppose the hat was a way to hide her eyes, which are traditionally the "window to the soul". I have no idea what's in hers or his or if they consider themselves to have one. Sending solidarity. xx
I'm getting to an age when able to qualify at 90 as a senior citizen, and old enough during WWII to get scared about the future. We need writers who can and will speak for truth during oppressive times and I reckon you are up for this Christina. I need therefore to support you over the years of uncertainty that probably have arrived today. 20/1/25
Brian, I'm honoured by your kind words and awed by your experience. I find it weirdly reassuring that someone who remembers WWII also has a sense of how dark our current times are. It doesn't help, in the grief, to be told that you're over-reacting. I know I'm not and I'm touched by your support.
Hear, hear, sir!
On my bleakest days, Florence Scovel Shinn gives me a much needed boost of hope. Today qualifies as a very bleak day.
"It is dark before the dawn but the dawn never fails. Trust the dawn."
Thank you so much, Cathy. I can certainly have faith in the dawn, even if not in the oligarchs!
Definitely not the oligarchs!
Thoughful as always Christina. it truly is a sad day 😕. The rhetoric and the Imagery of Trump over the last week - the apparent desire to disrupt all social and economic systems for the sake of it, the abandonment of truth is frightening. I am constantly hearing “BRACE, BRACE” in my ears.
In one way we have not been here before and in another way we have … many times - WW2 as an example. One man, along with other powerful men controlling messages, doing things that fly in the face of truth and decency. We got through it, decent people held firm even if we lost so much. Where it is different is that never has the world been in such a state of “VUCA” and never have we had so much to lose.
Anyway, back to Assisi ….. “Where there is hatred, let me sow love”. Used as noun here, but he knew love was a verb. He was a ‘doing’ man. All we can do is keep taking actions underpinned with love for ourselves, others and the world.
Big hug coming your way! Drink Negroni and eat salted snacks in between practicing the brace position! xxx
Oh Karina, your comment has brought tears to my eyes. I want to hear that there is hope, of course. And you are right about WW2. I suppose the thing that brings me most to the brink of despair is what's happening to information. When there are no facts any more, then there's nothing. But we just have to hope that someone somewhere will fight the Musks and Zuckerbergs and reinstate them - and that humanity will believe again that there's a difference between truth and lies and that it matters.
Yes, re Assisi and sowing love. And yes, re Negronis and crisps, of course. Big hug to you on this ghastly day. And thank you. xxx
Honestly, you are not alone. I wrote in my journal this morning “ Trump becomes president again - WTF”. 😳.
Very hard to maintain positivity about the beauty of peoples and places nowadays. Spoilt by the few, albeit powerful, in whichever sense considered appropriate. Thankyou for putting this into words for us.
Thank you, Rose Marie. I still feel positive about the beauty of people and places, but there are days when it's hard to muster much hope about the future in a broadest sense. At least, when we feel this, we know we are not alone...
I had a brief visit to Assisi when Inter Railing after college. It was during a whistle stop tour of the area. Some of the details are sketchy as it was in 1987! But the whole area is stunning and I still have the olive wood salad servers I bought my mum and carefully got them home in my rucksack unscathed. The world again seems bleak with Trump. A few weeks on from inauguration day it’s just as bad as I feared if not worse.
Hello Louise! I love the idea of you bringing back olive wood salad servers for your mum. When I went on a trip to Southern Italy when I was 22 or 23 I brought back an entire coffee set, with pot, sugar bowl, jug etc. I can’t imagine how I carried it, as I also only had a tiny rucksack. Those were the days etc.
And yes, things look terrible re Trump. We can’t let him ruin our precious, brief lives, though I do think we need to keep our eyes wide open. Sending solidarity.
This poem by Norman MacCaig may provide some pleasure in these dark times.
Assisi
The dwarf with his hands on backwards sat, slumped like a half-filled sack
on tiny twisted legs from which sawdust might run,
outside the three tiers of churches built in honour of St Francis, brother
of the poor, talker with birds, over whom
he had the advantage
of not being dead yet.
A priest explained how clever it was of Giotto
to make his frescoes tell stories
that would reveal to the illiterate the goodness
of God and the suffering
of His Son. I understood the explanation and
the cleverness.
A rush of tourists, clucking contentedly,
fluttered after him as he scattered
the grain of the Word. It was they who had passed the ruined temple outside, whose eyes
wept pus, whose back was higher
than his head, whose lopsided mouth
said Grazie in a voice as sweet
as a child's when she speaks to her mother or a bird's when it spoke
to St Francis.
Beautiful, thank you so much!
And once again, it is an audacious and candid account of how it really is. Audacious because you clearly hold the courage of your conviction and have no fear of wearing that on your sleeve. You state what so many are observing but are too timid to fire these controversial balls.
(I, too, have often courted controversy with similar words and actions.)
How lovely it would have been for you to enthral us readers with a potted history and vivid description of the birthplace of the patron of all creatures great and small–in a way only you can.
Yes, this Monday of all Mondays gave way to that, but then you somehow cleverly managed to ignite and inspire the imagination with your tale anyway. Clever!
PS. A local Edinburgh councillor said to me recently:
"God, you've got balls, Lady."
Me: Channelling my best late, great Kenneth Williams "Ooer Matron"!
Aisha frae Edinburgh x
What a truly lovely comment, Aisha. I'm really touched. Very best wishes from one "ballsy lady" to another! x
I thought the presence of his extended family at all events was very sinister this weekend. Seems he is deliberately manoeuvring them into public eye so they all start to be seen as public property like a usa royal family. Trump wants democracy as we know it to ens in America. The complicity of the media by not taking seriously the parts of his speeches this week that far exceeded his power as president. Taking Panama canal into ownership of USA was one if the maddest things he has repeatedly said this week and it's nearly been mentioned by press worldwide. Do a Google search if you don't believe me. I may disagree with things he doing but as long as within his powers I will respect it. When he starts saying things that far exceed his power the media have to hold him to account.