Blog – Top of JC’s Mind

Three About The Number 7 (2014)

When poetry and fracking/disposal wells meet….

Mary Elizabeth's avatarThree by M.E./Rhymes of the Times

1. Days in a week.

2. Lucky.

3. Amount of earthquakes within 14 hours.
===================================
In Oklahoma, a natural event for sure-
Caused ONLY by Mother Nature.

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102!

Today, I made it up and over the 100 follower mark! I know Top of JC’s mind is still a tiny blog, but it is a lot bigger than a few months ago. Sending out thanks to all my followers, commenters, and visitors from 27 countries – how cool is that? – for making this a rewarding experience for me.

Peace,
JC

LeBron James – seriously?

Have you heard? LeBRON JAMES IS HEADING BACK TO CLEVELAND TO PLAY FOR THE CAVALIERS!!!!! It’s all over the news and the internet. And I don’t really care.

For international readers, a recap: LeBron James is a very talented basketball player, so good that when he was in high school in Akron, Ohio, his games were broadcast on local television. He was drafted as a high school senior by the nearby Cleveland (Ohio) Cavaliers and played for them from 2003-10. When his contract ended, he went to Miami (Florida) to play for the Heat, in hopes of playing for an NBA champion team. The Heat went to the championship finals all four years he played there, winning twice. He opted out of a contract extension with the Heat and is returning to Cleveland to (ostensibly) finish his career, hoping to bring a championship to a city that hasn’t had a national-level champion in any major sport for fifty years.

I’m not a basketball fan, but I understand part of the dynamic for Cleveland. I grew up in New England as a fan of the Boston (Massachusetts) Red Sox (baseball) team, which went 86 years without winning the World Series. When they won the World Series in 2004, it was exciting and emotional for me, even though I no longer live in New England. The bond between the team and the city of Boston was never more evident than the 2013 championship parade, when the team stopped at the finish line of the Boston Marathon near the site of the bombings, placing the World Series trophy draped with a special Boston Strong team jersey on the line. I even blogged about it. 

What is curious about the LeBron James situation is that Cleveland reacted very strongly when he announced he was leaving to go to Miami. He was widely vilified – people publicly burning, ripping, defacing, etc. jerseys that bore his name and number, calling him a traitor, a coward, and a lot of names one would not use in polite company.

One of the things I’ve noticed in the coverage of James’s return is that the Cleveland fans that are shown crying and cheering and generally rejoicing are almost exclusively men. There are many women fans of basketball, so the dearth of women in the coverage strikes me as odd. Are men more the forgive-and-forget type? Do they have a four-year statute of limitations on betrayal, which was the word frequently used when LeBron left?  Are women more wary and need a bit more time to get used to the situation before welcoming him back?

I don’t know.

What I do know is that no sports story – sorry, but not even the World Cup – should be the top story on a national news broadcast. Not when people are dying from bombs and gunfire in multiple countries in the Middle East, when refugees are streaming over international borders on at least three continents, when there are wildfires, lightning strikes, typhoons, etc. causing destruction, when a blood test that can predict Alzheimer’s disease development has just been announced. So, sure, cover the story of LeBron James and Cleveland, but first inform the public about news of the country and world.

 

Stream of Consciousness Saturday: Getting away

This post is part of SoCS: http://lindaghill.wordpress.com/2014/07/11/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-july-1214/  This week’s prompt is “getting away or getting out.”

It’s important to get away. The schedule/responsibilities/routines/demands get to be too much after a while. Without a break, it is hard to keep going effectively.

My favorite getaways are with my husband, heading out somewhere scenic with places to stroll, fun shops to browse in, cultural sites like historic homes or museums, a bed and breakfast or small inn to stay in, and the hardest decision of the day being which great restaurant to choose for dinner. Somewhere like Skaneateles in the Finger Lakes or Lenox in the Berkshires.

When we come home from a getaway, it is back to reality and the usual stuff, but it’s easier to think clearly after the break.

Maybe we should get away more often…

Obama’s “All of the Above” Energy Plan

I just finished reading this article about how over 20 billion dollars of US government subsidies are directing at the fossil fuel industry and how the “all of the above” energy strategy is a failure from a global warming perspective.

It reminded me of the letter I wrote to President Obama after he visited Binghamton University in August 2013.

Today has been a heavy commenting day on fracktivist issues. You can all breathe a sigh of relief that I haven’t blogged them all, too. (If anyone is truly interested, I did cross-post a couple of my comments to Facebook, so I have access to links which I will share in comments, if desired.)

My thought for the day

I appreciated this post on the excitement of being a new blogger and poet. Not my exact story, of course, but certainly struck a chord with me. Many thanks to The Confidant for this post.

Fracktivist flurry

There has been an uptick in my fracktivist activity lately. This latest activity burst started with the recent New York State Court of Appeals decision upholding the home rule rights of towns in the state to ban unconventional drilling within their borders by using their zoning/land use powers.

There followed a lot of commenting on articles in the press about the decision and also about some important new scientific studies that have been published this month, along with the usual guest viewpoints and letters to the editors that need support or fact-checking.

Earlier this evening, I attended my town board’s meeting, along with a group of fellow residents who have been asking the board to consider a moratorium for years now. Given that the board no longer has the excuse of being afraid that they will be sued, we decided to bring it up again during the open comment period near the end of the meeting.

There were at least fifteen speakers for a town moratorium or ban and only three for drilling if/when the state lifts its moratorium. I even spoke, which is unusual as I prefer to communicate by writing rather than public speaking.

The frustration was that the board wouldn’t answer any questions that we asked. They are beholden to some of the large landowners and people in the trucking and construction business, so they pretend that it is all just a matter of preference, not a matter of science and public safety.

I asked one of the leaders of the anti-frackers how she thought it went, as I really wasn’t sure. She thought it went as well as it could have under the circumstances.

I guess – for tonight – that will have to do.

One-Liner Wednesday – Nelson Mandela quote

“No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.”
– Nelson Mandela

For Linda’s One-Liner Wednesday – http://lindaghill.wordpress.com/2014/07/09/one-liner-wednesday-in-the-end/
( I know this is technically not a one-liner, but I didn’t want to alter the original quote by using a semicolon instead of a period and I felt the second sentence needed the context of the first.)

 

What makes for great writing?

A very wise post. I don’t know that I would characterize my own writing as great, but I certainly relate to needing to generate my own sense of satisfaction and accomplishment with my writing – and with most of the rest of my activities, given that I am not paid for any of them.

gentleness

As often happens, Sunday Mass renews my perspective. Over the last week, I’ve been struggling with how things are going, especially here in the US.

Today’s readings and homily reminded me of what my response should be in the face of upset and violence:  gentleness.

The now-retired long-time pastor of my former parish was filling in at church this morning. Along with Scripture passages, the homily referenced the Aesop fable of the wind and the sun competing to get a man to take off his coat. No matter how violently the wind blew, it could not remove the man’s coat, but the gentle rays of the sun soon warmed the man to the point that he removed his coat.

It was a reminder to me that however upset I am with the disrespect and violence in our culture, my response must be gentleness and understanding. I am not generally one to fight fire with fire, but the reminder was welcome. Don’t despair or fear, but keep on gently speaking and abiding in truth and peace.