The Nature of Things

This brief - less than 100 pages - treatise by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is an adaptation of a very popular TED talk that she gave by the same name. It is an insightful exploration of what it means and doesn't mean to be a feminist. She explores her topic with humor and eloquence and without pressuring her listener/reader to agree with her. Still, her argument is very persuasive and it is hard to see how any person with a clear and open mind could possibly disagree.  The writer speaks of her experience with sexism primarily in regard to her growing up in Nigeria. She reveals how that has shaped her and affected her life. Even though her experience was Nigerian in origin, I can easily visualize women right around the world nodding as they read her descriptions of what happened to her. Adichie goes on to discuss misconceptions about feminism and not just misconceptions but outright lies promulgated by misogynists in an attempt to discredit the whole idea of feminism. Some of the more ...

In the beginning of this book, we meet a character called Snowman. In an earlier life, which we hear about as the story proceeds, he was called Jimmy. But now he's Snowman and he may be the last human survivor of a great apocalypse. The cause of the apocalypse is not clear to us at first, but it is gradually revealed as having been a quick-acting plague. Moreover, the plague was caused by a virus created at a place called the RejoovenEsense Compound. The character known as Crake (Glenn in his earlier life) worked in a high research position at this compound and he had brought his childhood friend Jimmy/Snowman on board to write ad copy and press releases for RejoovenEsense's products. When Glenn and Jimmy were growing up together, they engaged in all the usual activities of male adolescents, including watching a lot of porn, often porn featuring children. There was one young girl featured in the films that Jimmy became particularly obsessed with. Years later, when he went to wo...

There is something mystical and bewitching about a soft spring night when it seems that all the world is being renewed around us. Lucy Maud Montgomery describes such a magical night in April when the sorceress "weaves about us in meadow and mere the spell of a hundred vanished Springs." An April Night  by Lucy Maud Montgomery The moon comes up o'er the deeps of the woods, And the long, low dingles that hide in the hills, Where the ancient beeches are moist with buds Over the pools and the whimpering rills; And with her the mists, like dryads that creep From their oaks, or the spirits of pine-hid springs, Who hold, while the eyes of the world are asleep, With the wind on the hills their gay revellings. Down on the marshlands with flicker and glow Wanders Will-o'-the-Wisp through the night, Seeking for witch-gold lost long ago By the glimmer of goblin lantern-light. The night is a sorceress, dusk-eyed and dear, Akin to all eerie and elfin things, Who weaves about us in ...

A roundup of the week's news of birds and the environment : The Cedar Waxwings are still with us. They are always just about the last of our winter visitors to leave us in the spring. *~*~*~* Americans were not at all amused by the Department of the Interior's plans to dramatically hike entrance fees for our most popular national parks. The agency has received more than 100,000 comments from the public regarding the scheme and they are almost unanimous in their opposition . The department has decided to reconsider the plan. *~*~*~* In other Interior Department news, Susan Combs, a former Texas official who compared proposed endangered species listings to "incoming scud missiles," has been selected by Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke as acting secretary for fish, wildlife, and parks .  As Texas comptroller, Combs fought the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service repeatedly over its attempts to enforce the Endangered Species Act in the state. In a 2015 report, the Austin American...

I find the desolate, arid terrain of West Texas to be uniquely beautiful, peaceful, soulful even. Perhaps it is because it is such a contrast to the humid, jungly feel of Southeast Texas where I live. Visiting it is a bit like being in another country, maybe even another planet.  I've already showed you some of the bird pictures that I took on our trip there. Here are some of the other pictures that we took when we visited that "other country" in March.   In the 1800s, there was a series of forts erected along the western Texas frontier. One of them was Fort Lancaster in the Pecos River Valley. Today, nothing remains but the ruins of several of the buildings and the area is a State Historical Site with a visitors' center. This is one of the most complete of the surviving structures. Interestingly, we had visited this historical site a few years ago in late October during the time of the fall migration of Monarch butterflies. On the day that we were there, the place w...

So, I'm ticking boxes beside titles on the list of Books I Always Meant to Read But Never Did. Heart of Darkness - check. Another one bites the dust. This little book, published in 1899, has had an outsized influence on the world of art and the mind. Because of that, the story it tells is in the public domain and is a part of the culture, so even if we haven't read the book, we know the story. It is a short book, a novella almost by today's standards of doorstop-sized best sellers. I think it would be best read in one sitting, because the narrative is continuous with no obvious resting places. Unfortunately, I was not able to read it in one sitting, so I had to make my own rest stops within the narrative. That was disconcerting at times because when I picked up the book again, it was difficult to remember just where I was in the story.  Well, as I said, it was published in 1899, obviously another time and for a different audience, one that perhaps had more time to sit and ...