Of course, I have to include the most beautiful black cat:
I’m awake this morning, but I don’t want to be. This is one day I wish Isabella would have let me sleep a bit longer. I went to bed a little early last night, but I wish I had gone to bed even earlier. I’ve been reading Stranger on the Shore by Josh Lanyon, and I just don’t want to put it down and go to sleep at night. I’ve actually read this book before, and obviously, I really enjoyed it the first time. It’s been a while since I’ve read it, so while I remember the outcome of the book, there are little details I had forgotten about. It’s a mystery, and I find it fun to rediscover the clues leading up to solving the mystery. When I read a mystery the first time, I enjoy trying to solve the mystery before it’s revealed in the book, but on a reread, I enjoy recognizing all the clues along the way.
Here’s your Isabella pic of the week:
She’s always watching. 👀
I have always been fascinated by the 19th century transcendentalists. Ralph Waldo Emerson’s (1803 – 1882) philosophy often aligns with my own. He was seen as a champion of individualism and critical thinking, as well as a prescient critic of the countervailing pressures of society and conformity. My favorite piece of his writing is his 1841 essay “Self-Reliance.” It contains the most thorough statement of one of his recurrent themes: the need for each person to avoid conformity and false consistency, and follow his or her own instincts and ideas. It is the source of one of his most famous quotations:
“A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines.”
However, this is not the quote that inspired me to write this post. This one was written in his journal on November 8, 1838:
“Let me never fall into the vulgar mistake of dreaming that I am persecuted whenever I am contradicted.”
Emerson’s words retain relevance today, particularly in the age of the 24-hour news cycle when outrageous sound bites that command the most attention and elicit the highest amount of clicks is heard over and over. It is especially relevant when we have a presidential candidate who loves to portray himself as a persecuted (and prosecuted) martyr.
In the quote, Emerson condemns those who are so ridiculously devoted to the righteousness of their own ideas that anything which poses a contrary opinion must inherently be dangerous. Republicans, especially Trump, consistently complain that they are being persecuted when anyone disagrees with them, and they have several 24-hour news stations that back these false claims of persecution often with misleading or inaccurate information. They use these tactics because, like the Republicans they prostrate themselves to, want everyone to conform to their way of thinking. They claim they want people to be self-reliant, but they demand everyone conform to their small minded ideas.
Over many years, I have learned that my happiness doesn’t come from conformity but depends on embracing who I am. The world would be a boring place if we all acted and thought the same way. It would be nothing more than mindless drones. I tend to believe that those people who conform to what others think they should are often the most unhappy and often angry. Our country was founded on the ideals communicated in the Declaration of Independence and the belief that all are created equal and are able to pursue “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”
So those are my thoughts of the day. Now, here is your picture of Isabella for the week:
I’m taking a vacation day, ostensibly to recover from my colonoscopy, but I’m feeling fine. I slept much of the day after I got home yesterday. If you’re wondering, the colonoscopy went great. Nothing was found, and I don’t have to have another one for ten years.
I do have a few things to do today besides taking it easy. I plan to do some laundry this morning, and go to the grocery store this afternoon. I also have an appointment at a local art gallery about possibly teaching a class for them. A little extra money never hurt anyone, and it’s a subject I look forward to teaching.
One last thing, since I haven’t posted an Isabella pic this week (and I think I forgot to last week), here you go:
On Saturday, June 18, 2016, I brought home my faithful companion. She was a bit shy when I’d picked her out. She was the only female kitten the shelter had, and she was hiding under a chair. I coaxed her out and as soon as she was in my arms, there was no doubt that she was coming home with me.
I remember taking the picture above. She was in the bathroom of my first apartment in Vermont, and she looked up at me and gave me one of those “fierce” kitten meows. If you’ve ever had a kitten, you know exactly what I mean.
Two days later, she was still looking up at me, still just as “fierce,” and stealing more of my heart more and more every day.
By that first Friday, she was happily sleeping on my bed. That fierceness and shyness had gone away and she was just a bundle of sweetness. She’s never liked being picked up, nor does she like to cuddle, but she’s happiest if she’s in the same room as me and especially if I’m lying on my side, and she’s perched on my hip.
By the next Saturday, she was queen of her domain, and I was her loyal servant. She’s a demanding, yet benevolent monarch.
Eight years later, she has my whole heart. She’s been with me through some very difficult times and some happy times. I adopted Isabella when I was suffering from depression, the worst I’d ever had. I was lonely and sad, but she brought me love and companionship.
She may wake me up too early to feed her. She may get upset if I don’t go to bed on time. But, she’s there to say goodbye to me in the morning and waiting at the door when I get home.
When I have to be gone for several day, she is beside herself with joy, relief, and love when I get home. I have a neighbor who checks in on her and plays with her while I’m away, but for her, it seems, there is no substitute for me. Some cats act angry when their owner (or subject) is away, but Isabella is always chatting and affectionate when I get home. Maybe she can tell that I’m always just as excited to get home to her.
Over the past eight years, she been my joy every single day. ❤️
I’m hoping today will not be as busy as yesterday. I felt like I was pulled into a dozen different directions at once yesterday. It seemed like every time I had a moment to take a break, an email or phone call came in that had to be dealt with right away. Then, there were all the meetings I had. I don’t think I had a single moment of peace all day. Sometimes, that’s a good thing. The busier I am, the less time I have to pay attention to the migraine I had woken with yesterday. I’m sure I’ll have more emails to deal with today, and I have one meeting, but it supposed to be an easier day. While the meeting I have today is not expected to be a low stress meeting, it’s one that I need to have. It’s something that my old boss failed to deal with, and I’m trying to work with my new director to fix some of those issues to diffuse some of the tensions at the museum.
Here’s hoping today turns out to be a good day.
And here’s this week’s Isabella pic:
Lazy Little Lady
For various reasons, I have not taken a work from home Friday in over a month. Last week, I took a WFH day on Tuesday, but my last WFH day that fell on a Friday (my usual day) was back in April. I have some things to work on for a class I’ll be teaching on Monday, but this afternoon, I need to do some shopping for work. I need some supplies for this class, and on Sunday, I need to get some snacks for my students. The class is about four hours long, so they will need a break halfway through.
This week has been a good but busy week. My new director started on Monday, and so far so good. It’s only been a week, but it already seems that she is not only what I was hoping for in a new director, but also what we needed. I am feeling optimistic about this new era at the museum.
And, since I did not post an Isabella pic yesterday as I usually do on Thursdays, I thought I’d make up for it today with two pictures. I have a black faux fur throw blanket that I keep at the foot of my bed. I call it “Isabella’s Invisibility Cloak.” It’s the same color she is and if she doesn’t open her eyes or I’m not expecting her to be there, I don’t see her. It has caught me off guard a few times when the blanket suddenly moved as I walked by and two green eyes unexpectedly appeared. If I’d been looking directly at the blanket I’d have seen her there, but when I see it just in the periphery of my vision, I don’t notice her. The first time it happened, it actually made me jump, but I’m used to it now and usually scratch her little head or pet her as I walk by.
A glare showed up in the picture, but imagine that not being there. She’s naturally camouflaged.
And there are those pretty green eyes, though she looks a little peeved that I woke her up.
The picture above has no relation to this post except I thought his facial expression fit the subject.
People in the United States were mostly either happy, sad, or angry when the guilty verdicts of 34 counts of falsifying business records was announced. I am mostly in the sad camp, not because I don’t think Trump is guilty ( I think the man is a fraud, a cheat, a liar, and has no regard for the rule of law), but I’m sad that a former American president was convicted of not just one felony but of 34 felonies. It was a dark day in American history. A former American president and the current Republican nominee for president (officially he won’t be the nominee until after the Republican National Convention) was convicted of 34 felonies.
November 8, 2016, when a minority of Americans and a majority of the Electoral College was chosen to elect this fraud of a man president. January 6, 2021 was an even darker day when he called on his followers to try to stop the Democratic process from certifying that he’d lost the 2020 presidential election. In the past eight years, Donald Trump has been the cause of many dark days in American history.
A lot of Republicans will claim that Trump’s conviction on 34 felony counts is/was politically motivated. However, I want us to keep in mind that the New York district attorney took these charges to a grand jury who indicted Trump, a grand jury made up of ordinary Americans who were doing their civic duty. Then, during the trial, a jury agreed upon by both the prosecution and defense heard the evidence presented and the district attorney and a defense put forth by Trump’s lawyers found Donald Trump guilty of 34 felony counts.
Whatever anyone might believe about political motivations, a jury doing their sworn civic duty found him guilty because the prosecution’s case, the testimony of witnesses, and evidence of crimes was convincing and the defense’s refutation, the defense of these crimes, and the repeated claims of innocence was not convincing. This was the American judicial process at work, not a kangaroo court or a show trial, but the justice system in the State of New York working as it should.
Is this conviction likely to sway Republican opinions about Trump or cause them to admit he committed crimes? No, at least for the majority of Republicans, it won’t. As both Biden and Trump said yesterday, the true judgement will come on November 5, 2024. The ultimate judgement will come in how history remembers this period of American history.
Republicans have said over and over that the Biden administration is using the courts as a weapon. The Biden administration had nothing to do with this conviction. Furthermore, for the past four years Donald Trump has proclaimed that he would use the courts as a weapon to punish those he sees as his enemies. He has repeatedly said he would get retribution and revenge against those who have not supported his political witch hunts against his enemies, have not supported his criminal activities, or his fascist rhetoric.
November 5, 2024 will decide whether America is a democracy or if people would rather see this country turn to fascism. I pray that the majority of Americans choose Democracy. We can only do that by exercising our civic duty and voting!
P.S. Possibly only two other American president have committed crimes that could have led to convictions: Warren G. Harding and Richard M. Nixon (both were Republicans). Harding had the good grace to die of a heart attack before his involvement with the Teapot Dome scandal and the “Ohio Gang” could be fully investigated. Nixon was pardoned by another Republican president, Gerald Ford, of any possible crimes he might have committed during the events surrounding the Watergate scandal. Harding and Nixon never faced a trial. Donald Trump has, and he has been convicted. Like Trump, Harding’s and Nixon’s criminal associates have been convicted of numerous crimes.
Because politics can leave a nasty taste in your mouth, I give you a beautiful palate cleanser, Isabella pic of the week:
Even she knows she’s beautiful. Before I put my collection of DVDs in this cabinet, she would spend a lot of time looking at her reflection in the glass. Granted, she kept walking around the cabinet trying to find the cat staring back at her, but she knows she’s a queen.
I watched Star Trek: Discovery this morning when I got up, and considering where I work, this was a very interesting episode. However, because I watched the episode, I didn’t have much time to write a post today. So, enjoy your Isabella pic of the week. I took this one the other day.
Isabella: “Why are you disturbing me?”
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Joe
The Closet Professor 