Tired of leftovers, we were craving ribs.
Sadly, the Woodhouse, a bar around the corner from our house with great ribs, was closed for the holidays.
Sans ribs
Author: Hugh Hollowell
Etta in repose
Our ridiculous rescue kitten Etta, warming herself in front of the fireplace. Due to permanent injuries she received before we got her, she has to wear a diaper, which increases both our labor and the cuteness quotient.
Kitten surgery
The three kittens we got this summer that had eye problems had surgery today, thanks to the thousands of dollars we raised on GoFundMe. Now we just have to get them adopted out after the stitches come out.
Me say war
NB: Each week I’m posting something from the archives of my more than 20 years of writing on the web. Sometimes it’s a social media post, sometimes a blog post, or (like today) it’s an excerpt from a newsletter issue published in 2019. Each entry gets updated with some modern context or point of view. – HH
Back in 1992, Sinead O’Connor caused a sensation when, on Saturday Night Live, she tore up a picture of the Pope in protest of clergy sexual abuse. She was a young star on the way up, and it seriously set back her career and cost her a lot of fans. This was more than a decade before the worst abuses of Roman Catholic clergy abuse would come to light.
In retrospect, she wasn’t wrong, merely early.
Two weeks later, she was at Madison Square Garden for a Bob Dylan tribute. She was introduced by Kris Kristofferson, who praised her integrity. The audience began booing her and would not let up. She stood there, stone faced, as they booed her. Finally, she asked for the mic to be turned up, and she launched into an a cappella recitation of War by Bob Marley.
Over the haters, she nearly shouted into the mic:
Until the philosophy
Which hold one race superior and another
Inferior
Is finally
And permanently
Discredited
And abandoned
Everywhere is war
Me say war
And when she finished, she walked off the stage, giving them her back, as my Latina friends would say, and fell into Kris Kristofferson’s arms and sobbed.
It is one of my favorite images: a 25-year-old woman, in front of a hostile audience, standing firm to her principles, refusing to be cowed. Afraid, but convicted. Not without fear, but standing up for what she believed despite that fear. Speaking the truth, even though her voice shook.
UPDATE:
Another tidbit about this story that I love. In the picture I used for this piece, Kris is whispering in her ear, “Don’t let the bastards get you down.”
Sinead replies, “I’m not down.”
It’s then she asks for the mic to be turned up.
It’s been six years since I wrote this. A lot has changed. Sinead has died. Kris has died.
But much hasn’t. It’s still war. And we still need people to speak, even when your voice shakes.
Palm crosses
I spent a few hours in the workshop this afternoon, and made some palm crosses from cherry wood.
They are shaped this way to make it easy to be held between your fingers as you hold it in your hand, as an object of meditation.
Chili weather
It’s in the 30’s, which means it’s chili weather.
The secret ingredient
Trader Joe’s sells mushroom powder, which is the secret ingredient in a lot of my recipes where you need an umami kick. In gravy, in soups, roasts…. anywhere you might use mushrooms.
Sadly, there is no Trader Joes for hours from us, so whenever we are in a town that has one, we stop in with our list of Trader Joe’s essentials.
Renee’s family
Renee’s family lives all over the US (Raleigh NC, San Diego CA, Jackson MS, Little Rock AR, Wichita KS) so having them all in one room is a rarity. It was a sad, but good day as they said goodbye to Lori.
Remembering Lori
We gathered in Bryant, Arkansas to remember Lori, Renee’s sister who died last month. This was from the visitation, tomorrow will be the memorial service itself.
The psychedelic urn is very much Lori.
The Pass-Along Maple
The Japanese Maple in our front yard – a pass-along plant from a neighbor shortly after we moved in – just shows out in the fall.