Charts

 This is not good for the stability of a nation. 

Kindness

 

Project

Film projector inherited from my wife’s Grandfather. Finally displayed it today in my classroom. 

DST

 The only difference between Daylight Saving Time and Standard Time is now my cats wake me up at 3 am instead of 4 am. 

Student of the Week!

 

Back in the Saddle

Back in the saddle again. Another semester of equine therapy. This year I figured if I was spending so much time on the ranch I should get a hat appropriate for the occasion.  

 

T-Town

 Photo of Tulsa, Oklahoma taken by son, the pilot. 

Talarico!

Talarico won the primary! Now on to November.

My rationale for voting for James Talarico is that he represents a new paradigm for engaging in politics. He engages with others, including his political rivals, with love and respect. As a man of faith he doesn't demonize those who traditionally vote for an opposing party. Instead he reaches out and engages with them. However, he isn't someone who is weak and caves in just for the sake of keeping the peace. He is firm on his convictions and willing to speak truth to power. He speaks with nuance and refrains from simplistic and performative rhetoric. He doesn't just throw meaningless red meat out into the void to excite a base. 

He first came to my attention a year ago when he was the most eloquent defender of public schools in the Texas House of Representatives during the fight over private school vouchers. When I learned more about his platform and the bills he passed in the Texas House I became more and more impressed. Here was someone who believed in Direct Action. Actions over words. I was very glad when he announced he was running for U.S. Senate.

I grow weary of politicians on both sides of the aisle flinging sound bites and insults at the other side. That makes for good views on TikTok and Reels but doesn't accomplish anything but to widen the divide between us.  

I have also noticed this new type of engagement in the primary race for U.S. Senate in Maine. Graham Platner, a former Marine and Army veteran who served tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, has also shown the ability to engage with those on the other side of the political spectrum. He stands by his convictions but refuses to allow his supporters to demonize the "other side." He says we all have the same fears, and people have been deliberately manipulated to play upon those fears. We should show compassion in our civil discourse, not animosity. 

This is a type of politics I can support.  

 

 

Present

I watched this short video over Albert Camus's principles for how to be present in this world. Obviously it's a simplified presentation of a complex theory. But I found it useful.  

 

Priorities

 

Cat Call

Our cats like to listen to our son when he calls from college. 

 

South

Oklahoma's own Jim Thompson was a great writer of hard boiled crime noir in the 40's and 50's and his books are always quick and entertaining reads. One of his later works, 1967's South of Heaven is a harrowing tale of deceit in West Texas of the 1920's. When people talk of pulp fiction you can't leave out this guy. But he elevated the genre. He was known as the Dime Store Dostoevsky. I'm glad to see the TV show The Low Down giving Thompson his due.

 No war in Iran. 

More From Talarico

 

Rico!

Went to South Dallas last night to hear James Talarico! 

 

NPR

 I would very much like to get this shirt. 

Gold Coast

Finished the second of Kim Stanley Robinson's Three Californias Trilogy (my edition contains all three in one book): Gold Coast. The trilogy pictures three different alternate timelines of Orange County in the near future. The first story was post-nuclear. The second, Gold Coast shows the OC after decades of unfettered and out of control capitalism. Another book by KSR that I had to just sit still with after finishing to contemplate what I just read. I'll be contemplating Gold Coast for a while I'm sure. A great work. I liked Wild Shore (the first book) a bit more simply because I found the story more poignant. But Gold Coast was super good. Tragic but with a glimmer of hope near the end. I'm going to wait and read the final installment a bit down the road. I want to ponder things first. I'll start in on something else tomorrow.

Tsundoku

My current tsundoko, February 2026. 

Lunch at Rosa’s

 

CATan