Hot Summer, Cool Humans
photo: Webb Telescope
flames, floods, heat, thick air
Webb Telescope’s question mark
better answers please
The Webb Telescope unveils the majestic unknown along with a nudging reminder of human tininess. And though small we make big mistakes. But humans also do better all the time. Indulge in some August grandeur.
photo: Jonathan Mudd
World Cup soccer star Naomi Girma’s defensive skills almost match her devotion to a beloved Stanford teammate. Her love for goalkeeper Katie Meyer, lost to suicide last year, motivates Girma’s commitment to mental health initiatives in Meyer’s spirit. Naomi’s letter, “This Is For Katie,” powers through grief into promise—certainly the best goal scored in any game. Yes, balance physical training and rehab with equally-professional mental and emotional care. Colombian forward Linda Caicedo insists that in her comeback from ovarian cancer and six months of treatment at age fifteen, it was her mental/emotional recovery that proved much more difficult. Three years later, thrill watching Caicedo’s goal in Colombia’s upset of Germany—poetry in motion. Eighty-thousand screaming fans filling a stadium, millions worldwide wildly cheering in front of televised broadcasts, athletes creating a global community. Women, like Morocco’s Nouhaila Benzima wearing a hijab and Australia’s Hayley Raso a hair ribbon for her grandmother, kick a ball. Girls everywhere reach for the stars.
The mettle of three brilliant women stabilizes the country. Vice-President Kamala Harris. Prosecutor Fani Willis. Judge Tanya Chutkan. They define and daily refine the meaning of public service.
Vice-President Kamala Harris speaks in her interview with Rev. Al Sharpton: “I love my country too much and I’m not giving up.” Listen in—shower in hope. “Let’s do this together,” she invites. The tenor of this gentle and strong conversation…their poise and passion…their earnest and intimate tones of voice. Each morning the Vice-President thinks first about her job because “democracy is at stake right now.” Circling the globe, she has met with over 100 world leaders, knowing that they all watch and wait to see if our democracy survives its escalating upheaval. “The gall” of those making voting difficult, Vice-President Harris flares. She’s “humbly proud” of the transformational changes achieved so far by her administration, especially elevating maternal health to a national priority. Odds improve every single time she bends low and looks a young girl long in the eye. Why does Vice-President Harris make eye contact: “I hope they say I can do anything, even if it hasn’t been done before. I will not be burdened by what has been.”
Before Georgia’s indictment of the former president, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis emailed her staff, the colleagues who are also her friends. “Good Morning FCDA Family,” she begins, summarily dismissing the soon-indicted’s bevy of “derogatory and false” rumors. “No employee of this office may make any public comments related to the noise. Your instruction from me is to ignore all the noise and keep doing your job with excellence.” Silence stupidity. Flaunt excellence. Watch Fani Willis’s live announcement of the indictments. How she and her colleagues enter the courtroom. How she pronounces the names of the accused. How she responds to a few questions. How they walk out of the courtroom. Excellence.
To the accused former president through his lawyer, this pronouncement from Judge Tanya Chutkan: “I caution you and your client to take special care in your public statements. I will take whatever measures are necessary to safeguard the integrity of these proceedings.” After eleven years as a public defender in the DC District Court, Tanya Chutkan was approved in 2014 for a Judgeship by a Senate margin of 95-0. Zero opposition. Now dutifully serving as DC Judge in the election interference case, she needs enhanced, constant security from US Marshalls. Cries of her “hyper-partisanship” spill falsely from loudmouths. A quickly-arrested Texas woman, like a rushing spigot of hate, called Chutkan’s office with threats to murder her and her loved ones.
May Lady Justice protect these three bravehearts.
Pausing.
Breathing. Readying. Prose morphs into poetry.
photo: Amber Capron
Philip Woolcock pens a letter to the editor celebrating Sinéad O’Connor’s unswerving commitment to his twenty-year-old daughter while Louise endured a terminal illness. “She was a very different person behind her fame.” After O’Connor unexpectedly rang her number in 1991 and invited Louise to come to London from Lancashire: “They dined, they drank, they danced—but most of all they laughed irreverently.” Louise delighted in nonstop deliveries of flowers, wines, and letters from her musician pal until her death in 1992.
Lady Gaga and Tony Bennett, separated in age by five decades, recorded and toured as teammates. Gaga posted a tribute when Bennett died in July, her words another hit for this twosome. “Tony and I had this magical power. We transported ourselves to another era, modernized the music together, and gave it all new life as a singing duo.” She remembers this wartime combatant and civil rights pioneer for his unfailing optimism and gratitude. Continuing to sing together as Bennett fought Alzheimer’s, she shares: “I’ve been grieving the loss of Tony a long time. We had a very long and very powerful goodbye…. I love you Tony. Love, Lady.”
Our poets now sing.
Despite relentless personal tumult that dogged her from a tormented childhood to her death, O’Connor championed the marginalized at every turn. Ripping up her abusive mother’s photograph of the Pope in her 1992 appearance on Saturday Night Live, she called out the sinful mishandling by the Catholic Church of widespread sexual abuse by its own clergy. O’Connor, boldly ahead of her times, pointed at those who preyed. Nothing compares to her. Tune in for two beauties. “Like a daisy, I’m awake,” she rises and so do we. “I’m like sweet seventeen a lot” admits this Irish lass in her rendition of “Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered.” A bird warbling in flight announces daybreak. O’Connor’s voice a lullaby—her lyrics a prayer. “In This Heart lies for you/ A lark born only for you.”
They agree that “I Can’t Give You Anything But Love, Baby,” so Lady Gaga and Tony Bennett dream and scheme in studio and around town. What a jubilant duet. “Gee, I’d like to see you looking swell, Tony.” Only love, he sings, “It’s the one thing I’ve got plenty of, Lady.” How about that! Gaga and Bennett forever cementing their friendship—subbing each other’s name in place of just any ole “Baby.”