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GNR Wednesday: "I've Come to Look for America" [1]
['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']
Date: 2025-05-21
Welcome to Wednesday all ye seekers and arrivers! You have come to the right place! This is DailyKos, the Great Orange Presence on the Internet, and for years has supported the color Orange. In these days of Putrid Orange, you should not confuse the 2. And this corner of the DailyKos is the Good News Round Up: items, stories, bits of Good News for the living of these days, the comfort of souls, and a source of info to fight the good fight.
I am your once-a-month host, WineRev, coming to you on this 3rd Wednesday. A big week for me personally: this weekend I don the mantle (NOT the shelf over the fireplace; spelling counts!) and for the only time in my life I am honored with the title of Father of the Bride. WineRev-ette and Fernando are getting married on 52525 (5/25/25, ………….so that in later years Fernando won’t have much trouble remembering to get anniversary gifts.)
But please, have a sit in whatever sofa, recliner, wingback or rocker seems best to you in your quarters. Here there will be things to read, rec, link, comment, reply to, digress from, and digress from the digression of the digression, and even some moments of chuckles (which we all need these days). Chip in too, it makes this place worth visiting. Your thoughts, reactions and reflections? Somebody here needs just what you have to offer. Coffee, tea, mocha-cocoa or mimosas are ALWAYS in Good Taste at the Good News, and breakfast foods can be munched along with your reading. Please….get comfortable!
Oh, and as is my custom as curator of the History Corner, you will find historical moments of May 21sts from centuries past. Those days and those moments offer a fresh take and some useful pondering on the living of OUR days.
Good News in Society and Politics
>>>>>>>» In the living of these days we are dealing with politics grinding on society (and we look forward to the day when certain politicians will feel the grinding of society on politics.) We have seen the Dumb but Dangerous trying to create new Dumbs. Part of that effort has been to attack libraries, those fine places of repose where people READ, and consider, and research, and pause while reading literature because their minds have heard something, or their hearts have been moved.
But now comes a GOOD NEWS STORY that a federal judge in Rhode Island has ordered the DOGE crew of Dumb Creation to stop attacking the IMLS. This is a federal body, the Institute of Museums and Library Services, that backstops and supports museums and libraries. (Myself I look forward to endless cheering when such a judge or judges declares some low-level, mid-level, or even high-level Project2025ers to be in contempt of court and sends the bailiff to drag a list of them for a 30-day stay in a 6x8 cell with “protein loaf” for dinner 3 days a week.)
>>>>>>» Mexico is NOT giving up its dignity or its Gulf to the winds wafting from the rear of Merde-a-Lago. Mexico also stood with Canada in the first Gale of Tariffs and earned a 90-day reprieve. Now last summer Mexico election Claudia Sheinbaum became the first Woman, and (in strongly Roman Catholic Mexico) the first Jewish President. (Both puts them up 2 on the U.S.) Of course she didn’t do it alone, but as the nominee of the “National Regeneration Movement” (MORENA—Spanish acronym).
Now we are going to need a good bit of National Regeneration on this side of the Rio Grande, and the sooner the better. We should take all the help we can get to defend our nation, strengthen the opposition, and attract voters to our cause. THIS THOUGHTFUL ARTICLE could be required reading for Democrats far and wide as something of a playbook of ideas of how to nationally regenerate The Comeback.
>>>>» May 21sts have made a stellar contribution to politics and how society should function:
“One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors.”
Plato
427 BCE (A three-digit, BCE date! Although the year is a bit shaky; a best guess from a range of 429 to 423 BCE; the month and day seem firmer.) Athens (or maybe the Island of Aegina), Greece (Impressive May 21 Birthday #1) Birth of Plato, philosopher. Author of ‘The Republic’ to this day an idealized vision of such a nation; has served as guide and touchstone for centuries. Also the Parable of the Cave, and two (long-winded) dialogues: ‘Critias’ and ‘Timaeus.’ In this latter he wrote of (and possibly created) the legend of Atlantis. (Plato claimed an Egyptian priest had told of Atlantis to the Athenian hero Solon, and Plato said he had read of it in Solon’s memoirs.) Alongside Socrates and Aristotle as a key figure in Western thought and civilization.
1881 Geneva, Switzerland. The Red Cross was founded in this city about 20 years before. The idea of caring for the wounded and sick in time of war, regardless of uniform (or even civilians) gains ground year after year, nation by nation. After a long, nationwide campaign, Nurse Clara Barton, files the appropriate papers with Geneva and this day founds the American Red Cross. Barton became its first president. In Geneva the Powers that Were pointed out that other national Red Cross bodies were each headed up by a MAN. Clara Barton, her supporters and even politicians could write letters by the bushel to Geneva, and after some grumbling about “a woman’s place” they voted to admit the feisty Americans to the Red Cross club.
1980 New London, Connecticut A smaller city but intensely proud of being the home of the Coast Guard Academy. But on this day, another moment of pride: Ensign Jean Marie Butler becomes the first woman to graduate from a U.S. service academy (beating out those other snooty military academies. West Point, Annapolis, and Colorado Springs to graduate a “first woman”, although they each had women among their cadets.)
Jean Marie Butler
As Rod Serling used to say on “Twilight Zone”: “Submitted for your consideration.” And now, for a story that fits kinda here, between the Society section (from above) and the Science/Reason section (coming up next.) There has long been tension between Faith and Science/Reason, and Faith got out to an early and LONG lead. Only in the last 5 or 6 centuries has Science made headway to make for a far more modern world. The 2 sides have had hard moments: the Pope imprisoned DaVinci. The skeptics have decried the Faith in all sorts of forms as superstitious or even delusional. But lately….there have been some moments of mutuality. In a set of hills in Northern Ireland the legends were told that in Druid times a certain area here was for the healing of the sick. The ailing came (or were carried) to this little valley and kept on the dirt floors of little huts, attended by the “healers” that lived there. Folklore says many did recover, but skeptics had a strong case of both lack of evidence and the possible “placebo effect.” But then, in the last 10 years, a team of microbiologists (University of Swansea, Wales) took soil samples from the archeological site to their laboratory. In the dirt they found certain unusual compounds from the minerals etc. that washed down into that valley, and these were deadly…..to bacteria. Breathing in dust like this could have therapeutic impact. Even more, the compounds seem to work against the current “SuperBugs”, bacteria that have evolved immunity against current antibiotics. In something of a similar development, across many religions there have long been stories of people and/or beings that have “auras” around them, and certain people claim the ability to see these, which show spiritual, emotional and physical states. Skeptics have often dismissed these out of hand, rightly pointing out no equipment, old or modern, has detected these, so no evidence leaves the answer to superstition or delusion. Yet now comes THIS STORY from last week from a physics journal that has scientists detecting a faint “light” around every living thing…..a light that goes out when the thing dies. Hmmmmm….(and the old story is told of the Religious sitting on a mountain top when a hand appears on the rim from below. A scientist heaves herself onto the summit and bursts out, “I made IT. It is proven.” The religious folks smile softly and offer to shake hands, while someone asks quietly, “What took you so long?”) Submitted for your consideration….
Good News in Science, Engineering and Technology
>>>>>>>>> Erie, Pennsylvania is a manufacturing town, but of a more unusual type. It is the US city that builds Locomotives. Now these started out burning logs or mostly coal for 70 years. As the automotive age came in, combustion engines got better and diesels, with higher torque (and so better for heavy loads) were invented. Now Erie still builds diesel and diesel-electric locomotives, but the fossil fuel age is fading. In a welcome development, it looks like the LABOR UNIONS are pressuring management to not only keep everyone working, but also to fully embrace THE GREEN RAIL movement. Every little bit counts!
>>>>>>» In the Internet age it seems like everyone carries the Internet in their smart phone. (Not me. Proud to be a Luddite that uses a phone for…..talking.) One reason libraries are under siege in some ways is just this ubiquity. “Just google it!” “Go on line!” And it is also true that the younger the fingers poking the screen, the more savvy they tend to be.
But there have been protests against this. The European equivalent of our AMA has recommended banning children under 12 using smart phones, especially playing on them. Those flashing pixels and over-bearing algorithms appear to have a PERMANENT (and NOT positive) structural effect on young and maturing brains. Now comes word that even among the teenaged that the Internet ain’t all its cracked up to breathlessly be. A scientific survey (IN THIS GUARDIAN ARTICLE) reveals that almost HALF of teens wish for a world WITHOUT Internet. 70% feel worse after a session on the pixels.
>>>>>>» We are grateful for all those blessed brainy people out there who, over the years, have imagined, designed, built, improved and passed on all sorts of the fruits of their thinking. On May 21sts, there have been some moments as well:
Everyone wants a bicycle helmet like that, right? Oh, and at the back, someone is finding out the “laid back” stance on a ‘swift walker’ has….issues…..
1819 New York City. Like SageHagRN and me and many Gnusies like you and your neighbors and families, I like to put on the snug shorts, some padded gloves, an aerodynamic helmet, and crank away on the pedals of my bike. I’ve done it a long time (in my teens in Ohio I did the TOSRV, a 2-day bike trip from Columbus to Portsmouth, Ohio along the Scioto River Valley, 210 miles round trip.) So today is a cool date. 206 years ago this day this city sees the first appearance in the US of French ‘swift walkers’ (also, ‘long-steppers’) a two-wheel wooden affair, with a beam connecting them for sitting (gingerly and sporadically) and a handlebar connected to the front wheel for turns. You rather paddled your toes against the pavement while the wheels rolled, so you could cover some ground. (Then you also dragged your shoes on the same pavement for stopping.) (Rubber tires, a saddle, metal frames, chains, gears and brakes all came later…...and now, very lately, E-bikes!)
Step right in to the Flying Hupmobile!
Find yourself a seat and leave the driving to us!
1914 Alice, Minnesota (NOT a girl’s name, but certainly Up North) Swedish immigrant Carl Eric Wickman knows a lot of the local guys are iron miners who make decent money. Wickman gets hold of a 7 passenger Hupmobile (!), learns to drive and on this day starts charging iron ore miners 15 cents as passengers each way from Alice (a little town north of Hibbing) to Hibbing so they can get to work. (Hibbing, site of the world’s largest iron mine.) He is a success and turns a profit.
Two years later Wickman expands and starts driving between Hibbing and Duluth (and when you make it to Duluth, you KNOW this story is going to end well!) He and two partners keep buying up control of little inter-city transports systems, going regional and finally in the mid-1920’s, national. In 1929 they adopt the system name of the Greyhound Bus Co, eventually the world’s largest surface transport passenger company.
“’Kathy,’” I said as we boarded a Greyhound in Pittsburgh…..”
You KNOW you want to hear it for the first time in a long time; join in and sing along….
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Sahkarov, scientific genius
in a plaid jacket
1921 Moscow, USSR (Impressive May 21 Birthday #2) Birth of Andrei Sakharov, nuclear physicist, activist. His theories advanced atomic energy and led directly to the Soviet Union’s development of the hydrogen bomb. But, despite being caught in a deadly and dangerous system, he also contributed to current understandings of cosmology and the universe. Sakharov was among, if not the, first to propose the idea of proton decay. He offered several ideas of sub-atomic parity and time reversal in the proto-universe (that is, what there was BEFORE the Big Bang (of physics, not TV). His intellect and prestige were so exceptional he was able to act as a political dissident to the Soviet regime from within. He advocated so forcefully and persistently for mutual understanding and peace between (especially nuclear) nations that he was awarded the 1975 Nobel Peace Prize. (A worthy compatriot to the earlier May 21st birthdays, and one in our time…..whew!)
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About a year ago I posted profiles of 2 American First Ladies. Readers liked them, so they’ve been appearing regularly here.
Many times they have been rather obscure as their husbands or historical events have left them obscure. Now we have a President who is obscure, so the First Lady is doubly so. CAUTION: Sarah Polk was a woman of her times, and there were things about her that most of us find rather too MAGA. Comes with History.
Meet First Lady Sarah Whitsett Childress Polk Sarah, named after her maternal grandmother (Sarah Thompson Whitsett) was the 3rd of 6 children, was born September 4, 1803 in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. Her family (parents Joel and Elizabeth) were wealthy plantation owners just outside Murfreesboro, with cash crops and extra land, and a number of slaves to keep things running. The family were Presbyterian (a bit unusual for the Methodist and/or Baptist South) but the Childresses held to a strict form of the denomination, with a sharp, plain observance of Sundays as a day of rest in all ways. (“Sabbatarian” practices—-holding the Sabbath.) It was a form of the Faith Sarah embraced and practiced her whole life. Sarah had 5 years in the “Common School” in town, then 2 years with a private tutor. Next came a year at a “girl’s finishing school” in Nashville. The “finishing” had required courses in piano, sewing/embroidery, dancing and social manners. (At a few of these social events teenaged Sarah became acquainted with the 40-ish Andrew Jackson , and they kept up a long relationship for decades.) Finally, she attended 2 years at the Moravian Friends Academy in Salem, North Carolina. The course work here was English, Bible study, Greek and Roman literature and geography, and Sarah developed a life long appetite for reading and learning to improve herself. Vertical curls on a woman were the height of 1820’s hair fashion, as on display here on Sarah Polk. The death of her father brought her back to the Tennessee family mansion. About 4 years later she married a lawyer, 8 years older than herself, who was a member of the Tennessee legislature. James Polk was already a rising star on the state political scene, so he was considered something of a “catch” for Sarah. The Polks had no children of their own , but James’ father had died recently, and they adopted and raised the two youngest of Polk’s brothers. While lovingly meant, things did not go well. Sam Polk was a sickly teen becoming a man and had to travel extensively seeking medical treatment for a host of ailments. Worse, the other brother, William was quite rebellious and finally struck out on his own—-and came to a bad end. He was eventually caught, charged and convicted of murder. In the late 1820s Andrew Jackson’s election carried a wave of Democrats into Congress with him, including James Polk . Sarah stayed in Tennessee with the boys (and a couple of slave women who helped with mothering.) Sarah had time and inclination (carrying out her view of a wife being supportive of her husband) to provide James with a steady stream of frequent letters, clippings from newspapers, and articles from journals, from all across Tennessee to keep him plugged in to developments there. After a year of separation James asked her to come to DC and join her. They lived in a boarding house, just the 2 of them (while the boys had their substitute parenting). As she was a young (30ish), well informed woman UN-confined to home duties, she hobnobbed all around the Capital. As earlier by letter, so here she kept her ears open and fed James a steady stream of news, stories (and some gossip) about all sorts of other politicians, giving James good insights….a classic “power couple.” This paid off handsomely. During Andrew Jackson’s second term (and THAT relation had a lot of traffic) Polk was elected Speaker of the House. Not only did the the 3 Tennesseans (Jackson, although born and raised in the Carolinas, had become a national figure when calling Tennessee his home) have much to talk about politically, Jackson and the Polks became close friends. When Jackson ended his 2nd term and retired to Tennessee, the Polks went with him as Jackson slowly wound through towns and cities being received as a war hero (of 1812) and the first “Western” President. Those cheering crowds noted the Polks basking in the glow of his fame. Soon after Polk ran for and won the Governorship of Tennessee, but was defeated after only 1 (2-year) term. By this time the Polks were aiming for the White House, and both of them were outspoken in supporting US expansionism, the hot topic of the day. The Jackson Fame reflecting upon them (and Sarah’s efforts) got him the nomination in 1844. Sarah functioned as the campaign manager, (although out of public view). She handled all of their correspondence and Sarah industriously wrote editors of newspapers across the country, enclosing clippings of Polk from other papers. (In those days, people did NOT “run” for President. Rather, from home, a candidate received visitors as he “stood” for office.) Their efforts paid off and Polk won. In February they travelled to Washington and Sarah (with a growing interest in things inventive and “modern”) convinced her husband to travel by stage coach AND steamboat AND train to lend dignity and a certain cachet to these technical advances. There was strong public interest in the First Lady; although Jackson had been a “Westerner” he had served 2 terms mostly as a widower. Now came Sarah Polk….and the public did not know what to make of her. She did not attend horse races in the city (a common past time among the Southern upper crust) and forbade dancing at the White House. There were no concerts on the White House lawn and no business whatsoever allowed by Sarah on Sundays at the White House. (Famously (?), early in the term, the Austrian Ambassador called at the White House to Present his Credentials (still a big deal in diplomatic circles.) Sarah sent a butler to turn him away; he had come on a Sunday, and “ordinary” Presidential business could wait for a week-day.) There were formal dinners from time to time in the Polk White House, but guests noticed that no beer or spirits were served or offered. The dinners themselves only featured wine….and neither Polk was ever seen to even have any in their glass. These dinners took place by the light of cutting edge, indoor lighting: oil lamps. Sarah oversaw the conversion of every room in the mansion save one from candles to oil. (In those days such dinners and events were paid for by the President out of his own pocket. Sarah did not like the costs, and soon laid off 10 White House Staffers and replaced them with house slaves she had shipped in from home in Tennessee. She had the White House basement remodeled so they would have living quarters.) Sarah very much functioned as Polk’s Chief of Staff, deciding on her own who could and who could not see the President (and often, for how long.) This caused grousing from many (like the Vice President), but Sarah kept her post. She handled nearly all the Presidential correspondence, and, since Polk did NOT like public events….or his Cabinet (which he only convened rarely, or even consulted individually), the First Lady was his confidante and almost the sole channel for news and advice. During the Polk years the Mexican War, provoked by the US, ignited. Sarah and James were squarely in the “manifest destiny” camp, with Sarah going as far as letting it be known publicly she believed the expansion of the US to the Pacific was ordained by God. (In other reported conversations, the First Lady also opined that God had ordained husbands over their wives, whites over any other races, and set the United States to become a world power---of which the expansion over Mexico was the first step…..sigh.) Although the Seneca Falls Convention for women’s rights (like the right to vote) was during their watch, Sarah tried to ignore these “radical ideas” as unhealthy to democracy and undermining religious homes. After the Civil War, Sarah Polk made a rare public appearance and allowed this photograph Polk was defeated for re-election and the couple returned to Tennessee, where they purchased a house they called “Polk Place.” Only 3 months later the ex-President died in a cholera outbreak. Sarah arranged for his tomb to be in their front yard. For the next 40+ years she invariably called her home “Polk Place” and always signed her letters (including family and friends) as “Mrs. James K. Polk.” She lived on her own for decades, and twice had Presidential visits: Rutherford and Lucy Hayes called on her in the late 1870s, as did President Cleveland and First Lady Frances in the 1880s. Very long-lived, she died quietly in 1891.
Good News in Music, Art, Literature and Fun
>>>>>>>>> SageHagRN and I, just like many of you and your fellow Gnusies, have done a lot of bike -riding together and enjoyed ourselves pushing the pedals. (The Twin Cities have had an excellent and still growing network of bike trails and lanes.) But we will stand and cheer for the Two Wheel Do-Gooders of Chicago. THIS STORY runs down a 25-year story STILL going on: rescuing and restoring bikes of all kinds….. 150,000 of them NOT sent into landfills. And you can volunteer even if you don’t know the first thing about bikes or tools; they will teach you! YAY!
>>>>>>> For living, as a human being, music, the arts, literature all make for a rich life. That theme that stirs you, that canvas or sculpture that takes your breath away and leaves you staring, reading along and putting your finger in the book to hold your place as you stare off for a long think…..we all need them. And by good fortune, May 21sts have showed the other 364/5 days how rich this can get.
(Age 31) Durer’s “Young Hare” watercolor (!) just invites you to
pet the soft fur right through your pixels
1471 Nuremburg, Germany (Impressive May 21 Birthday #3) Birth of Albrecht Durer, painter/print maker. Third oldest of 18 (!) children, Albrecht’s grandfather (with Hungarian roots) was a goldsmith an early and successful printer, owning 24 presses. In the 1490s grandad printed the Nuremburg Chronicle, a 336-page volume of the history of the world in both German and Latin, complete with a stunning 1800 woodcut illustrations. Albrecht apparently helped with these and got good at it, very good. He had the chance to study in Italy, learned portraiture as well as print-making. Gained renown as a painter and his engravings (reproduced as prints; a first). Also pioneered painting by watercolor. For composition and delicacy, Durer set new standards for excellence.
1671 Siena, Italy Birth of Azzolino Bernardino Della Ciaia, composer. (Saying his name out loud makes me giggle.) Very little known about his life but born into a wealthy family that could afford him music lessons for the organ and he learned to compose for it as well. Mostly made Pisa his home, but had stretches when he lived in Florence and in Rome. Several of his sonatas are still recalled, along with some sacred music and several vocal pieces. Unusual that he not only played the organ but also learned to build organs. His example in Pisa, 60 stops and 5 manuals, still survives.
This Englishman at the keyboard gives a capsule summary of Ciaia, and then starts playing at about the 2:30 mark
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1688 London, UK (Impressive May 21 Birthday #4 ---as though Plato, Sahkarov and Durer, were not enough for this day….WOW!) Birth of Alexander Pope, poet. Son of a linen merchant (dad) and a lawyer’s daughter (mom) Pope was born and raised as a Catholic just as England was going hardcore Anglican. Catholic schools were closed or frowned upon, so young Alexander had a spotty education. He was also sickly much of his life, severe at times, that stunted his growth (he only grew to be 4’ 6”.)
Many deep thoughts from Alexander Pope, but at 4’ 6” at least he could save money by shopping for clothes in the Big Boys Department
When he was in his early teens the family moved out of London and his schooling ended. However, he carried on, having learned enough French, Italian, Latin, and Greek he could read many of the poets who wrote in those languages. Came to fame and a stable future when he translated Homer’s Iliad into English, to financial success. (It could be it takes a poet to translate a poet.) Followed up by translating the Odyssey and began publishing his own works. ‘Essay on Criticism’, ‘Essay on Man’, ‘Pastorals’, ‘Dunciad’ among his best. From his ‘Essay on Criticism’ penned the famous line: “ a little learning is a dangerous thing; either drink deeply from the well of knowledge or not at all.” (In my own writing and novels, I am very much in the Pope School: Revise, revise, revise. I don’t always care for it, but my writing gets better each draft.)
1904 Paris. A ball. A rectangle of grass. No touching the ball with your hands or arms. Run like mad for an hour and a half. And anybody can play, especially if you can use your feet. Much to the delight of generations of fans of the ‘Beautiful Game’ around the world, this day marks the formation of Le Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA). Only the Americans asked ‘what kind of football is that? Soccer?’ Yep.
And how should the Game be played? Well in this movie (“Victory” 1981) Pele (a name that still causes soccer fans to drop their voice volume by half...in hushed awe) does some dribbling of the ball with his feet that goes beyond human co-ordination. (The movie was set in Occupied France in World War II. The other team was a Nazi all-star team, and the refs were Nazis too. That’s why there were no fouling called during this amazing dribble. Pele holds his chest because he was nursing a kick to the chest…..that was not called a foul either.) And the goal at the end was not just for the movie; he scored several this way in a number of games...to the wild cheering of fans, and the amazement of every player on the field or bench…..whew!
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One for you, one for me. I’ll buy the first one…..Signed, WineRev...
And now comes the Good Part of this Diary: YOU! Yes, you! Now is your chance to comment, and rec or tip or both. Give a reply. Add your knowledge. Post a link. Take a tangent and run with it until it turns into a digression…..and then digress from the digression into three more tangents. This is how it should be! So get reading and get typing, and thank you for coming by.
May all your News be Good, comforting and inspiring.
Shalom.
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