Looking Closer Into a Very Dense Soup of Things
First off, some PCPH programming notes! MaryAnn McKibben Dana and I finished up our personal Lord of the Rings conversation trilogy on Tuesday afternoon as we went through “category crowns” - topics like “Who is the villian we like the most” or the “hero who annoys us” along with the best/worst changes from book to movie, and a bunch of others. You can find the replay here or wherever you get your podcasts. We have wrapped with Middle Earth (for now) and are moving on to the AppleTV series, Pluribus on Monday, February 9 at 12ET. Onto “dense soup”!
In a text conversation on Monday, a friend described their life right now as a “very dense soup of things.” I kind of latched onto that deeply evocative statement since it was shared as I think it describes what a lot of life feels like right now. Few things seem clear and few seem simple. So what does one do when confronted with a very dense soup of things? In the case of a literal dense soup, what I generally do is stir it up with a spoon and, in doing so, look a bit closer at what’s in there. With life, that’s also the best step. When the soup of life feels dense, it probably is a time to lean in and stir the soup so to speak and see what’s in there.
As Ted Lasso popularized in incorrectly quoting Walt Whitman... Be curious, not judgmental.
So in that spirit, I have found myself intentionally getting closer in my photography the last week or so. It has helped that there have been some lovely snowflake moments for macro photography, in the uniqueness of ice patterns on car hoods, returning to the seed of my last post, and even getting close to Scout. But still...getting close...being curious... in this dense soup of things that we are in.
And then a few others that weren’t necessarily me getting close but just grateful for being in the right place at the right time for unique sun moments...
Finally, as it is Black History Month, I am going to share some books throughout February that have spoken to me and helped me to begin to understand histories that I was never taught and have never personally experienced. Most will be by African-American authors but there will be some others from other minority authors. Especially in light of the current administration’s actions to remove recognitions of not only Afterican Americans but also many other minority groups, it is important to continue to lift up these histories and to continue to look closely and clearly.
The first book I want to recommend is The Spirit of Justice by Jemar Tisby. The stories of most of those in this book are ones that you likely have not heard before. They are powerful stories of faith, resilience, imagination, and courage by those living under oppression in ways that I have never experienced myself. You can find the book at local libraries and also local bookstores and online. Here’s bookshop.org’s link to it
Grace, Peace, Love, Hope, and Joy,
Ed
I love your lil snowflake macros compared to the shot of the snow on Scout 😍
Things are so depressing now, maybe stirring the soup would help but no one will step up to stir. As always, pictures are awesome. Although I am really over the snow! Stay warm.