Militia in Michigan? Just another Thursday...

A group of armed terrorists, known as the Wolverine Watchmen, planned to detonate bombs, set fire to police cars, kidnap a state official, and overthrow the government of one of the 50 states in these United States! 

The plot of a movie, you ask! No! Let me guess: they belong to Antifa? Wrong! They’re Trump-supporting right-wing militiamen!

The FBI said its investigators had thwarted a plot by an extremist group to kidnap and potentially assassinate Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer (D) at her vacation home before the November 3 election. (Check out weblinked NPR story below.) Six men have been charged. “Snatch and grab, man. Grab the f******* Governor. Just grab the b****," the ringleader Adam Fox allegedly told his men. (Pardon my French!)

According to the Anti-Defamation League, this militia group belongs to the 2019 anti-government “Boogaloo” Movement which is advocating for a second Civil War and wants to eliminate liberal politicians and law enforcement. Hate group trackers warn that Boogaloo has moved from the fringes to the mainstream of the Internet and is surging on social media. 

Nice work by the FBI which correctly reported that the greatest threat to America is right wing militias - not Islamic terrorism, not Black Lives Matter, not Antifa! 

Dumb and Dumber?

If the implications weren’t so deadly, the Michigan plot would remind you of the 1990s Jim Carrey-Jeff Daniels film, Dumb and Dumber, about two idiot BFFs. Their dialogue would go something like this: “Hey, bro, let’s just grab a Confederate flag, crash the front door of the Michigan Capitol, find Gretchen WhatsHerName, and make the President proud! Look, Mr. Trump, we gone and done it!"

Note that the would be kidnappers were objecting (among other things) to the closing of gyms to stop the spread of the virus! 

The far-right portrayed those who didn't adhere to the coronavirus guidelines as patriots, and those who did as standing against personal liberty. Trump has often embraced violent far-right groups who oppose the racial justice movement and pandemic lockdowns. “Liberate Michigan!” he tweeted in April.

At a July 28 Congressional hearing (see YouTube weblink below), when he was questioned by Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), Attorney General Bill Barr said he was unaware of a well publicized threat at the time to lynch, shoot, and behead Gov. Whitmer!

One’s Inalienable Right to - Bench Press?

It is the height of AK-47 defense fantasies in America when grown men think they can overthrow the government!

They also think it is “tyranny” when you can’t go to the gym and bench press with manly dude pals because of some too-big-for-her-boots liberal Governor!

Is that all it takes (the inability to bench press) in this age of Covid - to turn to a life of super crime? 

Add this important fact: the U.S. Supreme Court says that the Second Amendment guarantees the right to have any kind of military equipment that citizens feel like buying!

Liberate Michigan!

What was the kidnappers’ big plan? After they “liberated Michigan,” what then? Install their own governor? Carve out another state? 

If they were not white, they would for sure have been shot dead! No arrests!

What will the Prez do? Proclaim them as “patriots?" Say they’re just exercising their Second Amendment rights? Disparage and then investigate the FBI agents who investigated them? Argue that Michigan's safety and that of the Governor’s are state concerns, not federal concerns, and therefore not part of his watch? 

The kidnappers were also plotting to kill police officers and, yet, the police unions and Trump continue to support militias. Unlike the Proud Boys (of recent presidential debate infamy), this lot could not “stand by and stand back” any longer!

What is also significant is that Michigan is being closely watched in this election cycle. Hilary Clinton lost the state in 2016 but, by all accounts, Biden has an edge this year.

Sneak Preview?

This feels like a sneak preview of what might happen if Trump loses the election. He and Fox News bear much of the blame for prying open the lid to the worst instincts of militias. The latter may have emerged from the slimy end of the gene pool - but will they crawl back under a rock when all this is over or will their threats continue through a potential Biden Administration? 

Let’s not forget that the Oklahoma City bombing - the deadliest act of domestic terrorism in U.S. history - happened during the Clinton Administration when the economy was going gangbusters! Unlike now, when the economy is in a post-Covid slump, the 90s were a relatively prosperous time in America! 

If people can’t pay their rents or feed their families, will that make them more prone to violence?  

Worse to Come?

The Michigan militia may be out of control but they represent a persistent thread of anti-government sentiment and a strange obsession with firearms that is as old as the Republic itself - and uniquely American!

The worst may be yet to come! 

Analysts have warned for months about uprisings fueled by clashes between Antifa, BLM, Trumpers, and plain old looters! This, on top of a second wave of Covid+Flu and a likely collapse of the stock market, might push the U.S. into a catastrophic free fall perhaps not seen since the Civil War!

Trump's words on Twitter: "very fine people” (about Charlottesville), “Liberate Michigan!" and "stand back, stand by” (to the Proud Boys), are clear signals (or dog whistles) to radical groups who listen to ultra conservative radio shock jocks Alex Jones, Rush Limbaugh, and the rest of the right-wing noise machine.

This did not happen overnight! It took two decades of spewed hatred! The icing on the militia cake has been these past four years of evident encouragement by Trump and the inability of spineless Senate Republicans to restrain him!

“Our commander in chief has become a radicalizer in chief,” said Frank Figliuzzi, a former assistant director for counterintelligence on MSNBC. “His refusal to denounce these groups is aiding and abetting domestic terrorism.”

Barbara McQuade, who served as U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan, added that Trump is “stoking division with his dog whistles to hate groups.”

How Will Trump React?

Let’s hazard a wild guess that Trump will start off by remaining silent, and then - after pressure - first denounce the kidnappers and then praise them as "real Americans,” swiftly followed by a false claim that "Democrats are coming for your guns,” followed by more drivel!

I wonder if he will consider issuing a "presidential pardon" to the culprits in Michigan!

Nearly midnight, and Trump continues to attack the Michigan Governor on Twitter! Not a word of concern for her!

Like I said, just another Thursday in the Trump Administration...

Ludi Joseph

Washington, D.C.

October 8, 2020

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer

https://www.npr.org/2020/10/08/921655143/militia-members-plotted-to-abduct-michigan-gov-whitmer-fbi-says

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ssv2bsa8oME

Boris 2.0!

How about some distraction from the sad passing of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and the Republican Party’s distasteful glee in anticipation of transforming SCOTUS into a 6-3 conservative majority? Perhaps a little light reading? 

Let’s take a look at the other side of the pond to see how they’re faring!

Check out hilarious Guardian Opinion piece (Weblink below) by Marina Hyde comparing UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson to a “Thames whale stranded at Westminster” - an insult to whales? 

English Lit majors will be delighted by Marina’s references to no less than three Shakespearean plays: Hamlet, The Merry Wives of Windsor, Henry V, maybe even Henry IV!  

The UK as a Cautionary Tale

I named this blog Boris 2.0 because I did a BoJo story way back in 2016 (Weblink below) at the time of the disastrous Brexit vote. The question I raised then must be asked again: how could an apparently sane population like that of the UK take leave of its senses, not once but twice? Perhaps this should be mandatory study for history students. 

The UK’s bouts with insanity took place when they voted for Brexit and when they doubled down and elected the Tories with Johnson as the party’s fearless leader. As a cautionary tale, it has few parallels (besides the US, of course, and perhaps India!)

Outright Lies

As a journalist, BoJo wrote outright lies and “Euromyths” to further his career. As Mayor, he delegated responsibilities to others, whilst he engaged in expensive vanity projects. 

I remember what a huge fuss the WB/IFC made about him at the annual conferences organised with the Financial Times. He was this rotund, jokey, prankish, bicycle-riding London Mayor, so refreshing, so accessible, so not hoity-toity! 

But, as Foreign Secretary, things began to unravel! Many in government were alarmed! He was a liability and a security risk, they feared. 

As Prime Minister, however, he is usually considered the worst man for the job at the worst possible time! 

Also, anyone who says he can’t live on 150 grand a year deserves a slap or two! (As they say in India: “I’ll give you two slaps!”)

Sense of Entitlement 

Like Falstaff in The Merry Wives of Windsor, Johnson’s sense of entitlement (beyond what he regards as his god-given right to be PM) extends to an unwavering belief that he’s entitled to do as little as possible and, when things go wrong, to blame the British public!

His ambition to be PM is a lesson for all those who fell for his japes, empty charms, and (to borrow a Marina term), his “WTF-ery!” 

He never had the work ethic and discipline for the top job. He wanted to “become” PM, more than "be" PM! (Sounds familiar to us Stateside, doesn’t it?) 

I wonder if there is a degree of malice behind the bumbling Falstaffian “jolly chap” facade. Was the geniality he liked to project as Mayor a cover for a ruthless political operator? 

 

No deal Brexit

He seems ready to inflict serious damage on the country by adding “no deal Brexit” to the carnage of the pandemic. An abrupt exit from the EU could bring real shortages of food, fuel, and medicine.

Is Brexit unsolvable? Are we looking at the dissolution of the UK in this decade? Will Ireland unite? Will Scotland depart?

Admirer of Greek Classics 

As an admirer of Ancient Greece, BoJo - they say - is a huge fan of Greek tragedy and embodies Tantalus, Narcissus, and Sisyphus!

If you remember your Greek myth, Tantalus was made to stand in a pool of water under a low-hanging fruit tree with both the fruit and the water forever evading his grasp! 

Sisyphus was forced to eternally roll an immense boulder up a hill only for it to roll down every time it reached the top! 

And Narcissus, obsessed with his own image reflected in a pool of water, died of unrequited love for himself!  

The similarities to BoJo are stunning: an out-of-his-depth ditherer operating in his own amoral bubble, ruined by his hubris at a time of national crisis!  

2020 as an Epoch-Defining Decade 

If you think 2020 is a stinker (the pandemic, monstrous forest fires, gigantic ice shelves melting in Antarctica), wait and see! It is the opening salvo to what could be an epoch-defining decade with more catastrophe to come!  

So, folks, look for more BoJo shenanigans! They’re a break from the humdrum and the banal! If it weren’t so tragic, it might even be funny!  

Clown or Villain?

In the article, Marina wonders if Johnson can “move from history back to comedy.” Sure he can! Boris doesn't do serious; for him, everything is a “bit of a laff,” to quote comedian Ricky Gervais! 

With all the scheming and backstabbing he did to get to the top, I’m wondering if Richard III may be a better comparison than Falstaff? Nah! I prefer the bumbling fool to the debased villain!  

Ludi Joseph

Washington, D.C.

September 22, 2020

Guardian Opinion by Marina Hyde, September 22, 2020: 

Like a Thames whale, Boris Johnson has got stranded at Westminster

 

https://amp.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/sep/22/boris-johnson-westminster-thames

http://luditravel.blogspot.com/2016/06/why-brexit-observations-from-former-eu_5.html

Kipling: Imperialist or Soldier’s Friend?  

With Beijing flexing its muscles on the Tibetan border and New Delhi rattling its sabres, this might be as good a time as any to reflect on the futility of war and ask why physically and mentally shattered soldiers who return from war zones (in South Asia, Afghanistan, Vietnam, or Iraq) are often ignored, unrewarded, and (if American) might even be derided by their Prez as “losers” and “suckers!”

I must thank my friend KK and her husband Kannan for sending me poet Rudyard Kipling’s lesser known “The Last of the Light Brigade” (see complete text at end of this blog). Kipling’s poem is a sequel to the famous “Charge of the Light Brigade” by Alfred, Lord Tennyson (text also at the end) who wrote so eloquently about the military action in the Crimean Peninsula. 

In the Crimean war, Britain and its allies fought for control of the very same region that Russia controversially reoccupied six years ago! The war lasted from 1853-1856, with the Russian Empire on the one side and, on the other, the Empires of Britain, France, the Ottoman Turks, and the Kingdom of Sardinia. 

The Charge of the Light Brigade

The famous charge of the British light cavalry brigade took place at the Battle of Balaclava on October 25, 1854. The aim was to pursue a Russian artillery train. Instead, owing to a failure to properly communicate, the brigade was sent into a frontal assault against a heavily armed and better prepared Russian defense. The British were cut to pieces and retreated with 118 out of 620 killed. 

Legend has it that the Russians were so afraid of the cold courage of British troopers, that they never dared face them in open field again! Whatever the truth of that, the Russians lost the overall war.

Tennyson, then the British poet laureate, wrote his poem on the heroic actions of the unit. It was published in the Examiner to major acclaim. Upbeat and positive, it is considered one of his best works.

Kipling’s poem, on the other hand, is dark and somber with a note of suppressed rage. He wrote it in 1890, 36 years after Balaclava. His goal was to expose the hardship and destitution faced in old age by the last 20 surviving soldiers. They were immortalized in verse by Tennyson, but ignored in real life.

Disregarding Soldiers, Glorifying War!

The poem describes a visit by the soldiers to Tennyson (then 80 years old) to ask him to write a sequel about how they were being treated. The visit was probably invented by Kipling to draw attention to the wretched conditions of the veterans. He mourns the fact that Britain glorifies the act of war while cruelly disregarding the actors of that war who were disabled and penniless!  

Kipling’s poem represents a significant moment in Britain's military misadventures and zeal to colonize. It expresses scorn at how soldiers are treated on the home front and concern over challenges they face in adjusting to civilian life. Unlike Tennyson's celebrated poem, Kipling's did not create a stir.

Leftover Troopers of the Light Brigade

It says in Kipling’s poem that the 20 surviving veterans lacked a bed for the night: no food, no money, no jobs. They decided to go to the poet who’d once crowned them as heroes and ask him to write another poem describing their plight. After they left, the poet:

“... wrote for them wonderful verses that swept the land like flame,

Till the fatted souls of the English were scourged with the thing called Shame.”

There is, in fact, no record that the larger British public felt any “shame” or guilt at the way the veterans were treated! They were indifferent!

This narrative is applicable to all soldiers who fought in wars throughout history: every country sends their men to war but many fail to provide for them when they return.

An article published in The New York Times, November 2, 1913 - on the death of Sir George Wombweil, the last survivor of the charge - reported that the fund that had been set up to help the Crimean veterans was first used to assist convicted Irish rebels and the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, with only the balance left to go to the veterans. Although this claim may have been unverified, Kipling dwells on it with bitterness: 

“They sent a cheque to the felon that sprang from an Irish bog;

They healed the spavined cab-horse; they housed the homeless dog...”

A Controversial Imperialist? 

Kipling, who was born in Mumbai (formerly Bombay) in 1865 and who vividly captures the essence of the country in many of his books, will forever be associated with India. He knew the country more intimately than any other British writer. 

He was also a product of his times, which can excuse the less enlightened views and acts of famous historical figures (such as, the keeping of slaves by America’s founding fathers)!

Like other writers and thinkers of his era, Kipling is usually faulted for his belief in imperialism. He wrote the controversial poem “White Man’s Burden” about the colonizing of the Philippines by the U.S. In it, he welcomes America to the family of great powers whose responsibility it is to help poor people better themselves. He felt it was the moral duty for rich (white) nations to help poor ones. In this context, “white” could mean decent or rich; it doesn't necessarily refer to skin color.  

The poem could thus be viewed either as propaganda for imperialism or as a satirical warning against the dangers of imperialism.

Kipling’s political views became more strident in later years. He was opposed to Indian nationalism and began to  champion a more aggressive style of British expansion. 

Whether Kipling was or was not the “jingo imperialist” described by George Orwell, there is no denying his great narrative gifts! He wrote verse with a skill that few could emulate. His children’s books and short stories were instant classics. In 1907, he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. 

Pioneer Newspaper

In his early 20s, Kipling worked as a journalist at the Pioneer newspaper in the central Indian city of Allahabad. This was during the late 1880s. The Pioneer was an Anglo-Indian newspaper founded some 20 years earlier. 

With a weekly and a daily edition and a circulation of more than 5,000, the Pioneer was successful. It moved from Allahabad to Lucknow and was revived in the early 1990s when it was purchased by the Thapar Group and became a national newspaper.

On a personal note, I was the Washington correspondent for the Pioneer for much of the 1990s. I recall being intrigued by the rumor that both Winston Churchill and Kipling wrote for the Pioneer - and that both were fired! (The firing stories might have been apocryphal!)

Victoria Memorial Museum, Calcutta 

There used to be a life-sized portrait of Kipling at the Victoria Memorial Museum in Kolkata (formerly Calcutta). I must have been 10 years old when I saw it for the first time. I recall the tour guide asking who this was and being taken aback when I said Kipling - I’d been reading “Kim,” so no biggie!  

Growing up in a former British colony, Kipling was considered mandatory reading (the “Jungle Books,” “If,” “Mandalay,”“The Man who would be King,” “Gunga Din,” “Captains Courageous,” “The Seven Seas,” the “Just So Stories”).

One may belittle his political beliefs in these more informed, more politically correct times but, not many British authors have managed to be as accomplished as he in both poetry and prose. In his essential craft, Kipling had few peers.

Ludi Joseph

Washington, D.C.

September 10, 2020

Enclosures:

“The Last Of The Light Brigade" by Rudyard Kipling read by Jonathan Jones - YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=544Avsvy-eg

THE LAST OF THE LIGHT BRIGADE 

by Rudyard Kipling 

There were thirty million English who talked of England's might,

There were twenty broken troopers who lacked a bed for the night.

They had neither food nor money, they had neither service nor trade;

They were only shiftless soldiers, the last of the Light Brigade.

They felt that life was fleeting; they knew not that art was long,

That though they were dying of famine, they lived in deathless song.

They asked for a little money to keep the wolf from the door;

And the thirty million English sent twenty pounds and four!

They laid their heads together that were scarred and lined and grey;

Keen were the Russian sabres, but want was keener than they;

And an old Troop-Sergeant muttered, "Let us go to the man who writes 

The things on Balaclava the kiddies at school recites."

They went without bands or colours, a regiment ten-file strong,

To look for the Master-singer who had crowned them all in his song; 

And, waiting his servant's order, by the garden gate they stayed,

A desolate little cluster, the last of the Light Brigade.

They strove to stand to attention, to straighen the toil-bowed back;

They drilled on an empty stomach, the loose-knit files fell slack;

With stooping of weary shoulders, in garments tattered and frayed,

They shambled into his presence, the last of the Light Brigade.

The old Troop-Sergeant was spokesman, and "Beggin' your pardon," he said,

"You wrote o' the Light Brigade, sir. Here's all that isn't dead.

An' it's all come true what you wrote, sir, regardin' the mouth of hell;

For we're all of us nigh to the workhouse, an' we thought we'd call an' tell.

"No, thank you, we don't want food, sir; but couldn't you take an' write 

A sort of 'to be continued' and 'see next page' o' the fight?

We think that someone has blundered, an' couldn't you tell 'em how? 

You wrote we were heroes once, sir. Please, write we are starving now."

The poor little army departed, limping and lean and forlorn.

And the heart of the Master-singer grew hot with "the scorn of scorn." 

And he wrote for them wonderful verses that swept the land like flame,

Till the fatted souls of the English were scourged with the thing called Shame.

They sent a cheque to the felon that sprang from an Irish bog;

They healed the spavined cab-horse; they housed the homeless dog;

And they sent (you may call me a liar), when felon and beast were paid,

A cheque, for enough to live on, to the last of the Light Brigade.

O thirty million English that babble of England's might,

Behold there are twenty heroes who lack their food to-night;

Our children's children are lisping to "honour the charge they made - "

And we leave to the streets and the workhouse the charge of the Light Brigade! 

THE CHARGE OF THE LIGHT BRIGADE

by Alfred, Lord Tennyson

Half a league, half a league, 

Half a league onward, 

All in the valley of Death 

   Rode the six hundred. 

‘Forward, the Light Brigade! 

Charge for the guns!’ he said: 

Into the valley of Death 

   Rode the six hundred. 

‘Forward, the Light Brigade!’ 

Was there a man dismay’d?

Not tho’ the soldier knew 

   Someone had blunder’d: 

Their’s not to make reply, 

Their’s not to reason why, 

Their’s but to do and die: 

Into the valley of Death 

   Rode the six hundred. 

Cannon to right of them, 

Cannon to left of them, 

Cannon in front of them 

   Volley’d and thunder’d;

Storm’d at with shot and shell, 

Boldly they rode and well, 

Into the jaws of Death, 

Into the mouth of Hell 

   Rode the six hundred. 

Flash’d all their sabres bare, 

Flash’d as they turn’d in air 

Sabring the gunners there, 

Charging an army, while 

   All the world wonder’d: 

Plunged in the battery-smoke 

Right thro’ the line they broke; 

Cossack and Russian 

Reel’d from the sabre-stroke 

Shatter’d and sunder’d. 

Then they rode back, but not 

   Not the six hundred. 

Cannon to right of them, 

Cannon to left of them, 

Cannon behind them 

   Volley’d and thunder’d; 

Storm’d at with shot and shell, 

While horse and hero fell, 

They that had fought so well 

Came thro’ the jaws of Death, 

Back from the mouth of Hell, 

All that was left of them, 

   Left of six hundred. 

When can their glory fade ? 

O the wild charge they made! 

   All the world wonder’d. 

Honour the charge they made! 

Honour the Light Brigade, 

   Noble six hundred!

The Joys of Trekking!

The Joys of Trekking! 

There’s not a lot one can do during Covid - no Broadway shows; no fancy restaurant dinners; no monthly visits to see Mum in New York; no Adam Lambert+Queen live music concerts in Vegas; no hanging out at casino bars and running into tipsy celebs (Brad Garrett, Dennis Rodman, Troy Aikman)! 

But there’s one thing I am rediscovering: the simple joys of a long but not too arduous hike! And when you’re done, a quiet feeling of elation and accomplishment! Get out of the city and into the great outdoors; it’s so worth it!  

A good hike has the power to transport you from everyday life and immerse you in nature. It need not be remote. In Washington, D.C., I rarely drive to a hike as most are less than an hour from where I live and have their share of charms, be they scenic bridges, picturesque stone pathways over rocky streams or fallen trees engulfed in wildflowers. Tip: Bring water, avoid crowds, and opt for an early start!  

Glover Park

My friend Xiao Ye and I have done a few hikes (5-7 miles each) in Glover Park. It is a nearly 200-acre park on the western edge of Georgetown, one of the "finger park” extensions of the ubiquitous Rock Creek Park, that covers large swathes of D.C. and Maryland.  

Glover Park is a secluded and natural setting for an urban hike, neither too steep nor too challenging for beginners. It also provides a quieter option with less traffic than other D.C. trails. There are some street crossings, but it is easy to pick up the trail on the other side. We saw a few people with leashed dogs but the trail was mostly empty.

China Tour Postponed 

I met Xiao, an economist who worked with the World Bank, when she was organizing a visit to western China archaeological sites earlier this year. It was a trip that eight former colleagues and I were very excited about. Sadly, it had to be postponed because of Covid. Covering Terracotta Warriors in Xi’an, Mogao Grottoes, Buddhist caves, and other Neolithic treasures along the Silk Road, the visit will likely take place in the fall of 2021, all things being equal. 

Ancient China being temporarily unavailable, we were consoling ourselves with hiking Glover Park and enjoying the outdoors and the trees! I spotted maples, beeches, elms, cottonwoods, sycamores, white oaks, and several species of rather misshapen fungus!  

Sustainable Gardens

We also stopped by Xiao’s garden plot, a small space not far from the trail head where she grows flowers, fruit and vegetables, including the most delicious strawberries, gooseberries, and cherry tomatoes. (I sampled them all and brought some home!)

The entire garden is less than three acres with 150 plots, each averaging 30 by 30 feet. It began as a “Victory Garden” during the food shortages of World War II. (See Weblinked article below). Owned by the National Park Service, it is run by the Glover Park Community Garden Association and allows only organic growing methods. Another rule is that 90 percent of each plot must be devoted to food production (fruit and vegetables). 

Organic gardening is good for one’s health because it ensures that pesticides and other harmful substances are not used. It facilitates a sustainable lifestyle while caring for the environment by helping to reduce erosion and sediment going into waterways as well as greenhouse gas emissions.

Cow Farts!

Eating the organic vegetables one grows (even if only once or twice a week) can substantially reduce meat and dairy consumption, one of the leading causes of Climate Change - because of those pesky cow farts! 

Yes, methane from cattle (in the beef and dairy industries) is a big contributor to the greenhouse effect, trapping 30 times more heat than carbon dioxide which usually gets the blame for global warming; methane is in fact 85 times more powerful when it comes to trapping heat. More cows mean more methane, and more methane means a warmer planet!

Activism 

Xiao and her husband Terry Jodrie, an ER doctor, took part in some of the recent peaceful Black Lives Matter protest marches in D.C. that called for racial justice and an end to police violence. I found that impressive! I can’t even recall the last time I took part in a protest march (shame on me)! It was more than 15 years ago, for sure, and might have been a pro choice or a housing rally.  

At the height of Covid, Xiao told me, her husband Terry volunteered his services at some of the worst hit New York hospitals and continues (five months into the virus) to travel to Peru and Mexico to train doctors in how to deal with Covid. I’m in awe of frontline health workers especially those who volunteer their services!

West Potomac Park 

A few weeks ago, I went with my friend Ram and his family for a picnic at West Potomac Park in D.C. and a long trek along the Potomac River. Temps were in the 90s that day but near the water there was shade and a balmy breeze. Bhuvana had cooked several kinds of rice (with tamarind, yogurt, coconut, molasses) served with crisp papadums! I probably got a sugar high from all those carbs, but that was another fun day for a hike!

West Potomac Park includes all the parkland from the Lincoln Memorial to the Washington Monument and is the site of famous national landmarks, including memorials to Thomas Jefferson, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and Martin Luther King, Jr.  

National Parks 

Talking of parkland and trekking, America’s National Park System, founded in 1916, administers more than 400 parks in the U.S. From the blue green geysers of Yellowstone to the millions of years of geological history revealed in the walls of the Grand Canyon, they are national treasures that define the country, belong to every citizen, and should be seen and enjoyed. 

But the parks budget has been flat for decades: roads, trails, campgrounds, monuments, and other infrastructure are in urgent need of repair. According to the National Parks Foundation, in 2019, visitor spending in and around the national parks contributed more than $40 billion to the national economy and supported about 350,000 jobs. 

The coronavirus pandemic has led Americans to rediscover the outdoors and realize that national parks provide huge economic and health benefits. Reflecting the new realities, Congress recently passed the Great Outdoors Act which will devote nearly $3 billion a year to maintain and restore the national parks.

At a time when the very concept of public land is being questioned, this is a good time to reassess and make post-Covid trekking plans: go see a national park - you will love it!   

Ludi Joseph

Washington, D.C.

August 23, 2020

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victory_garden

Xiao

Moi

Trekking togs! 

Trail

Fungus

Xiao in her garden

Strawberries

Gooseberries