Apr 032022
 

Yesterday, the radio opera was Eugene Onegin, a title charcter who would certainly be a poster child for FAFO except tht these days our MAGAts are doing so much more. It’s from a work by Pushkin which kind of foreshadoed Pushkin’s own death, containing as it does the death of a poet in a duel. But the music (Tchaikovsky) is gorgeous. And it certainly demonstrates some of the harms of unchecked privilege.And it’s not such an unusual story, especially then. There’s a duet at the beginning there’s a duet between the heroine’s mother and her housekeeper on the theme of “God sends us habit instead of happiness,” which I find terribly poignant.

Cartoon 03 PonyxTrail loaded

Short Takes –

HuffPost – Amazon Workers On Staten Island Vote To Form Union In Historic Upset
Quote – The labor victory in Staten Island is all the more remarkable because of the union’s unlikely roots. Amazon Labor Union was formed just last year by a group of workers in New York. It is led by Chris Smalls, a former Amazon worker whom the company controversially fired early in the pandemic after he spoke out about safety concerns, and Derrick Palmer, who works at JFK8.
Click through for this story. There was also a vote in Alabama, of which the results are not in as I type. It’s a long shot – but not impossible – but IF this Chris (short for Christian) Smalls is a direct descendant of Robert Smalls, Jeff Bezos does not have a clue what and who he is up against.

Artists paint Ukrainian sunflowers and dozens of other murals as art returns to the levee in Pueblo
Quote – Pueblo’s levee once held the Guinness World Record for the largest outdoor mural. For decades, hundreds of artists like Ramu painted on the nearly three-mile-long structure, creating one big mural. But eight years ago repairs to the levee destroyed that artwork. Now construction is done and artists have been back at work…. Their first goal is to be the largest outdoor mural in the United States. But they won’t stop there. The plan is to regain the world record, which is currently held by a site in South Korea. There’s a lot more levee to paint before that happens though.
Click through for story and some pictures. It’s always fun to hear about something practically in my own back yard I did not know about, especially when it’s somethng I can take pride in.

Ukraine Awards Medal To Border Guard Who Told ‘Russian Warship, Go F*** Yourself’
Quote – The Ukrainian border guard who said “Russian warship, go fuck yourself” during the defense of Snake Island has been released from captivity, Ukraine’s military announced on Tuesday…. Thirteen Ukrainian border guards stationed on the tiny Zmiinyi Island in the Black Sea, known in English as Snake Island, defiantly told a Russian ship to “go fuck yourself” when they were asked to surrender in February. The border guards were originally thought to have then been killed by Russian forces.
Click through. There’s a short video (in Ukranian.) “Glory to the hero” indeed.

Food For Thought:

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