Beautiful photos, nice respite, mature response to tragedy and the aftermath. I hope your daughter finds a world less violent, less polarized, more equitable, and more progress in human rights, when she graduates.
Thanks! Not sure what you're looking at but definitely not a person -- I was squeezed in a passageway and tried to take a shot panning out (to try to show the distance to the water) while also balancing on the cave wall in the dark. There is a weird little tannish shape though and now I'm wondering what it is!
‘The defining feature of the 21st century is disregard for the sanctity of human life.’ That describes so eloquently how the news and the reactions to the news, feels these days. Can’t look away, can’t breathe due to how heavy everything feels all the time.
Yes and the internet makes it so much worse (well, social media does anyway). The coldness of it, the flip anonymity. But sometimes I'm assured that at least others notice and are upset by it too, because it makes me feel less alone.
I enjoyed my Earth, Wind, and Fire respite yesterday and always appreciate the depth of your heart, insights, and photographic memories. I am grateful you exist.
This is the most humane thing I have read about Kirk's murder. Thank you for this thoughtful and insightful piece. Grievous and bewildering that the same administration creating ritualized mourning in the wake of this killing is spending its time blowing up Venezuelan boats (and people) without any justification or shame.
And Madame Kendzior increasingly sounds like the wisest woman in the US, with a wicked collection of truth-telling substacks to remind us to sift the "news" carefully and not let ourselves drown in the deathstream. Would Eliot recognize the 21st-century Waste Land you've been mapping for us? Would he dare to enter a cave (or eat a fried Oreo :) with you?
Thank you for this thoughtful, multi-dimensional piece. The metaphor of the cave--the layers, the crawling (forward and backward) is such a powerful suggestion that we may have to find just the right position to get our nation back on its feet again. We are crawling, brought to our knees by the hatred we've watched grow into a darkness we cannot unsee. For me, it's the grief of watching a field I once championed as a former journalist and journalism professor become an arm of capitalism that leans more into monetizing trauma and death than in maintaining an informed citizenry. Like you, I feel an obligation to stand as a witness and record it all. I stand with you in solidarity.
Thank you for allowing fixed income people like myself to read your newletter. That was wonderful writing; I’ll be watching for more in the future. It should be easy as you are now on my favorites list on Bluesky. (Lists being more reliable than feeds, IMO).
As my situation improves I plan to donate when I can, if you’re set up for one time contributions.
Sarah, your writing is something special. Although I can’t contribute often, it would be cool to be able to able to support you on a “story to story” basis (a one time contribution). Thank you for being you.
One of your really special qualities is being able to write about disheartening events while keeping your heart open. Absolutely beautiful photos. Thank you.
“The defining feature of the 21st century is disregard for the sanctity of human life. The livestream is a deathstream with no way to turn it off.”
And “plastic rectangles of sacrilege”…what a perfect illustration.
Amazing writing …on topics that just pile onto us each day.
I awoke from a dream of the World Trade Ctr just now.
It was a day 46 years ago on 23 September. We gathered and protested for our planets survival and we sang and danced with joy along with our deep conviction the planet needs the help of all beings. No Nukes.
We had no smartphones. We had each other and conversation and connection.
This constant feed of insanity has dulled us and made us a strange type of human.
And of course it has been weaponised against us.
I’m scared that pictures of Charlie Kirk will be like posters of Che in the 60’s.
That right/white:Christian Nationalism is winning.
Damn it Sarah …my hope that America can turn around is dwindling.
Yes I remember so much…and it brings me to tears.
When do we reach a turning point that actually turns?
Thanks for being a voice for reality no matter how messed up it is.
I tried and ultimately just logged off for a few days. It’s possible, given the amount of followers I have, that it was forced on me. Other people I’ve talked to with high follower accounts reported the same.
Sarah, thank you so much for being brave enough to speak out about the 911 conspiracies. I’ve been listening to Catherine Austin Fitz. She was HUD secretary under George W. Bush and outlines a conspiracy to use HUD to rob the federal government. I find that so ironic in light of our current terrible housing scenario. Real estate is an excellent way to wash dirty money, we saw a lot of cash home purchases during the pandemic. That’s part of why they wanted to pass the beneficial ownership information, which ended up being struck down after a battle in the same Texas District Court that thwarted Biden’s student loan relief. At this point, I’m not sure it would help. I think the right wing voters are afraid of the extinguishment of human freedom, and as is the left. No one chooses to be immiserated at the hands of a mafia state in service of the whims and desires of a pedophilic elite class. I definitely got caught in the trap of feeding the rage machine, but I had to take a step back and connect with the love that I have for conservative family members, whom I don’t see much these days. I got the opportunity to do so when my grandma passed away recently. My uncle Tom, who is a retired police officer, tried to trigger me into a debate about gun policy, I totally didn’t take the bait. He was disappointed and said, “Oh well you’re no fun.” I think talking, even to MAGA voters is really important. My strategy is pretty much to try to lead nearly all conversations back to some political team without being overly political so that I can both sus people out and try to have influence within my personal circles as opposed to fighting with strangers online, who, for all I know could be foreign operatives, trying to take advantage of free speech, which is both at risk constitutionally and being drowned out because you can’t find an authentic signal with all the noise of the algorithm.
You raise issues involving unreal real estate valuations and some well-documented fraud that were clearly and fascinatingly documented in a Swedish documentarian's English-language film festival dark horse documentary called PUSH. I've written some on it, nothin published. Virtually no US or Canadian broadcasting airing, yet it did play when released here in Portland, Ore area, but not added to streaming nor get picked up for digital distribution.
Here's about 20 minutes of excerpts from 90 minute film posted to U.of Tube by makers with interesting reader comments by film buffs the world over. Swedish film director Frederik Gertten and North American documentary backers made sure the production interviews were all conducted in English language (mostly shot in US using US "Affordable Housing Market & Media blackout. The doc is available as DVD with multi-lingual subtitle translations offered:
PUSH - ( some excerpts from the documentary )
Tiktaks Point of View
622 subscribers
3,096 views Sep 1, 2021
"Some excerpts from the documentary "PUSH" (2019) (full doc @ "Push | TVO Docs" on YouTube)
"Exploring why people cannot be allowed to live in cities... The high cost of housing and global investment funds that push people to poverty and strip them of a fundamental human right."
Producers: Fredrik Gertten, Margarete Jangard
Director: Fredrik Gertten
From Knowledge Network Aired Feb. 2, 2021
Full documentary can be seen here "Push | TVO Docs" on YouTube:
Clearly US Pay2Play broadcasters including so-called Corporation for Public Broadcasting and international post-Pandemic panicked Film Festival curators do not approve of this sort of indie journalistic documentary with impeccable sourcing that also is a Masters or PhD level discourse on the lack of true Public Interest Access to US and Canadian air waves regardless of veracity and verification of source materials.
Even the few non-sponsored or corporate-captured, once dba EDUCATIONAL broadcast options merit discussion if not an indie academic venue and seminar to reclaim Film Studies from Lit, Political Economy and Global Affairs curricula....
To those with access: "Go Get US Some Broadcast Access or hold viewing parties with discussion groups and GLOBAL HOUSING CRISIS educational panelists invited. 4-wall a major Urban or College Town area repertory movie theater or Community Center. Then with yer own money, promote via cafe wall-papering, shoe-leather promotion and indie publish the heck via what remains of Alt Press out of any Community Center or Public College\University screening you can wangle...Call it OPEN CURRICULA and file under: MEDIA STUDIES...
The sources are mainly tenured faculty with some well-contrasted Broadcast Media and film industry professionals (meaning folks who make their living off these industries and global markets) alongside academics who have been exiled from US and often Canadian as well as Mexican and Central American Golden Rolodexes of Mass Comm\Media non-profit\Public Interest news & views coverage:
"The view from the cave was clearer than the view from the cliffs." An apt metaphor for how our elites refuse to see the truth, while the outsider has a better perspective. I think often these days of the Desert Fathers in early Christianity, who retreated to their own caves and hermitages to maintain a purer gospel than the one that Emperor Constantine married to state power.
I really want to travel and see those ancient caves, I got to see some in Turkey and Greece when I was there, but I'm definitely not going to the Middle East to see the rest any time soon...
Beautiful photos, nice respite, mature response to tragedy and the aftermath. I hope your daughter finds a world less violent, less polarized, more equitable, and more progress in human rights, when she graduates.
Thank you!
As usual, insightful and beautifully written. The pictures esp the first are just beautiful.
Is that a person in the lower left of the last photo??
Thanks! Not sure what you're looking at but definitely not a person -- I was squeezed in a passageway and tried to take a shot panning out (to try to show the distance to the water) while also balancing on the cave wall in the dark. There is a weird little tannish shape though and now I'm wondering what it is!
‘The defining feature of the 21st century is disregard for the sanctity of human life.’ That describes so eloquently how the news and the reactions to the news, feels these days. Can’t look away, can’t breathe due to how heavy everything feels all the time.
Yes and the internet makes it so much worse (well, social media does anyway). The coldness of it, the flip anonymity. But sometimes I'm assured that at least others notice and are upset by it too, because it makes me feel less alone.
That’s social media for you, with its promise of helping us feel less alone while in truth it creates greater loneliness.
At the same time "the sanctity of human life" is a campaign pledge to undermine women's rights.
I wish I didn’t live inside a Rage Against the Machine song…
The main attraction, distraction
Got ya number than number than numb
Empty ya pockets, son, they got you thinkin' that
What ya need is what they selling
Make you think that buying is rebelling
From the theaters to malls on every shore
The thin line between entertainment and war
The frontline is everywhere
There be no shelter here
Spielberg, the nightmare works so push it far
Amistad was a whip, the truth was feathered and tarred
Memories erased, burned and scarred
Trade in ya history for a VCR
Cinema, simulated life, ill drama
Fourth Reich culture, Americana
Chained to the dream they got you searchin' for
The thin line between entertainment and war
There be no shelter here
(The frontline is everywhere)
There be no shelter here
(The frontline is everywhere)
There be no shelter here
(The frontline is everywhere)
There be no shelter here
(The frontline is everywhere)
Hospitals not profit full
The market bulls got pockets full
To advertise some hip disguise
View the world from American eyes
The poor adore, keep fiendin' for more
The thin line between entertainment and war
They fix the need, develop the taste
Buy their products or get laid to waste
Coca-Cola is back in the veins of Saigon
And Rambo too, he's got a dope pair of Nikes on
Godzilla, pure mothafuckin' filler
To keep ya eyes off the real killer
Cinema, simulated life, ill drama
Fourth Reich culture, Americana
Chained to the dream they got you searchin' for
The thin line between entertainment and war
There be no shelter here
(The frontline is everywhere)
There be no shelter here
(The frontline is everywhere)
There be no shelter here
(The frontline is everywhere)
There be no shelter here
(The frontline is everywhere)
American eyes, American eyes
View the world from American eyes
Bury the past, rob us blind
And leave nothing behind
American eyes, American eyes
View the world from American eyes
Bury the past, rob us blind
And leave nothing behind
Just stare
Just stare
Just stare
Just stare
Relive the nightmare
I enjoyed my Earth, Wind, and Fire respite yesterday and always appreciate the depth of your heart, insights, and photographic memories. I am grateful you exist.
Thank you!
This is the most humane thing I have read about Kirk's murder. Thank you for this thoughtful and insightful piece. Grievous and bewildering that the same administration creating ritualized mourning in the wake of this killing is spending its time blowing up Venezuelan boats (and people) without any justification or shame.
"Madame Sosostris, famous clairvoyante,
Had a bad cold, nevertheless
Is known to be the wisest woman in Europe,
With a wicked pack of cards. Here, said she,
Is your card, the drowned Phoenician Sailor,
(Those are pearls that were his eyes. Look!)"
And Madame Kendzior increasingly sounds like the wisest woman in the US, with a wicked collection of truth-telling substacks to remind us to sift the "news" carefully and not let ourselves drown in the deathstream. Would Eliot recognize the 21st-century Waste Land you've been mapping for us? Would he dare to enter a cave (or eat a fried Oreo :) with you?
Thank you, Sarah, again.
Thank you Brian!
Thank you for this thoughtful, multi-dimensional piece. The metaphor of the cave--the layers, the crawling (forward and backward) is such a powerful suggestion that we may have to find just the right position to get our nation back on its feet again. We are crawling, brought to our knees by the hatred we've watched grow into a darkness we cannot unsee. For me, it's the grief of watching a field I once championed as a former journalist and journalism professor become an arm of capitalism that leans more into monetizing trauma and death than in maintaining an informed citizenry. Like you, I feel an obligation to stand as a witness and record it all. I stand with you in solidarity.
Thank you and I’m glad you understood the article the way I hoped folks would!
Thank you for allowing fixed income people like myself to read your newletter. That was wonderful writing; I’ll be watching for more in the future. It should be easy as you are now on my favorites list on Bluesky. (Lists being more reliable than feeds, IMO).
As my situation improves I plan to donate when I can, if you’re set up for one time contributions.
Thank you! I’m happy that I’m able to keep it open to everyone. Going on two years now, hope to continue it paywall-free!
Sarah, your writing is something special. Although I can’t contribute often, it would be cool to be able to able to support you on a “story to story” basis (a one time contribution). Thank you for being you.
-Nisey
Thank you for this. Brilliant points and gorgeous photography.
Thanks, glad you liked it!
One of your really special qualities is being able to write about disheartening events while keeping your heart open. Absolutely beautiful photos. Thank you.
Thank you very much!
"degraded, on plastic rectangles of sacrilege," pure poetry for end times.
As always a humane perspective. Thank you.
Spelunking--What an incredible metaphor for your work, Sarah, exploring the depths of the underworld to find glimmers of light and truth.
Thanks! Check out the final chapter of THE LAST AMERICAN ROAD TRIP if you like that topic!
Scared to death of caves, myself!!! But definitely enjoy your work!
“The defining feature of the 21st century is disregard for the sanctity of human life. The livestream is a deathstream with no way to turn it off.”
And “plastic rectangles of sacrilege”…what a perfect illustration.
Amazing writing …on topics that just pile onto us each day.
I awoke from a dream of the World Trade Ctr just now.
It was a day 46 years ago on 23 September. We gathered and protested for our planets survival and we sang and danced with joy along with our deep conviction the planet needs the help of all beings. No Nukes.
We had no smartphones. We had each other and conversation and connection.
This constant feed of insanity has dulled us and made us a strange type of human.
And of course it has been weaponised against us.
I’m scared that pictures of Charlie Kirk will be like posters of Che in the 60’s.
That right/white:Christian Nationalism is winning.
Damn it Sarah …my hope that America can turn around is dwindling.
Yes I remember so much…and it brings me to tears.
When do we reach a turning point that actually turns?
Thanks for being a voice for reality no matter how messed up it is.
Hugs x
> but I couldn’t opt out
I heartily disagree - I've killed all Musk and Zuck apps/accounts, and I never saw the video. There is a way, it's just not terribly mainstream yet.
I tried and ultimately just logged off for a few days. It’s possible, given the amount of followers I have, that it was forced on me. Other people I’ve talked to with high follower accounts reported the same.
Ah I had not considered the follower effect, that makes sense. Our new information age kinda sucks.
Same!
Sarah, thank you so much for being brave enough to speak out about the 911 conspiracies. I’ve been listening to Catherine Austin Fitz. She was HUD secretary under George W. Bush and outlines a conspiracy to use HUD to rob the federal government. I find that so ironic in light of our current terrible housing scenario. Real estate is an excellent way to wash dirty money, we saw a lot of cash home purchases during the pandemic. That’s part of why they wanted to pass the beneficial ownership information, which ended up being struck down after a battle in the same Texas District Court that thwarted Biden’s student loan relief. At this point, I’m not sure it would help. I think the right wing voters are afraid of the extinguishment of human freedom, and as is the left. No one chooses to be immiserated at the hands of a mafia state in service of the whims and desires of a pedophilic elite class. I definitely got caught in the trap of feeding the rage machine, but I had to take a step back and connect with the love that I have for conservative family members, whom I don’t see much these days. I got the opportunity to do so when my grandma passed away recently. My uncle Tom, who is a retired police officer, tried to trigger me into a debate about gun policy, I totally didn’t take the bait. He was disappointed and said, “Oh well you’re no fun.” I think talking, even to MAGA voters is really important. My strategy is pretty much to try to lead nearly all conversations back to some political team without being overly political so that I can both sus people out and try to have influence within my personal circles as opposed to fighting with strangers online, who, for all I know could be foreign operatives, trying to take advantage of free speech, which is both at risk constitutionally and being drowned out because you can’t find an authentic signal with all the noise of the algorithm.
Sorry there’s some typos in here, but my sister called and I took it. It was HW.
Next time, Jimmy, click the three dots to the upper right of your text.
Then click "edit." Edit. And click "save."
I know, but thank you for the explainer, I just figured it was so long by the time I got back to it, I would leave it.
Dear Jimmy Roe, Sarah K. & Readers here,
You raise issues involving unreal real estate valuations and some well-documented fraud that were clearly and fascinatingly documented in a Swedish documentarian's English-language film festival dark horse documentary called PUSH. I've written some on it, nothin published. Virtually no US or Canadian broadcasting airing, yet it did play when released here in Portland, Ore area, but not added to streaming nor get picked up for digital distribution.
Here's about 20 minutes of excerpts from 90 minute film posted to U.of Tube by makers with interesting reader comments by film buffs the world over. Swedish film director Frederik Gertten and North American documentary backers made sure the production interviews were all conducted in English language (mostly shot in US using US "Affordable Housing Market & Media blackout. The doc is available as DVD with multi-lingual subtitle translations offered:
PUSH - ( some excerpts from the documentary )
Tiktaks Point of View
622 subscribers
3,096 views Sep 1, 2021
"Some excerpts from the documentary "PUSH" (2019) (full doc @ "Push | TVO Docs" on YouTube)
"Exploring why people cannot be allowed to live in cities... The high cost of housing and global investment funds that push people to poverty and strip them of a fundamental human right."
Producers: Fredrik Gertten, Margarete Jangard
Director: Fredrik Gertten
From Knowledge Network Aired Feb. 2, 2021
Full documentary can be seen here "Push | TVO Docs" on YouTube:
Clearly US Pay2Play broadcasters including so-called Corporation for Public Broadcasting and international post-Pandemic panicked Film Festival curators do not approve of this sort of indie journalistic documentary with impeccable sourcing that also is a Masters or PhD level discourse on the lack of true Public Interest Access to US and Canadian air waves regardless of veracity and verification of source materials.
Even the few non-sponsored or corporate-captured, once dba EDUCATIONAL broadcast options merit discussion if not an indie academic venue and seminar to reclaim Film Studies from Lit, Political Economy and Global Affairs curricula....
To those with access: "Go Get US Some Broadcast Access or hold viewing parties with discussion groups and GLOBAL HOUSING CRISIS educational panelists invited. 4-wall a major Urban or College Town area repertory movie theater or Community Center. Then with yer own money, promote via cafe wall-papering, shoe-leather promotion and indie publish the heck via what remains of Alt Press out of any Community Center or Public College\University screening you can wangle...Call it OPEN CURRICULA and file under: MEDIA STUDIES...
https://www.flickeringmyth.com/movie-review-push-2019/
The sources are mainly tenured faculty with some well-contrasted Broadcast Media and film industry professionals (meaning folks who make their living off these industries and global markets) alongside academics who have been exiled from US and often Canadian as well as Mexican and Central American Golden Rolodexes of Mass Comm\Media non-profit\Public Interest news & views coverage:
https://radicalhousingjournal.org/2020/push/
https://www.filmreviewdaily.com/all-reviews/push
Tio Mitchito
Mitch Ritter\Paradigm Sifters, Code Shifters, PsalmSong Chasers
Lay-Low Studios, Ore-Wa (Refuge of A-Tone-ment Seekers)
Media Discussion List\Looksee
"The view from the cave was clearer than the view from the cliffs." An apt metaphor for how our elites refuse to see the truth, while the outsider has a better perspective. I think often these days of the Desert Fathers in early Christianity, who retreated to their own caves and hermitages to maintain a purer gospel than the one that Emperor Constantine married to state power.
I really want to travel and see those ancient caves, I got to see some in Turkey and Greece when I was there, but I'm definitely not going to the Middle East to see the rest any time soon...