Marianna's Blog
Our Distress Call to the Birders of America
Lessons & Reflections from the National Butterfly Center
In addition to butterflies, the National Butterfly Center has a lot of birds. And unlike butterflies, they make a whole lot of noise. They call and sing and sometimes even fuss, constantly communicating with one another.
There are mating calls, “feed me” clicks, and agitated barks. Sometimes this is relatively casual conversation, like the “double trill” between a pair of screech owls, where the call-and-response serves as both a geo-locator and a comfort to the couple on the go. Other times, they become shrill, sounding the alarm for all who can hear.
If you’ve ever been in the Hackberry Trail or the bird-watching area when a snake appears, you know what I’m talking about. One or two birds alert everyone to danger, then the squawking and darting begin in earnest. Nobody welcomes a serpentine party crasher!
Up Against the Mall
Lessons & Reflections from the National Butterfly Center
If you’re from Texas, you know Jerry Jeff Walker. And if you know Jerry Jeff, you know Redneck Mother, ranked by Rolling Stone among the 100 Greatest Country Songs of All Time.
The catchy, sing-along refrain asserts, “Up against the wall, Redneck Mother; Mother, who has raised her son so well. He's thirty-four and drinking in a honky tonk, just kicking hippies’ asses and raising hell.” Written by Ray Wylie Hubbard in 1975, this critical jab at the bare-knuckled-brawling, wrapped-in-the-flag, “God, mom and apple pie” crowd deserves an encore.
Today, White Nationalists are not afraid to march in the streets carrying torches and chanting NAZI slogans. Children are murdering their classmates at school. Unarmed immigrants are summarily executed on our southern border by a growing, military police force operating inside the United States, making this a good time to take a hard look at the cancers in our culture… This leads us to the diseased halls of Congress.
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