Blurt

One of you dear readers suggested I do a blurt now and again, rather than a BIG MOTHER OF A BLOG POST.

So here goes.

I read a prompt recently about a slice of news of the day that was the first which stuck in your mind when you were a child.

Here's mine.

It was 1952 and I was 9 years old. And every night we were all glued to the radio listening to the updates on a capsized boat, the Flying Enterprise and its captain, Captain Carlsen who was alone on board, not deserting his sinking ship even though he had shepherded his crew to safety on the rescue boats.

I was thrilled to see a wee film on this on Youtube. And it evokes the tension we all felt for this brave soul who would not leave his ship.

It was about 9 days of listening to this news every single night, hearts pounding for the hero captain.

Here's the Wikipedia link 

Can you remember what news you heard that first grabbed your attention as a child?

Headlines

 I look at the headlines today and heave a huge sigh, of despair, of hopelessness. Is anyone paying attention to (along with everything else) our end of days climate change? Anyone with power? And yes I'm aware there's nothing individuals can do. And I keep thinking about the film "Don't Look Up" and thinking how prescient it is as we roll our way to species extinction.

• U.S. Coronavirus Cases and Hospitalizations Soar to Record Highs

• Warming Oceans Set New Temperature Records in 2021 as Climate Crisis Worsened

• U.N. Appeals for Nearly $5 Billion in Afghanistan Aid as 1 Million Children Face Severe Malnutrition
• Amid Talks with U.S., Russia Says Ukraine Must Never Be Allowed to Join NATO
• North Korea Tests Hypersonic Missile for Second Time in a Week
• Lithuania Pays $113,000 to Guantánamo "Forever Prisoner" Tortured at CIA Black Site
• Former DEA Informant Arrested over Alleged Role in Plot That Assassinated Haiti's President
• El Salvador Reopens Probe into 1989 Massacre of Jesuits by U.S.-Trained Death Squad
• Biden and Harris Visit Georgia, Calling on Congress to Pass Voting Rights Bills
• NC Voters Sue to Block Rep. Madison Cawthorn's Reelection Bid over His Support for Insurrection
• Fox News Promotes Jesse Watters Despite Record of Violent and Racist Rhetoric
• Safety Doors Failed at Bronx Apartment Where Fire Killed 17
• Arson Blamed for New Year's Fire That Destroyed Tennessee Planned Parenthood Clinic
• In a First, Doctors Transplant Heart of Genetically Altered Pig into a Human
• Washington Post Investigation Finds 1,700 U.S. Congressmembers Enslaved People
• Mourners Gather for Funeral of Valentina Orellana-Peralta, 14-Year-Old Killed by Police Bullet

Changing the Headlines

I have backed away from all US news. It does my head in. Yes, even the rah-rah speeches of the gleeful Dems, the pitiful tweets (now in rage CAPS) of the so-called leader of the free world. The knowledge, deep within, that the disregard for humanity, the endless "wars", the economy based on billionaires' investments in the military industrial complex and pharmaceuticals and yes, the awful underbellies of porn, drugs and trafficking, may never go away but may have a prettier coating depending on how educated and civil the new dear leader will be. I feel terrible for my USian friends, most of whom are as clear eyed as I am and just want to change the current fascist regime for one not so blatantly and appallingly racist, misogynistic and brutal in its murderous rampage on its own citizens. So I've switched off many of the news-feeds. Tuning out the insanity if you will.

I had a kind of dread shrouding me. Couldn't verbalize it until a fellow sufferer put a long post on FB last night as he tried to rise above his own cloud of anxiety.

And I remembered a long ago conversation with a shaman of my acquaintance. Long since passed now, I would think. I was very honoured to be accepted and loved by aboriginals of my acquaintance whose depth of knowledge continues to astound me. We have so much to learn.

I was going on about something or other, as I am wont to do, and she said "Change your daily headline."
I passed this on to my friend Larry last night. And we both resolved to do that. Change the headlines. He is currently completing a cabin in the woods. So his headlines will be about his progress in that.

So mine today are:

Exquisite Quilled Card Received from New York Friend with Eternal Love Professed Within!

(PS The owl is my spirit animal).

1960 Picture of High School Choir Unearthed and Mailed by Friend of 65 years!

77 Year Old Woman still grinds her dark roast coffee beans from scratch every morning!

What would your headlines today be?

I Breed, Therefore I am

No matter what a woman has accomplished in her life, it seems that when she hits the status of grandmother, that then becomes her only definition.

Gawd, how irritated I get by these reports from various newspapers/media outlets:

Grandmother in car accident!
Grandma gets convicted of burglary!

A prefix always pops into my head when I read such drivel:

Grossly enfeebled by her biological status,
Grandmother placed fifth in the weekend's 10K Hamburg, Ont. road race.

But my favourite of all time has to be:

Grandmother of Eight Makes A Hole in One

This startled me until I realized she didn't puncture one of her grandchildren.

And it seems like it's only the female of the species who gets thus categorized. Ever seen the word grandfather in the headline of these kinds of news reports?

Perhaps grandfathers are models of propriety and virtue - and also non-golfers.