Radio Free Europe and Other Places

Some random thoughts--can they make a loosely braided blog post?

--A Facebook post from late last week, one week after Russia's invasion of Ukraine:  "This afternoon I noticed the flag of Ukraine now flies above the Hollywood (FL) Arts Park. Two blocks away, there's a carnival "with modern midways" at the Little Flower Catholic Church and School. I'm just an ordinary poet and theologian, here to notice interesting juxtapositions on our Lenten Cold War II journey."

--A Facebook post from Monday, while I was listening to 80's music of my youth:  "Listening to REM sing "Radio Free Europe" and dreaming of being the poet theologian in residence of some sort of group that will give me a salary and health insurance. Our day job will be to get messages/poems of hope and resistance behind the front lines."

--We've been watching The Americans--yes, we're late to this party, although I read essays and reviews as the series aired, so I feel like I've seen parts of it.  I first started watching it a few months ago out of 80's nostalgia, and I had heard an interview on the NPR show 1A with Joe Weisberg, the man who created it.   I thought, if we're going to watch so much junk TV, maybe we should put some of it aside for some of the quality shows we've missed through the years, if we've got the right streaming service. Yesterday we watched another few episodes--interesting to watch this show about KGB agents with Putin never far from our minds.

--I also love the shots of DC--although as I read up on the show and realized how much of it was filmed in NYC, I realize I'm probably feeling nostalgia based on the wrong scenery.  So much of my heart remains in DC, and I'm feeling a bit breathless these days realizing that we are likely headed there very soon.  The breathlessness comes from hope and fear and anxiety.

--There is some part of me that thinks, of course you'll move to DC right about the time it becomes a target for nuclear weapons again.  And yes, I realize it is never not a target--its symbolism is too huge.

--And now, off to the rest of the day.  I made this Facebook post this morning:  "Back in my days of full + employment, Wednesdays were days full of dread and meeting after meeting. Now, because of underemployment, I can spend this Wednesday volunteering in my church's food pantry."  And I'll be making a stop along the way to help stock the food pantry with peanut butter and jelly--there's a constant need for it and very few donations.  I still have some microgrant money left over from a different feeding the hungry project, money that will vanish soon, so I'll use up the rest of the money this morning.