Many thanks to Studio B Arts & Activities Alliance in Boyertown, Pennsylvania  https://www.studiobbb.org/ for selecting "Words Echo History Loops" for inclusion in their Legacy: Remembrance Matters anthology edited by Jane E. Stahl and Mish Murphy! This collection offers an assortment of engaging, prose, poetry, photographs, artistic renderings, and essays from talented creatives. Poetry isn't my usual format, but so much of the news reminds me of the bad old days of oppression from centuries past (as learned from educators,  classes and books sourced from legitimate historic documents) that this piece flowed from my heart and mind in one short writing session.  Not the Ones Dead (Kate Shugak #23) by Dana Stabenow  mystery  Head of Zeus - Aries Books, April 2023  Once again Mutt*, Kate, Jim, and their overlapping circles of family, friends, and associates work hard to unravel interwoven oddities that just might strangle them and their intimate community. Multiple

  Currently reading Fight Like Hell: The Untold History of American Labor by Kim Kelly from Atria/One Signal (April 2022). The parallels between the institutionalized enslavement of Black people and the exploitation of the Labor class are obvious.  Symbols of Freedom: Slavery and Resistance Before the Civil War by Matthew J. Clavin  non-fiction sociopolitical history  NYU Press, June 2023  From the introduction:  Interrogating the impact of national language and symbols comes with some risk...  The aversion to nationalism derives largely from its relationship with racism... According to historian Anthony Marx, efforts to codify racism that intended to unite White people unintentionally brought Black people together. They moreover emboldened them to challenge their oppressors.  Enslaver versus Abolitionist--this text and the United States grapple with the context of these oppositional forces that embody the fundamental contradictions of "the land of the free and the home of the br

high anxiety, hilarity, deja vu, do-overs    tricky magic and unpredictable consequences  author freebies and the adventures of adjunct professors    In the charming, layered Mickey Chambers Shakes It Up by Charish Reid threads about adjunct professors as exploited gig workers in academia reminded me of similar themes in Love, Theoretically by Ali Hazelwood.  During this year's Independence Day observance in the U.S. it's clear that forces for regression when it comes to equal protection under the law and the basic inalienable right to exist in peace are gaining momentum. These books encouraged, entertained, distracted and challenged me. Taking time to recharge to continue fighting.