Humid and warm, not quite sultry, a heavy feel to the air. Big old oak trees block half the sky, lightning bugs flickering underneath. Massive clouds overhead, eerily visible in momentary flashes, backlit by sheet lightning, shape and depth and color momentarily revealed, again and again, each time different, each time fantastic. Forgotten in the beauty is the oppressive heat of the day: summer in the east at its best.

Oh yes, and bats, flying through the dusk in eternal herky jerky pursuit of insects.

1. Which of the following countries held presidential elections within the last decade which were marred by such widespread cheating and voting irregularities that the results were fraudulent?
a. Iran
b. Ukraine
c. United States
d. All of the above

2. The citizens of which of the following countries took to the streets in protest and severely disrupted or even shut down their govenrment?
a. Iran
b. Ukraine
c. United States
d. Iran and Ukraine

3. The citizens of which of the following countries forced their governments to annul the fraudulent elections and hold new, fair elections?
a. Iran
b. Ukraine
c. United States

4. The citizens of which of the following countries reacted to the fraudulent presidential election by sitting on their hands, only to watch their unelected leader drag their country into illegal and ruinous war?
a. Iran
b. Ukraine
c. United States

5. Which of the following countries routinely lectures the world on the importance of democracy?
a. Iran
b. Ukraine
c. United States

I won’t go postal.
I won’t go postal.
I won’t go postal.
I won’t go postal.
I won’t go postal.
I won’t go postal.
No matter how well justified it would be.
I won’t go postal.
Really. I won’t go postal.
I won’t go postal.

Probably not, anyway.

Great Falls of the Potomac

Hardly a hidden jewel, but definitely worth the look. Great Falls, Billy Goat Trail, and the C&O Canal National Historical Park. Just outside the Beltway, but miles and miles away.

First beautiful day of Spring. 17 year old suggests hiking Billy Goat Trail. Don’t need to be asked twice: a great hike, and “quality time.” What more can a parent ask?

Billy Goat peels off from the C&O towpath just below Great Falls. It’s a bit of a scramble; the middle section is quite rocky, and at one point the trail ascends a steeply sloping granite formation. Lots of people out on the trail, even more on the towpath — urbanites cooped up over winter, needing to get out of the house.

Rapids bypassing Great Falls

Great Falls is always impressive, but the river was low; this winter just past was the driest on record in this area … and the records go back to 1872. It was also the driest February. Climate change, one suspects.

Mather Gorge

The hike proceeds along the northern side of Mather Gorge and affords some lovely views of the river as it rushes down the gorge. Rock climbers ascending the cliffs on the other side seem preoccupied, however. Sylvan scenery inland is almost overwhelmed by the river, but merits notice too.

Great hike. But nobody wanting to enjoy the peaceful quiet of nature should ever go on a hike with with a 17 year old.

Update on the move. Learned on Thursday that we vacate on tax day, which seems appropriate since moving is a very taxing process. Still don’t know how much collection space we have, but I’m savaging the reference collection in anticipation. Still don’t know if I get an office, or am consigned to an intern’s working space. Still don’t know if we have movers who know what they’re doing. The thought of a refreshing game 15,000 card pick-up almost makes me want to volunteer for the job. (As the day draws closer, I probably will).

One constant remains: Fearless Leader continues to hoard information.

Am desperately hoping the escape route opens on Friday ….

Sawed a bit more. Another 4×8 sheet, becoming blanks for the bottom. Cut one together, then left the second for friend to do on her own, by herself. She’s starting to get it; she’s pretty accurate, but so far without confidence or power, so it’s going slowly. But she’ll get there, and find her confidence growing as she goes.

Looked up from my desk yesterday as Mr. Anti Social, the facilities manager, led two strangers through, muttering something about replacing the carpet. No surprise, but Mr. social didn’t deign to explain what they were up to, so I quietly reflected on what changing a wall-to-wall carpet means in a library of 15,000 volumes.

This morning Mr. Social and his new friends reappeared. Snippets overheard included mention that the strangers would need carts on which they could hold the books for a couple of days. Sounded ominous. The strangers didn’t sound like library people, and there’s little librarians dread more than having their collection moved by warehouse men who know nothing of call numbers. (Ever play 52-card pickup? Try it with 15,000 scrambled cards, ur, books.)

Around noon, an officious brown dress suit appeared, photographing and measuring everything in sight — windows, door frames, office widths, electrical outlets. Asked what she was doing; was told “Measuring everything.” Duh. Okay, says I, “Why?” “I was tasked to do it.” Illuminating response, thought I, as dread forebodings became more prominent.

Late afternoon, the house carpenter came in. He’s a good guy, so I got to talking, and espied the plan he was working on. Clearly our space, but no longer a library; the collection spaces were carved up into what looked like training rooms. Very ominous.

Very late afternoon, one of the Powers That Be came around. Oh yes, we were brightly told, the library is moving to another floor. Did Fearless Leader, renowned for reveling in cluelessness and keeping her staff in ignorance, but who was out of the office today, know? I wondered. So I asked. Oh no, not yet, I was told.

Forget that libraries aren’t easily moved. Forget that when they are moved, the movers need to understand how libraries are organized if chaos is to be avoided. (Yes, it DOES matter what order those books are in!) Forget that floor loading needs to be carefully considered. Forget that the public, who are allowed to use the library, aren’t allowed on the intended floor. Forget to wonder, even, about how much space we’ll have. Just focus on what this suggests about the respect and esteem with which Powers That Be view the library and its drones. Makes one feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

Well, actually, makes one wish the job market looked more promising ….

Oh yes, did I mention that the organization is one nominally dedicated to the prevention and peaceful resolution of conflict? How wonderfully ironic!

Michael Steele, the Chairman of the Republican National Committee, was reportedly upset when a CNN reporter referred to Rush Limbaugh as the de facto leader of the party. “No he’s not,” Steele is said to have replied. “I’m the de facto leader of the Republican Party. Rush Limbaugh is an entertainer; Rush Limbaugh, the whole thing is entertainment. Yes, it’s incendiary. Yes, it’s ugly.”

Aha, for a moment we could harbor some respect for Steele; he certainly caught the essence of the neocons’ favorite drug abuser.

But no. Rush didn’t like what Steele had to say, so he blasted him. Did Steele stand up to the demagogue? Did other Republican leaders back Steele?

Nope. Steele called Limbaugh to apologize. “My intent was not to go after Rush,” he is reported to have said, “I have enormous respect for Rush Limbaugh.”

That’s right, Dittoheads. The Republican Party has “enormous respect” for Limbaugh. The Grand Old Party has melded with him; the two are one, and it’s Rush who seems to be calling the shots. Great. The party has seemed intent on marginalizing itself for some time now, and this should finish them off. The party will remain enormously strong with its Dittohead constituency, and totally irrelevant to the rest of America.

The Mill Creek 15 begins.

Two sheets of 4 mm okoume plywood, to be cut into four strips each, later to be scarfed into blanks for what the plans term bilge and sheer panels.

Friend doubts ability to saw straight lines. With some merit, initially.

Squat with eye on line, watching the vertical plane, directing the sawyer to move shoulder, elbow, wrist and saw in the same plane. Hand drifts back towards the hip, the kerf curves slightly in the same direction. Notice the eye is located vertically somewhere between hip and line; direct the eye into the same plane as the the rest of the sawing apparatus. Not yet working together as a unified whole, not working strongly, but progressing. Body memory will come.

Slowly the kerf grows longer. Slowly too, it becomes straighter.

Sawyer is nervous but with progress sees that the kerf is nearly straight. Easily “close enough for gummit work,” or, more accurately, for this stage in the process.

Get six of the eight panels cut; two more to go. Maybe cut the bottom panels next. Then the scarfs. A long ways yet to go, but it’s a start.

And it seems the sawyer believes just a little bit more now than when we began.

I say to you today, my friends, so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: “We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal.”

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification; one day right there in Alabama, little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.

This is our hope. This is the faith that I go back to the South with. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

This will be the day when all of God’s children will be able to sing with a new meaning, “My country, ’tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim’s pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring.”

And if America is to be a great nation this must become true. So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania!

Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado!

Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California!

But not only that; let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia!

Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee!

Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring.

And when this happens, when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, “Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!”

(click here to watch video of entire “I have a dream” speech)