Daily Entries for the week of
Sunday, July 3, 2022
through
Saturday, July 9, 2022
__________________________________________________________
It’s Saturday, July 9, 2022
Welcome to the 1,496th consecutive post to the blog
existentialautotrip.com
______________________________________
Lead Picture*
Cassidy Hutchinson
06/28/2022 Select Committee Hearing, United States House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack
United States House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack - https://january6th.house.gov/legislation/hearings/06282022-select-committee-hearing
______________________________________
Commentary
I read this and thought it a quiet way to get politically involved.
Dinner-party democracy
A new, nonpartisan group is organizing dinners around the country for friends and neighbors to gather around a pledge to protect American democracy, Axios managing editor Margaret Talev reports.
Why it matters: It's part of a growing movement to counter conspiracy theories, lies around voter fraud and efforts to make it more difficult to vote.
How it works: Democracy Dinners launched over the holiday weekend. Visitors to the site are asked to fill out a volunteer form asking whether they'd like to host a gathering in their homes or backyards or a restaurant.
The group provides formats, discussion guides and instructions for taking action on voter registration and other issues.
Fun.
______________________________________
Word of the Day: CRASS
For definition, see below, immediately after the Short Essay
______________________________________
Chuckles and Thoughts
The trouble with people is not that they don't know
but that they know so much that ain't so.
~Josh Billings
____________________________________
Mail and other Conversation
We love getting mail, email, or texts.
Send comments to domcapossela@hotmail.com
or text to 617.852.7192
Several texts were exchanged re: Friday night’s dinner-screen event.
Blog meister responds: Will report.
_____________________________________
Dinner/Food/Recipes
At 2.00am I made my first Miso Soup. I used a packet that produces a stock, miso paste, tofu, seaweed, and scallions, and seasoned it with a touch of soy sauce, wasabi, and Asian pepper flakes.
Delicious.
____________________________________
Pictures with Captions from our community**
Cloud Eggs
Daughter’s favorite when she was a late teen.
_________________________________
Short Essay*
Cassidy Jacqueline Hutchinson is an American former White House aide and assistant to former Chief of Staff Mark Meadows during the Trump administration.
Hutchinson testified on June 28, 2022, at the public hearings of the United States House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack. She provided testimony on President Donald Trump's conduct and that of his senior aides and political allies before and during the attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021.
While attending Christopher Newport University, Hutchinson interned for Republican Senator Ted Cruz and Republican US House of Representatives whip Steve Scalise. In the summer of 2018, she served as an intern and later an employee in the White House Office of Legislative Affairs.
In March 2020, when Mark Meadows became Trump's fourth chief of staff, he selected her to serve as one of his aides. She soon became Meadows principal assistant, continuing through to the end of the Trump presidency, where her title was Special Assistant to the President for Legislative Affairs. She worked in an office next to Meadows' office, just down the hall from the Oval Office. She took notes at meetings and traveled with Meadows, monitoring his phone and relaying his orders. She was described as a close confidante of Meadows.[3] Identified as a "White House legislative aide," Hutchinson was the subject of a nationally-syndicated AP photograph in which she was shown dancing to the Village People song "Y.M.C.A." alongside White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany at the end of Trump's September 21, 2020, campaign rally in Swanton, Ohio.
When Trump's term ended, she was initially supposed to work for his post-presidency operation in Florida, but the plan was "abruptly dropped" before she was supposed to begin.
__________________________________
Definition of Today’s word:
CRASS: so crude and unrefined as to be lacking in discrimination and sensibility.
* The Blog Meister selects the topics for the Lead Picture and the Short Essay and then leans heavily or exclusively on Wikipedia to provide the content. The Blog Meister usually edits the entries.
**Pictures with Captions from our community are photos sent in by our blog followers. Feel free to send in yours to domcapossela@hotmail.com
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
__________________________________________________________
It’s Friday, July 8, 2022
Welcome to the 1,495th consecutive post to the blog
existentialautotrip.com
______________________________________
Lead Picture*
Teddy Roosevelt
Photograph of U.S. President, Theodore Roosevelt. Image cropped by Emiya1980 using Photo Editor at https://www.befunky.com/create/.
Pach Bros. - This image is available from the United States Library of Congress's Prints and Photographs division under the digital ID ppmsca.35645. This tag does not indicate the copyright status of the attached work. A normal copyright tag is still required. See Commons: Licensing for more information.
______________________________________
Commentary
Just read that a group of Republicans in Pennsylvania are backing the Democratic candidate for governor on the grounds that the Trump-backed Republican nominee is too extreme. I wrote here months ago that centrist Republicans will have to bear some losses in order to establish their hegemony over the party platform. This is an illustration. Centrist Democrats should listen and acknowledge the country’s need for a strong conservative Republican party, without the wingnuts.
Here's another take on the same subject: rebuilding a strong conservative GOP. In several states, including New York and Connecticut, third parties can channel their energy into endorsing and placing on the ballot candidates who also run as Democrats or Republicans, giving their members the option to cast tactical votes for a major party candidate under a banner that better reflects their values. This is known as fusion voting, when two parties “fuse” and form a coalition to support the same candidate.
I love it. Instead of the negativity of a Third Party simply siphoning off votes from a mainstream candidate, that same party becomes relevant in a positive, more meaningful way, voting FOR a candidate.
______________________________________
Word of the Day: FUSION
For definition, see below, immediately after the Short Essay
______________________________________
Chuckles and Thoughts
Threescore years and ten is enough;
if a man can't suffer all the misery he wants in that time, he must be numb.
~Josh Billings
_____________________________________
Mail and other Conversation
We love getting mail, email, or texts.
Send comments to domcapossela@hotmail.com
or text to 617.852.7192
This great contribution sent from Sally C as to why agents don’t detail their responses to submitting writers.
Hi, Dom,
I thought you’d be interested in the article below about agents’ responses (or lack thereof) to queries from authors. The very end of the article talks about those stories that get some kind of response from agents – ‘not for me, but here’s a suggestion’ – as being highly valuable. To get a personal response as part of a rejection is incredibly important. It tells volumes about the quality of your work.
Cheers!
Sally
BRASS CASTLE ARTS
Literary Services to Polish Your Gem
Freelance Copywriter | Copyeditor | Author
Sally M. Chetwynd
PO Box 1916, Wakefield, MA 01880
781-548-9519 c
brasscastlearts@gmail.com
https://www.brasscastlearts.com
https://www.linkedin.com/in/sally-m-chetwynd-6118741b/
https://www.alignable.com/wakefield-ma/brass-castle-arts
AUTHOR OF: Bead of Sand and The Sturgeon’s Dance
Sign up for my tri-weekly newsletter – “Natterings & Noodlings.” (A politics-free zone!) Come, join the fun!
Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouth, but only what is helpful for building others up. – Ephesians 4:29
AGENTS DON'T GIVE USEFUL FEEDBACK—
HERE'S A BETTER WAY TO GET IT
This article was written by Allison Williams. Allison holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Western Michigan University and spent twenty years as a circus aerialist and acrobat before writing and editing full-time. Now that's an author bio you haven't seen before, right? Her latest book is Seven Drafts: Self-Edit Like a Pro From Blank Page to Book (Woodhall Press, 2021). Learn more at her website. Thanks to Jane Friedman for this great essay.
_______________________________________________________________
The long, frustrating process of querying seems so one-sided. Most queries receive form rejections with cryptic phrases like “I didn’t connect” or “just not for me,” or fall into the deep valley of No response means no.
Author after author asks on Twitter, in writing groups and workshops—why can’t they just say what’s wrong? Make a checkbox or a copy-paste? At least tell me, is it the writing or the story or what? It would take thirty seconds!
Well, no. Responding with brief-but-helpful feedback to your query takes maybe 10 minutes, after the agent has read the query and enough of your first pages to know the book is not a fit and why, then copy-paste “Sorry I didn’t believe your hero” or “Vampires are over.” But agents get upwards of 200 queries each week. Two thousand minutes a week is 33 hours. When are they supposed to, you know, work?
That’s the first reason agents don’t give feedback: You aren’t their client. They already have contracts with other authors, legally binding agreements in which they promise to spend their time selling books and furthering careers. They have manuscripts to read, revisions letters to write, editors to pitch, non-responsive editors to follow up with (agents get ghosted, too). Many agents are part-time or have another gig. Often, they tackle their inbox at night or on weekends—and after two years without reliable school and/or childcare, those inboxes are fuller than ever.
Another reason not to give feedback: Agents don’t actually know what’s wrong with your book.They only know where they lost interest in the first pages. Maybe they don’t want to spend time with the hero. But if that problem gets solved on page 50, then “Your hero is unlikeable” could send an author into a long and fruitless revision, when the feedback they really needed was “Cut pages 1–49.”
Query feedback could hurt more than it helps. Maybe they sent a form rejection because the writing isn’t ready, the story is terrible and the format is sloppy—but will saying that inspire an author to take a workshop, get a critique partner or form a writing group? Or just crush their desire to keep writing?
Sometimes they’re wrong about the market. What if this agent writes, “Sorry, vampires are over,” and the author shoulders their sadness, tucks away the book, and stops querying? Maybe next week, another agent has a line on a great new vampire series that will totally revitalize the genre, only the author quit before querying them.
Sometimes there’s nothing you can change. “Didn’t connect” can mean “the book is fine, the writing is fine, the story is fine, but it doesn’t make me want to shriek and call you immediately before another agent spots you.” How many books have you picked up in a store and decided they just didn’t grab you enough to buy? Do you owe each author a critique? Agents work for free until the book sells. Your agent must be so excited about your work that she’s happy to invest her time and reputation and take her lumps if the book doesn’t sell.
I hear authors raging that agents who don’t answer queries promptly are “violating every professional norm.” Exactly whose profession would that be? Because I spent ten years as a circus performer, and my “professional norms” include multi-gender full nudity backstage. Violating my professional norm would be noticing that people are naked instead of getting on with your business. But I sure wouldn’t expect to follow that professional norm in your break room, and you’d be pretty freaked out if I did.
Queries are sales emails. There’s not a professional norm in the world that says we must respond thoughtfully to every sales email. As authors, we’re seeking a partnership to sell our carefully crafted product. But an agent’s primary job is to make money for and with their pre-existing relationships. Making new relationships with future income potential is important but secondary.
There is some feedback you can give yourself on your own query and first pages, for free.
Does the story begin in the first paragraph? Not backstory, not the hero’s description, not world-building, but the actual dramatic arc. Read the first pages of published books in your genre. How does the first action of the book kick off the quest, whether that’s to get sober or get the magic sword?
Is the protagonist established as someone readers want to spend time with? Not just a “save the cat” moment establishing their fundamental humanity, but showing what they’re passionately interested in. People who are interested are interesting. Look at those published first pages again—when do you find out the hero’s personal passion? Check your own first pages. What does your hero care deeply about?
Are the “rules” of your book clear? Does the reader know what they’re signing up for from page one? If you’re writing suspense, can you point to the first moment of foreboding? If it’s a mystery, when does the first clue appear? If it’s memoir, your voice, format or structure must tell the reader, take my hand and follow me through this—it’ll be worth your while.
Agents generally don’t give feedback. If you’ve gotten feedback specific to your book, that means they thought there was enough promise that it was worth spending precious time and risking a rude response (believe it or not, it happens!) to help you. Cheer for yourself. Revise, if you think it’s true. Then get back to querying.
Blog meister responds: Wonderful, Sally. Thank you/.
____________________________________
Dinner/Food/Recipes
On Wednesday I had dinner at Mr. Bartley’s Burger Cottage. I had the Joe Bartley’s Burger to which I added TWO extra slices of American cheese. I ate outside. Perfect.
____________________________________
Pictures with Captions from our community**
jimmy cerulli
My mother-in-law was an avid hiker into her nineties.
__________________________________
Short Essay*
Theodore Roosevelt Jr. (/ˈroʊzəvɛlt/ ROH-zə-velt;[b] October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), often referred to as Teddy or his initials T. R., was an American politician, statesman, conservationist, naturalist, historian, and writer who served as the 26th president of the United States from 1901 to 1909. He previously served as the 25th vice president under William McKinley from March to September 1901, and as the 33rd governor of New York from 1899 to 1900. Having assumed the presidency after McKinley's assassination, Roosevelt emerged as a leader of the Republican Party and became a driving force for anti-trust and Progressive policies.
Roosevelt was a sickly child with debilitating asthma but partly overcame his health problems by embracing a strenuous lifestyle. He integrated his exuberant personality, a vast range of interests and achievements into a "cowboy" persona defined by robust masculinity. He was home-schooled and began a lifelong naturalist avocation before attending Harvard. His book The Naval War of 1812 (1882) established his reputation as a learned historian and popular writer. Upon entering politics, he became the leader of the reform faction of Republicans in New York's state legislature. His wife and mother both died in the same night and he was psychologically devastated. He recuperated by buying and operating a cattle ranch in the Dakotas. He served as Assistant Secretary of the Navy under President William McKinley and in 1898 helped plan the highly successful naval war against Spain. He resigned to help form and lead the Rough Riders, a unit that fought the Spanish army in Cuba to great publicity. Returning a war hero, he was elected governor of New York in 1898. The New York state party leadership disliked his ambitious agenda and convinced McKinley to make Roosevelt his running mate in the 1900 election. Roosevelt campaigned vigorously, and the McKinley–Roosevelt ticket won a landslide victory based on a platform of victory, peace, and prosperity.
Roosevelt assumed the presidency at age 42 after McKinley was assassinated in September 1901. He remains the youngest person to become president of the United States. Roosevelt was a leader of the progressive movement and championed his "Square Deal" domestic policies, promising the average citizen fairness, breaking of trusts, regulation of railroads, and pure food and drugs. He prioritized conservation and established national parks, forests, and monuments intended to preserve the nation's natural resources. In foreign policy, he focused on Central America where he began construction of the Panama Canal. He expanded the Navy and sent the Great White Fleet on a world tour to project American naval power. His successful efforts to broker the end of the Russo-Japanese War won him the 1906 Nobel Peace Prize. Roosevelt was elected to a full term in 1904 and continued to promote progressive policies. He groomed his close friend William Howard Taft to succeed him in the 1908 presidential election.
Roosevelt grew frustrated with Taft's brand of conservatism and belatedly tried to win the 1912 Republican nomination for president. He failed, walked out, and founded the Progressive Party. He ran in the 1912 presidential election and the split allowed the Democratic nominee Woodrow Wilson to win the election. Following the defeat, Roosevelt led a two-year expedition to the Amazon basin where he nearly died of tropical disease. During World War I, he criticized Wilson for keeping the country out of the war; his offer to lead volunteers to France was rejected. He considered running for president again in 1920, but his health continued to deteriorate. He died in 1919. He is generally ranked in polls of historians and political scientists as one of the greatest presidents in American history.
__________________________________
Definition of Today’s word:
FUSION
the process or result of joining two or more things together to form a single entity:
* The Blog Meister selects the topics for the Lead Picture and the Short Essay and then leans heavily or exclusively on Wikipedia to provide the content. The Blog Meister usually edits the entries.
**Pictures with Captions from our community are photos sent in by our blog followers. Feel free to send in yours to domcapossela@hotmail.com
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!