Bedlam Farm Blog Journal by Jon Katz

21 August

Sunset, Bedlam Farm. October Light Is Coming

by Jon Katz

I see it’s beginning to show some October Light, the photographer’s best light. The light is getting shorter, the mornings are darker, and the leaves are starting to decay and fall.

Autumn makes me sad. It was a holdover from returning to school, which I exceedingly hated. Here, fall brings a beautiful dusk. It rained for a while, and the sky was beginning to clear.

Autumn brings me the best light, and some flowers will fade. I have a plan.

Maris is off to belly dancing so that I will make dinner: fresh corn on the cob, sliced tomato, and Mozzarella cheese. Then I’ll watch an episode of “Homicide” and later check into the Democratic National Convention. I want to see Governor Tim Walz speak.

I must be honest; I’m enjoying my time on TikTok. I’m following the political explosion there on behalf of Kamala Harris; it is both creative and fascinating. I know how addictive it can be for the young and how serious that issue is. But the energy, humor, and creativity there are stunning, far from anything older people or conventional media do.

I don’t want to be someone who is demonizing it; I am never comfortable around mobs, but rather someone who is coming slowly to understand it.

I love being with Maria, but I also love being alone sometimes.

21 August

Flower Art. The Sculpture Of Flowers. Getting Closer.

by Jon Katz

So I said to myself, I’ll paint what I see what the flower is to me, but I’ll paint it big, and they will be surprised into taking the time to look at it – I will make even New Yorkers take time to see what I see of flowers...” – Georgia O’Keeffe.

If I were to study flower art, I’d study flowers as a kind of natural sculpture; that’s how I look at them in my photography. I love the shapes and curves of flowers, and like O’Keeffe, the closer I get, the more people will pay attention to them. Flowers have given me a beautiful new way to see and understand the world.

See you in the morning.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

21 August

My Thoughts On The Convention (I Don’t Do Takeaways Or Quote From Polls). It’s Simple. I Just Think.

by Jon Katz

It was intriguing to hear three political pundits on cable news today assert that Kamala Harris and Tim Walz have overcome the easy part and are now facing the tough stuff. If I’m not mad, they seem to have dealt with the tough stuff and are already moving straight to better stuff.

That is different from what our media says.

It made me shake my head. Our media is not about informing but alarming.

How could the last month possibly have been easier than what is ahead? They can only see doom and argue about light.

Harris has done the impossible in just a few weeks. She has brought some joy back to the country.

The Republicans, filled with dread and fear,  have turned a political party and Presidential election into a completely unanticipated beacon of hope and change. Their influence on the public perception of the future is undeniable.

I also laugh at Donald Trump’s insistence on suggesting that Kamala Harris is a Marxist and Communist (they are not, in fact, the same thing). She looks nothing like Karl Marx and will have no trouble dispelling that. Karl Marx, like Donald Trump, never laughed once in his life.

The public is not just captivated by Harris and enamored with Walz but also in love with them and deeply engaged in their political narrative. Indeed, some of that will pass. But there is now a momentum, and like avalanches, they can go a long way before stopping.

Despite being a minefield of potential disaster last month, Harris and Walz have avoided making a severe mistake. Their resilience is a testament to their leadership, and it’s a story that keeps us all hooked.

I’m not worried about her; I’m more concerned about everyone being eager to worry about her. Are right and left-wing extremists the only people who know how to be confident?

I pay no attention when the pundits say Trump has lost no support.

All I have to do is ask my neighbors, rural men who have mostly taken down their Trump signs and stopped putting them on their lawns. I trust that more than any poll, and there is no way these men will admit not voting this year to strangers on the phone.

Despite the gloomy predictions of the almost irrelevant mainstream media, we, the audience, are witnessing a journey to the top for Camala Harris with very few dark clouds ahead. When I want to understand what is happening, I go to Instagram or TikTok, a first for me. Our engagement is shaping the political narrative.

Yes, the world is unpredictable, and trouble can boil up. A car can also hit me every time I go to the market. That doesn’t take hope or joy away from me. Pain is inevitable. Suffering is a choice.

Here’s what I see. Harris has miraculously neutralized Donald Trump’s vicious and successful attacks, making him a subject of ridicule and contempt. His rallies no longer attract nearly as many people as they did in the past, and his efforts to look moderate are just funny and hardly persuasive.

This is a testament to Harris’s strategic prowess and the changing dynamics of the political arena. His attacks need to be fixed.

The old media can’t accept this; they can’t bear losing their pet and profitable monster. What will they obsess on next?

He’s kept them busy and in business for years as their relevance fades steadily and sadly. Like Harris herself, I no longer have a need or use for them, and they rarely know the truth or tell it. But we, the so-called discerning public, can see through their facade.

The challenge is to ignore labels. Nobody ever learned to think by labeling themselves red or blue. No one predicted what was happening, although I did see a women’s revolution coming. I didn’t see it being so powerful and aroused so fast.

This is a dramatic and massive change in American politics. It’s stunning.

In case the media haven’t noticed, no one – absolutely anyone – is upset because Kamala Harris disagrees with having to do those stuffy and useless interviews. Why give herself a chance to stumble when everything is going well?

She has the most important cultural and political change in America at her back—angry women who have had enough, and now, young people hungry for hope and black Americans ready to storm the voting places. It’s a powerful coalition.

They aren’t going back, and she will benefit enormously from that in her campaign. The women’s revolution is here; look at the faces of those women at those rallies. The MAGA hats are not stirring anybody under the age of 60.

That’s the problem with Zealots; they only talk to each other.

The political misfire of the century was dumping Rose vs. Wade after 50 years of existence. The most compelling stories at the Democratic Convention are coming from those young women and mothers who have nearly lost their lives as well as their freedom because religious fanatics have taken over too many state houses.

Nobody wants the government in their beds, bedrooms, or doctor’s offices; Harris is right on the beam.

Let’s see what happens in November. I’ve never seen women so angry or determined to change.

Harris hasn’t done that severe sit-down with a tough reporter I keep hearing about, and the system has remained intact. She doesn’t talk much to reporters; she speaks instead directly to 20,000 people a pop.

The 200 social media Influencers she has invited to her Convention are busier than ever. They are thrilled to be invited to a party that has never let them in. They are having a blast, and so are their millions of readers. We live in an imperfect time; our future is exciting but equally imperfect. That’s life.

After spending years labeling Barack Obama a foreigner and worse, Trump told a reporter last night with a straight face that he liked the Obamas; they were good people (much what he said of the Nazis storming through Virginia waving their Nazy flags.) The reporter was speechless; she could hardly absorb another colossal lie.

They are getting worse and, yes, more ridiculous. The other night, Trump’s adolescent demon got him to say he was better-looking than Harris. TikTok went mad. Another million women hate Trump.

The pundits keep saying the contest will be close and intense, but the evidence that that is necessarily true is receding. Harris has the wind at her back, and Trump is no longer a tornado but an increasingly ridiculous and mentally troubled person, more and more something of a joke. As one TV regular said, Trump is losing his “taste.

The recently paralyzed Democratic party is now competing all over the place; she had many ways to win in November.

Momentum is everything in politics; it even trumps arrogant billionaires who still hope to buy the country.

Don’t expect the old and musty press to say much about that; old and musty billionaires are their bread and butter.

Trump is a goldmine for them; the crazier and more insulting he is, the more people want to see the circus and pay. The corporations who own just about all of the mainstream American media don’t want it ever to end.

He seems to finally grasp that he is in trouble and needs to be more sociable. Good luck with that. If you are a sociopath, you will testify that sociopaths can’t change, admit being wrong,  or contemplate defeat. We’ll see what happens.

The most challenging days are ahead for him. Harris is picking her shots and forums brilliantly, and the long, frustrated women in power politics are delivering some of the most powerful speeches and arguments since Abraham Lincoln.

Hundreds of thousands of people are signing up to work for her campaign. The passion and enthusiasm around them are stunning and unprecedented in my life. Trump’s rallies are looking more and more like planned picnics in assisted care.

The Republican Party is stuck with the role of poor Joe Biden when time caught up with him. They look petty, angry, corrupt, and pathetic. And almost all of them are old.

Kamala Harris has many opportunities and forums to make her policies clear enough. People are paying attention.

She’ll do it when it feels right, and she has become Trump’s worst fear, a young and charismatic woman up against a pathetic and ridiculous – and slimy –  old man.  He seems unable to change. Harris doesn’t need to change. She’ll do it in her way, not the media’s, not Trump’s.

Trump could live a long time if he retires to those plush gold courses, his real homes, and sells his golden shoes and bibles. He won’t last too long this way; look at him when he tries to talk in public. Joe Biden, you are not alone. I suspect that you will outlive him.

Hillary Clinton and Michelle Obama have set the stage.

This is a country that can’t even bear to speak about aging; nobody wants to see an old and angry white man fall apart in full view. Biden finally learned that lesson, and so have the rest of us.

The man who campaigned like a fearsome tiger looks like he can’t find his walker or wheelchair. It worked then, but it’s too much for him now, and the strong women of American politics—a breed that barely existed until a few years ago—are eating him alive.

Things are happening. Change is here.

The other stroke of luck or genius (or both) for Camala Harris is Governor Lawz. The camera loves him, his back story is perfect, and his humor and generosity are almost irresistible. He is the ideal politician, lovable and generous, with a two-foot machete hidden in his pants leg.

He’s the Yellow Lab of politics, with a nasty and surprising bite when he needs it.

Here’s another way to look at it.

Despite his arrogance and dreadful political instincts, Trump picked JD Vance as his running mate, perhaps the least likable political figure in modern times.

Harris picked Timothy Walz, the most likable teacher, coach,  sergeant, friend of the oppressed, and one of the most popular vice president candidates ever. Who is stumbling, and who isn’t?

Everyone wants to have a cup of coffee with Walz. Only spiders wish to sit with Trump or Vance and chat about the weather and women’s evilness.

That tells you almost everything you need to know about politics and who can care for themselves and who can’t.

 

21 August

Morning At Bedlam Farm, Wednesday, August 21, 2024. Testing A New Soft Trial Lens

by Jon Katz

I’ve got a used 50 mm lens to try out for 30 days (with a trade-in). I like the soft feeling of it. It will help with flower photography and also with acene shots like these below. I want my photography to keep going and getting better. This lens takes photos I can’t take with my existing lenses. With every new lens, my photography grows.

It’s a gloomy morning at the farm, with no sun at all.

 


Zip tracking the sheep, considering a dash into the marsh.

 

In the garden.

 

Apple tree in the back pasture.

Zinnia is barred from the pasture for two days, throwing up a lot of manure. Labs. She just stares balefully at me, but she never holds a grudge.

Landscape, Dusk.

Garden Bed

Where there is hope.

21 August

Let’s Make Some Families Feel Joy And Smile. Down To Basics At The Cambridge Food Pantry: Grated Parmesan Cheese Shaker, $2.96, Diced Canned Potatoes, $20.28 For 12 Cans

by Jon Katz

Today, we’re going back to basics: Parmesan cheese and a favorite: freshly cut diced canned potatoes. This food pantry stands out by not simply accepting what is given to it by government food banks; it tries to find out what people really want and what they miss.

The government doesn’t consider that. Your support makes it possible for us to do it.

Importantly, it’s about dignity and keeping the spirits of struggling families up. When they bring the things you send to their families, it’s a joyous occasion filled with laughter and smiles; a rare sight in their difficult circumstances. We bring this joy and laughter with every box from Amazon.

I’ve learned that there is something lonely and dispiriting about not choosing the foods you and your family want. We are putting a lot of smiles on people’s faces and their children’s faces, too. They need something to be happy about. Something that will take the fear and shame away.

That’s where we come in.

Cambridge Pantry Director Sarah chose two elemental items—the ever-popular Parmesan Cheese and canned potatoes—to fill a stomach with healthy food. Please help if you can. Sarah never sleeps.

Grated Parmesan Cheese Shaker, 8 oz, $2.96.

Del Monte Fresh Cut Diced Canned Potatoes, 14 Pack, 14.5 oz can, $20.28.

(The potatoes will make a dozen families smile.)

These items, chosen with Care, can make a significant difference in the lives of struggling families.

The Cambridge Pantry Amazon Wish List is updated regularly and is not accessible day or night, every day of the week. When Sarah sees she is getting enough of an item for the next week or so, she removes it from the list, saving people money and encouraging them to browse and make their own decisions about what to send. People like having this say in the good they do.

You can access the food wish list by clicking right here or going to the green button (above) at the bottom of every blog post at any time. It feels good to help other people feel good; these lives are complicated. It’s a great thing to help me sleep when I get to bed.

 

 

We’ve filled many shelves, but one of those I’m incredibly proud of is the Woman’s Needs shelf. We’ve filled it for several weeks now, and it is appreciated. We are bringing some light into these homes. The idea that people they don’t know and will never meet care about them is a tonic. They know that people care.

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