Author: Pat Shiplett
Mrs. Trump’s Sketchbook, mask
First Lady Melania Trump agreed to an exclusive one-on-one interview with ‘Out Among Humans.’
OAH: Mrs. Trump, why won’t your husband wear a COVID mask?
MT: After you tell the world that a deadly Coronavirus is a hoax, wearing a mask would make you look like a fool. Beside Donald has that orange makeup thing to worry about.
OAH: President Trump told Americans to drink disinfectant. Do you worry that Trump voters will follow his suggestion?
MT: I shouldn’t say this out loud but people who are drawn to my husband, God love ’em, don’t always think things through.
OAH: Your husband was pushing hydroxychloroquine until it was found to be potentially dangerous. Did you give it to the First Family?
MT: No, thank God, but Donald has minor holdings in HCQ and his investment advisors thought it would make for good PR optics if I did.
OAH: And finally, Mrs. Trump, how long do you plan to continue social-distancing?
MT: I’ve been social distancing from my husband for years. It’s the only way to keep myself healthy.
OAH: Thank you, Mrs. Trump.
Endangered Species
About a generation ago we passed laws to conserve the wild places that endangered fish, wildlife and plants need to survive.
Some promising things have come of those efforts:
…Wolves reintroduced into Yellowstone
…Chinook Salmon protected by redesign of Columbia River dams
…Eagles and Peregrine Falcons repopulating West after DDT banned
…Northern Spotted Owl wins protection
…Grizzly removed from endangered list
…Red Wolf and Florida Grasshopper Sparrow being breed in captivity (fingers crossed)
The human population was one billion in 1800, today we are nearly eight billion. The more we consume and discard, the less there is for our fellow species. In Darwin’s words, survival of the fittest.
Scientists calculate we’ve now altered more than half of the earth’s land surface. They’re starting to refer to this present in geological history as the “Anthropocene” epoch (from the Greek meaning humans).
They want us to understand that if we continue doing the things that drive animals into extinction, we’ll eventually cross an invisible line and we’ll become one more in a long line of endangered species.
You Thai
If you sit at the table where You Thai shared meals with his family you’ll feel the presence…of the man whose name is on a marker near where Lake Washington feeds into Puget Sound.
He was You Thai to some; Dad, Gun-gun, Yeh-yeh, Bah-bah and Dr. Tchao to others.
People remember important events as happening before or after the loss of loved ones. You Thai and his family shared more of such memories than most. His grandchildren knew and loved him well.
Birth sets us on a path we can roughly predict. The rites of passage are defined in the greeting-card section of every supermarket.
But the afterlife is trickier.
Religions tell us that ‘to dust we shall return.’ There are particular faiths that treat souls who have crossed over with a reverence bordering on worship.
We shouldn’t assume that being granted a follow-up life is a gift. Hindus and Buddhists see reincarnation as a sentence to doing more hard time here on earth.
Pharaohs built monuments believing they would be immortal as long as they were remembered. Now our ancestors are recorded on our phones, showing the faces and mannerisms they passed on to us.
It is not unusual to talk to the dear departed as if they were still with us. It‘s also not unusual, in quiet moments when we least expect it, to hear them answer us.
