Resources for Independence Day

Yesterday afternoon, three hen wild turkeys used some bare spots in our back yard as dust baths. Meanwhile, another handful of birds were pecking away at the top of the hill. No signs of poults yet.

This morning we enjoyed a brief visit by a whitetail doe and her twin fawns. Yesterday, two does, unaccompanied by fawns, stopped by. Unfortunately, the dominant wildlife this month remains biting insects like mosquitos and deer flies.

whitetail with older fawns, late July

Photo by J. Harrington

There are at least two male red-winged blackbirds coming to the seed feeder. The male Baltimore orioles are showing up more frequently, and a female oriole had a great time in the bird bath a day or so ago.

Tonight we’re trying something new for dinner, red rice. The Better Half used the recipe from the Gullah Geechee Home Cooking book. I know some folks don’t see it this way, but I believe we’d be a better, stronger, more fun country if we would learn to enjoy our differences instead of allowing others to turn our country into a boring, monotonous, unresilient, theocracy.

One of the psychologists I read when I was in college was Fritz Perls. I think I found him, and humanistic psychology, through Paul [and Percival] Goodman’s writings. The state of the world these days seems to me to beg for broader application of the thinking and praxis of those kinds of folks. One particularly inspirational quote of Perls suggests how we could be better served than we are by our current politicians and two-party system:

“I do my thing and you do your thing.
I am not in this world to live up to your expectations,
And you are not in this world to live up to mine.
You are you, and I am I, and if by chance we find each other, it’s beautiful.
If not, it can’t be helped.“

-Fritz Perls-

I've not previously thought about it this way, but isn’t that the way much of the universe works, especially the natural world of which we are a part and have become too much apart.

I’ve no idea if a kid named Zimmerman from Hibbing Minnesota ever read the Goodman’s or Perls or those who thought like them, but several of his songs resonate with the repeated absurdity of American life. Check especially the last stanza.

Maggie’s Farm

Written by: Bob Dylan 

I ain’t gonna work on Maggie’s farm no more
No, I ain’t gonna work on Maggie’s farm no more
Well, I wake in the morning
Fold my hands and pray for rain
I got a head full of ideas
That are drivin’ me insane
It’s a shame the way she makes me scrub the floor
I ain’t gonna work on Maggie’s farm no more

I ain’t gonna work for Maggie’s brother no more
No, I ain’t gonna work for Maggie’s brother no more
Well, he hands you a nickel
He hands you a dime
He asks you with a grin
If you’re havin’ a good time
Then he fines you every time you slam the door
I ain’t gonna work for Maggie’s brother no more

I ain’t gonna work for Maggie’s pa no more
No, I ain’t gonna work for Maggie’s pa no more
Well, he puts his cigar
Out in your face just for kicks
His bedroom window
It is made out of bricks
The National Guard stands around his door
Ah, I ain’t gonna work for Maggie’s pa no more

I ain’t gonna work for Maggie’s ma no more
No, I ain’t gonna work for Maggie’s ma no more
Well, she talks to all the servants
About man and God and law
Everybody says
She’s the brains behind pa
She’s sixty-eight, but she says she’s twenty-four
I ain’t gonna work for Maggie’s ma no more

I ain’t gonna work on Maggie’s farm no more
No, I ain’t gonna work on Maggie’s farm no more
Well, I try my best
To be just like I am
But everybody wants you
To be just like them
They sing while you slave and I just get bored
I ain’t gonna work on Maggie’s farm no more

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