To The Folks Who Don't Come Here For Redistricting News

 Let me say I appreciate you all and I'm sorry for my obsession with redistricting.  This may or may not be over soon.  

Here's a post for you.  About other things I've been doing.  

I stopped at Loussac Library after dropping off my taxes at the post office and checked out the new book section.  

Between the Lines  is a bunch of short encounters with people who recommend a favorite book.  Lots of them.  This is probably a good book from which to get ideas for books to read.  

I was going to share the table of contents here, but I think it's too small to read so here are some of the sections:

• Arrivals
• 
  Trees
• Matriarchs
• Legacy Food
• Power
• Reality
• Big Brother
• Character
• Image
• Fabric
• Old New York
• Movement
• Access
• Space
• Time
• History
• Music
• Design
• (True) Colors
• Questions
• Migration
• Love
• Compassion
• Home
• Memories
• Waves
• The End of the Line 

Here's one from the food section.  Jody Scaravella.  It starts out, 

"I own a restaurant on Staten Island where different grandmothers cook every night."  

Imagine!  From all different cultural backgrounds.  I want to go to that restaurant.  

I couldn't get a sense of this book at a glance.  It's recommended by the guy who told us we were at the end of history.   And the use of the word aristocracy raises questions.  Is that good or bad in the author's mind.  There is a lot to be said for the meritocracy, where tests, not family connections, qualify you for college and jobs.  Where the smartest people rise to the top.  But smarts in certain areas don't mean a person is smart in other key areas and when people rise to the top, there are other problems.  Often they use their own rags to riches based on talent story to fault others who haven't made the same rise.  

I haven't read the book, but the reviews online seem to be from places like the Wall Street Journal and other business, right-wing outlets.  

Try this one, for example, from Minding The Campus/Reforming Our Universities:

"From Greta Thunberg to Black Lives Matter, activists are fond of pointing out society’s imperfections, but are completely clueless when it comes to proposing alternatives. Meritocracy—and related concepts, such as IQ—is a case in point. When Michael Young coined the term in his famous 1958 book The Rise of Meritocracy, many people shunned the idea that privileges should be allotted on the basis of merits. And sure enough, “meritocracy” is a word that is all too frequently tossed around to justify the status quo, which is admittedly far from ideal.

But what is the alternative? Activists have not considered enough what a world without meritocracy would look like. Adrian Wooldridge’s The Aristocracy of Talent is a powerful reminder that while meritocracy may have its shortcomings, the lack of meritocracy is far worse. Wooldridge looks at the historical record of past civilizations and draws a definite conclusion: without meritocracy, injustice runs rampant, and life is miserable for most people. Furthermore, as he sees it, “meritocracy is a golden ticket to prosperity,” even more so than democracy."

There's a definite sense here of dictatorship of the talented.  First he dumps on Greta Thunberg and Black Lives Matter, and then he thinks China is a good example.  

"Last month, Brian Buma, PhD, associate professor of integrative biology, released his first book, The Atlas of a Changing Climate (Timber Press, $35). The 280-page book is filled with more than 100 maps, charts, and infographics to help readers without a science background envision the shifting reality of our imperiled ecosystems. Buma, who is a National Geographic Explorer, covers climate change, shrinking wildlife habitats, rising sea levels, and vanishing species."

The quote is from an interview with the author in CUDenver News. 

I suspect this and the previous book reflect less the Bronson attempted takeover of the Anchorage library system, than the fact that the library has always had a collection of conservative as well as other political viewpoints at the library.  

“Then Mordecai told them to reply to Esther, ‘Do not imagine that you in the king’s palace can escape any more than all the Jews. For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place and you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows whether you have not attained royalty for such a time as this?’” Esther 4:13-14 (NASB)  From Proverbs31 Ministries.

I'm afraid I saw more than enough her when she defended the disgraced Donald Trump.  But put this under your "know thine enemy" reading list.  

"Throughout America, structural problems are getting worse. Economic inequality is near Gilded Age heights, the healthcare system is a mess, and the climate crisis continues to grow. Yet most ambitious policy proposals that might fix these calamities are dismissed as wastefully expensive by default. From the kitchen table to Congress, debates are punctuated with a familiar refrain: "How are you going to pay for that?"

This question is designed to shut down policy pushes up front, minimizing any interference with the free market. It comes from neoliberalism, an economic ideology that has overtaken both parties. Proponents insist that markets are naturally-occurring and apolitical—and that too much manipulation of the economy will make our society fall apart. Ryan Cooper argues that our society already is falling apart, and the logically preposterous views of neoliberalism are to blame. Most progressives understand this instinctively, but many lack the background knowledge to make effective economic counterarguments.

How Are You Going To Pay For That? is filled with engaging discussions and detailed strategies that policymakers and citizens alike can use to assail even the most entrenched lines of neoliberal logic, and start to undo these long-held misconceptions. Equal parts economic theory, history, and political polemic, this is an essential roadmap for winning the key battles to come."  From Overdrive.

"The political scientist Bruce Bueno de Mesquita also makes bold claims. The title of his book promises that he will explain “The Invention of Power”; his subtitle, more modestly, “The birth of the West”. He sets out his stall in the preface: Western (or European) exceptionalism means the “tolerance, prosperity and freedom” found in the West, and its “foundation” was laid in the Concordat of Worms of 1122.

At first glance, this claim seems highly improbable. The Concordat was an agreement between the pope and the Holy Roman Emperor that regulated the procedure for appointing bishops (similar settlements had been made with the kings of France and England shortly before)."  From TLS.

"The Privatization of Everything chronicles the efforts to turn our public goods—free education, public health, open parks, clean water, and many others—into private profit centers. Ever since Ronald Reagan labeled government a dangerous threat, privatization has touched every aspect of our lives, from water and trash collection to the justice system and the military.

However, citizens can, and are, wresting back what is ours. The Privatization of Everything connects the dots across a broad spectrum of issues and raises larger questions about who controls the public things we all rely on, exposing the hidden crisis of privatization that has been slowly unfolding over the last fifty years and giving us a road map for taking our country back."

This quote comes from the book's website, so read it with that in mind.

Besides the library, I've baked some bread.  The sourdough starter is a much less demanding pet than a dog.

And as part of my moving into to spring and summer activities, I'm nurturing a couple of trays of seedlings.  The pansies got planted early and have been doing nicely.    The broccoli (left) just got planted and the sprouts were up in two days.  There are more still waiting to sprout.  

Outside, the tulip greens are up and the daffodils (left) have poked up this week.  Bleeding hearts and one of the lilies are poking out of the ground too. 

I've been biking.  Last summer's mental trip was Chiang Mai to Bangkok.  I'm trying to work out a trip for my Anchorage riding that goes roughly from Istanbul to, I'm not sure where.  Kyiv?  Or just through Turkey.  Last summer I did about 750 kilometers, so the goal is a little further than that.  I've got about 50 k done already.  Here is Campbell Creek, awakening from winter.  

And a hairy woodpecker - well there were actually two - visited this week.  We've got a number of dead trees on the ground, presumably full of insects.  This is my bird feeder.  

Some of the smaller aspen have been woodpecker targets for a while and have died out.  This one got tangled in the phone and the electric wires going to the house.    I did call Alaska Communications but after a week, I got out the clippers on the pole and cut off the parts that were making it hard to get it untangled and now it too is grounded woodpecker feeder.  

So that's just some of what I've been doing instead of sitting at the computer.  And, I also spotted these license plates this last week.  

So that's it for now.