During a recent review of some of Lillian May Poe’s hand-crafted recipe books, I found two items on the same page: a news article and a painting of a shepherd with his dog and flock.

News clip from the Pittsburgh Press 11 May 1969

The newspaper clip from the Pittsburgh Press  is dated 11 May 1969 along its left edge.  The clipping  refers to an article in the 6 April Family Magazine of the Pittsburgh Press by George Swetman.  The Swetman article inspired the exhibit and catalogue sponsored by the East Liverpool Historical Society in 1971, curated by William H Vodrey.

The news clip references new information about artist Andrew Jackson Poe.

The artwork may be a reproduction of an Andrew Jackson Poe oil painting or water color.  The paper bond weight of the artwork is much sturdier than newspaper stock but it does not have the look of an original work of art.

Copyright © 2019  Francis W Nash  All Rights Reserved
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Although I was not glued to the T&V today, the Mueller testimony moved me.  Mueller was stoic.  He was the best an American can be – enduring incredible personal attacks without complaint.  In such a lose-lose predicament, Gary Cooper could not have performed better.

Mueller warned us that the Russian interference in our 2016 election was serious.  “Not a witch hunt.”  Not a hoax as claimed by the President.  Mueller warned us that the Russians are working to impact our next election.  He feared that the “Trump behavior with Russia is “The New Normal.”” .  At what cost?  The greatest cost!  The troubled times now are a prelude for the harder times ahead.

My she who must be obeyed gifted me a copy of 1984 for my recent Bday.  In 1936 George Orwell, nee Eric Blair, volunteered to support the Spanish Republican elected government against Franco fascism.  The good guys lost.   Franco murdered thousands of fellow citizens during his 35+ year tyrannical rule of Spain following the war.   Those wounds are still raw in Spain.  Americans in the Abraham Lincoln Brigade who volunteered to fight fascism suffered more than a 25% casualty rate.  Ahead of their time fighting fascism, they were persecuted by the J Edgar Hoover FBI for years after the Spanish Civil War ended.

I have always found the words describing the events of the Spanish Civil War uncomfortably relevant.  Many of the same issues then are involved in the Trump rise to power. Today the issues that led to the worst civil war in Europe seem only too close in many countries.

As I understand it, today marks a new beginning.  Truth and reason are on our side.

Copyright © 2019  Francis W Nash  All Rights Reserved
No part of this website may be reproduced without permission in writing from the author.

“Time keeps on slippin, slippin,  into the future” (Steve Miller Band 1976).

Time is having its way with me in a fashion that I do not understand.  I seem like the same person I was three, four decades ago when I was a rock-and-roll lunatic with long hair.  Today, my knees hurt;  my back aches;  my hair is thin and “platinum”.

Today signifies another successful trip around the sun.

Kavananope Protest 4 Oct 2018

All that said this is no time for complaints, pessimism, nor inaction.  The health of democracy in PA, and America, is not good  measured by the amount of dark money and foreign influence in our political campaigns, gerrymandered congressional and state districts, voter suppression legislation, income inequality, climate change denial, and general lack of confidence in our elected politicians.

Yet, alongside these troubling indicators of  erosion of our democracy, there have come signs that “we the people“ of PA want to reclaim our politics.   Across the state since the last presidential election, grass roots citizens groups, sometimes called indivisible and resistance, have sprouted up seeking to hold federal and state lawmakers accountable.

Tue with Toomey Gun Violence Protest 4 Mar 2019

Personally, I stand in solidarity with thousands of courageous teenagers who spoke out and organized to stop gun violence following the school shooting in Parkland, FL.  I stand in solidarity with the activists fighting for immigrant rights and DACA.  I applaud the rank-in-file movement of teachers in WV, OK, KY, and AZ, which is reviving the far too long dormant tradition of labor activism.  I proudly support the women in the funky pink hats.  They give me hope for the change of direction needed in PA, and America, and the world.

Drawing on the energy and experiences of the hundreds of thousands who took to the streets in DC for the Women’s Marches and the Marches for Life and the Marches for Science, I proudly stand with them for the values of truth, social and economic justice and equality, health care for all, and human rights.

PA was the birthplace of American democracy.  Our founders crafted the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution in Philadelphia. The Battle of Gettysburg helped turn the tide of the Civil War and preserved the union so that “government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from this earth.”  The time has come for “we the people” of PA to embrace our shared heritage by restoring our state’s democracy.  That is the only way we can achieve a democracy and an economy that works for all.  It is “fitting and proper” that that work of the nation starts here.

Speaking for the nation, Franklin D Roosevelt said “The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much, it is whether we provide enough for those who have little.”

The measure of our personal progress is not just what we have, but how we live.

Copyright © 2019  Francis W Nash  All Rights Reserved
No part of this website may be reproduced without permission in writing from the author.