Unsolicited shoutout

I had a request for more Okinawa pictures, which I aim to provide. But first I feel obliged to give props to a book that helped me survive the physical misery of two long overseas flights in economy class.

That book is....Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver, a well-known author of fiction and nonfiction who has Appalachian roots. She made a big splash a couple of years ago with her book about local food, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. Some of her fiction tends to be preachy at times but Lacuna seemed to have been written just for getting me through the flights.

In 2008, El Cabrero, the Spousal Unit and two friends went to Mexico, where among other things we visited the house of artists Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera, Rivera's murals at the Ministry of Education in Mexico City, and the museum at Leon Trotsky's home in exile where he was killed by Stalin's agents.



I've been fascinated by Trotsky since I was a pup and while I'm no follower, early exposure to his life and ideas has given me zero tolerance for Stalinist BS and anything that reeks of it, however, wherever and whenever it shows up. Later on, I also became a Frida and Diego fan (two turkeys on the farm are named after them).




Anyhow, Kingsolver ties their lives together with that of a fictional protagonist who eventually gets caught up in post WW II Cold War hysteria. She even weaves in ancient Mexican civilizations, including a visit to the pyramids at Teotihuacan, which is truly a magical place.



What can I say? The book scratched my itch. And I'm grateful for the diversion.

MINE SAFETY. Can you say "union?"

MINING AND MORE are the subjects of the latest edition of the Rev. Jim Lewis' Notes from Under the Fig Tree.

NO COMMENT. NPR reports that Massey CEO Don Blankenship's pay increased recently despite continuing concerns about mine safety.

GOAT ROPE ADVISORY LEVEL: ELEVATED

ONE BLUE HOUSE

If these walls could talk. Pictures of the home of Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera.

El Cabrero is back in WV after 10 days in Mexico, split between Mexico City and Oaxaca. There were plenty of things to see and plenty of native speakers for me to torment with my horrible Spanish. Thanks to good farm-sitters, no mass animal graves were required on our return, which was a plus.



I enjoy traveling but always have this haunting fear that I'll miss something interesting while I'm gone. The great Greek sage Heraclitus said that you can't step in the same river twice, but given the state of some of our rivers, that might not be an altogether bad thing.



There were several places I wanted to see, one of which was the Casa Azul, home of revolutionary artists Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera and currently a museum in the Mexico City neighborhood of Coyacan.



There I learned that every home should have its own pyramid. I've got it on my to-do list.

Now, where were we...

MISTAKES WERE MADE. A new Army report finds major faults with the early stages of the occupation of Iraq.

RETIREMENT. More older workers are working longer as economic conditions decline, according to this Economic Policy Institute snapshot.

CAN WE TRUST OUR BRAINS? Maybe not so much...

A LITTLE GOOD NEWS. Supporters of clean elections will celebrate the state legislature's recent passage of a bill that requires financial disclosure for political ads. A previously passed law was struck down in a court decision.

A LITTLE FORGOTTEN HISTORY was the subject of an op-ed of mine in yesterday's Gazette-Mail.

URGENT EARLY TETRAPOD UPDATE. A new fossil from Latvia shows the link between fish and land animals.

GOAT ROPE ADVISORY LEVEL: ELEVATED