Author: michael raven

  • And… Billy Bragg is with us, too

    Now, Billy Bragg is a folk musician I do listen to. He wrote a classic tune for Minneapolis in the past few days as well. If you haven’t listened to Billy Bragg before, I recommend you remedy with that below.

    When they came for the immigrants
    I got in their face
    When they came for the refugees
    I got in their face
    When they came for the five-year-olds
    I got in their face
    When they came to my neighborhood
    I just got in their face.

    I will bear witness to terror
    I will bear witness to tyranny
    I will bear witness to murder
    I will bear witness to fascism.

    For reference, a five-year-old was used for bait by ICE to arrest his father. They wouldn’t let the young boy go into the house, and then they took him to Texas with his father against judge’s orders.

  • Reblog and call to help

    An excellent, extremely talented WordPress writer that I am honored to number as one of my good friends is encountering some major hurdles involving her health and a radical, unexpected life change, both of which are increasing the symptoms of her chronic illness due to the related stresses.

    Someday It Will Be Safe To Write About Everything

    If you have a moment, please go to Jenn’s site and read about some of the details of what she is going through. I know more about the details of the unexpected life changes that she is experiencing, but it is not my place to share that information.

    She could use a crowdsourced solution if one is forthcoming, so if you know anybody who could help Jenn with her growing crisis or know where she might be able to find some assistance (funding, assisted living solutions, etc.) please leave your thoughts in the comments below (comments are turned off on her post, with good reason).

    Please limit suggestions below to those “outside of the box” and please don’t offer up unverified “guesses”, no matter how well-intentioned. If you have solid answers those are always appreciated. She’s already tried to seek help from the more obvious and even some of the less obvious options, and has come up largely empty-handed.

    Please feel free to reblog this post if you think your audience might be able to help out Jenn. The more people who know about what she is dealing with, the more likely a solution will present itself.

  • casting runes — 29jan26

    kenaz
    burning on the inside
    seeking cooling ground
    to draw this feverdream
    from head to stone

    A rune poem, based on an Elder Futhark rune selected at random.

    Today’s rune is kenaz, which has been translated as both “torch” and “ulcer” . It is conceived as symbolic of flame, which is the illuminated creativity as well as the source of purification/healing/cautery. Fire is a a source of transformation and unmaking as well as heat, passion and light. As an ulcer, kenaz can be associated with a fever or inflammation, perhaps a wound which requires healing.

    Please visit my Elder Futhark pages at sceadugenga.com for additional interpretations of the runes based on multiple references and personal reflection.

  • Jackbooted thug files — 29jan26

    Just to provide a very short update as to the situation in Minnesota, nothing has meaningful changed here on the ground with the switching of leadership (sic) personnel. The only cool-down we are witnessing is the cool-down of rhetoric from a corrupt administration realizing they made an unforced error by demonizing Alex Pretti, who was murdered in cold blood at the hands of masked thugs in flak jackets and carrying military-grade hardware for exercising TWO of his Constitutional rights (freedom of speech and the right to bear arms, the second of which, mind you he never removed from the holster and was never in his hand during the altercation). And that rhetoric is even ramping up again. Why? Because the Trump minions (and toddler in chief, Dotard Donnie, especially) are incapable of keeping their mouths shut when the best thing to do is just shut up.

    Don’t believe the hype when they say that they are trying to bring down the temperature. That’s bullshit. They’re doing anything but.

    (more…)

  • recollection

    do you recall wrists
    bound in sailor's knot or
    was that only wraith?

    memories from mists or
    merely smoke & mirrors?
    tell me true, did years burn?

    beautiful darkling,
    do you recall the gloaming
    of our changeling time?