Perspective | The Direction of Intention

A Sacred Thing [David’s blog on Flawed Wednesday]

Posted on May 6, 2026 by davidrobinsoncreative

I learned a new term that I wish I could unlearn. Sacrifice zone. Here’s the wikipedia definition: A sacrifice zone is a heavily polluted or environmentally degraded geographic area, often residential, where residents—typically low-income or minority communities—suffer severe health risks due to proximity to industrial, mining, or military sites. These “throw-away” communities are deemed acceptable losses for economic development or national industrial needs, resulting in high cancer risks and respiratory diseases.

I learned my new term from a documentary film, GASLIT, that we saw at The Downer Theater as part of The Milwaukee Film Festival. After the movie we had to take a walk. We were so disturbed, so out of body, that it was not yet safe for us to drive. The film encapsulates everything that I feel is wrong with my nation and the world: To justify personal gain, one group of people determines that another group of people are disposable; less than human.

Herein lies the cautionary tale. Watch the film and you will be astounded to learn of the amount of methane being dumped into our atmosphere everyday. You will see the wasteland, the environmental devastation created by the toxins pouring from the refineries. They not only kill people. They kill everything with an impulse to life. Plants. Rivers. Animals. Air. Play the story to its natural conclusion and the earth becomes one big all-inclusive sacrifice zone. We are, all of us – even the morbidly wealthy who’ve determined that a community of human beings is worth throwing away for profit – are rendering themselves throw-aways.

Scientists are screaming. Cash registers are ringing.

In feudal times a black plague ravaged the land. The aristocracy locked themselves in castles as protection against the riff-raff believing their privilege would save them. As it turns out privilege is an illusion in the face of a plague or famine or a hurricane. Stacks of cash are lousy protection against tornadoes and floods and forest fires. The methane trapping the heat in our atmosphere does not discriminate. Climate change is a pleasant term for something wildly unpleasant. It is a trick of language, similar to other phrases, like sacrifice zone or cancer alley or throw-away communities, to sanitize or minimize the horror unleashed when a dollar bill is placed higher in value than a human life.

It is a sickness, a mental-plague that runs amok through human history. What might it take for us to actually realize that life is a sacred thing that is far more precious than profit?

***

Bonus: Keep in mind that the Supreme Court just gutted the Voters Rights Act that guaranteed fair representation of minority communities. They determined that it was no longer necessary. Might I suggest that the Supremes leave their protected fortress and live for a year or two in a sacrifice zone? Perhaps they should drink the water in cancer alley. Perhaps they would learn what actually happens to a community when it has little or no fair representation. Perhaps they would learn how far we actually are from realizing the promise of equal rights or justice-for-all. Or, perhaps they already know and are giddy with the power to determine who is worth constitutional protection and who is easily thrown away.

read Kerri’s blogpost about GASLIT

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Filed under: Flawed Wednesday, Perspective, Uncategorized | Tagged: artistry, climate change, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, disposable people, Gaslit, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, methane, privilege, sacrifice zones, story, studio melange, the melange, throw away communities, Voters Right Act | 1 Comment »

Can You Imagine? [David’s blog on Two Artists Tuesday]

Posted on May 5, 2026 by davidrobinsoncreative

Jim told me that people go to the seashore to touch the eternal. For me, often, all I need do is look to the sky. I wonder if people really understand what they are witnessing when they look at the stars in the night sky? I don’t believe that they do because, if they did, the religions of the world would never claim to that their way was “the only way”. In the face of infinity can you imagine a grander statement of hubris?

One of the astronauts, I can’t remember which one, while in space, looked back at Earth and marveled at the very thin, very fragile layer of atmosphere that makes all life on this planet possible. I wonder if people really understand what they are witnessing when they look up at the blue blue sky or the myriad cloud formations marching overhead. I don’t believe they do because, if they did, they would stop pouring methane and carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. In the face of tenuous existence, can you imagine a greater statement of arrogance?

I just read this phrase: a fatal overstatement of one’s own importance. It is a snippet of the definition of hubris, a word originating in ancient Greece where it meant “defying the gods.” It is the path to another cautionary word: downfall.

I wonder if people really understand what they are witnessing when they peer into the daily news. I don’t believe that they do because, if they did, they would stop spinning reality and, instead, start dealing with it. A world order is collapsing. An entire political party with the assistance of the court Supreme and a propaganda machine is enabling a megalomaniacal criminal to destroy the promise of a nation. They look across the beautiful colorful diversity of this nation and somehow desire to reduce it to a few shades of bland white. In the face of humanity’s potential, can you imagine anything more heinous?

Hubris. Arrogance. Denial. Downfall. We don’t need to imagine it. Reprehensible.

read Kerri’s blogpost about THE SKY

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Filed under: Perspective, Two Artists Tuesday | Tagged: arrogance, artistry, atmosphere, carbon dioxide, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, Diversity, eternal, hubris, infinity, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, methane, potential, story, studio melange, the melange | Leave a comment »

What The Hell Are We Doing? [David’s blog on Flawed Wednesday]

Posted on April 29, 2026 by davidrobinsoncreative

Sometimes it pays to look up. Cutting the tall grasses, cleaning and preparing the flower beds, I was hyper-focused on the task at hand. A distant rumble caught my attention so I looked up from what I was doing. Dark dragons were flying around in the sky. They breathed lightning, a flash followed by thunder. I dropped the metal clippers and headed inside. I thought it best to finish my task another day.

Once seen, the dragons in the sky were obvious. The lightning they breathed was unmistakable and dangerous. The action I took – dropping the lightning rod clippers and exiting the scene – seemed prudent. Easy and clear choices.

This morning I heard a distant rumble and I peeked at the news. The danger to our nation is obvious. A single delusional man, a retribution dragon encased in sycophants. A convicted felon, found civilly liable for rape. Does anyone really believe that he does not figure prominently in the Epstein Files? The Supremes granted him absolute immunity from criminal prosecution for all official acts and one wonders why grift falls under the umbrella of official acts. Is insurrection an official act? Is obstruction of justice an official act? Is threatening an entire civilization with annihilation an official act? Is falling asleep on the job or slurring speech or incoherence covered under the umbrella? They’re not crimes but would certainly be grounds for removal from any other job.

One wonders when the republicans will stop pretending that the sky is blue when they can see – as we do – that it is filled with a dangerous swirling delusional dragon? Will they drop their clippers in time or will they continue to hold tight to their metal rod and wave it at the lightning-filled-sky? You’d think they’d have the good sense to head for the door. You’d think that they might consider that the lightning they tease could be – will be – the death of us all. One wonders what must be lost, what lightning must strike, what line must be crossed, before they ask themselves, “What the hell are we doing?”

read Kerri’s blogpost about STORM CLOUDS

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Filed under: Metaphor, Perspective, Two Artists Tuesday | Tagged: absolute immunity, artistry, choices, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, Epstein Class, Epstein files, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, republicans, retribution, story, studio melange, the melange | 1 Comment »

Saddle Soap And Lavender [David’s blog on KS Friday]

Posted on April 10, 2026 by davidrobinsoncreative

Tom told stories of the phone his family had when he was a child. It was the kind with a crank. It required an operator, an actual person, to connect callers. It was a party line, meaning the single line was shared with multiple households. When I was a child, we were tethered to the phone by a cord. The phone was connected to the wall. It was possible to lift the extension – the other phone – and listen in. One line into the house with multiple phones sharing the line. And now we walk the world with our phones. They come with us everywhere we go. No sharing necessary. Considering how long it took humans to invent the wheel, the pace of change in our lifetime is breathtaking.

Tom also told me a story that is particularly poignant given our current state-of-the-union. When he was very young, an ancient woman would visit the ranch on Sundays. She had a driver and would remain in the back seat of her car. Tom’s mother would join her and they would chat for an hour. One Sunday the old woman opened the car door and asked Tom to join them. He was small and climbed onto her lap. She looked into his eyes and said, “I want to remember what I am about to tell you. When you are older it will matter. You are sitting in the lap of someone who sat in the lap of Abraham Lincoln.” She added, “He smelled of saddle soap and lavender.”

Skip a stone across time. My mentor told me a story about sitting in the lap of an woman who, as a child, sat in the lap of one of the most revered presidents in our history. I am merely three generations from that man and the republican party that he helped to create. A party formed to fight a war to end slavery, a party that believed in the promise of the Declaration of Independence, “dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.” Their corruption and collapse has been sickening.

Take a moment and read The Declaration of Independence. Pay particular note to the list of grievances against the king. They read like a current list of abuses by the wannabe authoritarian who now sits behind and soils the resolute desk. “A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people”.

The man who smelled of saddle soap and lavender would not tolerate this tyrant. He would not sit in the same room with the men and women, the descendants of his republican party, who currently soil the of government, “of the people, by the people, for the people”. They are enablers of the same racist rot in our nation that Abraham Lincoln gave his life to defeat.

“It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us-that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion-that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain-that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom-and that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth.” ~ Abraham Lincoln, The Gettysburg Address

His words are not antiques. They are not out of style. They are as relevant today as the day he spoke them.

Kerri’s albums are available on iTunes and streaming on Pandora

read Kerri’s blogpost about THE PHONE

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Filed under: KS Friday, Perspective | Tagged: Abraham Lincoln, artistry, corruption, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, democracy, equality, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, racism, republican, story, studio melange, The Declaration of Independence, The Gettysburg Address, the melange | 1 Comment »

Weave [David’s blog on Flawed Wednesday]

Posted on April 1, 2026 by davidrobinsoncreative

What are the odds that this wild daffodil will survive?

Context is everything. As is always true, to understand the big picture it is necessary to consider the circumstances. For instance, this seemingly healthy daffodil is bursting through the root ball of a recently fallen tree. It is suspended in air. Improbable. It is detached from solid ground. It was uprooted with the tree. Consider the full picture. What are the odds that it will survive?

Our word “context” comes from the Latin “contextus” which means “to weave together”. Weave together the facts.

This weekend we attended our local NO KINGS protest. Many of my fellow protestors asked (rhetorically) who is profiting from this orange-incompetent and his war-of-choice? Or, asked another way, “Why are we helping Russia undermine us again?”

The context is found in the word “again”.

With Robert Mueller’s passing we’ve had the opportunity to revisit the key findings in his investigation into Russia’s interference in our 2016 election. In addition to multiple indictments and convictions, overwhelming evidence of Russia’s interference, there is this: “A statement signed by over 1,000 former federal prosecutors concluded that if any other American engaged in the same efforts to impede federal proceedings the way Trump did, they would likely be indicted for multiple charges of obstruction of justice.”

The authroitarian-wannabe has lifted oil sanctions from Russia. Russia is now profiting mightily from the world’s oil crisis caused by Iran’s closure of the Strait of Hormuz. With their flow of money restored, Russia is both amping up its assault on Ukraine AND providing Iran with intelligence to better strike USA targets.

Weave. As the people took to the streets to protest NO KINGS, the administration welcomed a Russian delegation of lawmakers to Washington D.C. to begin normalizing relations.

Normalizing relations! What?

Who is profiting from our nation’s economic and moral suicide? While we prevent Venezuelan and Mexican oil tankers from reaching Cuba, we somehow find it acceptable to allow Russian tankers through the blockade.

Weave.

The survival of our democracy is the reason that the people are taking to the streets. Given the context, the threat to our survival is abundantly clear and it currently sits at the resolute desk. It leads a party that has proven itself incapable of or uninterested in governing a democracy.

What are the odds that this wild daffodil will survive? The answer is up to us.

read Kerri’s blogpost about WILD DAFFODIL

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Filed under: Flawed Wednesday, Identity, Perspective | Tagged: artistry, authoritarian, context, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, democracy, election interference, justice, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, No Kings, Robert Mueller, story, studio melange, the melange | 1 Comment »

Low Information Nightmare [David’s blog on Two Artists Tuesday]

Posted on March 17, 2026 by davidrobinsoncreative

We took down the chimes because we knew the blizzard was coming. We watched the monster winds , sleet and snow, approach on radar. I am forever grateful to have immediate access to weather radar so I know what’s coming. It saved us once-upon-a-time when we were caught in a tornado. Just after the winds lifted our car from the ground, we huddled behind a restaurant and watched the radar for a small break in the storm so we could make a run for safety.

Last night as the blizzard buffeted the house, as we ate bananas at 3am, we talked about all the things in the world about which we know nothing. Does ice on the tracks impact how the trains run? How do they move Anselm Kiefer’s monumental paintings from his studio to a gallery? In the age of Goggle it is possible to find out how to lay bricks but would I really know how to do it until I’d studied with a master bricklayer? At what point is abstract knowledge actually useful? At what point do we know what we are talking about?

Yesterday I heard a phrase roll through the news cycle that I’m coming to detest: low information voter. It’s sanitized language and brings up a number of questions for me. The first is obvious: are we mislabeling an intentionally misinformed voter as a low information voter? I’ve watched dozens of interviews with “low information voters” who are quite capable of regurgitating pat-phrases seeded into their brains from their source of misinformation. Are they then a low information voter?

The ghost of Neil Postman whispered in my ear:

“The question is not, Does or doesn’t public schooling create a public? The question is, What kind of public does it create? A conglomerate of self-indulgent consumers? Angry, soulless, directionless masses? Indifferent, confused citizens? Or a public imbued with confidence, a sense of purpose, a respect for learning, and tolerance? The answer to this question has nothing whatever to do with computers, with testing, with teacher accountability, with class size, and with the other details of managing schools. The right answer depends on two things and two things alone: the existence of shared narratives and the capacity of such narratives to provide an inspired reason for schooling.” ~ Neil Postman, The End of Education

Shared narratives. An inspired reason to ask questions and to seek greater understanding. These two things actually form a feedback loop. They are fluid and not fixed: greater understanding informs and evolves shared narrative which opens new questions. You might think that shared narrative and pursuit of greater understanding would be essential concerns for our democracy but we are learning – I am learning, much to my surprise – that is not true. Our narrative is intentionally divided. The current republican party openly and intentionally demonizes learning. Low information voters are easily manipulated and a political party empty of ideas and ideals relies exclusively on a voting public that readily swallows their rubbish.

If our democracy took itself seriously, would we tolerate highly profitable sources of misinformation? Would we so easily polish “ignorance” into a shiny phrase: low information voter? If we took our democracy seriously and intended to protect it, wouldn’t “low information voting” be unacceptable since the responsibility of casting a ballot is predicated upon knowing what you are voting for?

I live in the age of Google. I can see storms coming and that informs my choices: I take down the chimes. I secure anything that the wind will destroy.

I live in the age of Google. I can -and do – in a moment fact check any assertion that comes my way. For instance, I know that the Save America Act is not what it appears to be. It is a storm coming. It does the opposite of what it purports to do. It has nothing to do with voter ID and everything to do with preventing voters from voting. It is a straw man; incidence of voter fraud in the United States is statistically zero. Do low information voters know that? This wind will destroy our democracy.

The woke folk on my side of the divide read Project 2025 and learned from the chaos and grift of the first four years of the authoritarian wannabe. We screamed, “There’s a storm coming!” The necessary information – like weather radar – was readily available. It was easy to see. Low information is, in actuality, the unwillingness to look.

What’s happening now in our nation is not a surprise. The campaign to create low information voters was -and is – successful. Eliminate education. Demonize truth as a hoax. Create “alternative” facts (legitimize lies) while labeling actual news “fake”. Split the people.

If we survive the attempted take down of our democracy, an item high on my list of things to address is the elimination of the possibility of the low information voter. One need not have a mass of information in their brain to be educated, they only need the desire to question, the dedication to discern what is true from what is dross. One need only understand the need to check the radar and act accordingly.

“Because we are imperfect souls, our knowledge is imperfect. The history of learning is an adventure in overcoming our errors. There is no sin in being wrong. The sin is in our unwillingness to examine our own beliefs, and in believing that our authorities cannot be wrong.” Neil Postman, The End of Education

read Kerri’s blogpost about THE CHIMES

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Filed under: Perspective, Two Artists Tuesday | Tagged: artistry, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, democracy, education, information, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, learning, misinformation, Neil Postman, questions, SAVE act, shared narrative, story, studio melange, The End of Education, the melange, truth, vote | 1 Comment »

At The Confluence [David’s blog on Flawed Wednesday]

Posted on March 11, 2026 by davidrobinsoncreative

“Truth lies at the confluence of independent streams of evidence.” ~ Karl Deutsch

Our conversation last night was lively. We sat around the dining room table with friends until late into the night. We discussed the current tribalism of our nation and our seeming inability to arrive at a shared truth. You’d think that simple truth would be easy to come by given the plentiful streams of evidence. Sadly, apparently, our streams of evidence run into an ocean of misinformation and denial.

My grandmother used to say, “If it was a snake it would have bit you.” Of our current national predicament she might ask, “How many times do you need to be snake-bit before you open your eyes?” A nation-body can only take so much venom (lies) before it succumbs.

The word of the week is “confluence”. A confluence of evidence. A preponderance of evidence. Amidst a coordinated cover-up does anyone really believe that the current administration is as they claim, “the most transparent in history?” The Epstein Class, the president among them, is working overtime to dam the streams of evidence. Is there really any doubt that they fear the truth?

“Power is the ability to afford not to learn.” ~ Karl Deutsch

If ever there was a quote that encapsulates the current occupant of the White House and his sad sycophantic party, this is it.

They’ve learned nothing. We are in another why-are-we-there-war that costs a billion dollars a day. Those in power would rather not learn from the past. The real question is can we afford their ability not to learn? Foxy propaganda is a profitable, a tool of the powerful, so they feel no real need deal in truth or acknowledge history. Dedicated ignorance wears a red hat.

Some of the gathering evidence at the confluence: 79 trillion dollars have been “redistributed” from the bottom 90% of Americans to the top 1%. “The richest 1% now own approximately 49.9% of the entire stock market.” When we-the-people stress over “affordability” we can know with absolute certainty that it is not a “Democratic hoax.” The rising cost of living is all the evidence that we need. We will hear again and again – as we’ve heard for a few generations – that our economic woes are caused by “a flood of immigrants” or “people exploiting welfare” but if we actually look at the evidence, including the impact of the recent big-beautiful-redistribution-of-wealth-at-the-expense-of-the-poor bill, gutting medicaid and SNAP, the slop-story from the republican/authoritarian camp simply does not hold water. The evidence contradicts their assertion.

Streams of evidence are a gathering force and have a way of breaking through dams-of-lies. Not to mix too many metaphors but truth is also a snake that bites. As grandma might say, “It’s only a matter of time.”

read Kerri’s blogpost about THE CONFLUENCE

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Less Than Exceptional [David’s blog on KS Friday]

Posted on March 6, 2026 by davidrobinsoncreative

“I’d rather be a dog, and bay the moon, than such a Roman.” ~ William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar

It’s not that I don’t appreciate Senator Tom Tillis’ take down of DHS Secretary Kristi Noem. She certainly deserves all the derision that comes her way. I found his comments to be the height of irony, rebuking Noem for her poor leadership while he and the entire republican congress have been the poster-children for excessively subpar leadership. They have been silent, abdicating their duty and oath to uphold the Constitution, enabling the takedown of our democracy and running cover for the Epstein Class. Tillis only found his voice and his courage after he announced his retirement. It’s easy to feign indignation once you are out of the game. He, along with every member of his party, deserves the same humiliation.

This is the comment that rankled me: “We’re an exceptional nation. And one of the reasons we’re exceptional is we expect exceptional leadership.”

Where-oh-where is the exceptional leadership in the republican congress? Had Tom Tillis aimed his comments at himself and his republican peers while DOGE was wreaking havoc on our government or while his party was abdicating all responsibility for tariffs we might find his comment meaningful. I particularly find his expectation of exceptional leadership to ring hollow while the president and his party continue to provide cover for an international ring of pedophiles or go to war without congressional approval or profit billionaires at the expense of the poor or unleash a gestapo on our streets or undermine elections or…

The entire cabinet is less than exceptional. The AWOL republican members of congress are weak. Remarkably unexceptional. As a co-equal branch of government they have proven to be dismal.

We-the-people do, in fact, expect exceptional leadership and are dumbfounded by what we see. Waiting to speak your truth until you no longer have skin in the game is less than exceptional. It’s the opposite of leadership. It’s cowardice.

“It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt” ~ Mark Twain

Kerri’s albums are available on iTunes and streaming on Pandora

read Kerri’s blogpost about THE MOON

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Filed under: KS Friday, Perspective | Tagged: artistry, Constitution, cowardice, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, Kristi Noem, leadership, Mark Twain, oath, republican, story, studio melange, the melange, Tom Tillis, William Shakespeare | Leave a comment »

Join The Chorus [David’s blog on Flawed Wednesday]

Posted on March 4, 2026 by davidrobinsoncreative

Horatio reported that he and T are becoming hermits. Kerri and I feel that we, too, are tending toward the reclusive. It would not surprise me to learn that there is a national impulse toward hunkering down. We had a Saturday plan for adventure and awoke to find the liar-in-chief, the pedophile-president, had started a war with Iran. We scrapped our plan. It was lightly snowing so we decided to relish the temporary quiet that the snow brings. Kerri headed outside to capture the snow crystals collecting on the tall grasses. Find the beauty in the moment regardless of the bleak circumstance.

I am aware that the danger of authoritarian takeovers, like the one we are experiencing, complete with a masked gestapo that does not feel bound by the law, a president who is immune to the law, and a congress that ignores the law, is that it will make agoraphobics of us all. It is human nature to opt for safety, which successfully inhibits freedom of movement. That’s what the bully and his cohort count on. Pitting safety against freedom is in the authoritarian playbook. That’s why we must step out, take to the streets, join hands and exercise our fundamental right to protest while we still have it. It’s all that now stands between us (our democracy) and the authoritarian take-over. A free people create safety for each other; people running for safety have already lost their freedom.*

Do you find it ironic, as I do, that one of the many reasons given for this war-of-choice is to help free the Iranian people from authoritarian rule – all the while the administration (if you can call it that) are assaulting our democracy, ignoring the constitution, pulling out all the stops to suppress our free and fair elections in order to establish authoritarian rule here at home?

I find the real beauty of the moment to be the people of our nation, concerned for their freedom, taking to the streets. Instead of running inside to hide – as this administration thought we would – instead of seeking safety in the face of the thuggery, we’re facing the bullies, standing-up for our basic freedoms. Renee Nicole Good. Alex Pretti. We’re invoking the spirit of John Lewis and all those who knew that freedom is a prerequisite of safety. The intention of freedom-and-justice-for-all is a prerequisite of democracy. Once lost, there is no safety, there is no justice.

We are living in a very bleak circumstance, indeed. And yet there is so much beauty – the guardians of freedom – the people – pour into the streets. It inspires even the most dedicated hermit to dust off his coat and join the protest-chorus.

Horatio also reported that each week, he and T, along with their granddaughter, take to the streets and lend their voices to the cause of democracy. They dance and laugh and sing with the other protesters. They stand in the winter cold waving signs at passing cars. These are not the actions of hermits-in-the-making. The truth betrays itself. These are the actions of people who are less concerned with their safety and comfort than they are determined that their grandchildren will live their lives in a country that is free.

*read Timothy Snyder’s remarkable book, On Freedom

read Kerri’s blogpost about SNOW ON GRASS

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Filed under: Flawed Wednesday, Identity, Perspective | Tagged: artistry, authoritarian, comfort, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, democracy, freedom, Iran, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, On Freedom, safety, story, studio melange, the melange, Timothy Snyder, war | 1 Comment »

A Cautionary Tale [David’s blog on Two Artists Tuesday]

Posted on February 24, 2026 by davidrobinsoncreative

I’ve not read John Steinbeck‘s novel, The Winter Of Our Discontent, but now seems to be a good time. Here’s an overview: “John Steinbeck’s The Winter of Our Discontent is about Ethan Allen Hawley, a man from a fallen aristocratic family in a corrupt, post-WWII American town, who abandons his morals for wealth, exploring themes of disillusionment, integrity, and the decay of the American Dream as he manipulates his way to success, only to find emptiness. The story follows his internal struggle as he gives in to the materialistic pressures from his family and society, ultimately questioning the true cost of success and the nature of honesty in a self-serving world.” (A I Overview)

Perhaps this would be an appropriate book for members of the republican party to read? They seem hellbent on abandoning their morals for wealth, manipulating their way to power (otherwise known as lying and gaslighting), actively assaulting the American Dream en route to finding emptiness.

It is cold comfort to realize that our current kerfuffle is not unique to our times. Moral bankruptcy has been – and continues to be – a persistent problem in the national psyche. My favorite phrase in the overview is this: the nature of honesty in a self-serving world.

As we’ve previous written, we hit the trail as often as possible to clear our minds, to step out of the daily hoohaw and reconnect with tangible reality. We inevitably focus on the beauty that surrounds us. It is inescapable to take a walk in the woods and not arrive at some level of understanding of interconnection. It is a short leap from there to the realization that any harm done to others is harm done to yourself. Any poison dumped into the river is poison dumped into yourself. And, on the flip-side, any service done for others is service to yourself. Any generosity offered to others is a generosity given to yourself. Thriving community is – and always has been – the blossom of other-serving.

If there is a persistent hoax afoot in our nation it is the republican-cowboy-notion of “every man for himself”. It is a lie. It is a swindler’s philosophy, a justification for raw exploitation. Exploitation of others inevitably fleeces everyone. It is not true, as the republicans-since-Reagan would have us believe, that the “welfare mothers” and “illegals” are taking advantage of our hard-earned tax dollars, it is in fact the Epstein Class, the morbidly wealthy, who have in the past 5 decades sucked over 50 trillion dollars of wealth from the middle and lower classes into the coffers of the 1%. What is the cost of success in a self-serving world? As many have written, we are witnessing the suicide of a superpower at the hands of a bloated oligarchy.

Here’s the last line of the overview: “Ultimately, the novel serves as a cautionary tale about the emptiness that results from sacrificing one’s principles for material gain, resonating with Steinbeck’s broader concerns about the state of the American character.”

read Kerri’s blogpost about THE WINTER FLOWER