Four Directions is working on an external match for us, so it’s not 100% certain that we will have an external match, but I will be very surprised if we do not! And we have angels – at this point, I’m not sure what we would do without them! We certainly wouldn’t have the same impact we have with them to inspire us. Thank you angels and everyone else who participates.
Introducing our first Balloon Juice Angel for this effort
Doctor Science and family, in honor of her late mother: born in Wisconsin, hard-core progressive to the end, and always took the rights of Wisconsin Native Americans very seriously.
After the debate, a friend of theirs, niqaeli torres, wrote this poem. It made me cry, but in the best way.
a fractal subsumed
the world has always been ending
the future has always been darkthis new disaster is real and terrible and worse than many things that have come before
and yetthe world has always been ending
it nearly did not exist
stars died to make the earth we stand on
not one but two worlds died to create our world and our slowly wandering twin
innumerable asteroids died to bring the water our world wears on its skin
extinction after extinction, mass graves filled with deaths like grains of sand on the beach
were required to give rise to us
and modern humanity itself is the collapse of a branching hominid tree, a fractal subsumed, a series summed to onethis disaster is terrible
and we may not survive it
our descendants may not survive itbut we are children of disaster
the ones that made us and the ones that nearly unmade us but did notso we might
we might survive
get up
and do the work
even if it feels pointless
especially if it feels pointlessit is all pointless
the universe is full of dead stars
dead planets and dead moons that were once
but are billions of years gone
our water-skinned world itself will die some day
in a conflagration with one of our sister worlds
or a nearby supernova scorching our solar system
or when our star eats us in its senescent yearsdisaster and death end everything, eventually
and so all there is
is what you do nowget up
get up
get up
Open thread.
Update at 3pm: Original Doctor Science Angel Match has been met!
A new $1,00 Angel match has begun. Thank you Rafl !!!
WaterGirl
Angel match is for $1,000, matching up to $100 per person. To be matched, tell us about your donation in the comments or send me an email message.
rikyrah
Keep it rocking!!
TBone
That there is some kickass poem!
Some poem ⬅️ (*written by Charlotte in spiderweb)
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=JV7drsdzShc
Baud
@rikyrah:
👍
Mokum
Donated $100. We are getting a tax refund for 2022, unexpectedly!
stinger
Oh my, that poem is amazing! I was especially struck by “modern humanity itself is the collapse of a branching hominid tree”, but every line is powerful and true.
On a different topic:
Whaddya mean there’s no Albatrossity birds today? It’s Monday, ain’t it? Oh…. Okay, PaulB’s Cascade trip has been great, I’m up for more of it, it’s all good.
And I’m retired!
stinger
Threw in $100 for the match. That poem is worth every penny! Let’s get this done!
BenInNM
Just put in $25
WaterGirl
So I guess now all the BJ Angels will be writing topical poetry, or at least having good friends who are poets. :-)
Kristine
Just donated $25.
I did like that poem a lot.
Almost Retired
Thanks Doctor Science! In for $50!
WaterGirl
@Mokum: Wow, that’s a happy day, not something you expect!!
Almost Retired
@WaterGirl: OK, so I will work on a Wisconsin themed limerick. I haven’t gotten any further than “There once was a girl from Milwaukee…”
WaterGirl
@Almost Retired: It’s kind of you to offer to lower the bar after this poem set it pretty damn high!
TBone
@Almost Retired: does hawk tuey fit in it? Oops, I was BJing after dark for a moment.
Elizabelle
That is a phenomenal poem. Well done, niqaeli torres. You have something to say, and said it very well.
Virogenes
Lurker delurks and drops in $100
SiubhanDuinne
What a fantastic poem! Keeping that near.
Just donated $50 for the match. Thanks, Angel!
zhena gogolia
Wow, what a poem.
JanieM
In for $25.
rockstar
In for $25, that poem is stunning!
Kristine
I have a dreamwidth account, so I went over and thanked niqaeli.
JeanneT
In for $25. Amazing poem! It needs to be shared…..
delphinium
@Almost Retired: Not Wisconsin theme, but just for fun and not a perfect rhyme:
“There once was a girl from Milwaukee…”
Who had a large bird that would squawk, he
He’d crow off his head
Even when he’s well fed
All to distract from his knock knees.”
Percysowner
In for $25.
S Cerevisiae
In for $25 to get out the vote for my Anishinaabe and other tribal relations over in Wisconsin. Go Joe and Tammy!
snoey
In for 100. My wife and I both have family there, just back from a reunion with about 80 her cousins and such. Almost all vote blue and they need to finish taking the state back.,
Emily B.
In for $25. That poem….my eyes are wet, too.
WaterGirl
We are about 2/3 of the way through the Doctor Science and family Angel match.
I imagine that the other angel we have lined up is madly scribbling their thoughts down for their poem. :-)
Thanks to everyone who is donating and to poets who help keep us going.
way2blue
Morning WaterGirl. I’m in for $100. Thank you for setting up these funding runs.
H.E.Wolf
That poem is sublime. Wow. Thank you to niquali torres, and thank you to Doctor Science for passing it along.
I’m going to imagine that I hear the poem in the voice of Doctor Science’s late mother. Let’s be hardcore for democracy and for Native American voters, in her memory.
StringOnAStick
I’m in for $25 in honor of that remarkable, true and ultimately uplifting poem.
There go two miscreants
In for $100.
Yet Another Haldane
I’m in for $100.
KRK
I’m also in for $100.
LNNVA
Just added $25 to the pot.
Sister Golden Bear
In for $25.
Nancy
Scraping up $50.00 for the cause. The poem says it all so beautifully. This is me getting up.
WaterGirl
We did it!!!!
The Doctor Science et al match has been met!
We are now $175 way into a new $1,000 Angel match from Rafl.
Everything resets with the new angel. Up to $100 per person will be matched.
EighthCousin
Just added $100.
Thanks for the opportunity…
JCJ
$100 kicked in to the pot.
dc
I don’t know if this is live still, but I’m in for $25
WaterGirl
@dc: Yes, you were matched!
We have $600 left on this Angel Match from Rafl.
Kayla Rudbek
Another $25 in, in memory of my best friend from law school who has passed away.
Maxim
Added $100 to the pot.
Love the poem.
WaterGirl
@Kayla Rudbek: Very sorry about the loss of your friend.
WaterGirl
No longer checking this thread for matching donations, so please add to a more recent fundraising thread or send me email. thank you all!
Kayla Rudbek
@WaterGirl: she was the one who introduced me to Balloon Juice, although she passed a few years ago.