Ursula K. Le Guin
In an earlier blog post* I described my cat’s relationship to the Time Machine that sits on my desk keeping tabs on what goes on in my computer. When both Pard and the Time Machine were younger, it often made faint clickety buzzing noises, which convinced him that it it contained beetles. A reasonable assumption, since our house swarmed with box-elder beetles that year, and they did get into everything. He enjoyed hunting them. But eating them always appeared to be more a duty than a reward. Presently he gave it up. Then he gave up beetle-hunting altogether, as a boring juvenile pastime beneath the dignity of a mature cat.
Continue readingPard: An Interrupted Nap Linda Long, photographer. Marilyn Reaves, distracter. U.K. Le Guin, skritcher. … Continue reading
The Jaguar
Ursula K. Le Guin
the ghost of a jaguar walks through the fence
the jaguar is our freedom
July 5, 2017. Tonight, after the ironic fireworks of a peculiarly anxious Independence Day, I want to celebrate two good things that have happened in my state.
Continue readingA Work in Progress: More Earthsea Sketches by Charles Vess by Ursula K. Le Guin Continued from “The Big Book of Earthsea,” July 18, 2016. Here are a few more of Charles Vess’ preliminary sketches for the illustrations for the … Continue reading
The manic speed and vindictiveness of the Republican attack on American core values and institutions make it all too easy for us, the majority opposition, to feel defeated — hopeless. This article is a good antidote.
Continue readingThe legend of the golem varies according to the teller, but I will follow the version that tells how in a time of persecution a rabbi made a mighty giant out of mud, a golem, and wrote a sacred word on its forehead — “Truth” — that gave it life. With its frightening size and enormous strength, the golem was to defend and safeguard the Jews. But the golem was not rational, not controllable. It was a danger in itself. So the rabbi removed a single letter from the word on its forehead, which then read “Death,” and the life went out of the giant, leaving only mud.
Continue readingBuild a wall of saguaros,
butterflies, and bones
of those who perished
in the desert.
Pard Gets a New Catnip Mouse The Annals of Pard XXI by Ursula K. Le Guin Don’t worry, I can hold my catnip. I am perfectly steady on my feet. … Continue reading