Rural Routes, Blog Version

The Canada geese are back home, and I have now seen five crows, although I cannot confirm that they were different crows each time.

Last year a crow built a nest in one of the elm trees outside our condo. The nest does not appear weather-degraded and would perhaps make a turnkey residence for one of this year’s birds. Perhaps that is why the crows find our yard interesting. Crows do often use the same nest year after year, although it is not a given. They do, however, tend to come back to the same area, even if they do not take up residence in their old nest.

I recently read a wellness blog that suggested every day should begin with a brief time outdoors and a verbal thank you to one thing seen. Thank you, tree. Thank you, squirrel. I don’t always find it easy to start the day that way, but I confess I did thank the geese and crows for returning, bringing with them the promise of spring.

One of Millions

A recent Atlantic magazine article provided a portal to the LitGen data base. By typing in your name, you could find out whether or not a book you had written had been used for AI training. I had heard from others that their books could  be found in the database, so I decided to see about mine.

I did not really expect my little book to be there, but it was.

I understand that there are class action lawsuits in the works, and more being considered. Authors’ works were used without permission and with no remuneration for a purpose of which authors were unaware.

I doubt that the lawsuits will get far.

Bye to the Bay

The news that liquidation sales would soon be starting for The Bay sent me to its webpage where I hastily ordered something in stripes for old time’s sake.

Two days later, however, I received an email saying that my order had been cancelled. The stripes were sold out. It was just as well; the order had been impulse shopping defined by nostalgia.

A couple of days later I found myself wandering through one of the two remaining Bay stores in Winnipeg. I did not buy anything.

I do not have strong emotional attachments to any of The Bay stores in local malls. I do, however, have fond memories of the flagship store downtown. A cousin worked there, and I would meet her for lunch at the Paddlewheel Restaurant on the sixth floor. I can picture various departments, the escalators and elevators and the entrance to the parking garage as clearly as if I had been there last week.

What is truth?

I am showing my age – and my naivety – these days.

Fifty years ago, I graduated from a journalism school where I learned that objectivity was important and that every article  I wrote had to be easily verifiable. The reporter’s role was that of an outsider looking in. Total objectivity would be impossible, but it was a goal to be striven for.

How the world has changed. I look at every story I see and wonder if it is real. Opinion pieces proliferate and AI has muddied the waters. And there are people out there ready for whatever reason to post inflammatory untruths or to attack those with differing views.

I am not a member of any political party. I have voted across party lines depending on my estimation of policies and candidate qualifications. I do not like mudslinging and my immediate reaction to political advertising that denigrates the opponent is a personal mark against that candidate.

I am old enough to have had a mother who always said, “If you cannot say anything nice, don’t say anything at all.”

I wish we all had a mother like that… and that we followed her advice.

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