WELCOME MARCH: Lion or Lamb?

“Safe?” said Mr Beaver …”Who said anything about safe?
‘Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the King, I tell you.”

C.S. Lewis, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

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According to my weather app as I’m writing this, March really isn’t roaring in.

But speaking of roaring.

On this day in 1917, The Zimmermann Telegram is reprinted in newspapers across the United States. In January, British cryptographers deciphered a telegram from German Foreign Minister Arthur Zimmermann to the German Minister to Mexico, Heinrich von Eckhardt, offering United States territory to Mexico in return for joining the German cause.

This message helped draw the United States into the war and thus changed the course of history. [National Archives]

On April 6, 1917, Congress voted to declare war on Germany.

A month later, my grandfather, Reese Russell, was called to serve. He kept a diary which my Aunt transcribed and I turned into a stage play Clean Dry Socks: Diary of a Doughboy.

The play was produced by River City Community Players in 2018. The script is available on Amazon and can be performed through special arrangement with the author (me).

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This post resonated.

15 Tips for Starting Your Writing Career Later in Life
Rick Bleiweiss in Writer’s Digest
As a senior, you’re probably past where you need writing to be your vocation, so enjoy the process of writing. Don’t make it drudgery—make it fun, and enjoy the characters and environments you create if it’s fiction.

For a while I pictured myself as a freelance blogger making the big bucks. Then it was a novelist. True some of those things, well not the big bucks, may still happen. It wasn’t until last year that I found the harmony between my love of writing and my love of drawing. After years of asking “what to write?” “what to draw?” I’ve found that link. And I think that niche.

More time to read.

I’m making a real effort to read more this year. Stephen King, and others have often said if you don’t have time to read, you don’t have time to write. I splurged this year and bought the Audible subscription. I’m about halfway through my third audio book for the year. I’ve read a couple of other short books, and I’m working my way through at least two more.

I’m always looking for reading suggestions, so I checked out this list.

35 Books Every Man Should Read in His Lifetime
Men’s Journal

I’ve read exactly two books on this list. I have work to do.

But while I’m not reading…

When I’m working on art projects, I like to binge watch television. I’m currently almost through a re-watch of Star Trek: Enterprise.

Earlier in the year I watched 1883, then all four and a half seasons of Yellowstone and I just realized yesterday that I finished the first season of 1923 with a cliffhanger. If and when 1923 and Yellowstone come back, I’ll watch. But I’m a little tired of the angst.

I’m feeling much the same about Picard.

Fortunately, The Mandalorian is back today.

Somewhere along the way I need to find a comedy where even the crisis isn’t all that bad.

RANDOM THINGS WORTH READING

10 myths told by COVID experts — and now debunked
New York Post
In the final analysis, public health officials actively propagated misinformation that ruined lives and forever damaged public trust in the medical profession.

Uh-Oh: Vials Of Mysterious Substance At Wuhan Lab Labeled ‘Save For 2024 Election’
The Babylon Bee
WUHAN – Well, this can’t be good: an investigative journalist – a real one, not a “journalist” who complains about pronouns in videogames on Twitter – managed to infiltrate the Wuhan Institute of Virology.

Randolph-Macon wins fourth straight ODAC title
Richmond Times-Dispatch

WHAT I’M CURRENTLY READING

 

BORN ON THIS DAY

Polish pianist and composer, Frédéric Chopin, was born on this day in 1810 (died 1949).