Max Berlinger writes for the New York Times about the return of aggressive skating. I prefer aggressive skating as an underdog sport at the skate parks so I just do my own things without being embarrassed.

Lúc xưa mỗi lần đến ngày này, con điều gọi điện thoại chúc mừng sinh nhật mẹ. Mẹ vẫn luôn ngạc nhiên hỏi, “Ủa hôm nay ngày sinh nhật của tao hả”? Hôm nay là ngày sinh nhật lần thứ 86 của mẹ. Con không còn được nghe giọng nói của mẹ nữa nhưng con cảm giác được mẹ vẫn nghe lời nói từ con tim của con.

Càng lớn khôn, càng trưởng thành, càng trải nghiệm trong cuộc sống, con càng ao ước được về với mẹ. Chỉ có bên mẹ con mới cảm nhận được một tình thương vô điều kiện. Vì đồng tiền, vì lợi danh, vì chức quyền, ở cõi tạm này có quá nhiều điều phức tạp. Chỉ có bên mẹ con mới nhận được sự yên tĩnh cho dù bên ngoài đầy sóng gió và bão tố.

Mỗi lúc bị lôi cuốn vào những cơn xoáy muộn phiền, con tâm sự với mẹ và luôn được nguồn năng lượng tiềm ẩn của mẹ đưa con đến lối thoát như mẹ đã từng dìu dắt con ra khỏi những điều khó khăn của tuổi ấu thơ.

Mẹ ra đi nơi này vẫn thế. Vẫn có mẹ trong tim chúng con. Chúc mẹ ngày sinh nhật vui vẻ.

Human beings suffer.
They torture one another.
They get hurt and get hard.
No poem or play or song
Can fully right a wrong
Inflicted and endured.

History says, Don’t hope
On this side of the grave,
But then, once in a lifetime
The longed-for tidal wave
Of justice can rise up
And hope and history rhyme.

So hope for a great sea-change
On the far side of revenge.
Believe that the farther shore
Is reachable from here.
Believe in miracles
And cures and healing wells.

Call miracle self-healing,
The utter self-revealing
Double-take of feeling.
If there’s fire on the mountain
And lightening and storm
And a god speaks from the sky

That means someone is hearing
The outcry and the birth-cry
Of new life at its term.
It means once in a lifetime
That justice can rise up
And hope and history rhyme.

Seamus Heaney (from The Cure of Troy)

Hero-banner sliders on homepages, particularly on university websites, are obnoxious and a waste of bandwidth. Though sliders can be useful for other purposes. Recently I needed a photo gallery for a personal webpage and I revisited Flickity developed by David DeSandro. It is still one of the best carousels I have used. The documentation is easy to follow. It is definitely worth 25 bucks for a license.

Với chất giọng trầm nồng, Diệu Thúy hát tốt những ca khúc có tên tuổi. Tuy nhiên lối trình bài của cô khá trung thành và an toàn nên không thể đem lại những nét mới lạ hay riêng của cô. Với bài tựa đề, “Lời ru gọi người tình”, của nhạc sĩ Nguyễn Thu Hoài, cô ca rất có hồn nhưng không thể vượt qua khỏi phiên bản của cô Khánh Ly thu âm trước 1975. “Tình đã bay cao”, của nhạc sĩ Nguyên Lãng, được một chút mới lạ nhờ vào phần hoà âm phối khí theo giai điệu blues của nhạc sĩ Đạo Nguyễn.

A kind of bird like a swan but more triangular
dives and lifts behind the knives of a tractor—
five paper airplanes poking at turned dirt.

Sometimes, he wears the condom
for hours after he falls asleep. I feel carried.
His body becomes the way I think.

Not being hungry, but wanting
to halve something.

I’ve never finished with a man
without needing to repeat, in my head,
that I want him inside me.

We pass by piles of salt, orange cattle.
He asks me to rate the day.
We both know there’s nothing emptier
than recognition in a new landscape.

Taneum Bambrick

Mới khám phá ra là I Love Typography có một bộ sưu tập phông chữ có dấu cho tiếng Việt. Đang ngắm nghía bộ Blacker Pro Text.

Nikki Haley, Ron DeSantis, and Mike Pence have entered the race. These candidates had once worshipped the ground Trump spat on. Now they all are fighting against him. Ain’t politics a motherfucking bitch? Chris Christie is expected to run as well. Can’t wait to see the GOP pigsty fights.

As for the Democrats, I would like to see a challenger. I am not ageism because I am half of Biden’s age and I already feel so fucking old. Then again, Biden has made historic legislative achievements in his first term. He’ll get more done in his second term. We’ll see.

It’s such a joy revisiting a lyrical storyteller. Right off the opening track, Mr. Dylan tells a heartbreaking story: “Newspaper men eating candy / Had to be held back by big police / Someday everything is going to be beautiful / When I paint my masterpiece.” And damn, isn’t he a blues man? I could feel his pain when he sings the “Tombstone Blues” chorus: “Mama’s in the fact’ry she ain’t got no shoes / Daddy’s in the alley lookin’ for the fuse / I’m in the kitchen with the tombstone blues.” Of course, “What Was It You Wanted?” is so spare yet so heartfelt.

Last night
i dreamed
my son joined a gang
A gang
one million strong

This gang
these brothers
spoke Swahili
Spanish
& street talk

& nobody was afraid

This gang walked around
in broad daylight
& after midnight
dreadlocked
cornrowed
hair kinky crazy

& nobody pointed their pistols

This gang
they wore kente durags
around their foreheads
cowries around their necks
didn’t take no shit

& nobody was afraid

This gang
one million strong
These sons
were intelligent
educable
like they always been

& nobody said they were not able

This gang
they were the future
doctors
lawyers
teachers
poets all about the business
of being correct

& nobody was afraid

This gang
they walked the streets
in great numbers

& nobody cuddled their purses

This gang
they stood up
& spoke up
when justice showed
its true colors

& the swat team didn’t come

This gang
they went to schools
where no teachers made them feel
worth less or like criminals

& nobody cried rape

This gang
they praised god
their way
& remembered ancestors
in old as time ceremonies

& nobody was afraid

They
beat drums
They beat drums
& beat drums

& nobody was afraid

This gang
sang their
warrior songs
baritone voices
stirring all those
with ears bent

& nobody was afraid

Last night
i dreamed
my son joined a gang
a gang
one million strong

This morning
i woke up
said a prayer
& prepared him
for another day
in fayette county public schools

& was very much afraid

Crystal Wilkinson