Greetings from War-Ravaged Portland!

Nancy FlynnApostrophe Blog Archive, Musings, Neighborhood, Political News, Writing

Where there are free bouquets available for passersby on their way to and from Alberta Park. Where there are no fires that I can see, no conflagrations, no insurrectionists warring in the streets. Where the sun is out and it is a glorious autumn day iridescent with green, melodious with birdsong, peaceful and calm and serene. And since I know that the tyrants are lying and gaslighting about what is currently going on here—in the city where I live—makes a person wonder why one would ever take anything they utter at face value let alone assume it is telling the truth
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Publication Day: America’s Slide Towards Authoritarianism from IHRAM Press

Nancy FlynnApostrophe Blog Archive, Political News, Publication News, Writing

I took the above photograph at the No Kings Rally and March in downtown Portland, Oregon on June 14, 2025. It was one of my favorite signs at the march—after all, we are avid community gardeners! I had previously seen it at the April 5, 2025 Hands Off Rally but did not get a good photograph at the time. It sums up so much about this moment we find ourselves in. Luckily, IHRAM Press and its authors and artists are fighting back. I am one of those authors. As of today, October 1st, IHRAM Press is publishing America’s Slide Towards Authoritarianism, a folio of American and international writers and artists…

 
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Nothing to Celebrate Today…

Nancy FlynnApostrophe Blog Archive, History Lessons, Musings, Political News, Writing

After this shameful week in the United States Senate, later in the House of Representatives, and today when Felon 47 takes out his Sharpie and scrawls his illegible nonsense on a bill that should never have been sanctioned let alone. Instead, give a listen to a reading of this scathing speech by the Honorable Frederick Douglass, “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?” as orated by his descendants. Douglass delivered this speech to the Rochester Ladies’ Anti-Slavery Society in Rochester, New York on July 5, 1852. So much of what he speaks to is tragically still relevant today…

 
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Call It By Its Name

Nancy FlynnApostrophe Blog Archive, History Lessons, Political News, Writing

The photo on this post is of one oh-so-lovely blossom from one of the three snow leaf hydrangeas that grace our front yard. The simple beauty of flowers, of the green inspiration that surrounds me here in my little corner of Portland, Oregon paradise is sorely needed right about now. I took this snapshot yesterday when I was deeply in pursuit of beauty…

 
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Buy Nothing Day

Nancy FlynnHistory Lessons, Musings, Political News, Writing

Today no money changed hands as far as I was concerned. I did not drive. I did not order anything online. I did not even patronize local businesses—that was yesterday. What did I do? Wash clothes using laundry detergent purchased many moons ago. Activated the big-gun leaf blower we inherited from my son to begin the annual ritual spring cleaning up of the mess that is our outside universe here in Western Oregon…

 
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The Last Bouquet

Nancy FlynnApostrophe Blog Archive, Gardening, History Lessons, Photography, Political News, Writing

I picked the last batch of dahlias on November 22nd, seventeen days after the disastrous, shameful results in the U.S. presidential election. It had been a relatively warm fall overall and the dahlias just kept on blooming right up until the day when it was time to cut down the stalks, cover the beds with thick plastic, shovel then rake a thick layer of bark mulch on top—their over-wintering insulation so I did not have to dig up all the tubers and put them into crates full of peat moss and newspaper for storage…

 
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Turning Away from (Anti-) Social Media…

Nancy FlynnApostrophe Blog Archive, History Lessons, Musings, Political News

Well, the time has finally come for me. I am done. I can no longer pretend these social media platforms are harmless, are working for the overall greater good. I can no longer engage, participate, abide even though I know these sites have been good for many communities particularly writers and artists. The latest news that the CEO of the companies under the umbrella of the (very silly) company name Meta will end its fact-checking program in favor of a community-based system to determine veracity and truth is the final straw for me…

 
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The Scattering and the Shadows

Nancy FlynnApostrophe Blog Archive, Musings, Political News, Wisdom

I took this photo a few days after the terrible, shameful outcome of the November Presidential election here in the U.S. Those were the days when it felt like I was walking around in a world I finally had to admit existed, one that I do not feel I belong to, a land of cruelty and anger, a population of the aggrieved and the inflamed. No longer was there the stable and reliable world I would prefer to inhabit; everything now felt flung apart, flung down, spent. And so many of us isolated and far far apart. It was a beautiful autumn here in Portland, Oregon. Many days were sunny even verging into warmth…

 
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Choosing Beauty…

Nancy FlynnApostrophe Blog Archive, History Lessons, Political News

these bleak, dispiriting days since the events of November 5, 2024. Here is the penultimate bouquet from my front yard dahlia farm. One week from today, this year’s deconstruction begins: cutting down the stalks, laying out the plastic to cover the plants, then bark mulch on top of that to (hopefully) keep the tubers from freezing over the wet, winter months…

 
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