A summary of posts included on More to Come in June 2023. If you receive my monthly email update, feel free to skip this one.

Summer, with all its heat, sun, thunderstorms — and orange, ash-filled skies (!) — has arrived.

When I walked to the front gate of Nationals Park earlier this month only to find that the game had been postponed due to the hazardous air conditions from Canadian wildfires, the impact of all the terrible things we’re doing to our planet once again became very real. Silver Spring’s own Rachel Carson, perhaps the finest nature writer of the twentieth century, told us that humans could not obtain complete mastery over nature but should approach great and elemental things with mindfulness and awe.

She made that point in The Sense of Wonder which grew out of summertime visits to the Maine coast with her young nephew. My review of this little gem of a book — Becoming receptive to what lies all around us — was the top reader choice on MORE TO COME… for this month.

June is also the anniversary of one of the most important dates in history. D-Day and the ongoing fight against government by the few and for the few — the other top reader choice — was a timely reminder that we once fought and defeated fascism on the beaches of Normandy. In a pamphlet distributed to troops during WWII, those men and women fighting against bigotry, racism, and hatred learned that “the fundamental principle of democracy — faith in the common sense of the common people — was the direct opposite of the fascist principle of rule by the elite few.” That’s why the fascists fought so hard against democracy. It is why we have to fight so hard today against those who would overturn our rule of law and government by the people.

Let’s see what else made it to MTC this month.

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BOOKS ARE EDUCATIONAL

Groucho Marx once said, “I find television very educating. Every time somebody turns on the set, I go into the other room and read a book.” Sometimes when asked how I read at least five books each month, I’ll reply that I don’t watch much television. In addition to the Carson book noted above, I reviewed these works in June:

• When fear and resentment take power is my look at Timothy Egan’s newest work Fever in the Heartland about the rise of the Ku Klux Klan in the 1920s. Understanding the full scope of our past helps us combat those who are spewing hatred and banning books today. 

• Amy-Jill Levine is a self-described “unorthodox member of an Orthodox synagogue and a Yankee Jewish feminist who until 2021 taught New Testament in a Christian divinity school in the buckle of the Bible Belt.” In Acknowledging the difficulties, I discuss her book The Difficult Words of Jesus: A Beginner’s Guide to His Most Perplexing Teachings.

• Family, myth, and identity is my look at Thinning Blood, the recent memoir of Leah Myers, a young Native American who makes a powerful push against the feeling of extinction in this fierce piece of personal history.

• The latest crime novel in my year of reading dangerously is The Fourth Man by the Norwegian writer K.O. Dahl, which I review in The dark underworld of the soul.

• I also returned to Rethink by Steven Poole this month, as it helped me consider The tyranny of binary choice that we’ve succumbed to in recent years.

• Finally, there’s the always popular The books I read in May 2023 for those who prefer the short synopsis.

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MUSIC THAT COVERS THE LANDSCAPE

During June, I wrote about a rock ‘n roll legend, a Harvard-educated banjo innovator, a folk pianist, and a songstress and writer with pure country sensibilities. Go figure.

• Stranger in a strange land led a couple of Leon Russell fans among my readers to self-identify. In his long career, Leon played with everyone ― a “preposterously impressive roll call.”

• On Banjo with Alison Brown looks at the latest by the best banjo player (and independent record label co-founder) to ever grace the halls of that Ivy League institution in Cambridge.

• My appreciation for the late folk pianist who passed away on June 4^th can be found at George Winston, R.I.P.

• I ended the month with a look at the music of Brennen Leigh in It’s not country, it’s just music.

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GOOD NEWS (AND BASEBALL)

Sometimes those things overlap.

• Hail to the Reds was my quick homage to the Cincinnati Reds, the team currently having the most fun in baseball. They promptly dropped two games to the Braves but did take a series from the Orioles.

• The Browns celebrated Father’s Day late this year, but I recognized the holiday with Father’s Day, baseball, and dad jokes. Yes, I got a few groans from the family.

• Continue to celebrate the good news! is this month’s reminder that things we want to go up (jobs) are rising while things we want to go down (inflation and murder rates) are falling. But since you won’t read about it in the New York Times someone has to fill the void.

• I love the pithy proverb – Volume 8 is my latest installment of short, to the point proverbs to make you think.

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CONCLUSION

Thanks, as always, for reading. As you travel life’s highways be open to love, undertake some mindful walking every day, recognize the incredible privilege that most of us have and think about how to put that privilege to use for good. Women, people of color, LGBTQ+ individuals, immigrants, and others can feel especially vulnerable…because they are. Work hard for justice and democracy because the fight never ends.

Bash into some joy along the way.

And finally, try to be nice. Always be kind.

More to come…

DJB

You can follow More to Come by going to the small “Follow” box that is on the right hand column of the site (on the desktop version) or at the bottom right on your mobile device. It is great to hear from readers, and if you like them feel free to share these posts on your own social media platforms.

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For the May 2023 summary, click here.

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Photo of Claire in Switzerland by Sylvie Abookire