‘Fascist’, ‘conman’, ‘predator’, ‘cheat’: what 11 former Trump staffers say about him now | US elections 2024 | The Guardian

Source: ‘Fascist’, ‘conman’, ‘predator’, ‘cheat’: what 11 former Trump staffers say about him now | US elections 2024 | The Guardian

Friends + Alka Joshi w Zara Raheem + J. J. Arcanian’s 3 Illusions – Happiness Between Tails by da-AL

Yesterday I phoned a dear friend – alas, he’s in the hospital, recovering from a stroke! I really hope he takes it seriously, cleans up his eating and so forth. But since I know zilch about how he cares for his wellbeing and less about how anyone besides myself should, my sadness and worry are sincere, yet that other stuff is plain selfish. Some sort of health-oriented fundamentalism in me, or call it desperation, wants a one-size-fits-all lifestyle solution. How great it would be if any of the body/mind/spirit potions and scourings advertised everywhere could truly rescue us from what often amounts to ‘sh#t happens.’ I could blather forever about all the cause/effect wisdom-ettes I’ve gathered along my mortal journey, but they all boil down to arguable guesses.

Is it okay to call him my dear friend even though we’ve been out of touch for decades? For sure, he is dear. Unless life deals me with the ‘sh#t happens’ of dementia, I’ll always appreciate the many ways he was kind to me when we were friend-er friends.

When I broke up with a long-time boyfriend, who met my friend in grade-school, I was too old to be as simple-minded as I dangerously was about dating. Thank goodness he helped shield me from some of the borderline stalkers I encountered. Also, he didn’t complain when said boyfriend and I barged in on him over several days of Christmas. We gave no thought to how harsh his work season was and that he cared nothing about Christmas. Still, over that holiday, he introduced me to the brilliant “It’s a Wonderful Life,” and later to Stephen Sondheim’s “Sweeney Todd: the Demon Barber of Fleet Street” on vinyl. Many Thanksgivings, he, his parents, and siblings, each quite talented culinary-wise, included us in their gourmet feasts and walks on the beach afterwards. How did he not hold it against my then-boyfriend and me when, the year his mom opted to keep things ‘just family,’ we whined, ‘but we are family’? When he was still only in his very early twenties, he modeled how to look after a bed-ridden grandmother who admonished me to never grow old because aging is a bitch. When she passed a few years later, he memorialized his car’s plates with her name and birth year.

All this is to say; dear friend, the world needs more wonderful people, so please do your all to get better.

And that’s to remind you and myself; friendship is precious. Even the most fleeting connections are gifts. I can only hope that I’ve returned the favor at least now and then.

Other friend news is that, thanks to Nirva Parikh (here’s about her acupuncture practice), she and I recently attended a Diwali celebration at Michelle Obama Neighborhood Library. A dance presentation, henna body painting, Indian food, goodie bags, and a chat between two top-notch novelists were included. Seeing successful authors in person gives me an added boost of optimism that I’ll soon find a great literary agent to represent my books (click here for more on them). Zara Raheem wrote The Marriage Clock and The Retreat. Alka Joshi wrote the Jaipur Trilogy: The Henna Artist, The Secret Keeper of Jaipur and The Perfumist of Paris. By the way, Alka guested here before, and Lisa Niver guested here about Alka, and here I reviewed Alka’s The Perfumist of Paris.

Photo of all in a line: da-AL, Zara Raheem, Alka Joshi, Nirva Parikh.
Left to right: da-AL, Zara Raheem, Alka Joshi, Nirva Parikh.

Source: Friends + Alka Joshi w Zara Raheem + J. J. Arcanian’s 3 Illusions – Happiness Between Tails by da-AL

(45) Three journalists killed in Israeli strike in Southern Lebanon • FRANCE 24 English – YouTube

In Tyre,South East Lebanon where the country’s information minister is calling the killings of three journalists there ‘a war crime’. The journalists were reportedly there covering the Israel Lebanon war. Local media has aired footage from the scene showing collapsed buildings and cars marked “PRESS,” covered in dust and rubble. For more, FRANCE 24 senior reporter, Catherine Norris Trent is on site.

Second Look Behind the Headlines – News you can use…

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