Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut, dismissing “the Republican talking point that mass shootings are a problem of mental illness, not easy access to guns” (emphasis mine):

Spare me the bullshit about mental illness. We don’t have any more mental illness than any other country in the world. You cannot explain this through a prism of mental illness, because we don’t — we’re not an outlier on mental illness. We’re an outlier when it comes to access to firearms and the ability of criminals and very sick people to get their hands on firearms. That’s what makes America different.

David French in The Atlantic ($):

Thoughts and prayers. It began as a cliché. It became a joke. It has putrefied into a national shame.

If tonight, Americans do turn heavenward in pain and grief for the lost children of Uvalde, Texas, they may hear the answer delivered in the Bible through the words of Isaiah:

“And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you: yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood.”

Wordle 339 5/6

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Random thoughts:

  • I’m tired.
  • I don’t enjoy social media anymore. I’m beginning to wonder if staying in touch with friends from college and elsewhere is really worth sticking around Facebook.
  • My capacity for news – or what purports to be news – and the chattering masses online is down to nothing now. My online consumption is limited to faith content and sports coverage (often in newsletters), and sometimes even that can be intolerable.
  • I’ve grown incredibly disenchanted with humanity.
  • I’m exceedingly grateful for this little web space of mine.
  • My head is crowded with thoughts about how to uncrowd it. My soul feels so cluttered and in desperate need of structure.
  • Themes that keep popping up in my spiritual reading (not listed in order of importance): order, peace of heart, mortification and suffering, Jesus in the Gospels, purity of intent, forgiveness, disappointment.
  • Very grateful for the Hallow and Amen apps that provide prayers and meditations and Scripture readings I can listen to when I need to wind down at night.
  • Did I mention I’m tired? Deeply, deeply tired.

Logged 50 work hours last week.

That’s it. That’s the post.

Wordle 338 4/6

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F’s cooking class made alfajores, a shortbread-like sandwich cookie filled with dulce de leche and popular in South America, but a field trip for another class kept her from sampling them. So, we made them at home.

I thought I’d be bored by today’s morning ballgame on Peacock. But Jason Benetti and his rapport with the local baseball analysts du jour make the game eminently watchable. ⚾️

Wordle 337 4/6

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Wordle 335 6/6

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Whew, indeed.

Wordle 334 6/6

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Had a lovely visit this evening with Hudson, a Bernese mountain dog and world’s largest lap animal.

Wordle 333 5/6

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Forgot the Wordle yesterday. I make a point of not doing it until after morning prayers, and I just went about my day after prayers and forgot.

Too bad my streak starts over; more concerned about keeping up our “Genius” streak on the Spelling Bee puzzle in The New York Times.

Wordle 332 5/6

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The future of COVID: Multiple waves, multiple infections even within a year

Great. From The New York Times ($; emphasis mine):

A virus that shows no signs of disappearing, variants that are adept at dodging the body’s defenses, and waves of infections two, maybe three times a year — this may be the future of Covid-19, some scientists now fear.

The central problem is that the coronavirus has become more adept at reinfecting people. Already, those infected with the first Omicron variant are reporting second infections with the newer versions of the variant — BA.2 or BA2.12.1 in the United States, or BA.4 and BA.5 in South Africa.

Those people may go on to have third or fourth infections, even within this year, researchers said in interviews. And some small fraction may have symptoms that persist for months or years, a condition known as long Covid.

“It seems likely to me that that’s going to sort of be a long-term pattern,” said Juliet Pulliam, an epidemiologist at Stellenbosch University in South Africa.

I’ve been making more of an effort to avoid work on Sundays. But this weekend, I just couldn’t bring myself to plow into more editing Friday night or Saturday. So, I got going on two projects Sunday afternoon, broke for dinner, and then got back at them after everyone else went to bed.

At 3:25 a.m. on Monday, it’s finally time to wind down for a few hours before the work day begins anew.

Wordle 330 5/6

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Wordle 329 4/6

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Can’t think of a better way to end the week than listening to the Atlanta Braves organist play “Always Look on the Bright SIde of Life” while the home team is down 11-6 to the Padres.

Wordle 328 3/6

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Was almost afraid to check. Been feeling largely fine this week, but it’s nice to finally have a test confirm I’m virus-free.

Wordle 327 5/6

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Even part of a day away from the work grind makes an enormous difference.

It helped to invest part of that day in an evening of recollection where I met someone who happens to be from my parish; that helped lift me out of the spiritual funk I’ve been in since COVID happened, and I’m deeply grateful for that.

Nunc coepi – I begin again. Always, I begin again.

Wordle 326 5/6

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After a minor vent session this week with a manager at work, I took her up on her offer to cover for me today. I put in an hour this morning and called it a day.

As challenging as things have been lately, I’m grateful for the generosity of colleagues when things get tough.