A true short story about amazement, hyperbole, dignity, love and magnificence (with pictures)

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TRUE SHORT STORY: While three men and one woman hurtle their way around the moon, down here on earth an idiot world leader hijacks the major networks to deliver 19 minutes of hyperbolic tripe to a world left wondering WTAF is going to happen next. Meanwhile, a petite French woman shares her story of intimate horrors with calm, intense dignity for all the world to respect. In my small corner of that world, Holly, the cat, turns 18, and I learn of a remarkable American composer who won the first Grammy ever for music scored for a video game. All this together, in just one week. Our world is as mad as it can be magnificent. Let us choose more magnificence, less madness…


I was mesmerized by the launch of Artemis II on April 1 --
more vivid in every way than I recall the moon landing on July 20, 1969.
Back then, grainy black & white on a tiny TV; today in vivid colour and real time,
with ongoing live updates from the crew on any device I choose. AMAZING


In July 2018, during my mother's annual visit to our cottage, we held Art Camp; 
every day, we came up with a phrase to prompt a drawing or collage. 
This day, the phrase was "the passage of time". 
My brilliant mother came up with this deceptively simple take. 
(Do you recognize that hair?) HYPERBOLE


Gisèle Pelicot shares her unspeakable story of rape with calm and clarity: "Shame has to change sides." Her story is horrifying; her resilience and eloquence remarkable. 
Roaring for change is not always loud. DIGNITY
(red bookmark is mine; fitting for this book)


Holly, the cat, turns 18 human years old on April 8; in cat years, that is 88, 
making her the oldest member of our household. If she were a human child, 
she would be preparing to move out and into her own independent life. 
She, however, is firmly settled in ours and going nowhere. LOVE


A clip on social media took me down a rabbit hole to Christopher Tin, 
American composer of music that brought tears to my eyes and hope to my heart. 
He won his first Grammy for Baba Yetu, but it was Waloyo Yamoni 
that got me in my gut.  MAGNIFICENCE


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Land acknowledgement: I respectfully recognize that I live on the original lands of Anishinaabe, Cree, Oji-Cree, Dakota and Dene peoples, and on the homeland of the Métis Nation.


Comments

  1. Barbara AnneApril 7, 2026 at 3:51 AM

    Short is still good. You're right, the simple illustration by your mother is brilliant, the only thing I'd change is to put him below the Neanderthals. I love this line "shame has to change sides". I read a book some time ago about a women who was stripped and then interrogated by the gestapo. She was calm and composed and they asked if she did not experience humiliation and shame. She replied "I did not choose to appear before you in this manner, you did. The shame belongs to you."

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnnApril 7, 2026 at 4:27 AM

    Happy birthday Holly. So glad to know someone older than I!

    ReplyDelete
  3. PamelakatApril 7, 2026 at 9:00 AM

    Happy birthday, dear little Holly. Long may you purr!

    ReplyDelete
  4. sally sApril 7, 2026 at 5:09 PM

    What fascinating material and clear-cut minuscule narrative to capture it all in a nutshell. Thank you Amanda!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Steven OettingApril 8, 2026 at 6:02 AM

      Holly is beautiful. She looks so healthy and happy in her window bed. We had a tabby who lived to be 23, so Holly still has lots of life ahead of her. Nutter was completely blind in her last couple of years but she knew every inch of our house and got around like she could see fine. Except one day when I accidentally left a box in the middle of the floor and boy oh boy, did she tell me about it! Never did that again LOL.

      Delete

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