11 Comments
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Randall Tremba's avatar

I did not see this in my inbox. I’m baffled. I came across it while browsing after seeing the old guard piece. Anyway I mourn. But also with you celebrate this good man. I will try to complement your tribute to him in my blog post this Sunday.

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Emily's avatar

"Salvo of tributes for a life and virtues supposedly admired but not practiced" about sums it up. We're never ready for the truly good people among us, after all these years! Hope he and Jesus are having a good-natured bitch session about that. Jesus: "I know, right??"

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Jim Watkins's avatar

I am finding morning silence is a good place to be. I once had a terrible addiction to morning MSNBC and a focus on articles that in their title reinforced my proclivities. I have come to learn that my mind isn't such a bad place to start the day. Thoughts come, and some end up being writing prompts.

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Jim Watkins's avatar

You are most kind in assessing the words that end up on my screen. They are fewer than the words that fell to the wayside whether guilty of being the wrong words, the also rans, or round peg words I could not squeeze into a square post. I am an editor short of being brilliant, I jest. In reality I am a meandering researcher until I have no choice but to dump a load of words on a page. Your work inspires me. Thanks for the kind words.

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Jim Watkins's avatar

Thank you for the kind words. I too have long had "deep respect and reverence for all he did." I feel we have been at several crossroads in my lifetime, e.g., the Kennedy brothers, Martin Luther King, Al Gore, and others who could have spun America closer to its promise. Even when an Obama does so, forces rise to thwart it. It seems the ebb and flow of democracy will be our lot, with small victories and communities of good will.

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Michael Wisniewski's avatar

Another thoughtful contemplation in prose. It is amazing how a sight or a smell or an event or even a good cup of morning coffee can trigger an onslaught of images, remembrances, and well mulled thoughts. Look forward to when whatever it is captures you and opens the spigot.

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Jim Watkins's avatar

I am finding morning silence is a good place to be. I once had a terrible addiction to morning MSNBC and a focus on articles that in their title reinforced my proclivities. I have come to learn that my mind isn't such a bad place to start the day. Thoughts come, and some end up being writing prompts.

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Stewart Acuff's avatar

Thanks as ever, Brother Jim, for a thoughtful & heartful remembrance. Some folks--including this folk-- would call this piece prose poetry. The language is poetry. The form is prose. Notice I coined a new word-- heartful to help describe your writing.

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Jim Watkins's avatar

You are most kind in assessing the words that end up on my screen. They are fewer than the words that fell to the wayside whether guilty of being the wrong words, the also rans, or round peg words I could not squeeze into a square post. I am an editor short of being brilliant, I jest. In reality I am a meandering researcher until I have no choice but to dump a load of words on a page. Your work inspires me. Thanks for the kind words.

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Ardyth Gilbertson's avatar

O Jim, you paint a beautiful picture with your words… I can see Pookie & Gimpy, & the Poplar trees you planted on the Hill. We watch the tributes & reminiscences of Jimi Carter with deep respect & reverence for all he did (& didn’t do - a kind, decent man with integrity) & all he stood for, with his lovely childhood sweetheart by his side. What a difference one soul can make. We here have always deeply admired him, voted for him, & mourned at his loss in 1980 (largely the hostage crisis which magically concluded in Raygun’s timing). What an honor to be at his inauguration! You are not alone today, mourning on this morning. Thank you for your words today… soothing truths. Amen.

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Jim Watkins's avatar

Thank you for the kind words. I too have long had "deep respect and reverence for all he did." I feel we have been at several crossroads in my lifetime, e.g., the Kennedy brothers, Martin Luther King, Al Gore, and others who could have spun America closer to its promise. Even when an Obama does so, forces rise to thwart it. It seems the ebb and flow of democracy will be our lot, with small victories and communities of good will.

Expand full comment