The Writer's Life 12/20 - Luck of the Solstice

The Winter solstice doesn't always fall on the 21st, but it will tomorrow. Here are facts about the event, gleaned from an article by Jane Rose at mentalfloss.com, edited by yours truly: The next solstice occurring on December 20th will not happen until 2080, and the next on December 23rd will not occur until 2303. (Can't wait.) The event occurs the instant the North Pole is aimed furthest away from the sun on the 23.5 degree tilt of the Earth’s axis, which will be at 11:28 AM Eastern time in 2017. NYC will experience 9 hours and 15 minutes of sunlight. Barrow, Alaska, will not have a sunrise at all, and hasn't since mid-November; its next will be on January 22nd. The Pilgrims arrived at Plymouth Rock on December 21, 1620; on 12/21/1898 Pierre and Marie Curie discovered radium; and on 12/21/1968 the Apollo 8 spacecraft launched. Stonehenge lines up with the winter solstice sunrise. No one knows why. Each year thousands of hippies, pagans, and other enthusiasts gather there to celebrate the occasion. Some traditions hold that dark spirits walk the earth on the day. Some folks expected the world to end on 12/21/2012, the finish of a 5126-year cycle on the Mayan calendar... As someone who hates frigid weather, each year I try to bolster myself with the following thought: From here on the days get longer. Unfortunately, it doesn't work. I dread freezing temperatures and snow.

I'm not surprised that I'm completely out of tune with the opinion most Americans have of President Trump's job approval rating. It languishes in the 30's. Given the tremendous roll he is currently on, I wonder if it will ever improve. It remains to be seen if he can rescue the economy from the sins of congress and previous administrations, Democrat and Republican, but it does seem to be "Morning in America" again, as President Reagan put it so wonderfully in the '80's - at least to me. Horse sense trumps the micromanaging of politicians. And I'm not surprised that polls show 55% of Americans disapprove of the tax bill. After all, 48% of U.S. citizens receive some sort of government largess. The other seven percent might disagree only with a certain part that affects one directly, and who knows how many disapprove because it doesn't cut taxes enough and across the entire spectrum. According to what I've read and heard, those in the highest bracket will be paying more in the hope that it will offset, at least partially, any loss of revenue.

The proof copy of Present and Past was just delivered to my door. How many errors will I find?

My thanks to the kind folks who bought wares today. Most of the sales were of books in Russian. A young woman bought two vinyl albums, The Best of the Doors, and a similar compilation by the Carpenters. A lovely young woman whose English was flawless overpaid for two books in Russian. A middle age woman who months ago purchased $30 worth of audio books, donated by Alexander E. Poet and his wife Nadine before they moved to Cincinnati, remarked how much she enjoyed them - and gave me a $20 gift. I tried to get her to take two of my books, but she said: "Another time," and walked away. Bad News Billy didn't have a few moments to look through the records, as the kids are driving him crazy, but he handed me $20 for the next time he spots items to his liking. A woman with a heavy accent was reminded of life in the Soviet Union by a book cover. She said that on the day she emigrated petty bureaucrats prevented her from taking along a family photo taken in 1945. Years later it was smuggled out by relatives. And Mr. Conspiracy had me laughing out loud at a personal anecdote. When he spotted the Frank Sinatra album I had at the head of the pack, he said that his father, divorced, bought every record Old Blues Eyes ever made, hundreds. It frustrated Mr. C, who claims to have said: "Dad - how many times do you expect to get laid?"

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