"The air is the only place free of prejudices."

#OnThisDay, 15 Jun 1921, Bessie Coleman gained her pilot's license, becoming the first civilian African-American pilot in the world. And the first of Native American descent.

Read more about her in our NEW blogpost! https://carvehername.org.uk/bessie-coleman-and-other-early-american-aviators/

#WomenInHistory #OTD #History #WomensHistory #BlackHistory #AviationHistory #Histodons

My grandfather was blown to bits on DDay, left for dead, shipped home full of metal shrapnel and never recovered enough to act normal or even hold a job. That Nazi bomb has kept detonating down generations of my family. Do you think we paid that price just to welcome fascism back home for dinner and cuddles? I'm not about to be silent.

We must each ask ourselves, what would my ancestors do? Then do that.

#NoKingsDay

"We don’t need to achieve utopia. But we do need to walk toward it, because walking in the other direction is collapse." --#EarthlyEducation
https://open.substack.com/pub/theearthly/p/its-pragmatic-to-be-idealistic?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=2t69m

#environment #idealism #EnvironmentalJustice #ClimateCrisis #ClimateAction

Lush, beautiful, haunting poem by May Sarton: "Now I Become Myself" https://www.ayearofbeinghere.com/2013/06/may-sarton-now-i-become-myself.html.

Excerpt:

"From wish to action, word to silence,
My work, my love, my time, my face
Gathered into one intense
Gesture of growing like a plant."

#poetry #poem #poems #TodaysPoem #PoemADay #MaySarton #WritingPoetry #aging #writing #plants

Excerpt from "Annual" by Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer

I know they will die,
the dahlias, the zinnias,
the petunias, the geraniums,
will die come autumn,
and still I buy them, still
plant them and sing to them
as I do.

https://ahundredfallingveils.com/2025/05/31/annual/

#poetry #poem #poems #TodaysPoem #PoemADay #gratitude #gratefulness #PoetryOfPresence #gardens #gardening #flowers #summer #autumn #dying #death #RosemerryWahtolaTrommer

Finish out Bike Month in style with bike bingo! If you don't hit bingo today, no problem--keep riding into June! https://bikestylelife.com/2018/05/10/play-bike-bingo-great-excuse-for-a-bikespedition/

#BicyclesChangeLives #BikeEverywhere #BikeLife #BikeLove #cycling #WhyWeRide #BikeBingo #BikeTooter #BikeMonth

Bicycle typogram on the post by Aaron Kuehn, activist w/Bike Loud PDX. You can get it on a T-shirt! https://www.aaronkuehn.com/art/bicycle-typogram

#AaronKuehn #BikeLoudPDX

PeerTube Playlists (continued)

🏙️ TRANSPORT & URBANISM
Cycling & Bikes - https://fedi.video/w/p/3aso1cuAwWPtoWJ9Fb8SBW
Public Transport & Transit - https://fedi.video/w/p/tR7YP3hu4JgBhwxQkM8swJ
Trains & Railways - https://fedi.video/w/p/exaVr36h3yiPpmdiCL4Goq

👩‍💻 TECHNOLOGY
3D Printing - https://fedi.video/w/p/qax18Q5wPJw7E7SDKUJFTE
Electronics - https://fedi.video/w/p/6oEj2dPJWdfwZiB7HdYRze
Luanti / Minetest - https://fedi.video/w/p/czvkNsWu863gDraGhwK5n1
Radio - https://fedi.video/w/p/pxJaKPS5TQtMRPV26y1NWh
Synths - https://fedi.video/w/p/isaqbqRVCC2tZimMpt3teq

3/7

Let's take to the streets! Our new episode is about protests in science fiction & fantasy — and why protests are so vital in battling authoritarianism.

Plus we talk to @andrecarrington.bsky.social about his incredible new book, The Black Fantastic.

https://ouropinionsarecorrect.libsyn.com/the-power-of-protest-w-andr-carrington

"Once the writer in every individual comes to life (and that time is not far off), we are in for an age of universal deafness and lack of understanding."
--Milan Kundera, Book of Laughter and Forgetting, 1980, apparently predicting social media and the future of the internet.

#MilanKundera #writing #writers #understanding #forgetting #internet #SocialMedia #memory

@DrFerrous You're very welcome! The apt timing is courtesy of Phyllis Cole-Dai, who curated a 3-year collection at AYearOfBeingHere.com. For about 4 years now I've been reading my way through the site in sync with the dates she posted. Makes for a good start to my mornings and the poems become familiar friends.

A collection of poems about walking: https://bikestylelife.com/2023/10/12/walking-poems/.

#poetry #poem #poems #TodaysPoem #PoemADay #walkability #walking #PoetryOfPresence #OnAWalk #WhileWalking #WalkingLife

Mary Oliver, "Heavy"--just right for Memorial Day. Excerpt:

“It’s not the weight you carry

but how you carry it—
books, bricks, grief—
it’s all in the way
you embrace it, balance it, carry it

when you cannot, and would not,
put it down.”
So I went practicing.
Have you noticed?

https://www.ayearofbeinghere.com/2014/05/mary-oliver-heavy.html

#poetry #poem #poems #PoemADay #todaysPoem #MaryOliver #grief #MemorialDay

Excerpt from "And Then It's Exponential" by Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer

"Then the bars of that cage
bend enough for the most
courageous part of the self
to slip through. I’m not
saying it isn’t scary.
But this is how
one becomes two."

https://ahundredfallingveils.com/2025/05/25/and-then-its-exponential/

#poetry #poem #poems #TodaysPoem #PoemADay #RosemerryWahtolaTrommer #courage #RiseUp #Advocacy #AdvocacyMatters #activism

@Brennan What a beautiful thought. And hitting a deer is definitely a reason for someone else to check on whether you're okay! I hope you weren't hurt.)

A coworker shared this poem. She had just read it, years ago, then she and a friend on a road trip buried a bird because it felt like the right thing to do. I don't remember now whether they hit it, or just saw it.

Excerpt from "A Poem for Roadkill" by River Elizabeth Hall, a WA state poet:

"What if we pulled over,
got close enough to feel the death-rattle
shake the air against our skin?

Offered regret for getting in the way
with our roads, our tires, our glass?"

https://tinderboxpoetry.com/a-poem-for-roadkill

#poetry #poem #poems #TodaysPoem #PoemADay #animals #birds #nature #traffication #wildlife #transportation #Roadkill #RiverHall #SafetyOverSpeed #RoadSafety

Hey hey Olympia, fun on stage May 28 at Wild Child with ImprovOly! I'm a member of this new family-friendly (and not bland) improv troupe. Come laugh with us! Or at us, as long as you're laughing. https://www.improvoly.com/public-calendar/whose-improvoly-anyway-may28

Is it IM-prahv-OH-lee or im-PRAVH-uh-lee? Yes, yes it is.

EDIT to add: Tickets are sliding scale because everyone deserves to laugh.

#ImprovOly #LaughOutLoud #ImprovOlympia #Improv #Comedy #ImprovComedy #OlyWA #OlympiaEvents #OlyWAEvents #WhoseLine

A new poetry round-up, this one celebrating our fine feathered friends who are so chirpy this time of year. https://biketoworkbarb.blogspot.com/2025/05/flying-high-with-bird-poems.html

#Birds #Birding #poetry #poem #poems #PoemADay #TodaysPoem #BirdPoems #ornithology

A bit late for Hedgehog Awareness Week, which someone in Britain set as May 4-10, the poem "Be Kind" by Michael Blumenthal with a spiky little one pictured at the top: https://www.ayearofbeinghere.com/2015/05/michael-blumenthal-be-kind.html

"Surely
the hedgehog, furling and unfurling
into its spiked little ball, knows something
that, with gentle touch and unthreatening
tone, can inure to our benefit,"

#kindness #Hedgehog #HedgehogAwarenessWeek #poetry #poem #poems #TodaysPoem #PoemADay #MichaelBlumenthal

This is really important advice, especially for anyone dealing with mental health struggles or a chronic illness.

And peace and understanding to those who didn't choose to be a mom but did become a mom anyway and made the best of it. I think that's another overlooked category that can be riddled with complicated feelings.

@mekkaokereke @NilaJones