Another Week: Number 160

This is the time of year that inspires optimism, then smacks it right down — like nursery catalogs arriving in the mailbox with discount codes that expire in February.

The weather was almost springlike on Monday and Tuesday, so I went walking. Monday’s walk took me through Pierce Woods Park, where we parked as Amy ate her last ice cream cone, bought at the McDonald’s on Lathrop. I think it was also her last ride in our Jetta.

On Tuesday, I hiked Petrifying Springs in my army jacket and canvas sneakers. It was windy and thrilling.

Then Wednesday morning dawned on near-blizzard conditions — 30 m.p.h. winds blowing snow sideways down Drexel. Winter reasserted its grip 

On Thursday night, I watched two basketball games — the women of Notre Dame lost to Louisville, and the women of Iowa beat Oregon.

Friday was the second anniversary of Amy’s death, and some friends and family checked in with me. The 731 intervening days vanished like a silly dream, and I was right back there. So much for progress.

 I walked 6.25 miles this week.

Donald Trump chaos accelerates

The “horse in the hospital” effect observed during Donald J. Trump’s first administration kicked into a new gear this week.

On Sunday, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell published a video pushing back against subpoenas from the Department of Justice aimed at driving him out of his chairmanship, uh … four months early?

On Tuesday, after at least 2,000 protestors were estimated to have been killed by an Iranian government crackdown, Trump promised them, “Help is on its way” — even while supporting his own administration’s execution of a mom protesting last week in Minneapolis.

On Wednesday, the FBI raided the home of a Washington Post journalist as part of some leak investigation — a signal that the First and Fourth Amendments might just be history.

On Thursday, Trump threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act, empowering himself to use American troops against American protesters.

Meanwhile, all week, NATO states like Denmark, France, Germany, and Sweden were sending troops to Greenland after Trump refused to rule out taking that country by force.

Sometimes, the realization that this is all really happening feels like an actual weight pressing down on my chest that makes it hard to get off the couch.

The Life of Chuck (2024)

Saturday night, my mom and I watched an unusual movie via HBO Max — The Life of Chuck, adapted from a Stephen King novella.

One oddity is that the film opens with the third of its three acts, showing us a world that seems to be seriously on the fritz and possibly coming to an end. This struck a very familiar chord in view of the week’s actual news — except that instead of Denmark deploying against a U.S. president’s threats, parts of California are reportedly disappearing into the ocean.

Beyond that, I don’t want to spoil anything — but I will say that both Tom Hiddleston, who stars as Chuck, and Benjamin Pajak, who plays a younger Chuck, engage in some dancing that delighted my mom, a big fan of good movie dancing.

I will also note that Mark Hamill has a significant role as Chuck’s grandfather — and that the other movie we were considering Saturday was Star Wars, which my mother still has never seen.

This was a fascinating hour and 51 minutes. It provided a lot to think about regarding the arbitrary span of life we are each given and the choices we make in spending it. For a Stephen King story, it offers a lot of humanity and only a little supernaturalism.