I feel like the country is on the verge of a nervous breakdown. The 2024 election cycle seems like a long, drawn-out, slow-motion colonoscopy prep. Can you help us get through this?
Also, my body tractor starts hard, has horrible fuel consumption, and has overall low performance.
Your friend in twine,
– Live Stream Colonoscopy Prep
Dear LSCP,
Change your spark plugs, both personally and professionally.
So, we’re less than a week away from The Big Day. Go vote. Do an anonymous act of kindness. Hug your kids. Say hello to your neighbor. All ships rise with the tide – pick a charity that speaks to your heart and go all in.
Create art, music, beauty. Appreciate your bounty, your full refrigerator, your high speed internet connection, your health, your family, your inner WLBOTT. Visualize whirled peas.
A very wise person once said, “We are in this world but we are not of this world.”
Think of the big picture. Bigger, bigger, bigger still.
Twine Transcends.
– Tess Twinehart
Tess and the WLBOTT Spark Plug Team
“We are in this world but we are not of this world.”
Autumn
Quite coincidentally, Tess came across this quote in a book she is reading. The book is Autumn, by Ali Smith. The quote dovetails perfectly into the anxiety LSCP is feeling about the fate of America.
It’s a question of how we regard our situations, dearest Dani, how we look and see where we are, and how we choose, if we can, when we are seeing undeceivedly, not to despair and, at the same time, how best to act. Hope is exactly that, that’s all it is, a matter of how we deal with the negative acts towards human beings by other human beings in the world, remembering that they and we are all human, that nothing human is alien to us, the foul and the fair, and that most important of all we’re here for a mere blink of the eyes, that’s all.
Autumn: A Novel (Seasonal Quartet) by Ali Smith / Page 189
Autumn expertly captures the anger and disruption caused by the referendum without a sense of antagonism.
Hate, obstacles, resistance, love and tragedy prevail throughout the novel and Smith explores these themes as though she can read the soul of every single reader. Though focused on a divisive topic, and with reference to past horrors and unrequited loves, there is a devastating beauty in the ending that leaves a glimmer of hope in your heart and a tear on your cheek.
In her memory-scapes and dreamworlds, Smith reveals the buried longings of her characters; their agony, their hopeful eagerness, their fear of death.
At one point, she imagines “all the things from the past … like a huge national orchestra biding its time … all the objects holding still and silent till the shops empty of people … Then, when darkness falls, the symphony … The symphony of the sold and the discarded. The symphony of all the lives that had these things in them once. The symphony of worth and worthlessness.” Autumn is a beautiful, poignant symphony of memories, dreams and transient realities; the “endless sad fragility” of mortal lives.
Ali Smith CBE FRSL (born 24 August 1962) is a Scottish author, playwright, academic and journalist. Sebastian Barry described her in 2016 as “Scotland’s Nobel laureate-in-waiting”.
Early life and education Smith was born in Inverness on 24 August 1962 to Ann and Donald Smith. Her parents were working-class and she was raised in a council house in Inverness. From 1967 to 1974 she attended St. Joseph’s RC Primary school, then went on to Inverness High School, leaving in 1980.
As a young woman, Smith held several part-time jobs including a waitress, lettuce-cleaner, tourist board assistant, receptionist at BBC Highland and advertising copywriter.
The Highlands school administrators provide menus for the younger children in many languages:
Here is the Inverness menu for the younger children, in Ukrainian:
The Inverness / Ukraine Connection
Scotland is providing sanctuary to more displaced Ukrainians per capita than any other part of the UK.
Inverness has a population of about 48,000, with a metro population of about 64,000.
Elder G nets it out for us:
Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Scotland has welcomed over 25,000 displaced Ukrainians, with many settling in Inverness and the Scottish Highlands. The Scottish Government’s ‘super sponsor’ scheme facilitated this by allowing Ukrainians to come to Scotland without needing an individual sponsor, providing immediate support and accommodation upon arrival.
In the Highlands, local communities and organizations have played a crucial role in supporting Ukrainian refugees. The Scottish Refugee Council has been instrumental in coordinating efforts, establishing Community Integration Networks in areas like the Highlands to address the specific needs of new arrivals.
However, challenges persist. Some refugees have faced difficulties in securing long-term housing, leading to instances of homelessness or reliance on temporary accommodations. Support charities have urged local councils to improve access to stable housing.
Despite these challenges, many Ukrainians have begun to rebuild their lives in Scotland, finding employment, enrolling children in schools, and integrating into local communities. The Scottish Government continues to work with partners to support these efforts and address ongoing challenges.
