@CommonSparrow@mindly.social

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Common Sparrow

@CommonSparrow@mindly.social

Hair is gray, but not yet retired. Currently working two jobs - Love both of them. Native of New York by Ontario's shore, with Canadian childhood memories. Lifelong Democrat, moving ever further left as the years pass. Have a half-dozen double-stacked bookcases of secondhand books, and still keep my public library card busy. Honorary Gramma to a cute kiddo. Dog lover and recorder of audiobooks for LibriVox. # DailyHaikuPrompt # BookRecommendations # Books # Libraries # LibriVox # History

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Common Sparrow

@CommonSparrow@mindly.social

Hair is gray, but not yet retired. Currently working two jobs - Love both of them. Native of New York by Ontario's shore, with Canadian childhood memories. Lifelong Democrat, moving ever further left as the years pass. Have a half-dozen double-stacked bookcases of secondhand books, and still keep my public library card busy. Honorary Gramma to a cute kiddo. Dog lover and recorder of audiobooks for LibriVox. # DailyHaikuPrompt # BookRecommendations # Books # Libraries # LibriVox # History

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@CommonSparrow@mindly.social · 2d ago

@ArtGeek@mastodon.social Animals are clever!

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Common Sparrow

@CommonSparrow@mindly.social

Hair is gray, but not yet retired. Currently working two jobs - Love both of them. Native of New York by Ontario's shore, with Canadian childhood memories. Lifelong Democrat, moving ever further left as the years pass. Have a half-dozen double-stacked bookcases of secondhand books, and still keep my public library card busy. Honorary Gramma to a cute kiddo. Dog lover and recorder of audiobooks for LibriVox. # DailyHaikuPrompt # BookRecommendations # Books # Libraries # LibriVox # History

mindly.social

Common Sparrow

@CommonSparrow@mindly.social

Hair is gray, but not yet retired. Currently working two jobs - Love both of them. Native of New York by Ontario's shore, with Canadian childhood memories. Lifelong Democrat, moving ever further left as the years pass. Have a half-dozen double-stacked bookcases of secondhand books, and still keep my public library card busy. Honorary Gramma to a cute kiddo. Dog lover and recorder of audiobooks for LibriVox. # DailyHaikuPrompt # BookRecommendations # Books # Libraries # LibriVox # History

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@CommonSparrow@mindly.social · 2d ago

@ArtGeek@mastodon.social See you at the zoo!

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Common Sparrow

@CommonSparrow@mindly.social

Hair is gray, but not yet retired. Currently working two jobs - Love both of them. Native of New York by Ontario's shore, with Canadian childhood memories. Lifelong Democrat, moving ever further left as the years pass. Have a half-dozen double-stacked bookcases of secondhand books, and still keep my public library card busy. Honorary Gramma to a cute kiddo. Dog lover and recorder of audiobooks for LibriVox. # DailyHaikuPrompt # BookRecommendations # Books # Libraries # LibriVox # History

mindly.social

Common Sparrow

@CommonSparrow@mindly.social

Hair is gray, but not yet retired. Currently working two jobs - Love both of them. Native of New York by Ontario's shore, with Canadian childhood memories. Lifelong Democrat, moving ever further left as the years pass. Have a half-dozen double-stacked bookcases of secondhand books, and still keep my public library card busy. Honorary Gramma to a cute kiddo. Dog lover and recorder of audiobooks for LibriVox. # DailyHaikuPrompt # BookRecommendations # Books # Libraries # LibriVox # History

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@CommonSparrow@mindly.social · Mar 10, 2026

Distant companion, moon reaches out to oceans, they feel and respond. #DailyHaikuPrompt - Moon (My present library book is "The Tide: The Science and Stories Behind the Greatest Force on Earth" by Hugh Aldersey Williams. The moon, of course, plays a role).

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Common Sparrow

@CommonSparrow@mindly.social

Hair is gray, but not yet retired. Currently working two jobs - Love both of them. Native of New York by Ontario's shore, with Canadian childhood memories. Lifelong Democrat, moving ever further left as the years pass. Have a half-dozen double-stacked bookcases of secondhand books, and still keep my public library card busy. Honorary Gramma to a cute kiddo. Dog lover and recorder of audiobooks for LibriVox. # DailyHaikuPrompt # BookRecommendations # Books # Libraries # LibriVox # History

mindly.social

Common Sparrow

@CommonSparrow@mindly.social

Hair is gray, but not yet retired. Currently working two jobs - Love both of them. Native of New York by Ontario's shore, with Canadian childhood memories. Lifelong Democrat, moving ever further left as the years pass. Have a half-dozen double-stacked bookcases of secondhand books, and still keep my public library card busy. Honorary Gramma to a cute kiddo. Dog lover and recorder of audiobooks for LibriVox. # DailyHaikuPrompt # BookRecommendations # Books # Libraries # LibriVox # History

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@CommonSparrow@mindly.social · Mar 06, 2026

Soft downy goslings,
bobbing briskly, buoyantly,
precocious paddlers.

#DailyHaikuPrompt - Geese

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Common Sparrow

@CommonSparrow@mindly.social

Hair is gray, but not yet retired. Currently working two jobs - Love both of them. Native of New York by Ontario's shore, with Canadian childhood memories. Lifelong Democrat, moving ever further left as the years pass. Have a half-dozen double-stacked bookcases of secondhand books, and still keep my public library card busy. Honorary Gramma to a cute kiddo. Dog lover and recorder of audiobooks for LibriVox. # DailyHaikuPrompt # BookRecommendations # Books # Libraries # LibriVox # History

mindly.social

Common Sparrow

@CommonSparrow@mindly.social

Hair is gray, but not yet retired. Currently working two jobs - Love both of them. Native of New York by Ontario's shore, with Canadian childhood memories. Lifelong Democrat, moving ever further left as the years pass. Have a half-dozen double-stacked bookcases of secondhand books, and still keep my public library card busy. Honorary Gramma to a cute kiddo. Dog lover and recorder of audiobooks for LibriVox. # DailyHaikuPrompt # BookRecommendations # Books # Libraries # LibriVox # History

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@CommonSparrow@mindly.social · Mar 01, 2026

Woke up this morning to more horrific news. Every day it just gets worse and worse. But it was a regular working day, and so I got myself together and headed off to work at the front gate of the zoo. And work, as it always does, restored me.

It was sunny, 45°F, and the zoo saw the most visitors we've had in a long time. Families with kids, young couples, senior citizens, everyone glad to be out on a day that saw the end of winter. I was working with my good friends/coworkers, and the birds were singing, and for a few hours we were much too busy to dwell on the dystopia beyond the zoo grounds.

After work, I went to mass, and was again surrounded by friends, lifting me up in faith and song. Transfiguration reading for the second week of Lent, and we contemplated light in the face of growing darkness.

After mass, I took my protest sign out to the street corner between the church and the fire house, and stood there for an hour, quietly witnessing, as traffic passed by, holding onto thoughts that I am not alone, that people I don't know are out there on other street corners all over the country.

Then home to supper, tuna sandwiches and soup, comfort food, with some cheerful music playing on the computer speakers.

I heard a cardinal singing early this morning. I'm waiting for daffodil shoots to emerge under the melting snow. It's the daily small bits of cheer that save us lately.

#Hope

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Common Sparrow

@CommonSparrow@mindly.social

Hair is gray, but not yet retired. Currently working two jobs - Love both of them. Native of New York by Ontario's shore, with Canadian childhood memories. Lifelong Democrat, moving ever further left as the years pass. Have a half-dozen double-stacked bookcases of secondhand books, and still keep my public library card busy. Honorary Gramma to a cute kiddo. Dog lover and recorder of audiobooks for LibriVox. # DailyHaikuPrompt # BookRecommendations # Books # Libraries # LibriVox # History

mindly.social

Common Sparrow

@CommonSparrow@mindly.social

Hair is gray, but not yet retired. Currently working two jobs - Love both of them. Native of New York by Ontario's shore, with Canadian childhood memories. Lifelong Democrat, moving ever further left as the years pass. Have a half-dozen double-stacked bookcases of secondhand books, and still keep my public library card busy. Honorary Gramma to a cute kiddo. Dog lover and recorder of audiobooks for LibriVox. # DailyHaikuPrompt # BookRecommendations # Books # Libraries # LibriVox # History

mindly.social

@CommonSparrow@mindly.social · Feb 26, 2026

Cold gray slush, gray sky,
gray mood thirsts for yellow flash
of forsythia.

#DailyHaikuPrompt - Yellow

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Common Sparrow

@CommonSparrow@mindly.social

Hair is gray, but not yet retired. Currently working two jobs - Love both of them. Native of New York by Ontario's shore, with Canadian childhood memories. Lifelong Democrat, moving ever further left as the years pass. Have a half-dozen double-stacked bookcases of secondhand books, and still keep my public library card busy. Honorary Gramma to a cute kiddo. Dog lover and recorder of audiobooks for LibriVox. # DailyHaikuPrompt # BookRecommendations # Books # Libraries # LibriVox # History

mindly.social

Common Sparrow

@CommonSparrow@mindly.social

Hair is gray, but not yet retired. Currently working two jobs - Love both of them. Native of New York by Ontario's shore, with Canadian childhood memories. Lifelong Democrat, moving ever further left as the years pass. Have a half-dozen double-stacked bookcases of secondhand books, and still keep my public library card busy. Honorary Gramma to a cute kiddo. Dog lover and recorder of audiobooks for LibriVox. # DailyHaikuPrompt # BookRecommendations # Books # Libraries # LibriVox # History

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@CommonSparrow@mindly.social · Feb 22, 2026

Made a gargoyle face trying to dislodge a seed stuck between my teeth. #DailyHaikuPrompt - Seed

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Common Sparrow

@CommonSparrow@mindly.social

Hair is gray, but not yet retired. Currently working two jobs - Love both of them. Native of New York by Ontario's shore, with Canadian childhood memories. Lifelong Democrat, moving ever further left as the years pass. Have a half-dozen double-stacked bookcases of secondhand books, and still keep my public library card busy. Honorary Gramma to a cute kiddo. Dog lover and recorder of audiobooks for LibriVox. # DailyHaikuPrompt # BookRecommendations # Books # Libraries # LibriVox # History

mindly.social

Common Sparrow

@CommonSparrow@mindly.social

Hair is gray, but not yet retired. Currently working two jobs - Love both of them. Native of New York by Ontario's shore, with Canadian childhood memories. Lifelong Democrat, moving ever further left as the years pass. Have a half-dozen double-stacked bookcases of secondhand books, and still keep my public library card busy. Honorary Gramma to a cute kiddo. Dog lover and recorder of audiobooks for LibriVox. # DailyHaikuPrompt # BookRecommendations # Books # Libraries # LibriVox # History

mindly.social

@CommonSparrow@mindly.social · Feb 15, 2026

Snapped to attention,
by the distant plangent note
of an unseen bird.

#DailyHaikuPrompt - Note

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Common Sparrow

@CommonSparrow@mindly.social

Hair is gray, but not yet retired. Currently working two jobs - Love both of them. Native of New York by Ontario's shore, with Canadian childhood memories. Lifelong Democrat, moving ever further left as the years pass. Have a half-dozen double-stacked bookcases of secondhand books, and still keep my public library card busy. Honorary Gramma to a cute kiddo. Dog lover and recorder of audiobooks for LibriVox. # DailyHaikuPrompt # BookRecommendations # Books # Libraries # LibriVox # History

mindly.social

Common Sparrow

@CommonSparrow@mindly.social

Hair is gray, but not yet retired. Currently working two jobs - Love both of them. Native of New York by Ontario's shore, with Canadian childhood memories. Lifelong Democrat, moving ever further left as the years pass. Have a half-dozen double-stacked bookcases of secondhand books, and still keep my public library card busy. Honorary Gramma to a cute kiddo. Dog lover and recorder of audiobooks for LibriVox. # DailyHaikuPrompt # BookRecommendations # Books # Libraries # LibriVox # History

mindly.social

@CommonSparrow@mindly.social · Feb 15, 2026

After last Wednesday's eventful experience while on my solo protest vigil, I had a few butterflies about getting back out there today. After I got out of work today, I headed over to church for weekend mass. Afterwards, I set up my protest on the corner near the church.

Even though I was by myself, a lot of other parishioners were slowly trickling out of church, as many stayed after mass. So for most of the time I was out there, the parking lot behind me was populated and active. Several people stopped on their way to their cars to come over and speak to me, so I didn't feel solitary. By the final fifteen minutes of my hour, the people had all gone, but by that time, I had gotten my confidence back and felt okay alone.

On the way home I stopped to put gas in my car. The gas station attendant saw my "No ICE" sign on the passenger seat, and made several friendly and supportive comments. I handed over a couple packages of peanut butter crackers for him and his co-worker, and we parted on very smiling and friendly terms.

I came home feeling much more chipper after tonight's protest than after Wednesday's. During the hour I spent holding up my sign today, I had been singing on repeat the final hymn from the mass, "How Can I Keep From Singing?" - a favorite which had stayed stuck in my mind until it came burbling out of my mouth. Maybe it was the singing that also helped lift my mood. I guess I ought to make a practice of singing from now on, whenever I go out with my sign!

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So extraordinary and excellent an opinion, I’m screenshotting most of it. 2/

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Common Sparrow

@CommonSparrow@mindly.social

Hair is gray, but not yet retired. Currently working two jobs - Love both of them. Native of New York by Ontario's shore, with Canadian childhood memories. Lifelong Democrat, moving ever further left as the years pass. Have a half-dozen double-stacked bookcases of secondhand books, and still keep my public library card busy. Honorary Gramma to a cute kiddo. Dog lover and recorder of audiobooks for LibriVox. # DailyHaikuPrompt # BookRecommendations # Books # Libraries # LibriVox # History

mindly.social

Common Sparrow

@CommonSparrow@mindly.social

Hair is gray, but not yet retired. Currently working two jobs - Love both of them. Native of New York by Ontario's shore, with Canadian childhood memories. Lifelong Democrat, moving ever further left as the years pass. Have a half-dozen double-stacked bookcases of secondhand books, and still keep my public library card busy. Honorary Gramma to a cute kiddo. Dog lover and recorder of audiobooks for LibriVox. # DailyHaikuPrompt # BookRecommendations # Books # Libraries # LibriVox # History

mindly.social

@CommonSparrow@mindly.social · Feb 01, 2026

@heidilifeldman@mastodon.social This is the kind of direct, plain language, no-punches-pulled rebuke that we need more of!

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Root @heidilifeldman@mastodon.social Open

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Parent @heidilifeldman@mastodon.social Open

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So extraordinary and excellent an opinion, I’m screenshotting most of it. 2/

Current reply

Common Sparrow

@CommonSparrow@mindly.social

Hair is gray, but not yet retired. Currently working two jobs - Love both of them. Native of New York by Ontario's shore, with Canadian childhood memories. Lifelong Democrat, moving ever further left as the years pass. Have a half-dozen double-stacked bookcases of secondhand books, and still keep my public library card busy. Honorary Gramma to a cute kiddo. Dog lover and recorder of audiobooks for LibriVox. # DailyHaikuPrompt # BookRecommendations # Books # Libraries # LibriVox # History

mindly.social

Common Sparrow

@CommonSparrow@mindly.social

Hair is gray, but not yet retired. Currently working two jobs - Love both of them. Native of New York by Ontario's shore, with Canadian childhood memories. Lifelong Democrat, moving ever further left as the years pass. Have a half-dozen double-stacked bookcases of secondhand books, and still keep my public library card busy. Honorary Gramma to a cute kiddo. Dog lover and recorder of audiobooks for LibriVox. # DailyHaikuPrompt # BookRecommendations # Books # Libraries # LibriVox # History

mindly.social

@CommonSparrow@mindly.social · Feb 01, 2026

@heidilifeldman@mastodon.social This is the kind of direct plain language no-punches-pulled rebuke that we need more of!

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Common Sparrow

@CommonSparrow@mindly.social

Hair is gray, but not yet retired. Currently working two jobs - Love both of them. Native of New York by Ontario's shore, with Canadian childhood memories. Lifelong Democrat, moving ever further left as the years pass. Have a half-dozen double-stacked bookcases of secondhand books, and still keep my public library card busy. Honorary Gramma to a cute kiddo. Dog lover and recorder of audiobooks for LibriVox. # DailyHaikuPrompt # BookRecommendations # Books # Libraries # LibriVox # History

mindly.social

Common Sparrow

@CommonSparrow@mindly.social

Hair is gray, but not yet retired. Currently working two jobs - Love both of them. Native of New York by Ontario's shore, with Canadian childhood memories. Lifelong Democrat, moving ever further left as the years pass. Have a half-dozen double-stacked bookcases of secondhand books, and still keep my public library card busy. Honorary Gramma to a cute kiddo. Dog lover and recorder of audiobooks for LibriVox. # DailyHaikuPrompt # BookRecommendations # Books # Libraries # LibriVox # History

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@CommonSparrow@mindly.social · Feb 01, 2026

This thread by @MaryAustinBooks@mstdn.social is **wonderful**! https://mindly.social/@MaryAustinBooks@mstdn.social/115992234593083783 She writes: "There is nothing that is gonna stop this train now ... All of us have been pretty sure for months that the resistance would win, and other people said "no we're cooked" and "protests don't matter" and we do keep getting proven right. We're smoking most of the pundits on predictions so take it to the bank-- Trump will go DOWN. I'm not exactly sure how and when but we are going to win... Y'all we're gonna win this. Onward." After work and church today, I took my cardboard sign to my local street corner and stood out there by myself for an hour in the snow. Mine wasn't the big "resistance party" she celebrated today on that bridge, just an obscure one-person vigil. And yet when I read her thread about her experience on the bridge, she made me see this vision, that we are all participants in the one big nationwide resistance party she is describing. She is right! We're gonna win this!

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Common Sparrow

@CommonSparrow@mindly.social

Hair is gray, but not yet retired. Currently working two jobs - Love both of them. Native of New York by Ontario's shore, with Canadian childhood memories. Lifelong Democrat, moving ever further left as the years pass. Have a half-dozen double-stacked bookcases of secondhand books, and still keep my public library card busy. Honorary Gramma to a cute kiddo. Dog lover and recorder of audiobooks for LibriVox. # DailyHaikuPrompt # BookRecommendations # Books # Libraries # LibriVox # History

mindly.social

Common Sparrow

@CommonSparrow@mindly.social

Hair is gray, but not yet retired. Currently working two jobs - Love both of them. Native of New York by Ontario's shore, with Canadian childhood memories. Lifelong Democrat, moving ever further left as the years pass. Have a half-dozen double-stacked bookcases of secondhand books, and still keep my public library card busy. Honorary Gramma to a cute kiddo. Dog lover and recorder of audiobooks for LibriVox. # DailyHaikuPrompt # BookRecommendations # Books # Libraries # LibriVox # History

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@CommonSparrow@mindly.social · Jan 29, 2025

"Beautiful Souls: Saying No, Breaking Ranks, and Heeding the Voice of Conscience in Dark Times" by Eyal Press is a book I first read a dozen years ago. I've been thinking about it lately, because its lessons seem more relevant than ever in our present situation.

It's about the willingness of individuals to stand against the tide, to say, "Nope, not going along with this", when confronted with immoral or unethical demands.

What impact can a single person have? How can one person stop an avalanche? This book shows us cases where someone wasn't paralyzed by that question, but did the obviously right thing anyway, under the pressure of surrounding group conformity.

I wrote about this book in more detail at that time, in a book blog I was keeping then. I think I want to re-read it again now, and to recommend it to others.

https://mariasbooks.wordpress.com/2013/03/19/beautiful-souls/

#Books #BookRecommendations #Courage

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