defending democracy

Alright folks - it's time to confirm what this whole thing is about. It is not about abortion. It is about women's rights.

It's all about our privacy. It is about our ability to exercise any choice in our life. It is about our right to make our own decisions for ourselves.

in protest of this SCOTUS decision

At the podcast "Now & Then" award-winning historians Heather Cox Richardson and Joanne Freeman use their encyclopedic knowledge of US history to bring the past to life. Together, they react to the overturning of Roe v. Wade. 

achy breaky

June has been a particularly difficult month in the wake of a bad stretch of these past three years. When our hearts are heavy and our souls are burdened, we turn to the gift of ecstatic poetry as the mystics teach us. 

Mystical defined as anything having to do with opening the heart to light. Ecstatic having to do with anything expressed from this place. 

wonder | wander | world offers this guiding prayer as we celebrate Juneteenth here in the US and the birth of a national hero, Jose Rizal, back home in the Philippines. 

Juneteenth Pride

May it lift us up and allow our spirit to soar. 

false proclamations

12 June 2022 the nation will commemorates the 124th anniversary of the Proclamation of Philippine Independence with the theme, “Kalayaan 2022: Pagsuong sa Hamon ng Panibagong Bukas (Rise Towards the Challenge of a New Beginning). 

This year it is a bitter celebration for many - for those of us who have survived the People Power Revolution of 1987 we now have to drudge through the next six years under a former dictator's son and daughter of a current leading human rights violator. 

"Rise Towards the Challenge of a New Beginning" - big words we do not believe this government will even try to live up to - to our utter shame and deep regret. It is a sad sorry day for the Philippines - marked by distinctly low key public celebrations. 

Known as "Araw ng Kasarinlan" or "Day of Freedom". 

Pinas kong mahal — you demand too much and are utterly unlovable once again. What have you done to deserve our love and loyalty?

"Maligayang Araw ng Kalayaan!" rings hallow and false in Filipino communities and households around the world. We instead mourn the injustice of countless years of colonization and subjugation. 

Vowing to fight the good fight and keep up our collective rebel resistance and alliance. As we bear witness to these new batch of leaders of our homeland. 

Audubon documentary

In a topsy turvy time wonder | wonder | world finds great comfort in watching nature documentaries. As we move from spring into summer here in the East Coast the sunshine is brilliant and the warm air is filled with birdsong.

As we cool off indoors working on our various projects or sit out in the sunshine toasting in its warmth, we are enthralled by the Audubon documentary featured on Amazon Prime.

DVD cover

It is an extensive coverage of the life of naturalist John James Audubon. Released in 2017, it is written and directed by Al Reinert. Audubon's influence on ornithology and natural history are  astounding and wonderfully narrated by Sam Eliot.

Portrait of Audubon by John Syme, 1826

John James Audubon was an artist and a naturalist of monumental achievements. His story is both surprising and dramatic. He was not born in America, yet he saw more of the North American continent than anyone alive. His alarm over the destruction of nature became his prophesy.