A Carpet of Crushed Barnacles and Gray Pebbles

     I found a set of photographs I took last Summer and forgot all about. They are of Richmond Beach, a beach near Seattle. While we were there, amateur naturalists stood by the shore and waited for curious beachcombers to come along so the naturalists could dispense their beach knowledge. They all were light blue shirts and  I think they were also wearing rain boots so they could trek into the water if needed.

  I have been listening to a new (to me) interesting and hilarious podcast called The Dead Authors Podcast. The premise is that comedian Paul F. Tompkins is H.G. Wells. Fictional Wells found a time machine and now travels to the past to swoop dead authors from throughout history. In his trusty time machine, he brings them back to our time to interview them. Other comedians play the dead authors. While listening to the episode featuring Shel Silverstein, I learned an interesting fact. Shel Silverstein wrote the song 'A Boy Named Sue' that Johnny Cash sings. I like this fact because it makes complete sense! 'A Boy Named Sue' is the sort of fanciful and playful tale that Silverstein thrives in! The song is bizarre yet delightful, just like all of Silverstein's best poems. But, maybe in the future, it will not seem so odd to name a son Sue. It seems like right now, it is popular to name daughter's boy names, but not yet popular to name boys girl names. Maybe now that our culture is getting less uptight about gender norms, there will be boys named Sue who are perfectly content with their names. Around the world, male Sue's will have no desire to seek revenge on their fathers. But as of now, it is far more socially acceptable for women to adopt traditional masculine traits then the opposite. I guess you could argue that this is empowering to women because it means we get to be who we want to be in a way a feminine man does not. But in the end, it still sends a message that traditional masculine traits are better then traditional feminine traits. Hopefully, someday, we will all just get to be whoever we are.