My organ trumpet piece is basically done. Rhonda and I continue to correspond about details. I enjoy the collaboration and am pretty sure this process will continue to improve the piece. Having it done is a relief the way an end of a college semester is a relief. I feel freer to do things like a blog post or Greek or reading.

Here’s some of what I’ve been reading.

Why Ross Douthat is right about Trump Or, how the Trump campaign is like a procrastinating undergraduate

I saw Douthat’s columns that Daniel Drezner is referring to in this Washington Post Op Ed piece.  I didn’t bother to read them. There are many points in this article that makes sense to me. I had already thought about the fact that people in many of the Governmental departments Trump would need for a coup have been alienated by his behavior bureaucratically.

Chase Strangio’s Victories for Transgender Rights | The New Yorker

Then there’s the new issue of The New Yorker. This article is by the inimitable Masha Gessen. It’s a profile of Chase Strangio who is an ACLU lawyer who happens to be trans as is Gessen. I love Gessen’s work. Here’s the section I read aloud to Eileen (poor woman). Gessen handles Strangio’s sexuality gingerly. This quote occurs more than three quarters of the way in. Strangio uses both “he” and “they” pronouns. Gessen uses only “they.”

In August, 2013, Strangio appeared on television for the first time, on “Democracy Now!” He had been invited to talk about Chelsea Manning, who was then serving a thirty-five-year sentence in a men’s military prison for violating the Espionage Act by giving military documents to WikiLeaks. Manning had just come out as transgender, and the Army was refusing to provide her with hormone treatment for her transition, which Strangio argued was unconstitutional. The show’s host, Amy Goodman, said, “Couldn’t you tell us your story? You are transitioning from woman to man.” One can see Strangio gulping air before diverting the question. “I am someone who identifies as transgender,” he replied. “And, as a transgender person, hearing from Chelsea Manning yesterday is especially, you know, empowering. I think it is so brave to come out.” He told me that as he responded he thought, I am never doing this again.

Opinion | Don’t Give Up on America – The New York Times

“Life Without Children,” by Roddy Doyle | The New Yorker

“Song,” by Louise Glück | The New Yorker

Same issue. Glück is a poet whose poems I sometimes admire. I admire this one.