by Judy Handley | Nov 1, 2025 | 2025 Sailing Logs |
2025 Life Logs, Day 305: It’s November
Date: Saturday, November 1, 2025
Weather: Partly Sunny, Still Windy; High Temp 57, Low 50 degrees F
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA
On this first day of November, I attended the weekly rally on the Falmouth Green and then rushed home to meet a possible new neighbor. The house I live in has a studio apartment attached at the back. Since I moved here, no one has lived in the studio apartment as it is used as an office. But, really, it is empty most of the time. Lynda, the owner, found out from a friend that a young man just out of college just got a job at the Marine Biological Lab in Woods Hole and he needs a place to live. His name is Billy, and he came to take a look this afternoon. Lynda wanted me to meet him to make sure I thought he would be a good neighbor. I truly enjoyed meeting him and think he would be a great neighbor, but it is not a done deal. He is looking at other places, and his choice will probably depend on the most affordable. He and Shadow got along famously, so we will both be very happy if he moves in.
I spent the remainder of the day and evening working on the format for the next film screening this Wednesday and also working on developing a resource handout. We will be introducing Gene Sharp’s 198 Methods of Nonviolent Action, so I decided I needed to know more about Gene Sharp. The documentary about him is titled, “How to Start a Revolution.” All I really knew about him is that he was considered the world’s foremost living expert on nonviolent revolution until he died in 2018 at age 90. The more I read about him, the more fascinated with his ideas I become. But when the I started watching the film, what I saw was a very genteel old man, not a raving revolutionary who some have called one of the world’s most dangerous men. Those ‘some’ are the world’s brutal dictators for whom Gene Sharp’s ideas have been lethal. It was his ideas, implemented by lovers of freedom and democracy around the world, that have brought down many dictators. And as long as I was at it, I decided to watch another documentary, “Bringing Down a Dictator.” This is about the student-led Otpor!Movement that led to the ouster of dictator Slobodan Milosevic in Serbia in 2000. This is another really good documentary you can watch for free on the International Centre for Nonviolent Conflict website (https://www.nonviolent-conflict.org/icncfilms/).
by Judy Handley | Oct 31, 2025 | 2025 Sailing Logs |
2025 Life Logs, Day 305: Happy Halloween
Date: Friday, October 31, 2025
Weather: Mostly Cloudy, Warmer, Strong W to SW Winds; High Temp 60, Low 45 degrees F
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA
Here in Falmouth, we had a windy Halloween day and evening, and the winds are getting stronger as we go into the overnight period. Things settle down in the early hours of Sunday morning but tomorrow promises to be another windy one. I had lawn chairs blowing around today, lots of small branches falling, the cables for my internet and cable tv blew down from their attachment point at the peak of the roof. They are still attached down lower on the house but hanging precariously low from that point out to the street. For now, I still have access, but if the weight of the sagging lines should pull the lines loose from the pole on the street, I am not sure what will happen. Comcast says they will be here tomorrow afternoon to remedy that situation. Fingers crossed.
I had my “We the People” class this morning and a meeting with the film series committee this afternoon. I got home around 5:30 pm and realized I needed to go buy candy. I stopped by Heather’s and got an invitation to come over there for dinner. So, I rushed to the store to buy the candy and drove home to put it in a bowl on my front stoop with a sign saying, “Take 3.” I then went to Heather and Jed’s for the evening. I came home to a full bowl of candy that I will need to share with Ollie and Jonah. Otherwise, I will gain 10 pounds! Ollie and two friends went out trick or treating tonight and before I left Heather and Jed’s to come home, Ollie gave me his only Almond Joy from his bag of candy. He knows how much I love Almond Joy candy bars. It is an emotional love as when I was in early grade school, my dad would bring home an Almond Joy candy bar in his lunch pail for me to have every day after school. My dad was not one to show emotion of any kind ever, but we had that daily ‘Almond Joy’ bonding!
by Judy Handley | Oct 30, 2025 | 2025 Sailing Logs |
2025 Life Logs, Day 304: That’s How the Light Gets In
Date: Thursday, October 30, 2025
Weather: Overcast, Windy, Rain Late; High Temp 57, Low 55 degrees F
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA
In last night’s log, I explained that I hated the sense of hopelessness I feared people who attended the second session of the nonviolence film series felt as they went home last night. I wrote in last night’s log that I would spend today trying to figure out how to avoid that feeling of hopelessness at next week’s screening. I read myself to sleep each night, and last night I started a new book, Civil Resistance by Erica Chenoweth. She started the introduction with a poem (really lyrics from a song) by the late Leonard Cohen from his song “Anthem” off the 1992 album called The Future. The four lines she used really struck me:
Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack, a crack in everything
That’s how the light gets in
The message, of hope in darkness, is particularly relevant these days. I spent my day today looking for the cracks. Here are the complete lyrics of “Anthem”:
The birds they sang
At the break of day
Start again
I heard them say
Don’t dwell on what has passed away
Or what is yet to be
Ah, the wars they will be fought again
The holy dove, she will be caught again
Bought and sold, and bought again
The dove is never free
Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack, a crack in everything
That’s how the light gets in
We asked for signs
The signs were sent
The birth betrayed
The marriage spent
Yeah, and the widowhood
Of every government
Signs for all to see
I can’t run no more
With that lawless crowd
While the killers in high places
Say their prayers out loud
But they’ve summoned, they’ve summoned up
A thundercloud
They’re going to hear from me
Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack, a crack in everything
That’s how the light gets in
You can add up the parts
But you won’t have the sum
You can strike up the march
There is no drum
Every heart, every heart
To love will come
But like a refugee
Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack, a crack in everything
That’s how the light gets in
Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack, a crack in everything
That’s how the light gets in
That’s how the light gets in
That’s how the light gets in
by Judy Handley | Oct 29, 2025 | 2025 Sailing Logs |
2025 Life Logs, Day 303: Second Nonviolence in Action Film Screening
Date: Wednesday, October 29, 2025
Weather: Overcast, Light Rain On and Off; High Temp 50, Low 47 degrees F
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA
The second screening in the Nonviolence in Action film series went smoothly and was moderately well attended, but it was an emotionally difficult evening. At least it was for me, and my reading of the room told me it was equally difficult for others. I had watched the film at least three, maybe four times at home alone. But watching it is a group situation was very different. It seemed to multiply the sadness and anger I had felt when watching it alone. Part of the film showed original footage from the student-led Nashville lunch counter sit-ins in 1960. It is always hard to watch people who have done nothing wrong be attacked physically, to watch the hatred of prejudice in action, but knowing that all those students fought for is currently being ripped away makes it way more difficult to watch. I felt like people left the screening feeling hopeless. And that is never a good thing. I will spend tomorrow trying to figure out the best way to avoid this with next week’s screening.
by Judy Handley | Oct 28, 2025 | 2025 Sailing Logs |
2025 Life Logs, Day 302: Soccer in the Misty Rain
Date: Tuesday, October 28, 2025
Weather: Overcast, Chilly Wind, Misty Rain Late; High Temp 51, Low 45 degrees F
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA
As with many of my days, today was a mix of meetings, preparing for tomorrow’s film screening, and a soccer game. Tonight was the final regular game of the season for Jonah who plays on a team of spirited of Falmouth High School Clippers (names after clipper ships). After a win at their last game assuring they would move on to the semi-finals, most of the team decided to bleach their hair blonde. This is why I can them spirited. Tonight, when I got to the game, it took the first half to recognize who was who on the field. A whole field of bleached blondes all looked the same! Jonah and his soccer friends always seem to find the joy in life and spread it around. And the world certainly needs more joy these days.
by Judy Handley | Oct 27, 2025 | 2025 Sailing Logs |
2025 Life Logs, Day 301: Fifty-One Years Ago Today
Date: Monday, October 27, 2025
Weather: Partly Sunny, Chilly; High Temp 52, Low 41 degrees F
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA
I sound like a broken record, but I shall ask again, “Where did the time go?” How can it be that 51 years have passed since Mark and I were married at sunrise overlooking the Gulf of Mexico? I was 27 and Mark was 32. For the six months prior to getting married, we drove to Alaska and back to the Pacific Northwest in search of a piece of land where we could build a log cabin.
It really does feel like it was just yesterday, but two kids that are 50 and 48, and five grandkids that are all teenagers, are a reminder that it was definitely not just yesterday. Every day, I miss Mark more than the day before, but I always smile when I think of him because we had 43 years together doing all of the wild and wonderful things we dreamed of doing. Happy Anniversary, Mark!
My day was spent coming up with a handout listing resources for those who want to know more about the Nonviolence in Action film screening being presented on Wednesday. The film, A Force More Powerful, shows original film footage of Gandhi in India in 1930 when he was leading his people in one of the most successful nonviolent mass actions in history. We will also watch original film footage of college students in Nashville, Tennessee, thirty years later, using nonviolent mass action to successfully break the grip of segregation in that city.
Tomorrow morning, I turn my attention back to the Board of Library Trustees when the Resource Committee meets to begin budget discussions for 2025-2027. I’m finding it difficult to plan for next year while we are currently fighting for the life of democracy. But whatever happens, I do know we need to protect our public libraries.
