Standing Firm: Literature, Politics, and the Fight for Justice

In House of Many Ways, by Diana Wynne Jones, Twinkle tries to tell Charmain what he wants her to do. Charmain tells Twinkle that the people below will be calling out the fire brigade any moment now. Again, Twinkle tries to tell her what they need her to do.

Peter thinks there may be ten bags of laundry in the pantry in addition to the ten in the room where they are and the ten in Wizard Norland’s bedroom. Charmain says that it must be the kobolds doing it. Peter tells Charmain that his mother taught him that laundry breeds if you don’t wash it.

In A Great Reckoning, by Louise Penny, Amelia Choquet is not fooled. She can feel the cold glass against her sleeve. Wedged between a bookcase and a wall of windows, she surveys the room.

In The Jasad Heir, by Sara Hashem, Sylvia feels she will never understand Omalians and feigned modesty. Zeinab reassures her that if the chemist finds out what she is doing, it will not be from her. On her way to her next destination, Sylvia dodges a line of green mule manure. Standing next to a dead man murdered my the Nizhal for being Jasadi, the man’s blood is not on Sylvia’s hands. Hanim sneers that what Sylvia does best is hide. She wonders what she could do for the Jasadi that would rid her of Hanim’s voice.

Sylvia’s bruising looks far worse than it feels. Vaun and Ren talk in low tones on the other side of the kitchen. The Nizahlans appear to be a hungry people. As I read this novel, it seems to be a metaphor for the Nazi extermination of the Jewish people. Only, in this novel, the Jasadi are the last of the remaining people that had magic running through their veins, and are blamed for the deaths of many of the nobles. The Nizahl are a fierce band of people that serve as the police force for the nations.

I listened to the House Natural Resources Committee Tuesday morning as they discussed joint resolutions. One on the resolutions that promoted the conversion of federal lands into state camping ground created quite a bit of consternation. The Trump administration is freezing federal funds including those for the Forest Land Commission. While the administration of the lands has been tied up in bureaucracy, the Utah State Legislature is starting to get a feeling for how much they do accomplish.

I was invited to go up to soak in the Hot Springs in Idaho that afternoon. It was a welcome respite. I did not feel like swimming, however, because grief could hit me at any moment, and I might do something foolish as a result, like just giving up. I can’t afford that kind of a risk. No, I need to feel as little stress as possible to make it though this—time to heal my spirit.

On our way back, I needed to call the person who said he would take a look at my water heater to see if he can repair it for a reasonable fee. It’s out of warranty, and the pilot light keeps going out. In order to have a relaxing soak, I need to go to the basement to make sure the pilot is lit before I take my bath. I have had to light it almost every night, and last night I couldn't get the pilot lit again, so I had to boil 10 gallons of water just to get a warm bath. Meanwhile, I purchased an immersion heater and ordered a new smart electric 50 gallon water tank. It will arrive in the next three to eight days.

In Medgar and Myrlie, Joy-Ann Reid tells how Medgar Evers joined the all-Black 3677th Quartermaster Company and the 958th Quartermaster Service Company in France after experiencing the mass death and horror at Omaha Beach on D-Day. While giving him confidence and perspective, his military service heightened contradictions inherent in fighting for liberty overseas, while back home as a Black man, he had none. Back in Decatur, Mississippi, he probably would have been lynched for the audacity to have a romance like the one he shared in Cherbourg with the daughter of a French couple he had befriended. Shortly before he was assassinated, Medgar told Myrlie that he probably wasn’t going to need the full load of shirts that she had washed and ironed for him. With his six-day workweeks stretching to seven days, he had less time to devote to tossing a football with the boys on the block or bouncing his daughter Reena on his knees while working out to Jack LaLane. The moments of joy with his family were too fleeting.

J. D. Vance and President Trump showed zero diplomacy in the Oval Office when Ukrainian President Zelensky flew to the United States to meet with the U.S. President. The Ukrainian President’s overtures to try to help Trump and Vance were interrupted constantly by aggressive interruptions, and Trump even shoved Zelensky at one point. Trump’s body language was also very aggressive invading his space, and he proceeded to take up more space with his arm and had motions, which communicated that he was intent on dominating the space. Zelensky’s posture went from an open one to a defensive one, with his arms crossed and his hands under his arms. By the way his face went stiff and pale, you could see he was holding himself back from launching himself at Vance and Trump who kept insinuating that he should have given in to the aggressor. When he tried to ask what conciliations he should give, he was shut down before he could explain that Russia has violated every single cease fire over the last ten years. Vance told him he should be expressing his thanks for everything the U.S. has done for them, as if he hadn’t been doing that constantly. Zelensky also pointed out that this wasn’t a war that started under Biden, that in fact it had been under Trump’s watch as well. Apparently, thanking the American people was not enough; President Trump somehow thought he deserved a personal thanks when he had done nothing except to encourage Ukraine to give in to an aggressor. Besides behaving like a bully himself, this attraction to aggressor states is also reflected in the fact that he unilaterally decided to fund Israel’s war in the Gaza strip, even though that nation has no need of U.S. military supplies, and has used them to kill tens of thousands of innocent civilians. Diplomacy begins by listening. It is not done through bullying or making demands. It is about taking into account the concerns of all parties at the table, by listening to them, and then working toward a consensus solution that takes into account the concerns of everyone there. What happened in the Oval Office fell far short of diplomacy, and due to the lack of respect, President Trump and J. D. Vance will likely not be invited to negotiations unless they can be manipulated. Apparently “negotiation from strength” for the current administration means “bully them into what you want.” Sounds very much like aggression, and we all know what happens to bullies in the end.

In the Utah State Legislature this week, Representative Stoddard presented a common-sense bill that would have addressed 25% of the particulate matter poisoning the Salt Lake Valley during the inversion. Research was done that found that halogens contributed 25% of the pm 2.5 toxins during the inversion. Aircraft flying over U.S. Magnesium happened to capture spikes of halogens when they flew over the plant. With this hot spot identified, the Division of Air Quality approached US Mag about the issue, and they admitted that the halogens are a byproduct of their process and identified a process that would inadvertently lead to the release of these toxins during a periodic cleaning process. They recommended that the state encode the requirement to use a standardized process that would take care of the problem.

But this is Utah, and Republicans on the committee, not wanting to cut into profits or mining operations, started asking for more proof. They first asked if a point source sampling had been done, and then discussed how U.S. Mag had to shut down two and a half years ago. It was pointed out by the Division of Air Quality that there have been significantly less bad air days since then.

I testified that I live in West Valley City, a focus point of the inversion, just East of US Magnesium, on a very busy flight path, near major roads and the freeway. I described how on the first day after the inversion in November 2022, my wife had died from the bad air after having recently returned from Texas to see my mother who we thought was dying. I told them to please pass the bill so one else has to die. Undeterred, the committee decided that they wanted more evidence, both about the source of the emissions and that U.S. Magnesium had recommended the process. The bill is expected to come back to committee on Monday, with less than a week left in the session. As I have been learning about the life and death of Medgar Evers and his wife Myrlie, I am struck by how much of a battle it has been to try to secure civil rights. State Sovereignty has been essentially a codeword for brutal racism and enforced segregation. The NAACP wanted to drive for members and registered voters during a time that people lost their jobs or were lynched for doing either. Medgar’s father taught him to not run, but to stand up and fight for what is right. Running from the bullies gets us nowhere. Refusing to bend to their will at least gives us a sense of self-respect. We need to use diplomacy when and where we can, but when those we would negotiate with refuse to come to the table, we need to band together and stand firm for what we know is right. It is not right to hate another person. It is not right to deny someone something they need. It is not right to abuse your power, declare yourself king, and make decisions for other without their willingness and without knowing what they face. It is not right to put others in harm’s way or by abuse of authority. There are two types of authority: one that is granted or seized and one that is earned. My respect goes to the latter.