February 7 Friday roundup

In this week’s “Next Comes What” podcast episode, I went down to the main USAID building in the District to see what happened the day Musk shuttered it, and explored what we should expect from ourselves and from our elected representatives. (As always, the end-of-the-week episode is the live-action version of Tuesday’s written story.) You can watch the episode on YouTube or listen to it via Apple, Spotify, and anywhere else you get your podcasts.

If you’re looking for additional thoughts on events this week, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and Senator Brian Schatz of Hawai'i’ have been out and about talking clearly about what the public can do in the face of the kind of power grabs we’re seeing, and laying out what they see as their roles. But it’s clear that rule by the people is in real jeopardy, and that all of us who are able to act need to do so, while it is still possible.

I also spoke with Slate’s Mary Harris about the new immigrant transfers to Guantanamo, and with Harry Litman of the Talking Feds podcast about “Signposts of Democratic Decline.” (Harry, you might recall, delivered a dramatic resignation letter to Los Angeles Times owner Patrick Soon-Shiong after the latter began to censor editors at the paper.)

As for the weekly photo of art I’m working on or things I’ve made, I’ve been swamped with interviews lately, and don’t have even a baked good to post. I do have two projects I’m working on that I can’t show you just yet. So instead, I’ll include something I made several years ago.

This is a copy of a detail of a Goya painting I did with oils on gessoed canvas. I liked this woman’s face in the original, especially the odd shape Goya gave her right cheekbone and eye. I wanted to try to understand how he had somehow rendered the translucence of her veil while using broad strokes and not working the details. I learned a lot doing this little painting, which measures about 8” X 10”.

Along those lines, pay attention where you can, learn from people who are already doing the things you hope to do, then do what you can. Taking a short break is better than checking out for good, and doing even a little is so much better than doing nothing. You are not capable of saving the whole world, which means anything you do to make it better is success. And the more you get used to taking action in new ways, the more you’ll realize you can do. I’m not trying to inspire you, I’m just trying to give you a road map.

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