You can tell when I’m having a mentally-busy week because I get much less essayistic. The political world has exploded over the past couple of days, and I am still trying to catch up. Overall, in a good way – though I’m not pleased about the Voting Rights Act.

To avoid adding to the swelling tide of material about certain hot topics (politics, the Mad Men season finale – though really! Right?!), I’m going to post a few soothing links instead. We could all use a little poetry in our lives, I think. And why not, also some citizen science.

The poetry:
– Elizabyth Hiscox in DMQ Review
– Sabrina Orah Mark in jubilat
– Rachel Abramowitz in interrupture

The citizen science:
– Help classify craters on the moon! Moon Zoo.
– Help identify insect specimens from entomology field notes! CalBug.

In other news, birds keep trying to fly into my house. They approach the windows, investigate, then fly away. Cannier than your usual window-smashers. Paul is not amused, but he is impotent in the face of their sheer numbers. (And the fact that I won’t let him outside to bark at them every 15 minutes.)