This is the truest note yet. I would like to send it to a few people, but I lieu of physical copies, I will post it on the old blog and whisper it into the air, into the universe to those who need to fear it.

He is risen.

Romans 8:34: “Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.”

Tomorrow is Easter. Here’s one of my favorite Easter photos.

Today is Good Friday in Christianity and I’ve been thinking and reading and then, outside of that, I came across this poem from Mary Oliver. No, it’s not from a Christian perspective, but joy is. And joy is integral to the teachings of Christianity.

Don’t Hesitate

If you suddenly and unexpectedly feel joy,
don’t hesitate. Give in to it. There are plenty
of lives and whole towns destroyed or about
to be. We are not wise, and not very often
kind. And much can never be redeemed.
Still, life has some possibility left. Perhaps this
is its way of fighting back, that sometimes
something happens better than all the riches
or power in the world. It could be anything,
but very likely you notice it in the instant
when love begins. Anyway, that’s often the case.
Anyway, whatever it is, don’t be afraid
of its plenty. Joy is not made to be a crumb.

– Mary Oliver

Tomorrow would be Tax Day in America, but it falls on God Friday, so it’s been moved to Monday. we’ve paid a CPA to do our taxes because at times we’ve had a complicated filing.

I remember the days when my grandfather did the whole family’s taxes. Now, I would guess, most people who have straightforward filing use Turbo Tax. I knew that Intuit owned Turbo Tax. I did not know it was owned by H&R Block. That seems like a monopoly to me.

Now I am aware of that and Congressional candidate from New York, Melanie D’Arrigo made everyone aware of this on Instagram today:

How on Earth is it legal to spend any money, much less 6.7 freaking MILLION dollars, to make it harder and more expensive for Americans to file their tax returns? That’s what they’re doing. They’re paying Congress so you can’t have an easy and free way to file your taxes.

And get this: per taxpolicycenter.org, “At last count, 36 countries, including Germany, Japan, and the United Kingdom, permit return-free filing for some taxpayers.” Britain has been doing it since 1940. 1940.

So, that’s most of the free world that let you file for free, with many (Denmark, Sweden, Spain, Estonia, Finland, Norway, and Iceland) having tax agency systems that do your taxes automatically, which lets your dispute the results if you think your report is incorrect.

The United States is behind the times and the world in so many regards all because of All Mighty Capitalism. We pay the most for healthcare and gun deaths because of capitalism. Now we have our tax system set up for the same reason. We can do better than this, but we won’t until lobbyists are eliminated.

As always, follow the money.

These art ads are on my Facebook landing page right now.

From the site: “Giselle Dekel is a Belgian illustrator and surface pattern designer based in Israel. She loves to create fun and simplistic images, using humor where she can, if not in her work then definitely in her life.”

We do not have similar senses of humor. Why this one? She has other designs that are fine, but why the toilet? I’m a mom who had toddlers once upon a time who rarely let me go to the bathroom alone. No mom wants to hang this in memory of those days. I speak for all moms.

“Straight outta London, Mambo is the brainchild of a designer, who’s fashionable eye locates her at the centre of all things next.”

The center of all things next is a silhouette of Britney circa 1999?

This one says “Toni Scott began Typologie Paper Co because of her strong desire to be a stay-at-home mother but also run a boss babe business.”

Yep, it says “boss babe.” and she has a print that reads “poop there it is.”

What are we even doing at this point?

This cat print says it was made by a label in Berlin. No artist.

I bothered to look up the last print. I didn’t click from Facebook because I know better. The print is by a company that “began in 2019 with the ambition of making creative and engaging wall art based on everyday information sources and using what people love to do as inspiration for designs.”

No artists were listed, so who knows if they just have a couple of graphic designers that crank those out (all of their designs are in a very similar style) or if they farm the work out. But it’s very Target/Hobby Lobby kind of art. I mean, it’s fine. It’s fine.

At least show me affordable art by people, Facebook. These companies need to list a person who made them. Of course, unless they were made by AI. As for the ones that are made by artists, it’s fine. It’s fine

This could not be more true in the south right now.

There’s always an appropriate Mad Men quote.