GRADING SATSUMA ORANGES

Grading satsuma oranges in Grand Bay, Alabama. November 2019

ANDY BURCHAM INTERVIEWS JOE HILLEY

An interview with Andy Burcham from 2006. Andy is now the radio Voice of the Auburn Tigers football team. The cover pictured above is from the re-released version of Double Take, published by Dunlavy + Gray. It's available everywhere in print and as an eBook.

Chinese Yuan and the Trade War

Every evening, the People's Bank of China sets the exchange rate for the Yuan against the US Dollar. Has anyone in the current US administration considered the rate set for this past Monday (8-5-19) was actually a warning of what China could do to US markets, simply by adjusting the rate to weaken the Yuan?

Devaluing a currency has a net effect on consumption similar to that of tariffs - it lowers the cost of the host country's products, while raising the price of imported goods. However, devaluing one's currency has a broader impact than merely targeting specific products with tariffs and produces collateral economic damage of a far-reaching nature, which is what we saw when the Dow Jones average dropped as much as 950 points on Monday.

Historically, Chinese officials have conveyed policy decisions through implication and innuendo. Rather like Michael Corleone in The Godfather Part II noting a dramatic shift of intention by a subtle shift in language. Perhaps Monday's valuation of the Yuan was just such a message.

Time

"Time brings all things to light." 

Willie Stark

All The King's Men

The Well Placed Weed trailer

This is a great documentary about Ryan Gainey - a gardener who lived in Decatur, Georgia. I watched the film on Reel South, a show on PBS.

Children of Men: Don't Ignore The Background

You should watch this - an analysis of the movie CHILDREN OF MEN.

Quite intriguing. And unsettling.

SPRING

All winter long

the trees in our backyard

were gray, empty sticks.

But a Cardinal came each morning

and sang from sunrise to noon.

Her song spoke

of a Spring to come

with blooms and flowers and fresh green leaves.

Now, that Spring

is here.

Life

I live a solitary life.

TIME MOVES QUICKLY

Christmas comes and goes, then Spring appears and Summer, then Christmas again, faster than it used to. Already the squirrels are playing mating games in the trees behind the house.