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Thank you for this clear compilation of events past and the resistance of now and to come.

I am reminded again of the story of Rumpelstiltskin, the dark force that can engineer the salvation of the foolish miller's daughter with his magical 'technology' - at great cost - the taking away and control of the future in the form of her child. The pride, arrogance and over confidence of the tight, scrawny, shriveled-of-life creature is its downfall. And naming it - provokes such anger that it self-destructs.

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Thanks Yvette - I like the way you express that - the power simply of naming it. As for the compilation, that seems important, 'cos it's hard to keep track of what's going on otherwise - especially as the regular media doesn't generally feel any responsibility to keep us informed.

More of that compilation coming in Part Two!

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Have just had a delightful insight into your play on the words 'room' and 'womb'. A seven year old boy I teach struggles to form that 'r' sound despite being an Afrikaans speaker which demands strong rolling 'r' s. He would automatically say 'womb' for 'room' !

(The darker possibilities of 'tomb' I am a little reluctant to explore...)

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I LOVE THIS, Michael. Wow. Now I understand why you've been hatching this for a while -- it needed a full gestation! This gorgeous line jumped out at me:

"Our elephant is being born into a hostile world precisely because that hostile world has called it forth."

Damn, there's a poem in there somewhere, I can feel it.

Thank you for the clear eyed, hopeful brilliance of this.

On to Part II! xox

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Thank you so much. And if I've impregnated you, great mother of poems, I shall be very pleased!

xox

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I'm not sure what my husband would think...😂😂

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Well, I did hesitate to make that quip. But with the seeding of a poem, and the gestation and all that, it seemed to fit!!

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I look forward to reading part two ... though my mind boggles a bit at the metaphor!

(PS: in note 14, don't you mean Aseem Malhotra?)

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I did - thanks for bringing it to my attention!

And great to know that at least one person out there is looking at the footnotes!

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Glad you liked it!

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Thank you.

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