Jonah Sutton-Morse

We’re under contract to get out of our house in NH, now all we have to do is find the place in Maine we’ll be moving to …

We finished Dune Part II tonight. It’s visually stunning and definitely a movie of the book but by the end I mostly found myself wondering whether there’s a need for a film version of Dune to exist. (Also, Villenueve really wanted to get to make Dune Messiah, didn’t he?)

Among the frustrations of packing for a move: my books are currently in boxes, and I really want to reread the Borges stories about re-creating Don Quixote and Tlon Uqbar because both seem very relevant to right now, but I don’t want to unpack boxes.

New book on corporations and empire.

The cover of "Empire, Incorporated: The Corporations that built British Colonialism" by Philip J Stern. It is a white book with title and author in red lettering, and a sketch of a crown at the center of the book cover. It sits on a wooden bedside table.

Last week was the week I made it official at work that moving states to keep my family safe also means leaving the job I’ve enjoyed doing well for 8 years. And I don’t really want to burden my coworkers with that, but I’m definitely having a lot of feelings about it.

Put the sheep out to mow and the goats decided to show me a gate that isn’t well-enough secured…

The same flock of sheep on a more lush bit of grass in front of a white house with solar panels on top.A flock of sheep - brown and white, on green grass, contained by portable netting. A gravel driveway in front and yellow warning sign in the background.Closeup of two Nubian goats (one black, one white) on the gravel driveway, striding purposefully towards the photographer. The fence that's supposed to contain them is in the background.

I really thought we’d gotten past “Oberlin college students have funny eating habits which proves that society is about to collapse” trend pieces, but I guess not, huh?

General observation that while I do really enjoy reading SFF and am very much an online fan of the genre, it’s also true that the Hugos and WorldCon seem much like like War Games: the only winning move is not to play.

Barn Muck 2025 continues

The hall of a barn with wood walls and sunlight shining in the open doors. The far half is mostly empty of hay. There are hunks of hay in the shadowed areas in the 8 feet or so closest to the photographer.A different section of the barn - wooden joists and a ladder are visible, and some pens to the left. The barn hall has a metal gate that can block it off. The closest third is mostly cleared of hay, with hay still piled high farther back towards the sunny doors.

Barn muck 2025 continues

Similar view of the barn hall with wooden walls and the roof beams also visible. There is a wheelbarrow full of hay in this picture and the area mostly cleared has moved to about a third the length of the hall, which is about 15 feet long.View down a barn hall with wooden floors and a bed of hay on the floor. There are wide doors swinging in, and the hay to the length of the doors has been cleared. There are trees and more hay on the ground beyond.

Oldest kiddo just handed in a short essay “The Drudges of Pern” - “These books that I loved so dearly when I was younger, now leave a bad taste in my mouth because of this small facet of world building.” There’s personal reaction, textual reference, insightful observations … good stuff.

Barn muck 2025 has begun

A floor full of hay, with a little bit of ugly black muck in one corner where the top layers have been peeled back. There are wooden doors on the side and outside the doorway is more hay and a few sheep.

Nothing like packing up to move to make you realize how many books you have (and how many are still left unread)

Reading George Fox’s Journal (and honestly at 70% done I’m reading to get finished). Kinda bummed at the lack of spirituality and messages (because when he does share some, they are moving!) but really fascinated by the ways in which Fox asserted principled opposition to secular oppression

One of George Fox’s message in his “Journal”

Reading George Fox’s Journal (founder of the Quakers) and particularly after his opening despair/spiritual awakening, there’s very little of the actual ministry he gives, but then in the period between Cromwell and Charles he actually relates a message he gave at a Meeting: an old couple, their house destroyed by war, has a series of people come and offer to rebuild it, but each in turn takes the money and then says “this house cannot be rebuilt” and leaves. He likens this to different religious leaders telling people that the perfection of Adam and Eve cannot be restored, but the people must tithe anyway, and concludes with the message that Christ comes to do the work freely, and that the house (and divine state of perfection) can in fact be restored. I don’t entirely agree with the theology, but I find the message surprisingly affecting, particularly in the context of Fox’s moment. I wish I knew more of what was being said then.

The rare shot of siblings enjoying each others company in their natural habitat.

Distant view of two tweens standing next to a messy kitchen table focused on the screen in front of them. A window behind has some artwork attached that looks almost like an intentional grid pattern

Heard a chicken squawking while on a work call today and after watching it go running by, caught a couple pictures of this lovely specimen of local wildlife (who I think didn’t get to dine on our birds today)

A bobcat is squatting in a yard staring off in the distance. Its ears are up, its tail is extremely short. It looks like it just needs a hug. The window screen and a reflection indicate that the picture was taken in haste from indoors.The bobcat, its spotted brown and grey coat easily visible, is trotting away past a bush.

Watched “Darmok” with kiddo (5) this evening and about halfway through as Picard & the other captain are starting to figure it out at the campfire, she turned to me and excitedly proclaimed “they’re figuring out how to talk to each other!”

I think I want one more sweatshirt and a long-sleeved shirt to be very visible trans-friendly. Anyone know of any good fundraisers/artists I should look up? (Bonus points if Quaker-connected)

A selfie of me (white guy with a short beard) in a black hoodie with the words "Protect Trans Kids" in blue/pink/white

A lovely reflection on a 250 year anniversary from a Quaker Meeting in Durham, ME. riverviewfriend.wordpress.com/2025/03/0…

Making s’mores with the brush pile

A teenager in a blue coat & black pants stands holding a marshmallow on a stick in front of a small fire and and ash circle about as big as them. There's white snow all around and the outline of pine trees and gray sky in the backgroundA second view of the teenage s'more maker, the ask residue of a brush pile, and the snow, trees and clouds

Lovely ice curls coming off the barn

A blue sky with green pine forest below, and in the foreground a slanted wooden roof with the curl of white ice coming off the barn roofAnother view of the barn and the ice curling off the barn roof, with clear blue skies above, green pines visible in the middle, and white snow below

Good company while trying to recover from the flu

Prominent in the center of the image is a spinning wheel and some family photos. On one side. A computer with an image of the child Ro Laren (from TNG episode “Rascals”) on the other, a small blond child snuggled against my shoulder)

The part of DS9 where they get an airborne aphasia virus and no one wears masks is … interesting …

Really loved and heartily recommended Gautam Bhatia’s The Sentence, and I hope it gets wider distributionn and availability. 📚