We Rescue Rangers know the Community has broad interests, but you surprised me this week by going big for two rescued stories covering subjects not remotely associated with current news and politics. Previously, I’d exclaimed that Community stories can offer “refuge from politics,” but that referenced nature, more commonly considered a haven away from troubling news. This week, however, the Community found an atypical refuge in … classical literature!

With another impeachment behind us, leaving a residue of widespread dissatisfaction, governance still holds our attention, as do climate change and COVID-19. In addition to this week’s focus on Beowulf and Shakespeare, the Daily Kos Community has turned back to more enduring concerns, including the need to hold legislators accountable and to empower voters. One of my volunteer projects does both and takes an hour of my online work per week.

I’ll tell you more about this project next Saturday, because this week, I’d like to hear about your volunteer involvement. Has the pandemic changed how your project operates? Did you work on candidate campaigns in the last election and, once those wrapped up, shift to new ventures? Are you still writing postcards to voters? I’m interested in hearing about all kinds of volunteer efforts, not just the political ones. The pandemic has expanded the need for ongoing efforts, like food banks and created new needs, such as testing and vaccine clinics. The Daily Kos Community comprises varied talents and expertise, so I’m sure some members are involved in projects new to many of us. Expand our world by sharing your enthusiasm in the comments, and, if your project needs more helpers, add a volunteer sign up link.

Half of the 16 stories we featured this week are first time rescues, including two writers who joined and wrote their first stories the same day. One such story, about Shakespeare, had 22 Recs Wed. at 8 p.m. and, 24 hours later, had 188 recs and 439 comments. As an illustration of our Community’s diversity of knowledge, another new member joined the next day and wrote their first story describing the municipal water delivery infrastructure, and how system flaws result in devastating problems, such as the debacle in Texas. The week’s most recommended rescued story, with over 200 recs, is a deeply personal essay describing the author’s realization that their husband is a narcissist. 

16 Rescued Stories from 4 p.m. EST Friday Feb. 12 to 4 p.m. EST Friday Feb. 19, 2021

Community Spotlight’s Rescue Rangers read every story published by Community writers. When we discover awesome work that isn’t receiving the attention it deserves, we rescue it to our group blog and publish a weekly collection—like this one—each Saturday. Rescue priorities and actions were explained in a previous edition: Community Spotlight: Rescuing your excellent stories for over 14 years. You also can find a link in Meteor Blades’ “Night Owls” series, which publishes daily between 10-11PM EST.

In Myth of the middle—Jeep Super Bowl, Grey Panther explores the high-profile Bruce Springsteen Super Bowl ad for Jeep that, the author claims, perpetrates a false stereotype of the average American as a “wandering soul searching for a middle ground, a geographic middle.” Grey Panther demolishes this myth using their personal experiences of “middle America,” then promotes their view of what constitutes the average American. “I have found a little bit to worship in every place and person I’ve encountered. I have loved the preserved sites of the First Peoples, the Civil War, and natural habitats. There are too few of them. I slide through America on my solo journeys, becoming more in touch with my humanity.” Grey Panther joined in 2008 and has written 89 stories, with 12 rescued.

The circus comes to town by ViewFromSpace re-examines the first two weeks after Trump’s 2017 inauguration to evaluate if his actions were as awful as we anticipated. Not a spoiler—they were worse. “The term ‘outrage fatigue’ predated the Trump administration, but seemed custom designed to describe it. Trump packed more scandal into his first two weeks than most presidents achieve in eight years. Nothing about the Trump presidency was normal and it’s important that we reflect on just how abnormal it really was.” ViewFromSpace joined in 2020 and has written three stories. This is their first rescue.

DrMarmot traces the processes climate change kicked into action and the traits of bat biology that, together, could result in the emergence of a novel pathogen such as COVID-19 in Bats, bushmeat and viruses: How climate disruption helped create COVID-19. Ecosystem disruptions reverberate through nature, affecting species distributions and migration, until infected animals connect with humans in wildlife markets. “The study found that this climate-induced chain reaction of floral change driving faunal change driving viral biodiversity ‘may have played a key role in the evolution or transmission of the two SARS CoVs’...Though bats are the source for many coronaviruses, they are not responsible for the pandemic. People are.” DrMarmot joined in 2017 and has written 10 stories, with four rescued—two of them this week.

The search for truth part 2 by Casual Observer 2 asks “(H)ow does a normal human being separate wheat from chaff, sheep from goats? This question gets at the heart of what I think is the key crisis in our country (if not the world) right now: ’What information do I believe is reliable and why do I believe that it is reliable?’” They compare a few approaches to finding the truth, one over 2,500 years old, noting differences and similarities. Casual Observer 2 joined in 2016 and has written two stories. This is their first rescue.

Winifred3 started quilting six years ago, after many years of embroidery, and she has learned that embroidery is an "integral aspect" of quilting. She now adds blocks of embroidery to her quilts, as shown in her beautiful illustrations in DK Quilt Guild: quilt blocks with embroidery. Winifred3 joined in 2010 and has written 124 stories. We also rescued her photo story showing Christmas quilts last month.

Bet you’ve never heard of the 1954 film Salt of the Earth.  Random82 tells us about this hidden, entertaining gem in Labor film of the week. It was financed by a union, and used only a handful of professional actors, while the rest were played by local union members and their families. The film, available on YouTube, gives an uncompromising view of the Empire Zinc Miners Strike in New Mexico. Random82 has been a member since Sept. 2020 and has written seven diaries. This is their first rescue.

As the climate crisis worsened during his tenure, Trump went out of his way to help. Not to help the climate, of course, but to help his industry-connected friends, donors and supporters. One of his most egregious decisions was the appointment of Scott Pruitt to head up the Environmental Protection Agency. Like so many of Trump’s cabinet appointments, Pruitt decided that instead of shutting down the agency, there was more money to be made by reversing its mission. In Trump considered abolishing the EPA, DrMarmot takes us back to the Pruitt era and the mountain of challenges that he left for President Biden. This is the author’s second rescue this week.

Daverhagen reminisces about memories and what elements combine to create them in Losing touch during COVID-19 hibernation. Staged events, like Woodstock, “birth a myth...notable for creating a community of strangers. A community of the moment. Other events are only personally memorable but hold consequence for us.” The author contemplates what we are missing during the pandemic’s forced isolation from friends, family, and society. “(W)hat happens to love in a world where people’s touch is imprisoned by fears? The embrace of one’s extended family, the fraternal as well as the familial, speaks a language beyond the limitation of our words. It may not be recognized as such, but touch is a language universal.” Daverhagen joined in 2019 and has written six stories, with three rescued.

Using references my English teacher snubbed, DrLori makes Beowulf pleasurable by taking readers deeper into the poem inflicted on us in high school. In The Language of the Night: Beowulf after Tolkien, she examines scholarship “around Beowulf, the Ur-Daddy of English Literature” beginning with “J.R.R. Tolkien’s all-important essay, Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics, which, in addition to showcasing Prof. Tolkien’s dry brand of snark, turned the study of Old English in general, and Beowulf in particular, on its head.” DrLori joined in 2010, and has written 220 stories, with 111 rescued.

In A look at the school re-opening plan set forth by the Biden CDC, bilboteach analyzes the administration’s efforts to get kids, teachers, and staff back into classrooms by the end of April. The pod approach, masking, and funding are the most critical and detailed plan sections. Less robust areas of the CDC plan include minimal suggestions on proper classroom ventilation and no requirement that all staff is vaccinated. “The good news is if pods are done correctly, and the system is in place correctly, a LOT of the concerns I raised six weeks ago are alleviated.” Bilboteach joined in December 2020 and has written 15 diaries, with five rescued.

Fragmented fairytale: Waking up to my life with a narcissistic husband is BootsyVixx’s personal manifesto of freedom from an abusive narcissist. The author describes her growing realization that the person who should be there to support her above all else is actually the one who has been holding her back. “Maybe it was the new environment, or maybe we were thrown together everyday but I started to see … how weak he really is. Huge ego. Self-absorbed. Chronically angry and impossible to please. Blames others for situations he creates. Takes care of his own needs. Just … totally … unilateral in vision.” BootsyVixx joined in 2020 and has written 13 stories. This is their first rescue.

The TRUTH about Shakespeare by new member spadeandarcher takes us out of our worries about COVID-19 and snowstorms into a lively discussion of their passion for Shakespeare. What makes Shakespeare so great, the author asserts, isn't whether he was or wasn't the person we think he was, or that he wrote about kings, queens and princes, but that he takes those characters and makes them come alive in a way that embeds them in our hearts and souls. Thus the author’s truth: Shakespeare is no more or less than "the birthright of every human being on this planet, he is for all mankind for all time." Spadeandarcher joined and published their first story on Feb. 17.

Shackman333, another new member, takes readers on a journey into the “exciting” world of city infrastructure. Burst pipes, pipe bursting, and the American water crisis: Part one explains water main breaks, water loss rate, and cycle time. The reason you probably haven’t ever heard about the health of a municipal water system, except perhaps for Flint, Michigan, is that the infrastructure is out of sight, out of mind (underground) until a problem forces us to look. Shackman333 provides an accessible look at municipal water issues and maintenance choices that drive failure in systems with inadequate repair budgets. “Many cities East of the Mississippi still have wood pipe in service. Wood. Wood water pipe. New wood pipe hasn’t been installed since the late 1800s. Do you think that pipe leaks?” Shackman333 joined and wrote their first story on Feb. 18.

Bill in Waco Texas asks, “Did you ever have an experience that didn’t really register with you as being influential until years or perhaps even decades later?” In Music wins! A personal Black History Month story,  the author shares recollections from high school that answer this question. A talented musician, Bill built a friendship with an African American fellow student bused in to their previously all-white school. They shared musical stylings and taught each other about their different approaches. “Today I realize that we both shared something that would last a lot longer than our jam sessions or trading ‘licks’, and that was the fact that music brought us together in a way that was both completely unexpected and totally predictable!” Bill in Waco Texas joined in 2018 and has written nine stories, with two rescued.

Author AAAMCWB and his husband have been together for decades, formalizing their agreement through marriage multiple times. In Til death do us part, he reflects on how amazing it is to have the legal right to marry and that, even though an emotional bond is powerful, the legal bond adds an important layer. “For years I had said that in our hearts, Timo and I were married, regardless of what some state law may say. While a Supreme Court decision was important, it wouldn’t make a difference to our marriage. I honestly believed those words when I said them. I had no idea how wrong I was.” AAAMCWB joined in 2020 and has written nine stories. This is his first rescue.

Since Mitch D is a big baseball fan, it is natural to describe Trump with a baseball game metaphor. In His deplorable base, the author takes the elder George Bush’s famous quote about being born on third base and applies it to Donald Trump. "Oh, it’s true Trump was born on third base but far from being pleased he’d hit a triple, he was disappointed. He thought, right out of the ‘Lucky Sperm Club’ birthing tube, he should have hit a home run." Mitch D joined in 2018 and has written three stories. This is their first rescue.