DAH is me, David Anthony Hance. 
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First up this week: News-Avoidance … 
"Even when the news is the truth, it is not the whole truth."  My parents used to watch the evening news, early and late, every day. I know many people who still watch "the news" to end their days. I don't. There’s not enough context included for me. I've mentioned to friends that I notice news from many and sundry sources. I always feel partly connected. But that noticing results in my thinking, "Sounds like something might have happened." If that something matters to me, I'll check it out in multiple sources. Sometimes I can establish enough background and context to have an actionable opinion. Sometimes not. But I refuse to jump up and run when someone posts "STAMPEDE!" on Facebook or Instagram (I abandoned X long ago, before Elon changed its name to that nothingness). 

Second up this week, Noise-Abatements … 
“In 1906, (New York) physician Julia Barnett Rice began the Society for the Suppression of Unnecessary Noise.” Dr. Rice, and many since 1906, were concerned about loud sounds and their potential harm to individuals and society. I understand. I can even appreciate tools deployed to monitor excess sound. Not much different from speed cameras. Both might help, and both might be used to control unruly-seeming elements of society. I'd take an additional approach, however. Some tool to control unnecessary noise emitted by individuals would be handy. I am often, often, trapped by niceness listening to someone(s) saying the same thing over and over, insistently and tediously. The same thing I didn't want or need to hear the first time. Sharing can be a nice thing. Sharing can also be annoying. I can't always, kindly, control over-sharing by others. I can keep quiet myself. With my writing, you can entirely ignore me and I won't take offense. With my speaking, it's up to me to keep my trap shut until I have something interesting, timely, and useful to share. Or at least some noise that might make you laugh. 

Third up this week, Now-Annoyance … 
“When we are living in the moment, our minds are focused on things that are happening in front of us right at that moment without any concerns about the past and the future. The problem with this is that we are blind to seeing the bigger picture.” Having something pertinent and pithy to contribute, or knowing when not. That's important to me. And now-annoyance is what I feel when I'm dealt "news" with no context or "noise" with no filter. I appreciate the idea that living in the moment, or living in the only moment we know we have, is important. I also appreciate that the current moment might be a mess, cluttered and confused. I'd rather understand what's come before (or understood as best I can) with some ideas about what might come after. Otherwise, my living in the moment could be just me randomly bumping emotionally around a dark room.

Another slim volume …
Eastbound, by Maylis De Kerangal. Translated from the French by Jessica Moore.
A propulsive read, especially during what I would call the "big escape" scene. The entire novella is about escape, but one bit is more propulsive than the rest. No dialogue, really. But I found it entirely absorbing, even when I wished for more back-story on the two protagonist characters. I've had this book on my list for a few months. Happy to have it here at last. 
"In this slim, sleek tale that hurries along at the speeding train's clip, de Kerangal draws on classic train capers while also poetically, ravishingly conveying the immensity and harsh beauty of this haunted land of exile and torment … With each new novel, de Kerangal secures her place as a writer of stunning, incisive, enrapturing fiction; it's a boon to have this sensuous, soulful, and suspenseful earlier work so gorgeously translated into English by Jessica Moore." (Donna Seaman, Booklist)

And a bit more … 

"But Not Today" by Susan Williams

I have no heart today.
I think I have lost it somewhere along the way
From yesterday to today.
No
I am wrong
It's not gone
It's still here
I know this because it aches
If my chest were truly empty
It would not ache.
I should get up now
Get up and rejoin the war
On this battlefield
On this battleground.
Yes
I should and I will
I will get up again
But not today
Not today.
Tomorrow maybe.
Maybe tomorrow I will get up off the ground
As far as my knees.
I should
I should get on my knees
But not today
Tomorrow maybe
Today I am too heart-sick and weary
Too heart-sick and weary to move
Tomorrow maybe.
Maybe tomorrow I will lift my eyes to the hills
From whence my help will come.
Yes
I will lift up my eyes again
Lift them up to the hills again.
But not today.
Not today.
Tomorrow.
Tomorrow I will
Because I must
Rejoin the war
On this battlefield
On this battleground.


And that's all for this week.
From Mary Oliver's "Sometimes"