Three things from DAH. Free every Friday!
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DAH is me, David Anthony Hance. I sing the sum of my choices.

First up this week: You … 
You're reading me, and I thank you for that. Sometimes I feel confident about the words I share. Other times I feel silly. But I'm surprised, every week, by you. How those who respond (and there are always at least a few of you) are moved or reminded or inspired by some words I shared. I thank you, all of you, for your kindness and influence upon me and my thinking. Writing can feel lonely. You make if feel less so. I'm so grateful, to and for you.
 
Second up this week, Youth …
You were young. Perhaps you still are. Are you a youth? Not yet mature? Maybe there are times when you feel a sense of youth, even if chronological time puts it in your past. Wisely or ill-advisably I tend to cast a look back in time at the beginning of each year. I can recall if not recapture some sense of youth, of irrepressible hope. Last week I wrote briefly about resolutions. My friend Beth responded to that with these words from from Sarah Moussa: "Why do we start the new year with promises to improve? … I say, the end of a year should be filled with congratulations for all we survived. And I say a new year should start with promises to be kinder to ourselves … " Thank you, Sarah and Beth, for this excellent thought. 

Third up this week, Youpon …
We've hit Epiphany Eve, or 12th Night … last of the 12 days of Christmas. The day when, traditionally, I'd take down Christmas decorations (including the tree). And I'm thinking about holly, feeling a bit bereft that I had none decoratomg this holiday season past. Youpon is a variant of yaupon, "any of several shrubs or trees of the genus Ilex  especially : a holly (I. vomitoria) of the southern U.S. that has smooth elliptical leaves with emetic and purgative properties" (Merriam-Webster). Now, I love the idea of holly for the holiday, but the "emetic and purgative properties" leave me feeling empty. So, if you're wondering if I'll make a special youpon berry tea for 12th Night, or if I'll drive a sprig of holly into the holiday's heart: I won't. And, before you ask, same for English holly.

A book I'm looking forward to …
Belonging: The Science of Creating Connection and Bridging Divides,
by Geoffrey L. Cohen 
"Cohen alternates between telling the deep history of successful social psychological interventions and focusing on modern interventions that are being used to astounding effect...If we want more people to have the chance to maximize their abilities and their contributions to society, reading Belonging is the right place to start." (Matthew Lieberman, Science Magazine)


And a bit more: 

Good Bones 
by Maggie Smith

Life is short, though I keep this from my children.
Life is short, and I’ve shortened mine
in a thousand delicious, ill-advised ways,
a thousand deliciously ill-advised ways
I’ll keep from my children. The world is at least
fifty percent terrible, and that’s a conservative
estimate, though I keep this from my children.
For every bird there is a stone thrown at a bird.
For every loved child, a child broken, bagged,
sunk in a lake. Life is short and the world
is at least half terrible, and for every kind
stranger, there is one who would break you,
though I keep this from my children. I am trying
to sell them the world. Any decent realtor,
walking you through a real shithole, chirps on
about good bones: This place could be beautiful,
right? You could make this place beautiful.


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

Instructions for living a life:
Pay attention.
Be astonished.
Tell about it.