Morning Light

Image: Subject and photographer unknown.

Among the Wheat

Image: Photographer unknown.

See also the previous posts:
• Hare in Field of Gold
• Hare in Summer Field
• Cutting the Hare

Boys of Summer

See also the previous posts:
• Boys of Summer (2017)
• Boys of Summer (2016)
• Boys of Summer (2015)
• Summer Boy
• Tan Lines

LeBron

LeBron Raymone James Sr. (born December 30, 1984) is an American professional basketball player for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Often considered the best basketball player in the world and regarded by some as the greatest player of all time, James' NBA accomplishments are extensive and include four NBA Most Valuable Player Awards, three NBA Finals MVP Awards, two Olympic gold medals, three All-Star Game MVP Awards, and an NBA scoring title. He is the all-time NBA playoffs scoring leader and has amassed fourteen NBA All-Star Game appearances, twelve All-NBA First Team designations, and five All-Defensive First Team honors.

James is an active supporter of non-profit organizations, including After-School All-Stars, Boys & Girls Clubs of America and Children's Defense Fund. He also has his own charity foundation, the LeBron James Family Foundation, which is based in Akron, Ohio. Since 2005, the foundation has held an annual bike-a-thon to raise money for various causes. In 2015, James announced a partnership with the University of Akron to provide scholarships for as many as 2,300 children beginning in 2021. In 2016, he donated $2.5 million to the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture to support an exhibit on Muhammad Ali. In 2017, he received the J. Walter Kennedy Citizenship Award from the NBA for his "outstanding service and dedication to the community." In November of that same year, the Akron School Board approved the "I Promise School," a public elementary school created in a partnership with the LeBron James Family Foundation to help struggling elementary school students stay in school. James later reflected that it was his most important professional accomplishment of his life.

Throughout his career, James has taken stances on controversial issues. On several occasions, he mentioned a feeling of obligation to effect change using his status. Those include the War in Darfur, the Trayvon Martin case, the now-former NBA owner Donald Sterling's racist comments in 2014, the Michael Brown verdict, and the death of Eric Garner. Following a racist incident at his Los Angeles home in 2017, James stated, "being black in America is tough. We got a long way to go for us as a society and for us as African Americans until we feel equal in America." Later that same year, in the aftermath of the 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, James questioned President Donald Trump's "Make America Great Again" slogan by stating, "It's sad what's going on in Charlottesville. Is this the direction our country is heading? 'Make America Great Again,' huh?" and "Our youth deserve better!" James also called Trump a "bum" after the president rescinded a White House invitation to Steph Curry. On the other end of the spectrum, on February 16, 2018, Fox News journalist Laura Ingraham told James to "Shut up and dribble" as a response to his political agendas.

– Source

Last Friday, August 4, U.S. President Donald Trump took to his favorite medium, Twitter, and attacked LeBron James’s intelligence after CNN aired an interview in which the NBA star told anchor Don Lemon that he thought Trump was trying to divide the country by using sports as a wedge. Trump had apparently watched the rebroadcast of the interview, which originally aired Monday. Lemon’s questions mostly focused on James’s time off the court, covering James’s newly completed I Promise School in Akron, a public and nonprofit partnership designed to help underserved kids in his Ohio hometown.

The meme above is just one of many that were created in response to this incident and which criticizes Trump while praising James. An earlier meme (below) highlighted James' exemplary character and family life.

Above: On June 11, 2015 LeBron shared on national TV a bit more of his physique than he no doubt intended when he briefly exposed his penis as he tucked his undershirt into his underwear. (In the process, it should be noted, he validated all the "growers not showers" of the world!)

Notes The Hollywood Reporter about this incident: "The Internet may have been worked up into a frenzy over LeBron James possibly exposing his penis to millions of viewers on live television Thursday night, but the Parents Television Council doesn't think the potentially indecent footage, broadcast during ABC's live coverage of the NBA Finals, is that big of a deal and the watchdog group says it won't be encouraging its members to file complaints. 'After reviewing the video clip at issue, we find nothing that reasonably violates the spirit or the letter of the longstanding law against broadcasting indecent material over the public airwaves between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m.,' PTC president Tim Winter said in a statement. 'We will absolutely not be encouraging our members to file complaints, as we feel it is much ado about nothing.'"

Well, not exactly nothing.


Related Off-site Links:
A True American Hero – The Wild Reed (August 5, 2018).
In One More Career-Defining Moment, LeBron James Opens a School for At-Risk Kids – Tania Ganguli (Chicago Tribune, July 30, 2018).
What LeBron James Keeps Doing Is More Impressive Than You Think – Terence Moore (Forbes, August 2, 2018).
Trump Insults LeBron James’s Intelligence in an Echo of “Shut Up and Dribble” – Alex Horton (The Washington Post, August 4, 2018).
Twitter Explodes Over Donald Trump’s “Disgusting” Attack on LeBron James: “LeBron Puts Children Through School. Trump Puts Children in Cages” – Jeff Zillgitt (USA Today, August 4, 2018).
Sports World Reacts to Donald Trump’s Attack on LeBron James – Michelle R. Martinelli (USA Today, August 4, 2018).
Trump’s Tweet About LeBron Is Pathetic, Immature But Not Unexpected – Jeff Zillgitt (USA Today, August 4, 2018).
LeBron James Tweets Positive Message to Kids After Donald Trump Attacks Him – Hilary Hanson (The Huffington Post, August 4, 2018).
When Trump Attacked LeBron James, It Had an Unintended Effect: Other Athletes Speaking Out – Cindy Boren (The Washington Post, August 5, 2018).
Amid LeBron James Flap, Melania Trump Again Charts Her Own Course – Associated Press via MSN.com (August 5, 2018).
LeBron Shows Trump What Winning Really Looks Like – Dave Zirin (The Nation, August 6, 2018).
LeBron James: No, I Don't Regret Calling Trump a "Bum" – Mahita Gajanan (Time, September 25, 2017).
LeBron James' Penis Exposure Draws Hilarious Complaints – Jai Bednall (News.com.au, July 15, 2015).

See also the previous posts: Jayjay | Donald | Geremy | Jerome | Solomon | Colin | Luis | Nyle | Philip | Charlie | Sukdeep | Rafael | Mon Bel Ami

Images: Photographers unknown.

Harvest Blessings

Writes Terence P Ward at The Wild Hunt, a website dedicated to "modern pagan news and commentary" . . .

This week, many modern Pagans, Heathens and polytheists are observing the summer festival of Lughnasadh, also called Lammas, Lughnassa, and Harvest Home.

Typically celebrated on August 1, Lughnasadh is one of the yearly fire festivals and marks the first of three harvest celebrations. It traditionally honors Lugh, the Celtic god of light and many talents, and his foster-mother, Tailtiu.

In addition, it’s the time of the Ásatrú festival of first fruits called Freyfaxi. Both celebrations are include feasting, songs, games, thanksgiving, and the reaping of the first fruits and grains of the season.
There are many other late summer religious and secular holidays around the world, some of which are related to the harvest.

In Tibetan Buddhism, for example, followers celebrated Choekhor Duechen, or the first turning wheel of Dharma, July 27. The day marks the time when “the Buddha Shakyamuni first taught the four noble truths in Sarnath, India, and first turned the wheel of the dharma.”

During this time, members of several Native American nations celebrate the Green Corn festival. This was particularly true of “Cherokee, Creek, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Seminole, Timucua, and others, who used corn (maize) as their single most important food source.” The ceremony and festival, also called puskita or busk in English, was “an expression of gratitude for a successful corn crop.”

In the Southern Hemisphere, Pagans, Heathens and polytheists are readying for Imbolc, and other holidays focused on late winter and the coming potential of spring.

To read Terence P Ward's commentary in its entirety, click here.


Image 1: "Harvest Hare" by Nicole Fenwick.
Image 2: Artist unknown.