J.F. "Jeff" McCullers, EdD

Imagine your address to world leaders at the United Nations. Would you oafishly brag about your own war crimes and crimes against humanity? Would you make your speech as bombastic, churlish, deceitful, bloodthirsty, transphobic, xenophobic, warmongering, and apocalyptic as possible? Sigh.

Florida voters, read this breakdown of how (without legislative approval) $10 million of taxpayer funds from a Medicaid settlement were diverted to right-wing PACs in 2024. Key officials who were involved are candidates on your November 2026 ballot.

A good phone case feature would be miniature grappling hooks that pop out whenever the accelerometer detects that the phone is burrowing into the gap beside the seat cushions.

Ray Bradbury's classic science fiction short story "There Will Come Soft Rains" was published in 1950, and it took its title from a poem written in 1918. It's a solid Bradbury story, and I thought I should point out that today is the day on which it takes place. short-stories.co/@raybradbury...

The Demodex mites that live on our eyelashes don't just hang on and eat the sebum oil from our faces. They also boink, lay eggs, and hatch cute widdle babies. Their lifespan is only a few weeks, so if you have any favorite mites, you should say something nice to them while there's still time.

Those about to teach, we salute you. You hold the future of civilization in your hands, and we are grateful for your service.

“The Normal is the good smile in a child’s eyes — all right. It is also the dead stare in a million adults." Peter Shaffer. Equus: A play in two acts. New York: Samuel French.

For the third year in a row.

We watched Edward Yang's "Yi Yi" (2000) last night, and I wept of it, and now I am a different person.

Liu Bolin. (2012). Boy and Girl with Line of Internet. Fiberglass. Artist site: liubolinstudio.com

For all who celebrate.

Mood.

Fans of #ThePitt who saw the season finale: 1. Make sure to wait for the credits scene. It will fix you. 2. I want to see a high school show like this, where a whole season is spent on a single school day.

May the winds of change blow the whole world round.

VanderMeer is being VanderMeer again, so buckle up.

Again — only smart, educated, experienced, responsible, and compassionate people should be in charge of the most important things. I'm horrified that some people think this is a controversial opinion.

The ancient song of elements, the song whose words we remember too late, too late. The song we sing in whispers as we cut the beam, hold the nail, and raise the hammer.

Gottfried Helnwein. (1998). "Epiphany III (Presentation at the Temple)." Oil and acrylic on canvas. Artist site: www.helnwein.com

Never mind the jobs you had, tell me five classes you took in college. Science, Myth, & Value War, Revolution, and Morality Power, Violence, and the Individual Politics, Ecology, and Energy Modern Science Fiction

Today, the Presbyterian Church (USA) published this gentle lesson about the mighty power of faith.

Making the collards while standing in a kitchen in which the memories of my mother and my grandmothers are looking over my shoulder making polite but firm suggestions about getting all the stems and wondering if I'm using the right onions, and it makes me feel alive and blessed beyond words.

The light winds its way round our darkened world, and shows us all the path we must take to set aside our quarrels, to lay down our swords, to quench our anger, to forgive those wrongs done unto us. Come, friends, let us join the morning stars and sing together at last.

Yeah, so you know the guy who invented these tangledy-dangley Christmas lights that look like light-up Spanish moss hanging from the drip edge? I’m going to fight that guy.

The convergence of being retired and also being a homebody: It just occurred to me that I cannot recall using a vending machine of any kind since before COVID.

Precisely placing the bay leaves on what will become the hambone soup requires a careful balance of reverence and exuberance.

I was just in a gas station parking lot where I met a golden retriever named Dolly. She was radiating utter joy and she wanted me to let everyone to know that (1) She loves you with her whole entire heart, and (2) There's nothing wrong with a little slobber between friends.

Zhiyong Jing. (2023). My sunshine sleeps in your darkness. [Acrylic on wood panel.] Artist site: www.jingzhiyong.com

Till by turning, turning we come round right.

My take on Guillermo del Toro's "Frankenstein" (2025) is up at Letterboxd. letterboxd.com/floydwilbury...

Oliver Hermanus' "The History Of Sound" (2025) is a quiet meditation on love won and love lost, and a moving illustration of how deeply music can reach thoughts and feelings we can't quite express in other ways. My review here: letterboxd.com/floydwilbury...

Upon returning home, there is a liminal period when the traveling version of you has to allow the home version to regain control. You don't have to tip anymore. You don't have to stay dressed. You do have to cook. The traveling self wraps itself in a cocoon of forgetfulness and then slumbers.

Florida's long-running decline continues apace. #Publix seems to have decided not to provide COVID vaccines here at all.

The free state of Florida seeks to lead the nation in child death. www.reuters.com/business/hea...

Paul Davis. (2024). "Enthusiastic Presentation." Artist site: www.instagram.com/paulcopyrigh...

Humanities moment: Here's naughty Argonaut Jason being barfed out by the dragon that guarded the Golden Fleece. (The fleece hangs on the tree.) Athena watches, sensibly trying not to step in dragon slobber. This is a from a cup made by a potter named Douris near Rome, who made it around 480 BCE.

A ricotta soufflé, jerked shrimp tacos, dolmas in pomelo juice, BBQ butternut quesadillas, a grapefruit-smoked pork chop with peach pico de gallo, ginger-soy edamame, and half of a grape Pop-Tart found tucked under a bus seat walk into a bar. The bartender says, "Sorry, we don't serve food here."

A good phone case feature would be miniature grappling hooks that pop out whenever the accelerometer detects that the phone is burrowing into the gap beside the seat cushions.