(no subject)

I binged on Poldark last night, a 1970's BBC series set in Cornwall. It's hard for me to read any background on the story without spoilers, but it appears to be plausible in the historical settings. The class interactions, board room scenes, and tin and copper mining details fascinate me. I fear that if this were made today, the story lines would have been simplified.

There's plenty to reflect upon in contrast to current politics. Ross Poldark, back from fighting against the revolutionaries in America, rebells against allowing corporate interest to become too concentrated. There's both a self interest and a community interest driving his behavior. The fluctuations in the metals market drives mines to close, and the laborers are out of work. Food prices stay high. In the last episode, there was a protest and riot. I can't help but think how the social covenant of Anglo-Saxon kingdoms on the British Isle shapes American politics today: that there are responsibilities of the powerful to those they had power over, that those with capital or land had responsibilities to those who depended on that capital or land to support their lives. The social covenant was fluid, as it is today. I'm sure someone astute and steeped in the history will be able to articulate the connections of the tax and corporate protests of today back through to the protests and rebellion that formed the Magna Carta.

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Binging is symptomatic of a bit of depression-paralysis. I hope to bestir myself enough to do some cleaning today, to make a fig jam with the over-ripe figs i was disappointed to find i bought yesterday, to make some soup with the rich stock.

I woke thinking of work, of calls i should have made yesterday, of cards unsent on my desk.