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Andrew Wetzel

@circlereader.bsky.social
1.1K followers 2.1K following 956 posts

Human first, then: curious, Christian, parent. Other Evangelical. #YouCannotServeGodAndMammon #TheKingdomOfGodIsNotAPoliceState #TheEndIsNotYet He/him. 🔗🌳/CircleReader

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Andrew Wetzel @circlereader.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Bzzz!😁
Honeybee on purple New England aster flower.A Peck's skipper on a purple New England aster.A painted lady butterfly on pink zinnias.
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Andrew Wetzel @circlereader.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
DON'T TALK ABOUT HAS—
Batman slapping Robin meme
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Andrew Wetzel @circlereader.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
Heed our warning or you cannot hope to avoid this fate!
Lindsey Graham and McConnell as the ghosts of Jacob & Robert Marley from "The Muppet Christmas Carol."
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Andrew Wetzel @circlereader.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
I mean…!
Movie poster for "Babette's Feast" (1987).Movie poster for "The Brave Little Toaster" (1987)
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Andrew Wetzel @circlereader.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
Favorite movie(s) that came out when I was 20: "The Princess Bride" and "Wings of Desire." What a year!
Movie poster for "The Princess Bride" (1987)Movie poster for "Wings of Desire" (1987)
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Andrew Wetzel @circlereader.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
Light Yagami sweating
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Andrew Wetzel @circlereader.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
#RIP
Two buttons meme with the button choices labeled, "Remember & honor truly great Americans as they pass away"   versus "President J.D. Vance."
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Andrew Wetzel @circlereader.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
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Andrew Wetzel @circlereader.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
My daughter enjoyed learning to use these:
Flower print boxing gloves
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Andrew Wetzel @circlereader.bsky.social · 06/07/2026
He could have just moved to Dalfunka and lived forever, simple as that!
Screenshot of the 1976 NYT publication of a short story by Isaac Bashevis Singer, "Dalfunka, Where the Rich Live Forever," in which the sages of Chelm (the city of fools) advise the wealthy Zalman Typpesh that since no wealthy man has died in the poor suburb of Dalfunka, he could move there and live forever.
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Andrew Wetzel @circlereader.bsky.social · 18/06/2026
A Bad King
Scene from "The Lion King" showing the pride lands in ecological collapse under the mismanagement of the bad lion King, Scar.
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Andrew Wetzel @circlereader.bsky.social · 18/06/2026
Also on Sunday mornings in Chicago: "Open, come open the Magic Door with me, With your imagination there's so much we can see." "The Magic Door" (1962–1982) share.google/iQfsqIicQGb0...
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Andrew Wetzel @circlereader.bsky.social · 12/06/2026
See also Cathryn Townsend on Epstein's networks of intellectuals: www.liberalcurrents.com/epsteins-gif...
Screenshot of article by anthropologist Cathryn Townsend: 
"Although Epstein was evidently no intellectual (physicist Sean Caroll described him as “a standard, fast-talking charlatan who trotted out big words with no real understanding”), he had a knack for Machiavellian manipulations tied to gifts and favors.  In a travesty of potlatch ceremonies, the gifts that the academics brought to the parties were not intended just for Epstein but also for his clan of billionaires and celebrities. The ceremonies were held at opulent intellectual ‘salons’ funded by Epstein. A literary agent by the name of John Brockman was responsible for organizing many of these salons under the guise of a club called the Edge, which facilitated the gathering of billionaires and academics at “glittering events.” Some of these events were apparently secretive safe spaces for participants to praise “race science, rape culture and genetic engineering.” It was through Brockman’s bragging about his association with Epstein to a former client (tech writer Evgeny Morozov) that details of former Prince Andrew’s alleged foot massage emerged."
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Andrew Wetzel @circlereader.bsky.social · 08/06/2026
Good to see this the day after attending the queer wedding of my niece, who lived there as a child and has taken Lviv as her middle name.
In a forest preserve shelter decorated with lights,  a young bride in a white dress and her new spouse in a a pink sequined jumpsuit share their first married dance together, looking into each other's eyes and smiling with joy as their friends & family cheer & rejoice with them.
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Andrew Wetzel @circlereader.bsky.social · 07/04/2026
"The other books were like me directing; 'Death of the Author' was me personally stepping on stage." — @nnedi.bsky.social at Great World Texts in Wisconsin humanities.wisc.edu/great-world-...
Copy of Nnedi Okorafor's "Death of the Author" with the dust cover lifted to show the cover of the novel within the novel, "Rusted Robots," written by her protagonist. In the background, students attending the Great World Texts in Wisconsin conference listen to Okorafor answer their questions.Nnedi Okorafor on stage at the Great World Texts in Wisconsin conference, next to a student poster.
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Andrew Wetzel @circlereader.bsky.social · 18/03/2026
Yes! And of course that same moral hazard of self-driven austerity or scrupulosity gets called out in Bible texts, too, as "an appearance of wisdom," but not the real thing!
Screenshot of Colossians 2:20-23, which reads, "If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the universe, why do you live as if you still belonged to the world? Why do you submit to regulations, 'Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch' (referring to things which all perish as they are used), according to human precepts and doctrines? These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting rigor of devotion and self-abasement and severity to the body, but they are of no value in checking the indulgence of the flesh."
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Andrew Wetzel @circlereader.bsky.social · 17/03/2026
Maybe Luke 16 is more applicable here: people handling money & power know it's worth giving up some power & money to make friends & allies who can save them when their ass is on the line. Unlike some ideologues & religionists who waste their on hoarding those resources. #YouCannotServeGodAndMammon
Screenshot of the first part of Luke 16, the parable of the Shrewd / Dishonest Manager, who knew what was more valuable than the money he was stealing (much to the amusement of his boss, who probably still fired him), ending with Jesus's statement of the guiding principle, "You cannot serve God and Mammon!"
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Andrew Wetzel @circlereader.bsky.social · 17/03/2026
“I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.” — Jesus
Screenshot of Luke 15 (NRSVUE translation), including Jesus's saying that "there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance," which comes after the parables of the lost sheep and the lost coin, and just before the parable of the lost (prodigal) son & his politically correct (non-derogatory) brother, in which the turning back of the lost sinner from his misguided, harmful ways is motivated more by his own security than by any deep appreciation for his own cursed foolishness.
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Andrew Wetzel @circlereader.bsky.social · 09/03/2026
"The interior had complications designed to mislead observers.…[and] allowed the presenter of the machine to open every available door to the public, to maintain the illusion of a purely clockwork mechanism." en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mechani...
A copper engraving of the Turk, showing the open cabinet and working parts. A ruler at bottom right provides scale. Windisch describes the engravings as based on drawings "done by M. de Kempelen himself, for M. de Mechell, and which consequently cannot fail of being faithful and exact".
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Andrew Wetzel @circlereader.bsky.social · 04/03/2026
"I want you to get me out of this!"
Picture of the Uncle Sam pointing at the viewer poster, captioned in the post with "I want you to get me out of this!"
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Andrew Wetzel @circlereader.bsky.social · 11/02/2026
"Reading is a way for me to make sure my truth & love sensors are still working." — George Saunders #WIBookFest
George Saunders & moderator Quan Barry on stage at the Orpheum Theater in Madison for the Wisconsin Book Festival, underneath a slide of interview questions & prompts.
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Andrew Wetzel @circlereader.bsky.social · 16/01/2026
#TheEndIsNotYet!
Homer Simpson ringing a bell on the street and wearing a sandwich board that reads, "THE END IS NOT YET! And no, you're not gonna see it coming. Don't get distracted. Stay woke, and do your good work. — Jesus," which IMHO is a fair summary of Matthew 24.
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Andrew Wetzel @circlereader.bsky.social · 16/01/2026
"Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look! Here is the Messiah!’ or ‘There he is!’ — do not believe it. For false messiahs & false prophets will appear & produce great signs & wonders, to lead astray, if possible, even the elect." Decade after decade after decade, for centuries, Matthew 24 still goes hard…
Screenshot of Matthew 24, in which Jesus warns of all the drama that is Not Yet the End of the World, with some verses highlighted:  

6 "And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars; see that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet.… 8 all this is but the beginning of the birth pangs.…13 But the one who endures to the end will be saved.…"

23 "Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look! Here is the Messiah!’ or ‘There he is!’ — do not believe it. 24 For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and produce great signs and wonders, to lead astray, if possible, even the elect. 25 Take note, I have told you beforehand. 26 So, if they say to you, ‘Look! He is in the wilderness,’ do not go out. If they say, ‘Look! He is in the inner rooms,’ do not believe it."
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Andrew Wetzel @circlereader.bsky.social · 03/01/2026
Look at that smirk…he knows something!
Oil painting portrait of John Bunyan.
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Andrew Wetzel @circlereader.bsky.social · 12/12/2025
George Orwell's "Animal Farm" by Angel Studios, you say?
Screenshot of the opening of a movie version of George Orwell's "Animal Farm," showing the Angel Studios logo with a chicken.Screenshot of a frame of Angel Studios' "Animal Farm" movie trailer on YouTube, with a comment reading, "Bro how the fuck is the CIA funded adaptation more faithful."Star Trek Lower Decks character saying, "Sufficiently advanced incompetence is indistinguishable from malice!"
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Andrew Wetzel @circlereader.bsky.social · 08/12/2025
If you see this, repost with your model of positive masculinity.
Jesus from Godspell (1973), played by Victor Garber, wearing a blue shirt with a red & yellow letter S shield logo, rainbow pants, and red suspenders with matching carnation, standing up in a fountain after being baptized by John (played by David Haskell) standing in the background.
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Andrew Wetzel @circlereader.bsky.social · 11/11/2025
Classic Matt Bors cartoon:
Cartoon about a Trump supporter blaming his girlfriend for his increasing commitment to Nazi expression & identity as if it were a required reaction to her objections to MAGA racism and not his own choice.
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Andrew Wetzel @circlereader.bsky.social · 11/11/2025
A good resource for parents, caregivers, and teachers on the foundations of helping children (and adults!) learn to read better: www.improvingliteracy.org/resource/the...
The Science of Reading: An Overview from National Center on Improving Literacy

The Science of Reading is an interdisciplinary body of research about reading that helps explain why some people have difficulty, how to most effectively assess and teach reading, and how to improve.

What the Science of Reading Is:

A Collection of Research
Research, over time, from multiple fields of study using methods that confirm and disconfirm theories on how children best learn to read.

Teaching Based on the 5 Big Ideas
Phonemic Awareness - The ability to identify and play with individual sounds in spoken words.

Phonics - Reading instruction focused on understanding how letters and groups of letters link to sounds to form letter-sound relationships and spelling patterns.

Fluency - The ability to read words, phrases, sentences, and stories correctly, with enough speed and expression.

Vocabulary - Knowing what words mean and how to say and use them correctly.

Comprehension - The ability to understand what you are reading.

Ever Evolving
It is continuously developing, with ongoing research and evidence deepening our understanding. As populations, communities, and approaches progress, teaching practices and methods should adapt to reflect these changes while staying grounded in effective, research-based methods.

What the Science of Reading Isn't:

A program, an intervention, or a product that you can buy.
The Science of Reading could be considered an approach to teaching reading that is based on decades of research and evidence. It is NOT a specific program.

Phonics-based programs that drill phonics skills.
Phonics is an integral part of teaching reading based on science, but it is just one of the five big ideas that should be taught so all children can learn to read.

Complete and no more study needs to be done.
As with any science, it is never complete. We can always know more. New research is happening all the time, and researchers, teachers, and families can work together.
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Andrew Wetzel @circlereader.bsky.social · 12/10/2025
So much depends upon a red wheel barrow glazed with sun gold beside the white labradoodle
Photo of a white dog lounging on grass in a back yard with sunlight filtering through garden plants (a grapevine, prairie grassed, and biennial gaura flowers) and a red wheelbarrow in the middle-foreground.
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Andrew Wetzel @circlereader.bsky.social · 10/10/2025
Nested Frog Skeets
Screenshot of a quote Skeet of Rose Lerner appreciating a screenshot of Claire Willett's skeet about the Portland Frogs being followed on her feed by the Frog and Toad Bot's skeet reading, "Don't be silly," said Frog, followed on my feed by Django Wexler's skeet imagining the office conversation between the sales manager at the company that makes inflatable frog suits and his boss…

(Sorry I called them "skeets.")
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Andrew Wetzel @circlereader.bsky.social · 24/09/2025
If we Evangelicals had focused on the first half of 1 Thessalonians 4 (especially verses 3-6) instead of the end times, we all would have been a lot better off!
Screenshot of 1 Thessalonians 4:1-12 (NRSV)

"A Life Pleasing to God

4 Finally, brothers and sisters, we ask and urge you in the Lord Jesus that, as you learned from us how you ought to live and to please God (as, in fact, you are doing), you should do so more and more. 2 For you know what instructions we gave you through the Lord Jesus. 3 For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality; 4 that each one of you know how to control your own body[a] in holiness and honor, 5 not with lustful passion, like the gentiles who do not know God; 6 that no one wrong or exploit a brother or sister in this matter, because the Lord is an avenger in all these things, just as we have already told you beforehand and solemnly warned you. 7 For God did not call us to impurity but in holiness. 8 Therefore whoever rejects this rejects not human authority but God, who also gives his Holy Spirit to you.

9 Now concerning love of the brothers and sisters, you do not need to have anyone write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another, 10 and indeed you do love all the brothers and sisters throughout Macedonia. But we urge you, brothers and sisters, to do so more and more, 11 to aspire to live quietly, to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands, as we directed you, 12 so that you may behave properly toward outsiders and be dependent on no one."
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Andrew Wetzel @circlereader.bsky.social · 24/09/2025
WHOA!!!
View of the Madison, Wisconsin, isthmus from the air. As one might see while being raptured…
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Andrew Wetzel @circlereader.bsky.social · 24/09/2025
Well, the Rapture does have a *thin* Biblical basis, one passage in 1 Thessalonians 4, which the Scofield Reference Bible notes fit into its Dispensationalist theological framework like a puzzle piece. But one interpretation of one passage is all they need!
Screenshot of 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 in the King James Version:

"13 But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.

14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.

15 For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.

16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:

17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

18 Wherefore comfort one another with these words.
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Andrew Wetzel @circlereader.bsky.social · 16/09/2025
Our daughter just moved to New York City yesterday and is getting settled properly! #NYC #VOTE #LoveYourLibraries
Screenshot of a text thread with two photos, the first a selfie of a young white woman with her hair pulled back wearing big round black sunglasses, dangly hoop earrings, and a sleeveless black shirt over black corduroy overalls bearing a multi-color VOTE pin. The second photo shows her hand hodin a red New York Public Library card with a lion logo on the left and KNOWLEDGE IS POWER printed across the bottom.
A text message from her below the photos reads, "Registered to vote AND got my library card!"
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Andrew Wetzel @circlereader.bsky.social · 18/08/2025
Smart watches failed us. #DoesAnybodyReallyKnowWhatTimeItIs
XKCD Comic showing a timeline with a bar lableled "Regular Watches" from pre-1900 to around 2005, and a bar labeled "Smart Watches" from 2015 on post 2030. The gap between the bars from 2005-2015 is labelled, "Brief, glorious period in which our wrists were free"
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Andrew Wetzel @circlereader.bsky.social · 03/08/2025
*googling "the tiger is out poem"*
Sickos "Yes…HA HA HA…YES!" meme image.
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Andrew Wetzel @circlereader.bsky.social · 28/07/2025
If Antonio Byrd hasn't written that essay, you might incite him to write that essay! antonioabyrd.com
Website description of Antonio A. Byrd's research on race, coding, writing, literacy, pedagogy, & generative AI.
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Andrew Wetzel @circlereader.bsky.social · 27/07/2025
Misinformation's companions.
The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse  — War, Famine, Pestilence, and Death — are joined by another, texting on a phone as he rides. Death asks, "And you are…?” and the Fifth Horseman answers, "Misinformation."
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Andrew Wetzel @circlereader.bsky.social · 20/07/2025
Annika Mann preaching at #FCBCMadison on Jesus's teaching that #YouCannotServeGodAndMoney & we should instead of hoarding wealth "store up treasures for yourself in heaven."
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Andrew Wetzel @circlereader.bsky.social · 15/07/2025
My own Christian understanding is that Dispensationalism is nonsense & we've been in/near the end times since the resurrection…but…man, some of those verses seem creepily on point!
Screenshot of Matthew 24:4-8 (NRSV) 

1 As Jesus came out of the temple and was going away, his disciples came to point out to him the buildings of the temple.

2 Then he asked them, “You see all these, do you not? Truly I tell you, not one stone will be left here upon another; all will be thrown down.”

3 Signs of the End of the Age
When he was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will this be, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?”

4 Jesus answered them, “Beware that no one leads you astray.

5 For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Messiah!’ and they will lead many astray.

6 And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars; see that you are not alarmed; for this must take place, but the end is not yet.

7 For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places:

8 all this is but the beginning of the birth pangs.Screenshot of Matthew 24:9-13 (NRSV)

9 “Then they will hand you over to be tortured and will put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of my name.

10 Then many will fall away, and they will betray one another and hate one another.

11 And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray.

12 And because of the increase of lawlessness, the love of many will grow cold.

13 But the one who endures to the end will be saved.

14 And this good news of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the world, as a testimony to all the nations; and then the end will come.
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Andrew Wetzel @circlereader.bsky.social · 12/07/2025
Bumper sticker spotted earlier today:
Bumper sticker with white stars on a blue background on the left border, and in red text on a white background, "PUBLIC SERVICE IS NOT A CRIME"
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Andrew Wetzel @circlereader.bsky.social · 07/07/2025
Putting on the full armor of Dad…
Photo of a gray bearded man wearing o summer floral button down shirt that was a gift for Father's Day. In a line above the shirt pocket is a row of six Eagle Scout Dad pins, and on the top edge of the pocket is a pride rainbow pin with a Holy Spirit dove descending toward one end.
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Andrew Wetzel @circlereader.bsky.social · 24/06/2025
Meanwhile, at our local grocery store tonight:
Madison, Wisconsin, Woodman's East grocery store aisle with water crashing in through a collapsed ceiling & completely flooding the floor between seafood and chicken.
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Andrew Wetzel @circlereader.bsky.social · 24/06/2025
imgs.xkcd.com/comics/query...
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Andrew Wetzel @circlereader.bsky.social · 20/06/2025
Propagandist vs. propagandist…
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Andrew Wetzel @circlereader.bsky.social · 18/06/2025
OK, putting that on the list to get for my wife as she builds a garden for her neighborhood center kids!
The back yard at BLW Neighborhood Center, with a peeling, leaning, blue-painted wooden fence around an area of weeds, compacted earth newly grass-seeded, and a 4 x 8 foot garden bed with small veggies & marigolds.
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Andrew Wetzel @circlereader.bsky.social · 05/06/2025
No flashing fireflies visible tonight…but they're out there!
Firefly resting on brome grass in daylight.Rain garden at night, illuminated by streetlight.
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Andrew Wetzel @circlereader.bsky.social · 05/06/2025
Dad: harvests mushrooms Daughter: makes ramen #winning
Bearded man with glasses standing outside holding an armful of Winecap mushrooms.Young woman with pink tinted hair eating a bowl of soup, with mushrooms in the foreground.
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Andrew Wetzel @circlereader.bsky.social · 04/06/2025
Anyway, the "adaptive cycle" is one of my favorite broadly useful science models / metaphors: www.resalliance.org/adaptive-cycle
Diagram from "Panarchy" by Gunderson & Holling (2002) illustrating the ecological concept of an adaptive cycle, charted along the system axes of connectedness vs potential, and showing a looping path through four phases that ecological & human systems display: 
1. Growth/exploitation of resources 
2. Conservation 
3. Collapse/release of resources 
4. Reorganization
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Andrew Wetzel @circlereader.bsky.social · 30/05/2025
Here's how my conservative Lutheran grade school explained the Fifth Commandment to us. Maybe someone from #Iowa ought to ask Senator Joni Ernst (R) what her #ELCA #Lutheran Christian "fear & love of God" teaches her about destroying life saving healthcare policies.
Text of Martin Luther's Shorter Catechism that reads: 

The Fifth Commandment:
 
You shall not murder.

What does this mean?

We should fear and love God so that we do not hurt or harm our neighbor in his body, but help and support him in every physical need.

The Central Thought: 

God created us to care about other people and to help them in their times of need.

What are the needs of people in my immediate community and society?

Read Luke 10:25--37. How did the Samaritan view his relationship to the beaten man differently than the priest or the Levite did? 

✠ As Christians, we look after our neighbors so that they may enjoy the life God has given them.

What opportunities does God give me to help my neighbor?
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