iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Michael Summers @mwsum.bsky.social · 12/10/2026

Wishing you a happy and thoughtful Indigenous Peoples Day! #indigenouspeoplesday #columbusday

Michael Summers @mwsum.bsky.social · 10/10/2026

Theodore Roosevelt's platform in the Presidential election in 1912 foreshadowed societal change in the USA. Progressive indeed! From my recent visit to the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library. #elections #culture

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Michael Summers @mwsum.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

Be alert to signs of domestic abuse. And remember that victims include women, men, and children. #domesticviolence

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Michael Summers @mwsum.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

I ate tonight at amost enjoyable restaurant with amazing barbecue and galactic ambience: Space Aliens in Bismarck, North Dakota. Loved the tender brisket and "Martian Munchies." Sadly, only three locations so far.

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Michael Summers @mwsum.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Marie Bottineau Baldwin was an attorney and advocate for women voting. This plaque honors her. As some Republicans push rescinding the 19th Amendment or enacting "household voting," we must redouble efforts to protect the rights of women and individuals to vote. #elections #suffrage #vote #politics

Plaque that honors an early Ojibwa advocate for women voting

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Michael Summers @mwsum.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Charles Dickens's skewering of a labyrinthine court system unveils stories of characters who surrender their lives in hope of a favorable verdict. Will stewards, faithful servants, and heirs survive corruption and intrigue? The novel's length highlights the abuses that Dickens attacks. #booksky

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Michael Summers @mwsum.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

In poetic prose, the author intertwines the pains of forbidden love with grief over a lover, a child, and a parent when the protagonist loses each too soon. Can forgiveness effect reconciliation? Does God hear her prayers? How can she keep grief from aborting her potential happiness? #booksky

Bereft is a book of poetic prose that tells how families can sustain or destroy love and faith

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Michael Summers @mwsum.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

The Run/Walk for the Fallen at Fort Leavenworth remembers the military members who died for our country but also honors their families. This morning (Saturday) I walked the three miles as I remembered my uncle and friends of mine as well as their survivors.

Graves of Soldiers at Fort Leavenworth National Cemetery

Michael Summers with other walkers and runners honoring Soldiers who died for the United States.

Walkers and runners just before beginning the Run and Walk for the Fallen at Fort Leavenworth September 19, 2026

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Michael Summers @mwsum.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

1) Argentine grandmothers banded together to search for state-kidnapped children and grandchildren over fifty years. This is a saga of hard worn partial victory, with sacrifices, setbacks, estrangement, and celebration. #booksky

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Michael Summers @mwsum.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

What's your societal pet peeve? Here's one for me - People who are too hurried, too unfit, or too lazy to take shopping carts to cart corrals. #petpeeves #culture #fitness

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Michael Summers @mwsum.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

Trapped in a wreck during a snowstorm, stepfather Eddie tells 9 year-old Daphne a story. Decades later, reunited, they reflect on that week's events and why he disappeared shortly after the wreck. Grief, sexuality, legacy, and family/work/friend relationships all are in a well told tale. #booksky

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Michael Summers @mwsum.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

A young Cherokee girl yearns to go into space, and resists any interference. Her other obsession is seeking lesbian partners, spurning commitment. Family relationships are ignored, until they aren't. Narrative, journal entries, blog posts, an obituary, and perhaps a dream advance the plot. #booksky

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Michael Summers @mwsum.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

Seen in a trailer book shop at a Farmers Market in Leavenworth Kansas

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Michael Summers @mwsum.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

I saw this baseball tee shirt advertised. It works for the midterm elections, doesn't it?

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Michael Summers @mwsum.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

Happy Labor Day! Today I'm remembering my paternal grandfather, who built houses and churches in Muncie, Indiana, and Warren County Tennessee, and my grandmother, who was a public school cook and baker who made the most delicious cinnamon rolls in batches of 100. #LaborDay

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Michael Summers @mwsum.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

When 70ish widow Frances Deluca learns that she has cancer, she yearns for one last adrenaline rush with her old girl gang. There is humor, grief, awkward family dynamics, and moral dilemmas. Will they accomplish their goal? Will one of their team betray them? Will Frances survive? #booksky

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Michael Summers @mwsum.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

The aptly named Storm family is stunned by the death of their self-made billionaire father. Can cynical Alice trust her family and her father's "fixer?" Betrayals, revelations about both parents, romance, and a real storm remind Alice and her siblings what it means to be a Storm. #booksky

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Michael Summers @mwsum.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

Two young Black women, not reared by their mothers, grow up in 1950s Mississippi but seek better destinies in different geographic and social directions. Pain, bigotry, and grief threaten dignity, friendship, and their lives. Will either find the love and acceptance that they each crave? #booksky

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Michael Summers @mwsum.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

When I drove into this parking spot, I first thought that, like another driver I witnessed, I had made a mistake, and should move to another spot. Awareness and acceptance that I was the target audience dawned despite my resistance. #aging

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Michael Summers @mwsum.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

Just finished baking my nine cheese lasagna for tomorrow's fellowship dinner after our quarterly joint Spanish and English worship service at church. Singing, praying, and eating together helps build unity. #food #religion

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Michael Summers @mwsum.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

Frustrating family dynamics, cult politics, and first contact sci-fi mingle in this saga that spans 150 years. Beginning with flashing lights from a distant star's planet, the novel explores how failure to communicate impacts a family's sense of their own history and two worlds. #booksky

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Michael Summers @mwsum.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

On my walk today, I saw something new for me: a robot mowing a yard (and doing a very good job). #technology

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Michael Summers @mwsum.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

A 3.15 mile walk on a cloudy day. Later the trail would wind through a wooded area where rain left puddles by the trail earlier. I had expected to walk through a steady rain. As it was, I felt four or five raindrops hit my skin. May our paths forward have fewer metaphorical storms than we fear.

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Michael Summers @mwsum.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

I attended an interment ceremony for a retired Army Colonel at Leavenworth National Cemetery today. A formal rifle salute, a bugler playing Taps, Army Chaplain (Colonel) speaking hope, and playing of "Going Home" on bagpipes. A fitting farewell to a Soldier who served us over 30 years. #military

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Michael Summers @mwsum.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

What if "you" from an alternate reality showed up in your reality? The author neatly mixes speculative fiction, demands of motherhood/marriage/work, horror, and how we see ourselves into an unsettling narrative that's hard to put down if you overcome the impulse to hurl the book at a wall. #booksky

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Michael Summers @mwsum.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

A young woman who has been in prison gets work as a live-in housemaid for a dysfunctional family. Plot twists surprise, but origins of abuse and how it transforms the abused lend reason to the story's progression. The ending foreshadows a sequel built on the maid's gain in self-awareness. #booksky

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Michael Summers @mwsum.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

This incisive history captures the first year of Donald John Trump's second term vividly: Whirlwind, Retribution, The Enemy Within, and Plunder. The authors explain actions from the perspective of the President, his staff, and others. What I had forgotten stunned me. #booksky

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Michael Summers @mwsum.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

Simply mystifying. He values personal impressions more than longstanding national alliances. It's not the first time that he has criticized an ally while touting his high regard for an autocratic dictator. What happened to "denuclearization" of North Korea?

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Michael Summers @mwsum.bsky.social · 15/08/2026

The sun setting (or did the artist mean for it to be rising or ambiguous?) in a window mural during my midday walk in downtown Leavenworth, #Kansas. #photography

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Michael Summers @mwsum.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

Looks very similar to three rooms in my house.

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Michael Summers @mwsum.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

As the 2024 elections drew near, I paid $2.749 per gallon of premium gasoline. Joe Biden was President. Today, the service station was charging $4.579 for premium when I pulled in to fill up. Donald John Trump is President. Some friends, quiet now, voted for this. I didn't. #inflation #Trump #Iran

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Michael Summers @mwsum.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

Richardson tells an American paradox, giving people a right to choose their own way, that often limited that right to White men with property. Blacks, immigrants, and women gained access, only to have the paradox reappear. Lincoln's resolution in the Gettysburg Address remains relevant. #booksky

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Michael Summers @mwsum.bsky.social · 08/08/2026

I went to the Leavenworth County Democrat Party meeting this morning. Richard Paz (district 38) & Jeff Pittman (41) talked about their races for #Kansas House. Vote for them if you live in that district. #elections

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Michael Summers @mwsum.bsky.social · 08/08/2026

I walked 3.75 invigorating miles under a clear #bluesky this afternoon. Keep pressing on for a brighter future!

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Michael Summers @mwsum.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

Mining and civic renewal, cuts to arts teaching, protecting rivers and sacred sites meet rafting culture and multi-generational dysfunctional family dynamics to rock a marriage. Can an embattled teacher/rafter save his marriage to a jaded and angry wife while saving his uncle's business? #booksky

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Michael Summers @mwsum.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

Happy Thursday, Brenda and crew! And hopes for a brighter future!

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Michael Summers @mwsum.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

Election Day in Kansas! I had been weighing a candidacy for Leavenworth County Commission District 4 before an auto accident, so when I saw that no Democrat was running in the primary, I wrote my name in today. #Kansas #election

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Michael Summers @mwsum.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

This classic 1608 book on living a disciplined life remains highly relevant. De Sales eschews self-flagellation and extreme fasting in favor of self care and moderation. Get a mentor. Some chaff, but his guidance will make you a better person, a more faithful spouse and an ethical leader. #booksky

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Michael Summers @mwsum.bsky.social · 31/07/2026

Comparing caste in India, South Africa, the USA, and Germany, the author uses history and laws, interviews and her own experiences to build a compelling, disturbing case. What were the sources for Nazi racial purity laws? What is the status of caste today? The answers may surprise you. #booksky

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Michael Summers @mwsum.bsky.social · 25/07/2026

I found this rock while mowing my yard. As I removed dirt from it, I discerned a metaphor for our nation and world: Even in the darkest hours, hope remains when people have faith in and love for one another. #hope

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Michael Summers @mwsum.bsky.social · 22/07/2026

I wore a "Pitt Crew for Jeff Pittman" tee shirt on my walk yesterday. Jeff is running as a Democrat for the Kansas House of Representatives District 41 seat to replace a Republican who is running for another office. Jeff is experienced as a state legislator and deserves your vote. #Kansas #politics

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Michael Summers @mwsum.bsky.social · 21/07/2026

While characters could have been better developed, I appreciated attention paid to local culture (I grew up about thirty miles away) and to racial, religious, and cultural bigotry that infused the timeline of WW2 America. Life was messy then as now; not all turns out well in this story. #booksky

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Michael Summers @mwsum.bsky.social · 19/07/2026

Happy Sunday! Perspective: A sunny day full of possibilities? Life-sustaining rain clouds? Cloaked Communist-allied alien spacecraft invading Earth? Which do you see? Or is something else? #photography #philosophy #climate #psychology #politics

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Michael Summers @mwsum.bsky.social · 17/07/2026

And a happy Friday to you! Let's blaze a trail out of this mess! #blues

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Michael Summers @mwsum.bsky.social · 15/07/2026

This fantasy/romance/mystery explores two (or is it three?) times in the lives of seminar students and their teachers. What will they sacrifice to gain power, wealth, and control? At the core is a library fueled with mystical (dangerous?) power from an ancient book within it. #booksky

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Michael Summers @mwsum.bsky.social · 13/07/2026

Research and history tie the two threads of the plot together. A literary scholar in 2119 searches for a lost poem from our time. He learns how uncertain knowledge is. It's a reminder to be humble about what we "know" and to consider what we may be setting up our descendants to experience. #booksky

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Michael Summers @mwsum.bsky.social · 10/07/2026

My primary Independence Day activity was participating in an American Legion and VFW flag line at the Lansing, Kansas celebration. One of those moments when Democrats and Republicans were able to act together as Veterans serving Veterans to celebrate our nation as worth saving #IndepenceDay

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Michael Summers @mwsum.bsky.social · 08/07/2026

Walking reminds me of our planet's beauty and calms, clears my mind so I may dream and have hope #photography

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Michael Summers @mwsum.bsky.social · 05/07/2026

The reader learns from an aide who wanted Trump to succeed then realized Trump's motives and priorities were not his own nor in the best interest of the nation. Insight: Trump in a second term would lose all guardrails. America was warned. Check it out from the library. #booksky

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