April 24, 2024

I took this pic today in the park across the street then sent it to Facebook. I decided not to post it here until today because yesterday's theme was about Trump along with other injustices that are playing out across the country and the world. (No need to elaborate)

This morning my friend Lee, who goes back to my High School days, left this message on my Facebook wall: "You look like a Peacock."

Whoa!

There have only been three times I was guided to pose like that. The first time was on a trip to the Catskill mountains with friends Alexander and Anna standing in front a tree with 36 white flowers. The second time was in Egypt. Though it just seemed like the 'thing to do at the time' I never understood why ... until today.

Peacock is also the Phoenix death and rebirth - 'she who rises from the ashes'.

The White House Correspondents' (WHCA) Dinner is an organization of journalists who cover the White House and the president of the United States. The WHCA was founded on February 25, 1914, by journalists in response to an unfounded rumor that a United States congressional committee would select which journalists could attend press conferences of President Woodrow Wilson. Except for Donald Trump, every president has attended at least one WHCA dinner, beginning with Calvin Coolidge in 1924. The dinner is traditionally held on the evening of the last Saturday in April at the Washington Hilton.

This year's president of the White House Correspondents' Association is NBC News senior White House correspondent Kelly O'Donnell who will preside over one of the biggest evenings in D.C. - a mix of politicos, media types and celebrities airing live across many networks.

Generally I watch the highlights of the WHCA. I'm not into roasting others. To me it falls under the heading 'bullying' and we get enough of that in today's world.

Broadcast media comes in all shapes, sizes, and reporting styles. Sometimes reporters are hacked and misquoted. The truth can be skewed by a reporter's perspective - getting called out and fired.

I believe that one should follow a media source they trust. Friends who follow conspiracy theories tell me not to trust mainstream media - but I take it with a grain of salt knowing that all of reality consists of preprogrammed events set in linear time for emotional value. I'm a visual learner and appreciate the fact that we live in an age of surveillance where I can see proof in any number of forms. On the downside - as all things in physical reality are bipolar - positive and negative - we find deepfakes or synthetic media having been digitally manipulated to replace one person's likeness convincingly with that of another.

I grew up watching NBC and have always used them as a trusted news source - today including MSNBC where I have my favorite anchors and journalists who not only work hard to report the facts - but spend their waking hours trying to secure the truth.

On another note ... It made me laugh when I looked for an image of the NBC logo - then realized it's the peacock - after my reporting on Peacock Connections yesterday.