BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM Autumn, the season of abundance, arrives with the Autumn Equinox on the 22nd of September. This a period when the lengths of day and night are about equal. It’s a season of changing leaves, brisk air, and plentiful harvests of pumpkins, cranberries, brussels sprouts, and apples. As the weather cools, we revert to our routines in preparation for the chillier days ahead. In contrast to our modern signs such as back-to-school sales and pumpkin spice everything, ancient civilizations recognized the changing seasons by observing the position of the sun. The sun rises due east and sets due west during the vernal and autumnal equinoxes, heralding longer evenings and declining daylight. This transition has traditionally been marked by the reaping of harvest crops. Here are five creative ideas to help you celebrate the fall equinox in your own unique way, inspired by these old traditions. Harvest potluck: Gather with friends and family to celebrate abundance The traditional Chinese ritual of honoring the harvest moon, the full moon closest to the fall equinox, dates back to the Shang dynasty. This custom is carried forward in modern harvest festivals, where the successful harvest of rice and wheat is celebrated with moonlit gatherings that include shared meals under the night sky. Equinox celebration Idea: Host a harvest potluck with your loved ones to celebrate the season’s bounty. Each guest is invited to bring a meal made with their favorite harvest ingredients. Sunrise yoga: Finding harmony with nature  The term “equinox” derives from the Latin words “aequi” and “nox,” which mean “equal night.” This notion represents the balance that Earth experiences during the equinox, when day and night are roughly equal in length, lasting about 12 hours each. Equinox celebration idea: Celebrate the equinox with a morning yoga session that helps you align with nature’s cycle. As you move through yoga positions, you’ll release muscle tension while revitalizing your body. Find a sunny area at home or attend an outdoor sunrise yoga class. Reflection on the equinox: A time for meditation The vernal and autumnal equinoxes are considered significant dates in the agricultural calendar. The planting season begins in the spring, and crops are nourished during the summer months. As the weather cools and the days become shorter in the fall, the crop is harvested and stored for the winter. Equinox celebration idea: Create a pleasant spot, called a “hyggekrog” in Danish, where you can reflect on your own harvests for the Equinox. As the year comes to a close, consider what bloomed in the spring and thrived during the summer, contributing to the bounty you’ll enjoy in the fall. Consider how your efforts have nourished different elements of your life since the vernal equinox in March. If you are so inclined, write down your autumn thoughts and aspirations so you can revisit them during the winter solstice. Connect with nature’s bounty by fall foraging Our ancestors relied on foraging for sustenance before the development of agricultural communities. Acorns and walnuts offered calorie-dense sustenance, including protein, in the fall. Equinox celebration idea: Go on an autumn foraging trip to immerse yourself in the bounty of the season. While admiring the brilliant autumn foliage, gather berries, tree roots, and nuts to add to your fall dinners. Cattails, for example, have a starchy substance inside their long brown rootstocks that is great for thickening your favorite fall soups and stews. You can also gather beautiful leaves and pinecones to add a natural touch to your decor. Gratitude campfire: Celebrate the seasons The Pagan community celebrates the autumn equinox with the Mabon celebration, which honors the change of seasons. Mabon rites emphasize the balance of light and dark, symbolizing the approaching winter darkness. Fire plays an important part, marking the transition from the blazing foliage of autumn to the extended, dark nights of the winter solstice. Equinox celebration idea: Commemorate the start of the season with an equinox campfire. Form a gratitude circle around the fire with your closest friends and family. Each person can share what they’re most thankful for this holiday season, reflecting on how it’s helped them reach their own personal equilibrium. Of course, if you live in a region that is at high risk for wildfires, then a simple gratitude circle without the campfire is a safe and wonderful alternative.The post Getting ready for autumn: 5 ways to celebrate the autumnal equinox first appeared on The Optimist Daily: Making Solutions the News.

BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM Farmers around the world have long used chemical treatments to safeguard their seeds from pests and disease. However, a new chemical-free alternative is gaining popularity in Sweden, Norway, and elsewhere. ThermoSeed, developed by former researcher Kenneth Alness, treats seeds with steam rather than chemicals, making it an environmentally safe and effective alternative to conventional treatments. This unique strategy is already making waves in Scandinavian agriculture, and Alness, 67, has set his sights on taking the idea globally, especially in Asia. Steam treatment: a safer and cleaner approach ThermoSeed’s technique, which uses intense bursts of steam to kill pests while protecting seeds, has received accolades for its environmental benefits and improved working conditions. Farmer Gustaf Silén, who embraced the practice, highlighted how it lowers the dust associated with chemical treatments. “The bags with the seed, when you open them, can be quite dusty, and you get this all over you. That is not the case with ThermoSeed—it’s much easier to handle,” Silén said. One notable advantage is the possibility of reusing unused seeds. Steam-treated seeds, unlike chemically treated seeds, can be safely fed to livestock or sold, cutting down on waste disposal expenses. “You don’t have to throw them away; they become valuable again,” Silén added. Inspiration from the past, technology for the future A 1950s farming book Alness discovered in his father-in-law’s bookshelf sparked the concept for ThermoSeed. The book recounted how farmers used to treat seeds with hot water before the introduction of artificial pesticides. Although organic farmers have kept this process alive, it is inefficient due to the expensive cost of drying the seeds afterward. “I saw that it had potential and it should be good for nature, good for the climate,” Alness stated. “And I thought it was worth testing my wild ideas—that’s where it started.” After years of refinement, ThermoSeed now produces yields comparable to chemically treated seeds while eliminating the downsides of previous hot water treatments. Beyond organic farming Initially, ThermoSeed was only used by organic farmers, but Alness eventually recognized its larger potential. “I think it took five, six, seven years before I realized its potential for conventional farming, not only organic,” Alness said. His enthusiasm rose as he realized how ThermoSeed may replace chemical treatments in conventional agriculture, greatly lowering chemical consumption and environmental impact. The Swedish agricultural co-op Lantmännen, which handles roughly half of Sweden’s seed supply, adopted the method in 2008. Since then, an estimated 3,000 cubic meters of chemicals have been dodged. In 2011, Norwegian agricultural co-op Felleskjøpet, which manages over half of Norway’s certified cereal seeds, introduced ThermoSeed following six years of intensive testing. Overcoming farmers’ skepticism Despite ThermoSeed’s obvious environmental benefits, not all farmers are eager to adopt non-chemical practices. According to Bjørn Stabbetorp, CEO of Felleskjøpet’s Agricultural Division, farmers tend to be wary about non-chemical solutions. He recognized that chemical treatments have been effective for many years, making it difficult to persuade farmers to try alternatives. “Non-chemical solutions have to really prove that they are competitive before the farmers are convinced,” she said. Fortunately, following a focused introduction, ThermoSeed has proven to be an effective and practical alternative. Looking ahead: scaling for global impact As Alness looks ahead, he sees new hurdles, such as the high cost of ThermoSeed equipment and the need to scale the technology for smaller markets. To make the approach more accessible globally, particularly in Asia, Alness is developing a scaled-down version of the machine. Despite recently selling the ThermoSeed license to Lantmännen BioAgri, Alness has no intentions to retire. His focus remains on expanding this chemical-free, sustainable technology to farmers all across the world, assuring that they, too, can minimize their dependency on pesticides without sacrificing their crops.The post Steam-powered seed treatment gains popularity as a chemical-free alternative in agriculture first appeared on The Optimist Daily: Making Solutions the News.

God is the only giver and taker of life, and as long as you have breath, He has a purpose for your life.

Shortly after I moved into my first apartment, I decided to make my mother’s beef stew. The recipe called for red wine, but after I started cooking, I realized I didn’t have a corkscrew. I tried everything I could think of to open that bottle. I don’t remember how I did it in the end, but I do remember that wine splattered all over my new kitchen. A corkscrew is a simple tool, but it makes the job of opening a bottle easy. I bought one, and I’ve never since tried to take out a cork without it. God has given parents tools to train up our children in the way they should go. We discipline to teach them how to obey. We praise them when they do something well. We pray for them. We teach them by our example. What if I told you there’s another tool you can add to your parenting tool belt? One that wouldn’t replace any of the other tools but, like a corkscrew, would make some hard jobs easier? Parents, let me recommend to you the art of storytelling. Prophet’s Tool My favorite example of the power of stories is the prophet Nathan confronting King David. David sins grievously by stealing Uriah’s wife, impregnating her, and then having Uriah killed to cover his tracks. The “man after [God’s] heart” (1 Sam. 13:14) runs headlong into paths of unrighteousness. When Nathan approaches David, he doesn’t mention David’s sin or the sixth and seventh commandments. Instead, he tells him a story about a rich man who took the beloved pet lamb of a poor man to feed it to company. David is eager to see justice done and right this wrong. It’s only when Nathan utters the famous words “Thou art the man” that he realizes the story is really about his own sin. The story crept past his defenses to reach his heart and work repentance. Why Stories Help Children don’t like to be preached to, but they love stories. This is important to remember when we’re trying to teach them right behavior or address a sinful pattern in their lives. Parents should address disobedience directly and openly, but once that’s done, stories can reinforce what you’re teaching by engaging a child’s imagination. A good story can creep past defensiveness. It can keep them from feeling like we’re revisiting their sin or mistakes. And it can help them imagine behaving differently next time. A good story can creep past defensiveness. And it can help children imagine behaving differently next time. When my oldest son was first learning to obey, my husband and I would tell him stories about “Pete.” Pete happened to misbehave in just the sort of ways our son would. But Pete was often worse, and his naughty deeds would catch our son’s imagination. He loved hearing about the bad things Pete would do, but he also loved the resolution when Pete got a consequence of some sort and learned never to do that thing again. By telling our son stories about Pete, we took the focus off his own behavior while still reinforcing the need to do right. This meant we weren’t constantly bringing up his past sins (“Remember when you told a lie?”), but we were helping our son meditate on God’s commands and imagine doing the right thing the next time. It’s Not as Hard as You Might Think You may not think of yourself as a storyteller. It’s hard to make up high-quality stories. But the good news is that young children aren’t a sophisticated audience. They actually love some of the things that would drive older kids or adults crazy. They thrive on formulaic stories with lots of repetition. They love being able to anticipate exactly what’s going to come next. In short, they love the kinds of stories that are easy to tell. Here are some situations where storytelling might be useful. 1. To Distract Your children hate to have their nails trimmed. While you cut their nails, tell them a story about a bunny who disobeys his mother and leaves his burrow and gets lost. To the bunny’s relief, a friendly owl guides him back home—just as you finish the tenth nail—where he vows to never disobey again. (Distracting stories can also be a good way to comfort children when they are hurt or sick.) 2. To Caution Your children don’t like to wear sunscreen. Tell them an imaginary story about a little girl who didn’t wear sunscreen and got such a bad sunburn that she couldn’t bend her arms and legs for a week! After that, she always reminded her mother to put on sunscreen. (If you’re hesitant to tell your children a story they might find scary, keep in mind that the point of a cautionary tale is to make frightening something that should be frightening. The most famous cautionary tale, “The Boy Who Cried Wolf,” ends with a child being eaten. Telling lies is dangerous, and cautionary tales help children imagine the consequences of dangerous behavior.) 3. To Prepare Your kids act shy at church and don’t like to respond when people say hello. Before church, tell them about a little girl who felt shy but worked hard to smile and answer grown-ups’ questions. After a few conversations, it got much easier, and one of the people she met owned the town toy shop. The woman invited the little girl to visit the shop to test new toys that weren’t yet for sale. After telling the story, try role-playing a few interactions, pretending to have conversations with people at church. 4. To Shape Their Moral Imagination You’ve laid down a boundary for your child, and he keeps getting as close to the line as he can without going over it. Tell him a story about a boy who visited the Grand Canyon. He decided to go as close to the edge as he could without going over. All of a sudden, his foot slipped on a rock and started to slide. His dad grabbed his shirt and kept him from going over. After that, the little boy learned to stay away from the edge. Explain to your child that when he tries to get as close as possible to disobeying, he’s acting like the boy on the edge of a cliff. Instead, he should stay far away from doing what’s wrong. These are simply shells of stories. You can enliven them with details, names, and perhaps even some silliness. Invent recurring characters with quirky traits. But remember, small children don’t mind repetition or predictability, so you don’t need to be a creative genius. Keep the Conversation Going Deuteronomy 6:6–7 sets a high bar for parents. We’re to talk about God’s commands with our children when we sit in our house, walk by the way, lie down, and rise. In other words, we’re meant to be talking with our kids about God’s ways all the time. This doesn’t mean we preach sermons all day. But we should always help our children connect what’s going on in their lives to what we know about God. Storytelling is a great way to keep this conversation going. And instead of making children’s hearts sink, it’ll bring them delight.

Christians are called to be different from the surrounding culture. Philippians 2:15 says we should “shine as lights in the world.” Romans 12:2 calls us to “not be conformed to this world.” To use Augustine’s imagery from The City of God, the heavenly city and the earthly city are in a state of antithesis. We often think of this contrast in terms of our conduct and morality—but what does it mean for how we view history? Should Christians have a unique posture toward historical study and awareness? Sarah Irving-Stonebraker explores these questions in her thrilling book Priests of History: Stewarding the Past in an Ahistoric Age. For Irving-Stonebraker, associate professor of history and Western Civilization at Australian Catholic University, the late modern Western world has entered an “ahistoric age,” which she argues began around 2010, due in part to social media’s influence. Part of the problem is an increasing ignorance of history in society (and the book chronicles alarming ways in which this has gotten worse even in the past decade). But the problem is deeper. Ahistoricism also involves the way culture wars and social media lead us to more simplistic historical judgments in which the people and ideas of the past are either weaponized or canceled. Insofar as we engage history at all, we tend to do so with a “totalizing and puritanical mentality” that manipulates historical facts to serve a contemporary agenda (25). This is profoundly related to our increasing difficulty in living peaceably with each other today. Meaning Through History Ahistoricism fuels much of the loneliness and the pervasive meaninglessness and disintegration in modern society. Since a sense of historical situatedness is integral to our humanity, the uniquely ahistorical posture of Western modernity has serious implications for human flourishing. It cuts us off from normal human experience. Priests of History helps us understand the dire consequences of this historical posture—both for the church and for society at large. For Christians, in particular, failure to know the past profoundly hinders our worship, our mission, even our understanding of the gospel. Yet the book points to hopeful ways that reengaging with the past can provide opportunities for renewal and evangelism. Irving-Stonebraker argues that Christians in an ahistorical age are called to be “priests” of history—a powerful image drawn from Robert Boyle’s vision of scientists as “priests of nature” (90). To be a priest of history is to steward and mediate what around us has been forgotten or neglected. As she puts it, “Christians are called to tend and keep time, including the past. . . . We are to be a witness to the past, cultivate it, and keep uncovering the stories and ideas that comprise the history of the world” (96). Irving-Stonebraker offers a framework for how to engage history—and persuades her readers that doing so is both important and exciting. Spiritual Formation Through History Priests of History contains beautiful examples of this kind of historical engagement that are intellectually illuminating but also spiritually edifying. For example, discussions about regular times of prayer and other spiritual rhythms in the life of the church throughout history could reshape every young person who spends time on social media. Similarly, accounts of the devoted community Little Gidding and the life of Joseph Hall provide concrete examples of spiritual formation in the people’s daily existence. The study of history is food for the hungry soul. Recovering sacredness and beauty could mitigate the modern trend toward “disenchantment,” especially as we consider the emphasis our forebears—many of whom had fewer resources—placed on aesthetics in worship spaces. Furthermore, Irving-Stonebraker’s testimony about discovering God while simply observing the Lord’s Supper illustrates how embodied worship practices can inform belief. How many others in our culture need not a philosophical proof but a beautiful liturgical expression of sacredness in worship? The study of history is food for the hungry soul. This raises a point that recurs throughout the book: studying history may have an important role in the re-Christianization of the West and in reducing the speed of secularization. This, of course, is dramatized in Irving-Stonebraker’s conversion story, which opens and closes the book. Engaging history helped her toward Christianity. She isn’t alone. Her story parallels that of C. S. Lewis, for whom historical influences like John Milton, George MacDonald, and George Herbert were catalytic in opening his mind to theism, and specifically Christianity. I suspect countless others may have a similar experience in our day. I pray they do. Apologetics Through History Why is history intertwined with evangelism in our day? Irving-Stonebraker writes of her thinking prior to her conversion, “My stereotyped assumptions about Christians relied on fundamentalist caricatures: anti-intellectual and self-righteous” (xix). A careful study of history broke those prejudices down. For example, she now celebrates the role of Christians (such as Frederick Douglass) in slavery’s abolition and exposes the falsehood that Christianity and science have historically been opposed to one another. The past serves spiritual renewal in less direct ways as well. The very atmosphere of history is a tonic against our modern limitations and blind spots. I suspect many others, like Irving-Stonebraker and Lewis, will find history and religion are intertwined—so much so that it’s difficult to truly engage the past without finding secular assumptions challenged at the foundation. This helps us communicate the joy of the gospel to our neighbors. The very atmosphere of history is a tonic against our modern limitations and blind spots. Priests of History has a critical message at just the right time. As followers of Jesus, we’re part of a grand, purposeful story. We’re therefore tasked with keep alive memory of the past, bringing it to bear on the challenges of the present. As we move further into the turbulent waters of late modernity, may those of us who claim the name of Christ embrace this kind of priestly role of intercession—with respect to history and more. This task is central to our calling as the church and necessary for the well-being of our culture. What Irving-Stonebraker commends in this book will help Christians be faithful in a strange new time and will intrigue everyone who longs to be part of a grand story.

Waiting can be endured. Waiting can be avoided. Waiting can be abhorred. Waiting can also be chosen. Because Waiting Isn’t a Waste, according to a new book by pastor Mark Vroegop of College Park Church in Indianapolis. Mark offers surprising comfort from trusting God in the uncertainties of life. He defines waiting this way: “Waiting on God is living on what I know to be true about God when I don’t know what’s true about my life.” Waiting is unavoidable. But Mark wants us to see that waiting isn’t incidental. It’s essential to discipleship. He writes, The more I’ve studied waiting in the Bible, the more I’m stunned. It’s all over the scriptures. It’s a key part of most spiritual leaders’ story. It’s a central part of what it means to be a follower of Jesus. Mark joined me on Gospelbound to explore this further. 

With the aftermath of the second assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump drawing significant coverage, the Springfield “dogs and cats” story is beginning to recede from view- except on CBS, which chose to flog the story for at least one more night. Watch CBS Evening News anchor Norah O’Donnell’s absolutely bonkers open to the Springfield item filed by correspondent Nikole Killion: CBS's Norah O'Donnell watched Lester Holt tie the 2nd attempted assassination of @realDonaldTrump to Springfield rhetoric last night and said, "hold my box wine" pic.twitter.com/MYfIImhHI3 — Jorge Bonilla (@BonillaJL) September 17, 2024 NORAH O’DONNELL: Donald Trump is blaming Democrats for inflaming political rhetoric. But the former president's own words seem to be increasing the threat of political violence in Springfield, Ohio. That's where a false and ugly accusation against Haitians, thousands of whom are legal permanent residents, is impacting everyday life. CBS's Nikole Killion reports on the growing controversy. NBC’s Lester Holt did the same exact thing yesterday- the forced and accusatory tying in of Springfield with the most recent assassination attempt. For all the media’s denunciations of “inflammatory rhetoric”, they sure are good at cooking up some incitement of their own.  Killion’s report is a rehash of the common themes echoed in Springfield coverage, but with a reduced emphasis on actual cats and dogs. There was time to replay some JD Vance video from Sunday, and there was time to ask a restaurant manager about prank calls asking whether they serve cats. On plates. But the most interesting part of the report doesn’t come until the very end: BURYING THE LEDE DEEP INTO THE EARTH'S CRUST: The matter of the Springfield bomb threats being FOREIGN HOAXES is buried at the end of CBS's report- the only network evening newscast still milking...errrr...covering Springfield. pic.twitter.com/NyX9OxbqUK — Jorge Bonilla (@BonillaJL) September 17, 2024 NIKOLE KILLION: Governor DeWine says all of these bomb threats have been hoaxes so far, and he tells me that many of these calls are coming from overseas from a specific country, although he wouldn't go into detail. Norah? NORAH O’DONNELL: Nikole Killion in Springfield tonight. Thank you, Nikole. This is a significant piece of information that completely upends the Springfield narrative. Might these be the same foreign actors we keep hearing are trying to interfere in our elections? We don’t know (yet). Burying the lede isn’t good form but at least CBS aired this information, which is more than can be said for ABC and NBC, which did not air this information on their evening newscasts.   Click “expand” to view the full transcript of the aforementioned report as aired on the CBS Evening News on Monday, September 16th, 2024: NORAH O’DONNELL: Donald Trump is blaming Democrats for inflaming political rhetoric. But the former president's own words seem to be increasing the threat of political violence in Springfield, Ohio. That's where a false and ugly accusation against Haitians, thousands of whom are legal permanent residents, is impacting everyday life. CBS's Nikole Killion reports on the growing controversy. NIKOLE KILLION: Tonight the town of Springfield is stepping up security as viral unfounded claims about Haitian immigrants stealing and eating pets continue to circulate, amplified by former President Trump and running mate Ohio Senator J.D. Vance. DONALD TRUMP: In Springfield, they’re eating the dogs, the people that came in. They’re eating the cats. They’re eating- they’re eating the pets. KILLION: After a pair of elementary schools evacuated, Governor Mike DeWine came to the city to announce that three dozen state troopers would be posted Tuesday, so they can stay open. MIKE DEWINE: Look. Parents are scared. And when parents are scared, we need to react and I don't blame them. KILLION: Two local colleges moved their classes online, including Wittenberg University, following threats targeting the Haitian community. The city also canceled a major cultural festival at the end of the month as a safety precaution. ROB RUE: If they just backed off their words a little bit, this could help our environment. This would help. We need help not hate. We need help. KILLION: Over the weekend, members of the far right group The Proud Boys were seen marching through the streets and a branch of the Ku Klux Klan spread leaflets with hateful messages.  JD VANCE: Well, we condemn all violence… KILLION: Vance expressed concern this weekend but doubled down on the false claims. VANCE: If I have to create stories so that the American media pays attention to the suffering of the American people, then that's what I'm going to do. KILLION: Do you think a senator should make something up? DEWINE: Well, I don't know that's what he meant. I think he wants to use this, I guess, to illustrate a problem we really do have and that is a problem along our southern border. KILLION: In Springfield's little Haiti, Roman Pierre is a manager at a Creole restaurant that has been bombarded with calls. ROMAN PIERRE: A lot of people call me. They say, “You sell cat? You sell dog?” I say, “ No, we don't sell those kind of things”. KILLION: He says Trump and Vance should apologize. PIERRE: Haitians are good people. KILLION: Governor DeWine says all of these bomb threats have been hoaxes so far, and he tells me that many of these calls are coming from overseas from a specific country, although he wouldn't go into detail. Norah? O’DONNELL: Nikole Killion in Springfield tonight. Thank you, Nikole.  

"The Winner Takes It All"? Not if ABBA can help it. The Swedish supergroup demanded that Donald Trump stop using its music at his rallies, further decreeing that any campaign footage released with ABBA's music in it must be “immediately removed” from the internet.Then again, don't we make art in order to transcend ourselves? Isn't the goal to make something that speaks to people across barriers of time, space, culture, and, yes, ideology? ABBA is just the latest musical group to complain about popping up on Trump's mega MAGA mix. The Foo Fighters recently slammed the campaign for using “My Hero” at a recent rally in which Robert F. Kennedy Jr. endorsed the former POTUS. (Team Trump says it had permission.) These artists join a long line of cranky crooners trying to turn off the music, including Celine Dion, the Beatles, Elton John, Queen, Phil Collins, the estate of Sinéad O'Connor, Adele, REM, and the Rolling Stones.Good luck with that.The United States allows campaigns to get a Political Entities License via the performance rights organization Broadcast Music Inc. This collects royalties for artists and hosts a giant catalog of more than 20 million songs. The case for an artist denying this license over political disagreements is dubious at best.Some musicians have pulled it off, however. On September 3, a judge ruled in favor of the Isaac Hayes estate, issuing a preliminary injunction to stop Donald Trump from playing the Sam and Dave classic “Hold On I’m Coming" (Hayes cowrote the song) as well as any other music by Hayes. Old videos using the song, however, may remain up. Hayes’ son Isaac Hayes III praised the ruling as "an opportunity for other artists to come forward that don’t want their music used by Donald Trump or other political entities.”Bruce Springsteen took a sneakier route. Rather than pursuing legal action against Trump’s use of “Born in the USA,” Springsteen very publicly flaunted his support of Hillary Clinton in 2016, causing his song to be booed at Trump rallies and essentially unplayable among MAGA crowds. Others, such as the Foo Fighters, have taken the approach of donating royalties from the BMI plays to Trump opponent Kamala Harris.Such a head-on approach to boycotting politicians or public figures an artist dislikes can easily backfire. In late 2020, after years of melodramatic, high-minded statements about Trump's morally objectionable use of "Rockin' in the Free World," Neil Young finally sued him in August 2020. He quietly dropped the suit three months later, suggesting that perhaps the extensive public bloviating, rather than protecting his music, was the point.In 2022, Young infamously reacted to Spotify's deal with Joe Rogan by pulling all his music off the site. Once he'd enjoyed another moment of media adulation, Young's concern over Rogan's COVID "misinformation" campaign failed to match his desire to keep those fat royalty checks coming. He returned his catalog to Spotify in the spring of this year, acting as if his sanctimonious display of virtue signaling had never even happened. Of course, artists like Young are fighting a losing battle. Artists have always struggled with fans interpreting their songs the "wrong" way; for example, "Born in the USA" has been used as a patriotic anthem for 30 years now. The digital age has exacerbated this tendency; nowadays, we can enjoy a song without knowing (or caring to know) anything about the person who made it. That artists should be anxious about this loss of status is understandable. Then again, don't we make art in order to transcend ourselves? Isn't the goal to make something that speaks to people across barriers of time, space, culture, and, yes, ideology? If you wrote a song so undeniably good that people across the political spectrum can't resist it, congratulations. You've done your job — and maybe even helped our polarized country find a little common ground. There are worse ways to make a living.