Category Archives: The Evidentialism Files

Summer Shroud

Łęczna Summer Shroud

Some call this season June—
though the name feels too bright
for such slate-skinned hours.

The trees stand still,
their leaves unsure
whether to shimmer or rest.

Birdsong comes thin,
as if the sky has pressed
its gray hand
over the mouths of things.

Light moves slowly,
pooling in odd corners,
unwilling to rise.

And beneath it—
on the grass, along the worn paths—
a quiet gloom settles in,
soft as lichen,
sure as the tide.

No complaint,
no cause—
only a way of being,
for now.

And when it lifts—
as all things do—
even the sparrows will seem
surprised by the sun.

Zero Hour, 9 a.m.

“Look again at that dot. That’s here. That’s home. That’s us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every “superstar”, every “supreme leader”, every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there — on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.”⁠
⁠
— Carl Sagan, Pale Blue Dot, 1994⁠

From Acorn to Acre

Meet the Angel Oak Tree.

Estimated to be around 1,400 years old, the Angel Oak Tree in Charleston, South Carolina, is one of the oldest and most magnificent living oaks in the United States. This Southern live oak isn’t just a tree — it’s a living monument that has silently watched centuries of history unfold.

Its longest limb stretches an astonishing 89 feet, and its sprawling canopy covers about 160 feet, casting shade over an area of more than 17,000 square feet. It has endured countless hurricanes, floods, earthquakes, and the relentless march of time.