Today at Mass I noticed a woman wearing a hat during the service. It was not a veil, it was clearly a hat. I did not know this, but it seems that John Paul II updated the protocol on hats in 1983 for both men and women.

I will never wear a hat in church as a man out of my own choice. Despite it not being against church protocol, I don’t think other men should wear hats in church either since it is ambiguous for now as to what it means. However, I have come to learn that based on this update, for women a hat is viewed as a sign of submission (the same as a veil). Perhaps we could view it as an optional sign of submission for men too when they wear a hat in church until the Pope clarifies the matter?

I almost spoke up to this woman to ask her to remove her hat today, but considered it the place of the priest in the church to provide guidance. It is important for the wider church body...

A few poems I wrote in late June 2025 while traveling in Italy and Japan.

Piccola formica
Marzia possente
Impazzito con Cola
~
Little ant
Mighty march
Maddened by Cola

Singing clear
Dancing flight
Favorite colors
Blue as night
Blackest depth
Brightest sky
A branch swaying with the wind

Spiraling wheels
Falling off
Put back on
Falling off
Put back on
Falling off
Put back on
Falling off
Put back on
Falling off
Put back on
Falling off
Put back on
Clorox or Gorilla Glue

Black stone sharp
Grey stone steel
White salt sharp
Black soy sharp
Simmering copper brown

Sweet potato
Purple flesh
Copper skin
Burning tongue

A vase edge
Overshadowed
By great green leaves

Christ Lord,
May those who consider me an enemy find the courage to fight openly if they find it necessary to fight at all.

May those who consider me an enemy know or find and then keep some love in their hearts, for someone or some place or best of all for you.

May those who consider me an enemy be blessed with good health and wealth.

May those who consider me an enemy have peace of conscience and no anxiety.

May those who consider me an enemy gain the blessings of a holy family and laughing, smiling, learning and healthy children.

May those who consider me an enemy live into old age and have the blessing of seeing their work help others.

May those who consider me an enemy come to understand that the only true human enemy is an unrepentant and unloving self, of which we cannot fix or fight without your grace and the help of family, friends and strangers.

May those who...

And everyone knows it. Donald Trump should not be Chairman for life, nor should he be chairman even for a day.

There are many more candidates who would be better for a project like this.

Jared’s firm resolve around making sure that Gaza gets rebuilt well (despite financial incentives he may have), with no backup plan, is the right approach. Jared’s energy has been really impressive lately, and he seems well intentioned on listening to all parties and stating the hard truths so that all can hear them. Putin’s firm resolve that it must be a separate full-state is also courageous and the right direction.

I cannot believe I’m saying/writing this, but if there is a board of peace for Palestine, then Jared or Putin would be much better candidates to chair the board, and for a term of 5 minimum and 10 maximum years.

If either of those as candidates angers you, then that should tell...

Change of plans. I’m moving to Alaska for a period. Maybe for a long time. Probably Anchorage, but not sure yet.

I’ve been praying over this today January 12th 2026 and yesterday. In addition to my wide thinking and leadership responsibilities, I will be seeking a simple job for nearterm cash and also as a way to rest my always-thinking brain.

Why Alaska? I don’t know, other than it feels right based on my prayers. I don’t know anyone there, and I haven’t been there before. And maybe that’s part of why it fits. All of my decisions over the last year have been determined entirely by this same prayerful searching method. I’ll get a strong gut reaction that something is right and then I’ll slowly unravel the puzzle. It feels similar to how my music writing would happen many years ago, with an initial hook or lyric or riff expanding into something much bigger.

One new element I feel...

I am currently wrapping up some next steps in filings and data submissions for my divorce case.

Where historically I have been a very private person, I now believe because of my writing work that my only option moving forward is to be extremely open and non-private with everything possible now and in the future. I am considering publishing my full disclosures / diligence for the court case also publicly.

With my next divorce court dates in late February, I have a few travel plans that I am booking now in the next few weeks before then. Currently in my plans are Rome, Venice, London, Jerusalem and Taiwan. I was not able to visit a few of these spots on prior trips only because of limited time. So I am excited to finally visit each of them. I also need to find time to visit Singapore, Sydney, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Kuala Lumpur, and revisit San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York City...

Names are not neutral. Neither are people or organizations. Names tell us something about the person or product or problem or company.

Concrete incremental problem solving matters. But so does vision, sales, marketing, creative lateral-moving art and problem solving, and many other areas of work accomplished by the great companies and builders and creators of our time that do not take a view like Linus.

“ I was never a “big thinker”. One of my philosophies in Linux has always been to not worry about the future too much, but make sure that we make the best of what we have now – together with keeping our options open for the future and not digging us into a hole.”

Many of Linus Torvalds statements are foolish, and he should be questioned and criticized by more people than just myself, Jeremy Welch.

Linus’s approach to thinking and building is a surefire way to get slop. Over and over...

I am surprised by the fanfare for Maye Musk.

Elon’s accomplishments seem to be translating to pump up his mom’s image? But the substance I don’t find compelling. People shouldn’t be listening to her for any kind of guidance.

I find the lack of dedicated marriage or even public longterm partner to be particularly problematic. Is it possible that her influence led to some of the chaos in Elon’s own personal life?

おばあちゃん、ありがとう。あなたの優しさは無限です。

Gratias tibi ago, avia. Benignitas tua infinita est.

Thank you, Grandmother. Your kindness is boundless.

Grazie nonna. La tua gentilezza è infinita.

Danke, Oma. Deine Güte ist grenzenlos.

할머니, 감사합니다. 할머니의 친절은 끝이 없어요.

Gracias, abuela. Tu bondad es infinita.

Спасибо тебе, бабушка. Твоя доброта безгранична.

I, Jeremy Welch, am adding one note to this post on August 12 2026, approximately seven months after I originally wrote this post. I originally planned to publish the phrase only in Japanese, and then I decided to add a few other languages to show that this message applies across languages and cultures (perhaps I will add more). With the term obachan, I was and I still am specifically referring to Her Imperial Highness Empress Emerita Michiko of Japan. In my understanding, the specific Japanese word I selected is the more informal term, but I should...

A man cannot wear a mask.

A man can speak on behalf of another person explicitly, while sharing his own being as vouching for the word of another.

I, Jeremy Welch, have never, will never and cannot wear a mask.

Anyone speaking or acting for me, Jeremy Welch, will always identify themselves and explicitly state that they are acting on behalf of me, Jeremy Welch.

It is only by men speaking openly that a chain of human accountability and honor can be maintained, both of which are especially fragile in an age of the worldwide web and synthetic cloud-based, LLM-based repeater fake intelligences.

Historically, in order to communicate some truths it seems that some authors needed to wear masks to avoid immediate violence looming right outside their door in the form of witchhunts for even the slightest heresy from common dogma. But in our age, some contemporary authors have begun to...