Tag Archives: democracy

America, American Politics, Diversity, Faith, Hope, Joy, Optimism, Voting

Exhaling After The Earthquake

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Allow me to holler from the rooftops a hearty “hell yeah” for the earthquake that hit the ballot boxes last Tuesday. The results of the mid-term elections were beyond my wildest dreams. We Americans voted in numbers that were, as they say, “too big to rig”. Ever since the results came in, I feel lighter and more relaxed and just… joyous. Full of hope for our country.

We did it!

One of the many things that I love the most about what we collectively did to begin this overdue reckoning and rebirth of America is that we now have a much more diverse pool of elected representatives. We have our first Muslim senator. Minnesota has its first female governer. Mississipi has it’s first Black senator, and Wisconsin our first Black governor. And those are just a few examples.

That said, I think it’s wise that we not take this humongous win for granted. To not become complacent and disengage from what is going on in our government even though it’s now going to be in more capable hands. Trump has been neutered but he’s still, for the next two years, assuming his medical conditions don’t do him in first, the President. Part of me worries there’s a shoe that’s going to drop. Like one that comes seemingly from out of nowhere. Perhaps an enemy of ours will use this brief moment in time where we’ve all breathed a huge sigh of relief and for just long enough our eyes will be off the prize and this enemy will strike.

I really can be a skeptic, can’t I? I suppose that’s the result ot 10 years of Trumpism and MAGA.

It occurred to me the other day that the entire decade of my 50’s has taken place in this polarized-by-MAGA “Christian” Nationalist alternate galaxy. Yet, I’ve got 70-some days until I turn 60, and I’m feeling like I owe it to myself to make the very most of it. Which is easier now that the clouds have begun to lift with the good guys winning and there is tangible hope on the horizon for my beloved America and it’s beautiful people. I’m exhaling now.

How about you?

Maybe I’ll step off my political soapbox on this blog for a bit and embrace a new term I learned this week: pronoia. It’s the opposite of paranoia. It’s the mindset of believing that the universe has got your back and is consipiring to bring good things to your life. Maybe pronoia is just another word for faith. Anyway, it fits in well with my general optimistic nature, which has been brutally challenged in the last 10 years. It needs tending to.

I took my pent up anxiety just before the mid-terms and channeled it into completing a thorough organization of all my craft supplies. It was a happy little distraction, a trip down memory lane, going through it all (old greeting cards, some pictures, and other do-dads), which I hadn’t anticipated. It’s all organized and waiting for me down in my rec room now. I’m all set to dig in and create to my heart’s content.

Before I leave you with the song that immediately came to my mind’s ear when I read the definition of the word pronoia, I want to share this snippet of something the author Kurt Vonnegut said to his wife one day that really amused me. For context, he had just told her that he was going out to the store to buy one envelope.

“Oh she says, well, you’re not a poor man. Why don’t you go online and buy 100 envelopes and put them in the closet? And so I pretend not to hear her. And I go out to get an envelope because I’m going to have a hell of a good time in the process of buying one envelope. I meet a lot of people. And see some great looking babies. And a fire engine goes by. And I give them the thumbs up. And I’ll ask a woman what kind of dog that is. And, and I don’t know. The moral of the story is-we’re here on earth to fart around. And, of course, the computers will do us out of that. What the computer people don’t realize, or they don’t care, is, we’re dancing animals. You know, we love to move around. And it’s like we’re not supposed to dance anymore.”

American Politics, Anxiety, Blogging, Creativity, Halloween, Life, Mental Health, Photography, Voting

And Now it’s November

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Hi. How is everyone doing?

This is the first original blog post I’ve written in a few weeks. Actually, since September.

I had an epiphany at the beginning of October. After almost a full year since I went through The “Artist’s Way” course, I “got” it. The “it” is that while writing is surely my first creative love, it can’t be my only one. I didn’t do a great job of honoring my creativity by regularly doing “Artist’s Dates” when I was going through the course, and I’ve recommited myself to them.

That doesn’t mean I went hog wild with arts and crafts projects since my last post. I did, however, spend time collecting things, primarily through indulging in my second favorite hobby, thrifting, to use for the craft projects in my head.

So I’ve got plenty to do, which is a good thing, considering the nervous energy I have about tomorrow’s mid-term elections. Distractions are going to be what will get me through till all votes are counted and winners have been declared.

How about you? Are you seeking distractions to keep from spiraling out like me?

This doesn’t mean I’m not hopeful about these elections. It just means I am worried about what we Americans are going to have to go through to ensure democracy prevails. I worry about the state election workers and their well-being and safety (remember what happened in Georgia with Ruby Freeman and her daughter Shay during the 2020 elections? Just horrible). I worry that people who don’t have white skin are going to be intimidated by agents of the federal government and their cheerleaders to not exercise their right to vote. I worry that violence will break out at polls across the country. And I worry about what could transpire between the time all votes are counted and the duly elected Congress is set to be seated.

I pray for the safety of the election workers and the voting public. and for us all to get through this no more scathed than we already are after this nightmare of an administration and the Trump sycophants in Congress have tried to have their way with us.

I pray that all of that “trying” to get their way with us, the American people, will be rewarded with an utter and complete rebuke of this adminstration and anyone who supported it in any way at all.

May the pendulum swing, as pendulums do, to the left.

As a result of this nervous energy I have about the mid-terms and what may follow, I’ve been trying to distract myself. I’ve been pouring my mental energy into work-work and my physical energy into work around this house. Ignoring the texts and emails that clog up my phone and my laptop with pleas to donate to political campaigns. I have already donated more than I ever have in this election season. I’m just ready for the whole process to be over and antsy to get to the part where we find out who won what races.

Distractions can be a good coping mechanism in these times, right?

Other recent distractions I’ve enjoyed include going to the movie theater with my sister-in-law a few Saturdays ago to see “Practical Magic 2”. It was the last weekend that our only local movie theater was going to be open. I knew it was going to be a long time before we got a chance to catch a movie together because of this. A couple of weeks prior, I watched the original “Practical Magic” at home. While I love both Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman, it really wasn’t a good movie at all. It was silly and kind of all over the place. But the chemistry between these two actors was undeniable. So I wasn’t expecting “PM 2” to be much better. Funny thing is-we both really enjoyed this movie! Yeah, it was silly but it had so much heart and it featured good music (Brandi Carlile doing a Billy Joel song and sounding like Bette Midler?! Say what?). I highly recommend this movie, in particular if you are looking for a flick to watch with your favorite chicks. I think it’s streaming now.

Another recent distraction was putting together a “punny” Halloween costume. It was inspired by this gal I follow on Instagram (Liz on the Radio) who comes up with the most clever but simple costumes. I got myself a plain black sweatshirt and sweatpants, cut out images from little cereal bags, taped each one to a piece of cardboard, got out the fake blood and “decorated” my cereal bags with it. I then affixed the bloody cereal bags to my outfit using safety pins, and voila! I was a “cereal killer”. I only got a couple of pictures of myself in it, which were taken from a bit too far away to tell what I was, so I’m not sharing them here. Next year I’m thinking of going as a “deviled egg”, wearing yellow with a white jacket and devil horns on my head.

Did you dress up for Halloween this year? Or did you see any especially creative costumes out there in the wild?

I’ve also been using the camera on my phone more intentionally, as a way to keep myself grounded and present as well as distracted from all the overwhelm that is America these days.

I’ll leave you with a song I heard for the very first time yesterday while listening to https://www.thecurrent.org/. It seems pretty perfect for my mindset about Election Day tomorrow.

Anxiety, Blogging, Climate Change, Life, Optimism, Spirituality

Pushing Out of a Blogging Funk

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I’ve been feeling funky lately, particularly when it comes to this blog. I’ve got all of these tabs open in my brain with all the things I want to accomplish and I’ve been finding it hard to sit down and focus on this blog. To just write something already.

I’m at the point where it’s likely if I don’t write something now and put it out there into the universe I’ll slink back into myself and end up abandoning this blogging venture for a good long while.

It’s not that I’m not writing anything. It’s just that I’m not writing anything that is for public consumption. Is this an example of that? Could be.

Anyway, all is well and (my) life is good and all of that. Really.

It’s just that I’m in a weird transitional sort of period of time at the moment. It’s basically been spring all winter here in Minnesconsin. The water is open in our lake. But it’s supposed to feel like winter and it doesn’t. We even saw our first robin outside our big picture window the other day. Climate change is real, folks.

There’s also other real things happening out there in the world that trouble me. Things I pray about every day, like the wars happening in the Ukraine and the Middle East. People I once knew dying. People I don’t know at all dying for no good reason. The great inequities in this country, where the uber rich are allowed to not pay their fair share while the rest of the population works their fingers to the bone to barely make ends meet. And so much more.

I assure you that I believe there is hope that good and right, democracy and justice will prevail in the end.

It’s just the “getting there” part that has me feeling anxious.

I promise that my next blog post will be more free-wheeling and upbeat, as that is how I want to keep rolling. My optimistic nature is still underneath all this “yuck”.