Monday, November 21, 2016

Microblog Monday - Though I don't like it, I stand with you

I have made no secret of the fact that I do not like the President Elect.

I am terrified of him as President. I think that the entire country is in for a very hard next four years.

There are things that he is doing that is concerning me. Having his daughter in on national policy meetings--is one. I am very concerned about his choice of cabinet members.

However, I do not give a flying fuck that his family will not be joining him at the White House at least until June. Mainly because I think that Melania Trump is acting in the best interest of her child and for that I applaud her and I have her back.

There are rumors that 11-year-old Barron Trump, the youngest of the President Elect's children is autistic or somewhere on the autism spectrum*. If that is true, then she is absolutely right to have him finish the year where he will be comfortable. Moving and changing schools mid-year is traumatic for kids who aren't on the spectrum. Melania knows her kid, and she has made this decision and I say good for her.

If the reason you are furious about the election is because of what it will do to the rights of women,  how dare you get in a snit about this! This is about a woman making decisions for her family. Melania has the right to move or not move when her husband gets a different job. She is opting not to, as it is best for her kid. It is her decision, to be discussed with her husband and her child and whoever is providing the security.

This is a distraction story, to distract us from the racists that are going to be on the cabinet. To distract us from the fact that Trump settled out-of-court a fraud case for $25 million.

It's going to be a long four years. Let's keep our eyes on the real issues, not Hamilton (though anyone who wants to get rid of their tickets--my email is right there!) or where Melania and Barron live.


* If Barron Trump is indeed autistic, that again is something we, as the American public do not need to know. Would it be good to know that the President understands so many parents of autistic kids? Yes. But again, it is between the child, the parents and the IEP plan at his school.




Monday, November 14, 2016

Microblog Monday - Though I have been silent, I shall not be still

I refuse to give in to despair.

I have to hug a four-year-old and help her to make sense of the world around her. I have to do it with a smile. She is watching me, you see, to see how to deal with disappointments.

I scared her a little bit. I was crying. I was actively planning to grab her and leave the country. I started research, where could we live, make a living and then yet return.

This weekend we took her to a movie about Trolls who sing. It was her first movie in a theater and she's glommed onto this song.


That's what we do, we get back up again.
I had practice during infertility. After a failed cycle, I cried and cycled again. After roadblock to roadblock in our adoption of Lotus we did it.

Now she needs to watch me do it. Life is full of disappointments--big and small. Lotus will watch me and see how I act. She has to see me get up. She has to see me go on. She has to see me listen to things that make me physically ill and still defend people's right to say them. She has to see me watch a protest and explain that people have the right to do it. They don't have the right to hurt people.

My daughter is watching. Therefore sometimes I am silent. But I am not still.

This is worse than disappointment. No one has to tell me this is worse. I am viscerally scared--not as scared as some, more than others, but I do know this is worse.

And yet, I calmed down. I'm not saying I don't have an exit plan, but I'm waiting. I'm being quiet and listening. I'm reading what my friends on both sides of debate say. YES, I have friends who voted for Trump. I imagine if they had a blog they would say, of me, YES I have friends who voted for Clinton.

But I will not be still.

I am contacting my state representatives.  I didn't know who they were until two days ago. I am going to see how to make my state house blue.

I am signing up to email with the people running for New Jersey governor in 2017. I will help on the campaign. I will work.

I will stand beside my friends of color. I will stand beside my LGBTQ friends. I will stand besides my sisters. I hope they will stand beside my Jewish self.

I will not be still.

In the clearing stands a boxer
And a fighter by his trade
And he carries the reminders
Of ev'ry glove that laid him down
Or cut him till he cried out
In his anger and his shame
"I am leaving, I am leaving"
But the fighter still remains


I still remain. I will not be still.

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Tuesday, November 8, 2016

All these I place

From A Swiftly Tilting Planet by Madeline L'Engle

    At Tara to-day in this fateful hour
    I place all Heaven with its power,
    And the sun with its brightness,
    And the snow with its whiteness,
    And fire with all the strength it hath,
    And lightning with its rapid wrath,
    And the winds with their swiftness along their path,
    And the sea with its deepness,
    And the rocks with their steepness,
    And the earth with its starkness:
          All these I place,
          By God’s almighty help and grace,
    Between myself and the powers of darkness.

Vote. Vote. Vote. 


Monday, November 7, 2016

Microblog Monday - Tomorrow we discover

One day more. 
Another day, another destiny, 

It comes down to this.

Do you believe that everyone in this country should be free to worship any religion (or no religion at all)?

Trump doesn't.

One more day before the storm.
At the barricades of freedom

Because of this man's infernal ego and his ultimate insistence that he has to be a winner he is putting our democracy at risk. He doesn't understand the meaning of public service.

Do I stay and do I dare?

Never in recent memory have so many people been trying to make sure so many others don't vote. A federal judge called what was going on in North Carolina a systematic racist discrimination.

The time is now. The day is here!

After the longest campaign period ever. It is finally our turn to weigh in. It is our turn to vote.


One day to a new beginning
Raise the flag of freedom high
Every one can be a king
There's a new world for the winning
There's a new world to be won
Do you hear the people sing!

Yes, I changed the words.  Everyone deserves a chance to be the president. It is time for that glass ceiling to be shattered. It is time for a woman president. It is time for Hillary. Do I like all the baggage she will bring? No. No, I don't.

Do I worry that she will start a nuclear war because someone insulter her teeny tiny little hands? No, no I don't.


Tomorrow is the judgement day!
Tomorrow we'll discover what our God in Heaven has in store!
One more dawn.
One more day.
One. Day. More. 

Get out and vote.

Thursday, November 3, 2016

Just call me Wall-E

So I'm anxious.

I've mentioned that.

I've been going for walks and stuff and it is helping. What else is helping is turning off the computer and turning on Netflix.

I've been watching Hello Dolly. The movie. Starring Barbra Streisand, Walter Matthau, and a young Michael Crawford--decades before he would don a mask.
I'm alone in the house so I sing all the songs.

My husband would be quick to tell me that I sing all the songs anyway--but I sing them at the top of my lungs when I watch it alone.

Put On Your Sunday Clothes is wonderful and makes me ignore bad stuff.
So Long Dearie is underrated.

It's a happy movie, and I could use a little bit of happy movie.