Friday, Feb. 21, 2025

Josefina on Aunt Ceecee's lap Thursday evening, on hold with Verizon :-)

The reins are flailing in my grip. I can't keep the wild horses of each day's news under control.

I am, like all of you, struggling to swallow a firehose of news coming at me. I want to sort out the disinformation, understand at least a rudimentary level what is happening, and DO SOMETHING to slow our country's landslide into a plutocracy, a government by the wealthy.

Not everyone is even trying to pay attention, but those of us who are are feeling in over our heads.

I have been present in shraing my words for the last few days because my school schedule was foreshortened and canceled because of the weather. In other words, I had TIME to come to the page.

The fact is, most days I prep for classes at 5 a.m. and teach until 3:30, at which point my brain has frizzled to about 20% capacity. 

I then pick up my granddaughter from daycare and nestle into the best hour of my day.

After that, I fry, which means on "good days" I read, play a musical instrument or make something (like a puppet). But on many days it means I stare at my phone and doom scroll. 

I then make supper, FaceTime grandbabies, talk to the (adult) kids, and...crash.

Who has time to fight for Democracy? 

None of us. 

All of us. 

Thanks for listening,

Allison

Feb. 20, 2025

Due to frigid temps, my school started late today, which gave me time to write to my senators and representatives asking, directly, just who is the administrator for DOGE? This was asked of the White House press secretary yesterday and she evaded an answer. I want to know: Is it the unelected Elon Musk? Is it Trump directing Musk? We are watching our legislative branch abdicate its power to executive orders. Our elected officials are unwilling to stand firm to their oaths to uphold the Constitution. 

Next I sent an article from The Guardian about book banning to the journalists who have been writing on this topic of late. I shared it as well with a cluster of freshmen who have been asking lots of questions about what it means if a book is "banned," which books are "banned," and can I recommend any "banned" books they should read. 

We might be forming a book club to discuss banned books and help our school better understand why some people want to control the information available to others. 

Then, because I was well-coffeed and not yet due at school for an hour, I went ahead and wrote another hand-penned card to Senator Grassley. He is 92 (something like that). Let me say, as one committed to empirical evidence, I am not religious. But I know Grassley has used his faith to political expedience. Therefore I did not hesitate to invoke prayer in my message:

I am sharing my efforts of the day as humble encouragement to any of you who are unsure of how to face the daily onslaught against norms, truth, and Democracy. 

Anything is better than nothing. You do not need to do something momentous. You do not need to be articulate, let alone eloquent. 

I am here to join you in any and all resistance.

Allison

Paying Attention

The citizens of Hamelin (Pied Piper).
This is my puppet project that is
keeping me tethered to sanity. 

On Oct. 27, I committed to paying attention. It was ten days before the election, and our country was on tenterhooks. We knew, whatever the outcome, we would be facing the wildly unkown. If Harris won, Trump was unlikely to concede, given his actions after the 2020 election. This would most likely result in rage and disruption. If Trump won, the "difficult times" would not be immediate, but soon-coming as he took office.

And soon-coming is here.

Let me come clear:

When I vowed to pay attention, I thought I'd be recording my observations as MAGA denied and fought against a Harris victory. 

Instead, Trump won by collecting 48.9 percent of the popular vote against Harris's 48.3. (Do not let anyone tell you Trump's election was a landslide or a mandate.) 

This meant there was no immediate rioting in the streets. The party that respects the voting process lost; they acknowledged defeat.

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The next two months were an interlude, a suspension. Elon Musk dominated the news. After joining MAGA in late summer, he led the march of billionaires lining up to meet with Trump at Mara Lago. Still, everything was prelude. Nothing was yet "happening."

During this time I experienced waves of dread. I say "waves" because they billowed up and then subsided. I was troubled, anxious; nevertheless, Trump was not my first thought every morning. I pushed politics off my immediate to-do list. I had to. I had burned up stores of physical and emotional energy in the short months of the Harris campaign. 

So post election day, I granted myself a political reprieve. I met each new day with determination to stay in the moment. That got me through Thanksgiving... Christmas...my 65th birthday.

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And then, in the hours following Trump taking his (no hand on the Bible) vow to uphold the constitution, I witnessed (as did you) the "obeying in advance" of CBS, Washington Post, New York Times, and LA Times. Main Stream Media bowed down to prevent Trump from disabling them altogether. As a journalism teacher who monitors new organizations' adherence to ethics and unbiased reporting, I was gutted to see the lemmings march to the sea.

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Fast forward. Honestly, every day is a fast-forward. 

Today Trump posted Napoleon's words: "He who saves his Country does not violate any law." 

I keep expecting SOMETHING to be the straw that breaks the camel's back. One might think a president declaring his inviolable right to ignore the rule of law might be that straw. 

Or not. 

I am still determined to pay attention. 

I hope you are too.

Enough.

Allison