rise up

Election Reflection – Hope

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The last time I stayed up until 2am watching election returns my mood was much more somber, much more reserved, much more depressed. For the first time since November 8, 2016 I have hope. I have worry – the Republicans are still pushing their taxscam, the President implied my Senator was a prostitute, and the FCC closed the internet last week, but I have hope. I don’t believe any of this needs to be permanent.

While covfefe was the rock that broke the dam and let me see human again, Doug Jones is the light in a very long, very dark tunnel.

McConnell can wait to seat him and pretend he’s not the obstructionist in chief. He can encourage the Dems to clean house while supporting a child molester who was banned from the local mall. He can laugh at his bigotry over his reactions to President Obama and he can relish in his hypocrisy of using social security and medicare while now calling them entitlements and planning to eliminate them from families just like his.

We have the higher ground.

We have always had the higher ground.

This country was founded on a strong central government with limited state powers. How the Republicans corrupted that I don’t know. Probably the same way they corrupted the 2nd Amendment from James Madison’s original intent.

They let their people denigrate the liberal states, while knowing that they couldn’t survive without our invention, inspiration, and tax support. Secede. We’ll be okay. We give more than we get.

I’m determined.

My inner dragon is awakened.

My kids will not live in dystopia or fear.

Rise up. It’s working.

Wise up. Pay attention.

Eyes up. See the whites of their eyes.

Look them in the eye; don’t back down.

Resist.
A pro-choice Democrat who prosecuted and convicted the KKK was elected the Alabama Senator.

I absolutely have hope.

Resist Peacefully – Seven

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The Women’s March on Washington

Go directly to the Women’s March website before Saturday for information about the March in Washington, DC.

Reposted from The Washington Post. Read the whole article for important information.

What can I bring and what should I leave at home? Organizers are asking participants to travel light and expect backpacks and bags to be subject to search. These are some of the restrictions:

  •  Weapons of any kind are banned.
  • Bags/totes/purses for small personal items should be no larger than 8” x 6” x 4”.
  • If you require disability accommodations or related equipment, that will not fit into the above bags, enter via the ADA Accessible route: 4th St. SW from C St. to Independence Ave.
  • Canes, walking sticks, walkers, and portable seats are allowed for individuals who require them for mobility and accessibility on a regular basis.
  • Flags are allowed, but not on a pole. Posters and signs are allowed, but not with the use of wooden sign posts.
  • Folding chairs are not permitted.


I will repost this tomorrow, on Inauguration Day, and on Saturday, the morning of the Women’s March.

A Resolution Revolution

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One of my 2017 resolutions is to do more art so one of the things that I’ve done in the past week has been these two art pieces. The second one is similar to my I’m ^still With Her word art that I did in the fall after the election, which I’ve been enjoying more and more.

Some sketches of things that I’m looking forward to in 2017. Not a prediction or an in depth plan, and I may add pictures to it as the months progress. (c)2017

This type of resolution list was inspired by my friend, Leah. This is a six month goal set that will be added to as new goals come to mind or these need adjustment. Each item has more than the simple quick note. I will expand on them in a future post. (c)2017

Be Resolute

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My New Year’s Resolution is to be Resolute.

I’m tired of every year having the same resolution; the same goals – lose weight, walk more, be kinder, yell less, pray more, write more. Every year, I do all these things, but then I falter. Something comes up. I fall back into old habits – like drinking soda before 10am.

This year has been a year and a half, and it’s finally over. I’ve talked about the deaths, and the bad, but it wasn’t all bad. Remembering the good is just as important, if not more important.

Perspective.

My charge to myself to be Resolute is in part political, part activism, part kindness, and part mercy, and through all of that, there is my faith and my writing that I want in the forefront of who I am.

Standing up and speaking out.

I don’t know if I’ll be more political, but I don’t see how I can’t be with what’s coming in the next twenty days, but I will let it go in honor of celebrating this first day of a new year; the first page of a new book, yet to be written.

I will be writing a lot about the first amendment and the press because I think those are the two things that will be most in jeopardy in the nest year.

My recommendation is to follow journalists, and if you read opinion pieces or opinion pundits, know that is what and who they are. Be informed.

Dan Rather

Ezra Klein

Vox.com

The Washington Post

Connie Schultz

Planned Parenthood- they are very active politically on many women’s issues
ACLU,

and Random Acts for good measure because we will need more kindness and random acts than ever before.

On the 3rd Day of Christmas, My True Love gave to Me:

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…hope.

In reading today’s reflection from the Morneau book, I read this statement: Pessimism can sweep through the human heart.

I have not felt that as much as I have in this past year. One thing after another, beginning with David Bowie and Alan Rickman and most recently with George Michael and Carrie Fisher. I can’t list all of the names that have affected me this year, so, so many, none more important and felt than my mother-in-law who passed away suddenly in June. And then there’s the election. This year has been a lot; too much in fact.

In our home, everything is clouded with the loss of my children’s last grandparent, the only one my youngest two knew.

It’s been a hard balance to maintain, keeping things hopeful for my kids while continuing to honor the memory of their grandmother. I could talk for hours about her, and in the next few months I will talk some more.

This is our first Christmas.

One of the things that was difficult for me was Christmas shopping. I’d see something and think that it was perfect for her, and then I’d remember and walk on by. It was too much.

Then I embraced it.

She loved cardinals. We always gave her a cardinal ornament for Christmas and often also for her birthday in January, so instead of walking past the cardinals, I bought two for our tree. I thought it would upset my husband, but he said we should hang them near the top.

I also went to our local Irish import shop for a Celtic necklace for my close friend, and while I was there, I noticed the candy set out for Christmas. I decided to buy a selection to give to the kids in honor of their grandmother and her homeland, and the accent they knew so well and loved.

It is only recently that I understand that word, bittersweet – the simultaneous joy and sad; the pessimism with the path to hope that we only need to find, to shine a light on the dark.

Meditation: Does too much reading of history or current events threaten your hope? What are some ways of sustaining hope in a world wrestling with so much darkness?

From Daily Reflections for Advent & Christmas: Waiting in Joyful Hope 2016-17 by Bishop Robert F. Morneau

The current events of these last few months have been straining. Is there too much reading of history or current events? I don’t know. History lets us see how far we’ve come, and gives us the knowledge that we will overcome all of this, including our new president, which is the most worrisome thing I’ve had to face in these last couple of months, but I’ve seen the hope in the pages of my friends, in Robert Reich and Ezra Klein, in Connie Schultz, and in the recent remembrances and quotations of Carrie Fisher, a strong woman who took her faults and failings and showed us how to live with them and become better despite or even because of them.
We are wrestling with darkness, but whether we light a candle as we curse the darkness, we are still assured that the sun will rise in the morning, and that is our cue to rise as well; to rise up. Hope springs eternal because hope is eternal.