Tag Archives: Politics

Apr 26 2023
Posts

Dispatch from the Hideout: Casualties

“Life seems sometimes like nothing more than a series of losses, from beginning to end. That’s the given. How you respond to those losses, what you make of what’s left, that’s the part you have to make up as you go.” ― Katharine Weber

“Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes. Don’t resist them; that only creates sorrow. Let reality be reality. Let things flow naturally forward in whatever way they like.” ― Laozi

This past Saturday night we planned an event, Last Night at the Hotel Bar, a reunion of sorts, a wake, and sendoff, not for a person but for a place, The Brink Lounge in Madison, Wisconsin. It was a gathering for Madison Indie Filmmakers, friends, and supporters. We referred to ourselves as the Barflies. The Brink Lounge was closing permanently on April 30. Continue reading →

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Jun 29 2022
Posts

Rainbow Scare

“The truth is, no one of us can be free until everybody is free.” — Maya Angelou

“If the Supreme Court can reverse Roe, it can reverse anything” — Mary Ziegler

Earlier in June, I began to consider a topic for my next blog post. I often begin my writing process with research, reading online, frequently the subject is politics, culture wars, and/or the news of the day. I also reflect on my lived experience and things that pique my curiosity.

I decided on Rainbow Scare and soon after read an opinion piece by Allison Hope. I also became alarmed when the leak occurred earlier in May of the draft Supreme Court ruling on Roe v. Wade and its potential impact overturning settled law. It raised the possibility that the gains we made in the last decades could be undone. We’d essentially go back in time. We could lose reproductive rights, both access to abortions and contraceptives, and for women, the ability to make decisions about what happens to our bodies, plus our LGBTQ+ community may have our marriages nullified and our relationships criminalized. Oh, my! Continue reading →

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Aug 28 2021
Posts

Dispatch from the Hideout: Pod Squad 2.0

“Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.” — James Baldwin

Last weekend, on Friday, I spent time with friends, celebrating a birthday on a pontoon boat on Lake Mendota in Madison, WI on a hot, beautiful, late summer day. The next morning, I had brunch outdoors with three Pod Squad members (some of my quarantine bubble of friends and family), and continued the birthday celebration of one of our members. On Sunday, I setup and staffed the OutReach Magic Pride Festival outdoors at Olin Turville Park. We watched the entertainment program and speakers on a Jumbotron screen while people picnicked.

When the weekend was over, I realized I spent more time with people than I have in over 18 months, many who I didn’t know if they were vaccinated or not, including Pod Squad members, friends, and members of my LGBTQ+ community, unmasked outdoors. There was no guarantee during the latter event that everyone was vaccinated. Continue reading →

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Jul 18 2021
Posts

Summer of Soul Revisited

“Memories are not the key to the past, but to the future.”  — Corrie ten Boom

Memories provide us perspective on understanding the present from the lens of the past. Memories are also a portal to the future as lived experiences and our history are revisited by new generations. Continue reading →

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Nov 01 2020
Posts

Words Matter II: Trump’s Demagoguery

“Donald Trump is a demagogue – he’s a heroic demagogue to his followers, and he’s a dangerous demagogue to everyone else.” — Jennifer Mercieca

Demagogue definition: “A demagogue or rabble-rouser is a leader who gains popularity in a democracy by exploiting emotions, prejudice, and ignorance to arouse the common people against elites, whipping up the passions of the crowd and shutting down reasoned deliberation.”— Wikipedia

Words matter.

As I write, it’s the final leg of the 2020 Presidential Election. In two days, polls close and votes are tabulated. We won’t know who the next President is before we go to bed on Tuesday, November 3. It may take days, perhaps weeks before the final vote is known and certified.

We can bet the farm however, that Trump will go off the rails, spouting conspiracy theories, claims of rigged elections, and voter fraud. Lawyers will prepare legal briefs and suits and the President of the United States will be begin suing states, their election boards, and secretaries of state. Continue reading →

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Apr 22 2020
1 Comment
Posts

Dispatch from the Hideout: Stirred Crazy

For this next installment of Dispatch from the Hideout, I originally planned on writing about how I became stir crazy as I sheltered-in-place and stayed-at-home alone. Instead, following Trump’s LIBERATE Tweets which fueled demonstrations by his supporters in a number of states, I’ve changed the focus to an opinion piece, Stirred Crazy.

Stir Crazy

One benefit from the pandemic experience is I’ve learned that I’m able to thrive on my own, while still desiring social, physical, emotional, and spiritual connection with others, including loved ones and a larger community. Continue reading →

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Dec 15 2019
Posts

Confessions of a Blogger: Conversations with Myself

“My blog musings are conversations with myself to which you’re invited to listen.”  — Mixed Metaphors, Oh My!

I’ve lived alone now for almost a dozen years. It changes a person, or in the very least, it changed me. As someone with a history of codependency, I’ve been other or outward-oriented. In the past, I often looked outside of myself to gauge how I was feeling or what I was thinking. Gratefully, recovery and therapy put the focus back on me. Now I ask, “What am I feeling? What are my thoughts?”

The tradeoff is at home — and sometimes in my office at work or in public — I talk to myself out loud. When I first started living alone and talking aloud, I worried about this behavior. I soon reminded myself of a couple of characteristics that I possess, I’m an auditory person, and for the most part, socially extroverted, though the longer I’ve lived alone, the more introverted I’ve become. I now consider myself an ambivert. Continue reading →

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Oct 12 2019
2 Comments
Posts

Unpresidented

“Is it just me, or is it getting crazier out there?” — Arthur Fleck, Joker

“Why, sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.” — Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland

As President Trump’s lies have tallied over 12,000, media outlets introduce every story as ‘Breaking News,’ and the adjective ‘unprecedented’ describes the latest Tweet, leak, defense, or revelation, we know we now inhabit a dystopian world.

The title of this essay is intentionally misspelled; it best illustrates our current state of affairs, the potential outcome of the impeachment inquiry and yes, the unprecedented series of investigations of corruption, abuse of power, and obstruction of justice by Trump, his cabinet, members of the Republican Party, and his family.  More disturbing and a potential Article of Impeachment, Trump’s blatant invitations to foreign governments to meddle in our elections, again, to further his own personal political gain. Continue reading →

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May 30 2018
Posts

See Something, Say Something (Or, Not!)

From my blog post, Picking Up and Dropping the Mic, a quote from Will Rogers bears repeating: “Never miss a good chance to shut up.”  And, on the flip side, a quote by Maggie Kuhn, “Speak your mind even if your voice shakes.”

Yesterday was a full moon, the Full Flower Moon. Early in the morning Roseanne Barr began her day tweeting hate speech, racist comments, and recycled conspiracy theories. Later in the day ABC fired her, cancelling the new season of her commercially successful, rebooted sitcom, Roseanne. Perhaps she learned a lesson, never tweet during a Full Moon. Continue reading →

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Dec 31 2017
Posts

Finding the Light in Dark Times

“There are two ways of spreading light: to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it.” — Edith Wharton

It seems timely — that on the eve of the New Year and the eve of the January Supermoon — I take a look back at the past year and look ahead to the New Year, while I search for the light to give us hope in what can only be described as dark times.    Continue reading →

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