Dear T and Slicers,
We are now beyond the half-way mark for this 10th March Marathon and sadly, this year I’m having more trouble than usual finding topics to write about. It’s not that I’m not living life actively but yes, I’m weighed down. My friend Agita wakes up every morning with a headache. I wake up every morning praying it was just a nightmare and HRC is our president but no… the nightmare is not a nightmare, it’s our REALITY.
Sorry, I wish I could post my snow pics or something from my window now that the fresh snow is bathed in sunshine. I can’t today. Forty-five’s budget just dropped with eep cuts to pubic ed, the arts, the state department, the EPA, the poor etc and too many Americans are looking away, chuckling over his tweets, Republicans are salivating their control of Congress to strip social programs following blindly, the “deplorables”, taking up 45’s white supremacist wink and nod to become his Storm Troopers.
I’m sure that my slicer-friends will want to cheer me up, offer me alternatives and of course, I am taking a activist stand
but…
For now there’s NO EXIT!!!! and we are officially tarnished by the beasts in our garden of democracy.
I do promise to shut down MSNBC and get out into that fresh sunshine- take a dive into the deep freeze but I’ll return to that nightmare tonight and wake up tomorrow and 45 will still be with us to drop more bombs.
Fingers crossed that Saturday’s storm will be canceled and I can attend attend a meeting in support Syrian refugees living in Westchester.
We are living in the darkest times of my life. Glad you aren’t here to see this.
Bonnie S.
Digital Bonnie 
Sorry, I can’t offer an alternative, these are dark times. I am so embarrassed by what our country has done by electing someone so reprehensible.
My writing group met last night, spent much of the time talking about this, and that we’ll never stop protesting, but it is dark everyday! Hugs for us all!
I wish also to be able to give a bright light but it is hard. This is hard work. My book group met yesterday and as always our book conversation turns to the state of our country, the state of our state and the people we love dearly who are hurting – including ourselves! I know in my heart there will be a swing towards the good and we will have to work hard to repair the damage done but repair we can do! Hang in there, breathe and take a long walk! Do what you can and then take care of yourself – turn off the news and read a good book!
I do want to cheer you up! I love that you are calling him 45. HAHA I am waiting patiently for the announcement that impeachment proceedings have begun. Were there as many people disliking Obama? I tend to follow people who share my political views (and unfollow crazy uncles who feel that Trump is going to “fix Obama’s mess.”) I feel I have a skewed perspective on US politics. There are very few Canadians who think 45 is a reasonable choice for a leader. But it’s a lot easier for us to get rid of people hated by the majority of the population.
I was just having coffee yesterday with my friend who is also an ESL teacher like me. She told me about a first grader who came to her and said, “Mrs., I don’t like Donald Truck.”
She asked him, “Why don’t you like Donald Truck?” (deliberately repeating his way of saying it)
He replied sadly, “He might make my mom go away.”
Can complete relate, Bonnie. The line in your piece that strikes me the most is this: We are living in the darkest times of my life. Glad you aren’t here to see this.
Of course we have had dark times in the past, but if my parents were alive, they would be devastated at what we have so blatantly become in such a short time. On my father’s deathbed in 2006, he said to watch out for the Russians. What did he know that we didn’t, I often wonder. My family has everything in it that this administration hates: immigrants (grandparents and husband), gays, disabled, Africans, women ;-), people on the ACA, a teacher, and the list goes on and on. I don’t have an answer, and I wish I could do more. But as teachers, we are not to have a voice in politics (at least where I come from), so I partake in other ways: daily phones calls, emails, letter writing, hat making and gifting, postcard stampede, town halls (but in there neck of the woods, one Senator hasn’t held one in years), and the list goes on. When I get overwhelmed, I take a step back from the daily calls, and I turn off the TV. I can read about it, but I can’t listen to their voices, except for Rachel Maddow and her group of investigative journalists. And, I have renewed my exercise and meditation practice so that I can do this for the long haul. Resist, but also be very good to yourself. Best.
these are dark times on so many levels; however , we have to have HOPE and the tenacity to see that better days will be in the futures…..maybe not tomorrow….but someday.
My husband was a fierce liberal and when I read you words to T. that you are glad he can’t see what 45 is doing to the country, it resonated. For nearly the last 30 years The Nation has arrived each week for reading. That was Rob’s doing. I cannot imagine what he would have to say given the proposed spending allocations that 45 and his band of cruel men have put forth. I am glad he is not here to witness it.
This is not a time to share cute winter pixs. Millions of people, our neighbors, friends, families, students, colleagues stand to lose so much because of the greed, foolishness, and misdirection of this asshole president. I have never been more committed to fighting this.
Definitely the darkest time of my life. The horrible part, though, it’s going to get darker. I try to gather strength on beautiful sunny days like today when I’m not headed back across town to the inner city elementary school where small children are living lives of fear and anger. Yesterday I sat with a staff member while she called the police department, directed by CPS to do so. She was so frightened but did fine. It’s a dark time, indeed.