Monthly Archives: March 2016

Election on the way: Paranoia Sets In

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Maybe it’s Trump. Maybe it’s the dystopian novels I read so often. My inner paranoid streak or doomsday prepper is begging to get out and take action.

Here’s an example. Trump claimed today that if he carries Wisconsin in the primary, he’ll go to a Packer game in the fall. Does he have any idea how hard it is to get tickets? Or how long the waiting list is for season tickets? Never mind. Don’t answer that.

Our primary election is next week Tuesday. The airwaves are full of campaign ads. The one that makes me slap my forehead and shout “Doh!” is Ted Cruz’ commercial that announces he is the only one who can beat Trump. “Do the math!” the announcer demands while showing a bar graph. Frankly,  the best candidate to beat Donny Boy isn’t on the same primary ticket. Do the math? Someone forgot a variable.

I spent a bundle to restock our medicine cabinet with supplies for spring allergy season. It was costly. It would be more costly if I hadn’t stocked up and had needed a last-minute run to the store. By planning ahead, I was able to use two coupons and buy generic store brands. When all the allergic folks start breaking out in sneezes and wheezes, the shelves will be empty except for the expensive varieties.

I’ve used up the corn in the freezer. If we want corn, we’ll have to buy it from the store. We have one container of peas left, and several of beans (green and yellow). We salvaged the last two squash from the basement and noted that next year we need to cook them sooner, not later. I guess the vegetable of choice for the time being will be beans. As the summer arrives, I’ll put up more corn, an equal amount of peas, and beans? Let me think about it.

Meanwhile, I’m hearing about schools getting budgets zapped, stripped to the bone. Layoffs are rampant. My job is fairly secure, at least for the time being. I just did a promo for open enrollment a few days ago. Maybe it’ll help keep our enrollment up.

But when I go in to vote on Tuesday, I’ll have all of these issues on my mind – and more. All politics may be local, and it’s also personal. Very personal. Do I need to stock up on toilet paper? Build a chicken coop? Hide my retirement fund in a mattress?

Readers, help me silence my inner doomsday siren. Promise me you’ll do the most important prep of all: you’ll vote.

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Snow Day! It’s all in the timing.

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We were expecting 11 inches of snow. Or maybe it was nine. Or 10-12 inches. All depending on which forecast was on the TV or the radio or the computer screen – we just knew there was a storm coming.

So we prepped, as we privileged first world people do. At work, we ordered lunch from a local restaurant in case we didn’t get to do it at the end of the work week. We postponed our office Soup Day because the odds were against having to work the next day – and if we were in business, it would be tough to drag all the crock pots and supplies through the snow piles in the parking lot. As the long day (parent-teacher conference schedule) ended, we took the extra step of cleaning our cubicles and bringing home anything we’d left in the refrigerator.

When I got home, I still didn’t know if the blizzard that was moving in would convince our district superintendent to shut us down. So I prepped as I do, in this privileged first world home of mine. I charged all of the devices. The Kindle, my phone, my laptop – all got plugged in and charged in case of a power outage. I charged my FitBit because it is also my alarm in the morning. We keep a pretty well-stocked pantry, so feeding the troops (ahem, the family) won’t be difficult.

Petunia has been watching the storm from her hospital room on the 8th floor. This pneumonia that side tracked her at least put her in a room with a view.

I have the news, now. It’s official. No school tomorrow! Spring break starts early! You guessed it, people. This blizzard, with its white-out warnings and blowing snowdrifts has added one day onto our spring break. Mother Nature has a sense of humor – I’d better laugh a little, too.

Maybe I’ll start a few more seeds under my grow lights – as long as the power stays on!

 

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Ignore the Donald, and he’ll go away. Not.

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For a long stretch I tried to avoid blogging about Donald Trump. He thrives on attention, positive or negative, and I vowed I wouldn’t give him what he wants. Ignoring attention-getting behavior is a natural for teachers. I thought it would be effective in the political arena, too.

But ignoring the behavior in the hopes that it would go away doesn’t always work. Sometimes, without additional strategies, behavior worsens when ignored. That’s what’s happened here – until recently.

As long as he was getting away with it, Trump continued to spout his hateful rhetoric. He encouraged his followers to “knock the crap out of” anyone who might throw a tomato at a rally. If his followers got arrested, he promised to pay their legal fees. Trump also said he wanted to “punch (a reporter) in the face”.

Protesters in Chicago decided that ignoring Trump’s behavior wasn’t working, so they gathered in the streets. And gathered peacefully, too. These people didn’t fight violence with violence; they showed they didn’t support Trump’s bigotry by exercising their right to peaceably assemble. And when the man himself decided not to appear, the tens of thousands cheered.

It’s time, people. It’s time to recognize that this man is dangerous and his bigotry and bias are not going away unless we take action. We need to speak up and let the nation and the world know that this man’s behavior is not acceptable. His hate speech is not acceptable. His violent attitude is not acceptable.

And we’re not going to ignore the Donald’s behavior anymore.

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I’ll hold my vote until I turn blue!

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Mixing metaphors again, figuratively speaking. I’m really looking at you, Republican senators. I include Wisconsin’s Ron Johnson in that mess, too. The stubborn response, no, pre-response, is ridiculous. Dig your heels in if you must, but don’t complain when your shoes get muddy. And if you insist on holding your breath until you turn blue, make sure there’s a pillow nearby when you collapse.

President Obama has filled his Constitutional responsibility. He has nominated a candidate to fill the vacancy on the U.S. Supreme Court.

Meanwhile, the Republicans are pulling out their childish act again. The folks on the far right side in D.C. would like to refuse any candidate the President suggests. In fact, they plan to prevent this nominee from getting approved for the court by stalling. Standing still. Refusing to convene the committee that will interview, question, and eventually confirm or deny the nominee’s placement in the all-important judicial branch of the three ring circus that Washington has become.

Those on the right would like to postpone this appointment until after the next president is inaugurated. This way, they figure, they can elect a president of their choice and that president will nominate someone who leans right, far right.

Unfortunately for the tea party side, the president has precedent on which to act. Filling a vacancy on the Supreme Court in the last year of a presidency is rare, but not unheard of. Here’s a breakdown.

  • In 1912, Taft nominated Mahlon Pitney.
  • In 1932, Hoover nominated Benjamin Cardozo.
  • In 1968, Johnson nominated once, twice, and then saw Earl Warren decide to postpone his retirement. That time, the situation was complicated.

Three times – not a huge number, but as these were the only three occasions in more than a century of presidencies, these three times set a significant precedent.

For the sake of unity, for the sake of cooperation, it’s time to get to work. If those on the rightest of right need a reason to let out their collective breath and move to the center for a little while, here’s one. Just think “What will Hillary do?”

Thanks to Politifact.com for providing the history behind the precedent.

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Has the calendar regressed? This state senator has.

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Chuck and I helped the local arts community by writing a column for the newspaper about Amigo and the barbershop chorus in which he sings. He enjoys rehearsals, thrives on the music, and gets totally psyched up for the performances. We were happy to support them with our column.

The piece apparently got picked up in a Madison newspaper. How do we know? Well, Chuck got a card from the guy who represents our district in the State Senate. We’ll call him Senator Throwback. The card enclosed a copy of our column, and carried a message that said “Saw this in the paper and thought you might like a copy.”

Nice, right? Maybe thoughtful? Politically expedient, too, eh? Almost. It’s likely that one of Senator Throwback’s staff pointed out the article and took the time to find our address, and on and on. We know that. But anyway, how did something that insignificant make the blog?

We co-wrote the article. Both of our names and both of our pictures accompanied the piece. We wrote it together. Senator Throwback addressed the article to Chuck and only Chuck. In his eyes, evidently I don’t exist.

Make no mistake, folks: this omission counts. By leaving one author, the female author, off the note, Senator Throwback made it clear that I do not exist for him. That’s too bad for him, though, because he’s forgotten one very important point: my vote counts exactly the same as Chuck’s does. And Senator Throwback isn’t likely to get mine next election.

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We might move our cubicles. Maybe.

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Nothing is certain, but the district is considering moving us, the online charter school, to a currently unused small building the district owns. Nothing is for sure, but of course we’re talking.

Pro – on the side of the move

  • A decent sized parking lot
  • We wouldn’t have to share space with any other schools
  • We’d have actual storage space and maybe even a lounge space

Not-so-pro

  • It would no longer be within walking distance for me.
  • We like the beautiful old building housing our offices now.
  • We’re close to downtown, a thriving downtown in a small city
  • IT will no longer be in the same building we are.

Kinda pro –

  • We’ll be near two good coffee shops with drive-thru windows!

Oh, well, it’s not up to us. But we’ll still talk. And for now, we’ll keep doing what we do, teaching from our cramped cubicles.

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Chicago dumps Trump

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It was an ordinary Friday night, for the most part. I was visiting La Petite, and we were settling down on her couch to relax and chat and check on the rest of the family via Facebook.

It’ll be no surprise to readers that many of my relatives are rather progressive in their politics. We knew that the candidate I like to call He Who Shall Not Be Named (in lieu of giving him any more blog space) was in Chicago for a rally, and many a protest was planned. Upon further review, we found that we had a family member at a rally outside the arena where You-Know-Who was scheduled to speak. Here’s her viewpoint.

Anti Trump Rally

So proud to have been there to turn the Trump Tide. UIC students meant what they said and put feet to their thoughts. Whatever happened inside the pavilion, I don’t know, but the outside activity was 100% peaceful with appropriate Chicago police presence. This is what democracy and freedom of speech looks like. – from one who was there, 3-12-2016

The result: the speech was cancelled. You-Know-Who was advised not to appear for fear of inciting violence. He acquiesced. Meanwhile, those outside cheered at the news. Again, people, from one who was there: 100% peaceful, with appropriate Chicago police presence. Peacefully, they managed to shut the guy down.

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Shopping: It’s a learning experience.

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  • Today while shopping with La Petite, I learned —
  • Lancome has a line of cosmetics with Braille labels.
  • A woman can never have too many shoes.
  • Malls are still — well, malls.
  • I’m wearing the wrong size bra (no, you don’t need any more).
  • Jeans are just as hard for La Petite to find as they are for me, several sizes larger.
  • I’m still an amazing bargain shopper. Even the cashier was impressed.
  • Peanut noodles are delicious. I wonder if I could make this dish?
  • Fortune cookies can be ridiculous. Hallelujah? Really?

I followed up a day of shopping with leftovers for supper and a marathon of Tiny House shows. It was a nice, relaxing weekend, despite losing an hour’s sleep to Daylight Saving Time.

Readers, do you enjoy retail therapy? Leave a comment.

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