Monday, February 19, 2018

Nation mourns, Trump fumes


Ann called me today, to read the top of the fold headline from her very red home town newspaper, circulation a few thousand. I’m watching the next three years as chipping away. Sort of like the flakes around lambie, toad and Pig. That’s her headline, top of my page.

I pay attention to Wisconsin. I see it as the obverse of Ohio, and sometimes the perverse. I called Ann in January to tell her that in a special election to fill a state Senate seat vacancy in ultra conservative northern Wisconsin, the Democratic candidate took the seat in a district Trump won by 17 points. My ultra pessimistic little German friend called me today. With some hope.

Over the weekend I wrote out postcards to a couple dozen sports figures, pitching a public service denouncement of gun availability. They went in outbound today, but won’t move until tomorrow. I haven’t a lot of hope there, by the time they cards go through layers of player management, but here’s to one sticking.

I wrote to my friend, too. I spent twenty years working with him, to make this town a success for the artist/merchants and for the tourists who come every weekend. He and his husband are ex-pats now. I know many, many will relate to his answer:

Hi Joanne -

Nice to hear from you, but I’m not your guy.  I don’t have any connections to sports heroes, and I barely have a connection to the country anymore.

One of the reasons I left the US was to remove myself from the disastrous state of the union… and I doubt I will ever live in there again. If we tire of Mexico, Europe or South America will be next on the agenda.

Sorry to have become a pessimist — but I gave several decades to activism for the Just causes in the US… And now I recognize that life is short and time is fleeting. I’ve chosen to be a bit selfish these days, and I feel the gun issue is a lost cause.

Good luck with the effort — and I applaud you for trying.  I just don’t have it in me.

Un abrazo de Mexico –

How sad, all his talent is gone, left. Laura and I have an eye on the Women’s March organizers and the March 14th anniversary march in support of the Florida students. She says her GSA advisor would be on that in a heartbeat, and she will bring it up with her.

And, in the everything old is new again, Laura had a great visit with her sisters Saturday, and scored a twenty five year old sweater. Her mother, an exquisite knitter made this sweater for Becca. Then Hamilton wore it. Then Emily.





27 comments:

  1. Understand your friend. We give and give and it just gets worse. I admire your fighting spirit, but I too have retired from the lists.

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  2. A sad letter. People will give up on Britain too if it carries on like it's doing over this insane Brexit. I wonder how this can have risen up apparently from nowhere and hit us. Of course it wasn't really from nowhere. We just didn't notice.

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  3. The kids will get a grip. I heard a sixteen year-old tonight who sounded more mature than the whole government.

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    1. These kids aren't six years old, Tom. They're up to it.

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  4. And what a fantastic sweater. It must have been well cared for all those 25 years to still be looking so good.

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  5. I'm not surprised he left the States, and not surprised he's given up on tighter gun control. The gun lobby seems to be totally entrenched and politicians generally are terrified of challenging their influence.

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  6. Hari OM
    Sad letter, yes, but I also admire the honesty; I get why he is your friend!

    I knitted a similar jumper about 40 years back... wore it till beyond repair. Time I looked out that pattern... and upped the sizing. YAM xx

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  7. Even activists retire -- causes must rely on the up-and-coming Next Generation!

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  8. The sweater is perfect! You never give up, Joanne.

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  9. For a family heirloom that sweater is looking mighty spiffy - and it looks great on Laura.

    I'm sorry your friend couldn't help, but everyone must guard their own health. I have a feeling that the current crop of teenagers across the country will be the ultimate answer to the problem. They cannot be unaffected by a phenomenon that has so fundamentally changed their generation.

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  10. I understand your friend who no longer has the fight in him. I've been that way myself for a while due to low energy.

    Laura's sweater is beautiful and how lovely that is has been handed down to all the sibs.

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  11. I am so proud of all the students who are standing up and saying they are tired of watching their friends die. Maybe they can wake up some of the adults who are in a position to make some positive changes. I like that you are instilling that spirit of action in Laura too.

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  12. I do understand the sentiment of your friend living abroad. Speaking as an ex-ex-pat, I thought I was slated to be in his boat, and, frankly, was sad to learn that I wouldn't be.

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  13. That's a fabulous sweater and looks very nice on Laura.
    I have to confess I'm of a similar mind-set to your friend, often putting stories of the USA in the too-hard basket and reading something else in the newspaper. I do still hope for things to turn around and get better there.

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  14. Laura's lucky it's her turn now !
    And as for the guns? It's impossible to understand why anyone would want to own one, let alone three or four.

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  15. And the little children will lead ...

    I do have hope now that some things will move on the gun issue. These kids will soon be voting and that is what the politicians care about.

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  16. I've thought of leaving, even before Trump. this country has been a police state for some time now and the health care situation and the defunding of education. I have an artist friend who foresaw all this and fled with his nascent family to France. I would leave I think, if not for the kids and grandkids left behind. there is so much wrong with this country.

    very nice sweater. nicer that Laura had a good visit with her sisters instead of coming home beat down.

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  17. Beautiful sweater that - and certainly lasted.

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  18. The sweater doesn't look old at all.
    I've read (opinions I guess) that anger old white men brought us this tweeter-in-chief, this fails-to-feel-empathy, this it's-all-about-me, this call-what-you-dislike-fake president.
    I hope the youthful enough-is-enough activists bring a change that throws that jerk and his friends out.

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  19. Glad Laura is getting on with her sisters and bringing home vintage homemade knits for herself

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  20. The nation mourns yes, Trump....Trump IS a bad fume.

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  21. They are the future and it will be better.....!

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  22. I wish I could leave the country! No, really, we should all fight for what is right. Seems like a mere drop in the bucket, though.

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  23. The sweater looks great on Laura. She'll need a warm sweater to fight the coldness of the NRA and friends.

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