Ask me how much I got done at work today

[bironic]

First of all, thank you to everyone who posted photos or descriptions of your experiences at Saturday's marches.

After much angst, I chose to stay with my mom rather than to go the NYC rally. In the end, that turned out all right. The marches clearly had robust attendance, and while at home I was able to open my mom's eyes to the scale of the movement and the nature of the marchers' concerns—she hadn't known about the events at all and said she'd never seen anything like it, even given the Vietnam protests of the '60s—and spend more time debating her boyfriend, a staunch conservative who honest to goodness argued with TV coverage by shouting, "What about white people?" and "All lives matter!"

Not to mention that having all-day news and social media access gave us clearer access to speakers, performers and commentators and a broader perspective across the nation and the world than would have been possible while packed into a crowd.

Instead of berating myself for being on that day the sort of complicit bystander we decry in history classes, I try to remind myself that witnessing is also important.

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Executive orders. Cabinet confirmations. Federal hiring freezes and gag rules.* Lies and distractions and tangled-up media relations. Standing Rock now, too, OMG. I only have so many dollars to donate, so one of the things I did today was ask the FandomTrumpsHate mods to extend an invitation to the runner-up in my vid auction in addition to the winner. We'll see if she's interested. If I can raise $210 for charity, that's another drop in the bucket of resistance. Or some metaphor that makes more sense.

I'll definitely be making a vid for the winner, though: deelaundry! We are discussing options.

*I worked at an HHS agency for several years; I'm very glad I'm not there right now, for both practical and ideological reasons. Friends who are Feds or contractors, I hope you know my thoughts are with you.

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I've created a new DW/LJ tag, "politics," both for organization purposes and so those of you who want to can unsubscribe from it. That said, I still intend for this journal to remain primarily a fannish space.

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And now for something a little lighter.

A few months back, Dee gave me a Liz Climo 2017 daily calendar. It is punching above its weight in emotional support. Today's cartoon is going to get tacked to the bulletin board:



(Sad chameleon says, "I'm blue." A pig hugs it until it turns pink to match. Pig says, "Not anymore"; chameleon says, "Nope.")

Meanwhile, Mr. deelaundry gifted me a subscription to a monthly spice mix service. I had never belonged to one of those food-by-mail clubs before and wasn't sure what to expect, but the first trio of envelopes arrived yesterday and it’s a winner: four types of red chiles ground together, a cumin-oregano rub, and za'atar, with recipes curated by the head chef of the marvelous café at the National Museum of the American Indian. I have a baggie of sumac in the kitchen, but you can never have enough.

Tonight, hoping to finish the last Festivids treat. Golive on Saturday is a light at the end of the week.

Comments

[snickfic]

Witnessing IS important. And I'm glad someone was able to fully appreciate the speakers, because we definitely did not get a ton of benefit from ours - they were too difficult to hear. Also hooray for good conversations with your mom.

[bironic]

Thanks; it's good to hear some voices of support when it seems like everyone else is doing 1 million things to protest the horrorshow that is current events.

Speaker/performer coverage was mainly of the DC rally and John Lewis in Atlanta, with some breaks for Boston and NY, so it still could have been broader, but probably DC had the bulk of the prominent speakers anyway.

[stardreamer]

Witnessing and pointing out facts are also essential. "They also serve who only stand and wait" and all that...

[bironic]

Thanks, yeah. It's helpful to hear that when bombarded with tweets and posts from people who seem to be doing 1 million things to keep us from going over the cliff.

[seekingferret]

Golive on Saturday is a light at the end of the week.

Ditto so much

[bironic]

Combination reply of <3 and *glazed eyes*

[stultiloquentia]

Just saw Sigrid kermitflailing on twitter about her auction win. Heee!

[bironic]

OH my gosh. I assumed you meant the auction she officially won, for scribe, but I just scrolled down and saw what you were talking about! :D

[deelaundry]

Is Sigrid the #2 on Bironic's bid list? I felt bad about out-bidding ... but very glad a charity will get more $.

[bironic]

Yep - I haven't spoken with her before but she's a friend of a friend, so it'll be cool to have a chance to work with her as well as with you!

[deelaundry]

No worries about timing, if you get struck with a good idea for the other vid first.

[bironic]

♥

I haven't even officially heard from FTH about either of you, so we'll see how this goes!

[grammarwoman]

I love how small this world is - I went to high school with Sigrid, where we were really close friends. :)

[bironic]

Oh, how funny!

[st_aurafina]

I love Liz Climo, and that's a gorgeous one of hers. <3

[bironic]

Yes! Tumblr taught me how great her stuff is.

[nightdog_barks]

That is really the best cartoon ever. ♥ ♥ ♥

[bironic]

It's definitely going to get a lot of glances from me in the coming weeks on the board next to my computer at work.

[umadoshi]

That cartoon is wonderful. ^_^

[bironic]

Isn't it? It feels almost like getting a hug yourself.

[roga]

Oooooh zaatar! Idk what you're planning to do with it but if you like fried eggs, just regular sunny side up, I'd sprinkle some on top with some salt :-)

[bironic]

Oh, I haven't tried that! That sounds interesting. I was thinking of tossing some vegetables in it before roasting, but I bet there's enough to do both.

[serenadestrong]

Not to be creepily commenting on old entries, and also not to add more spices to my cabinet I don't need, but do you have the name of the subscription service? I'm intrigued.

Very good comic, too *hugs*

[bironic]

*hug*

LOL, if Monday is old, I don't understand the passage of time anymore. But yes, it's https://rawspicebar.com, https://rawspicebar.com/january-navajo-spice-box.

If you do decide to give it a try, let me know? There's a feature where they give you extra spices for referring a friend.