Well, I have a cold (tested, covid-negative), which is deeply annoying. My head is stuffy and I’m coughing a lot. I tried to take it easy and rest over the weekend, which fit in reasonably well with massive election fatigue.
I’ve been re-watching Schitt’s Creek, which is actually pretty perfect for this moment in time. Lots of farcical behavior by elected officials and uber-rich people, tempered by genuine love, care, neighborliness, and personal growth.
(I’ve NOT been re-watching West Wing, because right now, it would break my heart.)
I’m sure I’ll have election thoughts at some point, but I honestly have no energy for the post-mortem right now, especially since they’re still curing votes and we don’t have final numbers yet. Next week will be soon enough for figuring out what happened. (This is not an invitation to theorize in the comments. I’ve seen all the hot takes, and I am tired of them, so please skip it here for now. Thanks.)
And while I will eventually get to what do we do next, I’m not there yet either. I’m just tired. I’m at the hugging friends and family stage, and the hide and introvert stage. I’m at the puttering in the garden stage. I planted a lot of daffodils. (I was talking to my students about this, and one of them commented that I was literally touching grass. Yes, yes I was, and it was one of the few things that actually helped this last week.)
I’m not even at the point of being able to be very open to supporting my community more generally, which is pretty darn unusual for me. After Clinton lost, I hosted a post-election event for Moms for Hillary, which led directly to my running for office. But I’m eight years older now, and this is likely to be significantly worse, and I am tired. (There is a certain exhausted refrain to this post.)
So I’ve been staffing my store, and making a little art, here and there, and reading good fiction.
If you’re in the mood for well-written passionate lesbian union organizers, with magic, may I recommend Metal from Heaven to you? It’s very well done, though not really my politics in the end. I can’t discuss why yet without spoiling the ending, so I’ll refrain for now. Pertinent to this present moment, though, especially if you’re in a mood to rage. I think Diana M Pho recommended this to me, one of her new titles at Erewhon — thanks, Diana! Enjoyed it a lot.
I also got to spend some very good and therapeutic time talking about Joanna Russ on Thursday, which I’ll post more about soon.
For now, I’ll leave you with Connor pulling a raffle ticket for this weekend at the shop. One of the very good things that happened today is that we got Connor signed up for a youth employment grant that will pay him to intern for my small business, which is going to be a MASSIVE help. I might emerge from this semester halfway-sane.
Anyway, the raffle — everyone who stopped by the shop could fill in contact info to get entered in a raffle for a $50 gift certificate. (I don’t keep the contact info after, so no worries about being spammed!)
Congrats to Ashley, and I hope she has fun spending her prize. I’ll be running the same raffle again next weekend, locals, so swing by and take your chances. It’s nice to spread a little joy right now. This made me happy.