Tag: general discussion

It’s always a bummer when someone feels passionately enough about something to take action, yet their message is garbled.

My coworker mentioned this post. She first found the episode about crack babies. I was hooked on once I listened to the episode about Shannon Faulkner and the Citadel, a case I followed very closely in the 90s. I’ve got a mindless task at work going on, so I took a deep dive. And decided to start listening at the beginning.

I like that Mike and Sara are a bit younger than me. They often talk about things in the 80s and 90s that are very clear memories for me, so it’s fun to learn all the things I didn’t know, and to hear their take on the topic, having not really lived through it. It turns out that I found this podcast just as Mike is departing, but I’ve got a huge back catalog to listen through.

I enjoy the contrast of the color scheme with the message in this protest sign.

It starts with an apology that made me laugh, it crafts a strong personality in a few deft strokes, and it really gut punches.

Thanks to the relative of Sue C. Lewis who brought her into my life.

Memes to the rescue. They stand ready to lighten the load of our feelings of despair.

There are times when a somewhat innocuous newspaper mention knocks the breath out of me. So it was when I read in passing that Olivia Goldsmith, author of many best selling novels including The First Wives Club, had died while undergoing cosmetic surgery. I was on the bus at the time, and there was no one to remark to.

So it was with this paragraph which spends a little more time on the subject of Roadside America’s closing then the passing mention of Goldsmith’s death did. It still caused that catch in my breathing.

When I moved from Somerville to Portland in 2001, my friend flew out to make the trip with me. I had purchased a guidebook called Roadside America, which directed us to the quirky things along the way. Of the sites we saw, the one that surprised me the most was the Roadside America attraction the author mentions.

In my memory, it was a sprawling setup. Miniatures of America that stretched through several stitched together buildings. It was, essentially, a huge model railroad, but when you neared the end of the winding path, the lights dimmed as if the sun had set over the landscape, an American flag was projected, and “America the Beautiful” played. I found myself surprised at the tears that sprung from my eyes.

There were a lot of things that could have fed into that feeling. It wasn’t yet two months after 9/11; I was making a huge move to a place I’d visited regularly, but never lived; my time in Massachusetts hadn’t been the greatest. But somehow that simple (and also complex, what with the lights and the projected flag and the music) picture of the sun going down over a miniature American landscape stirred up a lot inside me.

My visit to Roadside America was probably going to be my only visit. I don’t see myself making my way back to Pennsylvania in this lifetime. But it was a perfect visit.

I’ve really enjoyed Diversify Your Narrative’s posts this year. This was a good reminder that a lot of people were working to get out the vote.

My Instagram feed today had general rejoicing all about one thing. Such relief.

Also, I’d been so worried about the Biden/Trump contest I hadn’t even really focused on the woman vice president situation. Hurrah for that!

Me on the morning after the election: Come on, Nevada! Let’s do it!

Me roughly seven times per day on all the days between the election and today: Come on, Nevada! And wait, what’s going on in Georgia?

Today I got up, fed the cats, listened to hear if the election had been called. It hadn’t, so I went back to sleep on the couch until Matt padded into the living room and told me that they had called it.

And I could finally, FINALLY, take the screen shot I had been hoping to take.

And Nevada still wasn’t done counting! Come on, Nevada!

I broke down and bought one of those all-plastic (the main reason I was avoiding them) thread organizers. Then I treated myself to several palettes from my new favorite website Stitch Palette, where those of us who are not good at picking out colors that pop can find help.

I also included a cheat sheet in case I need to find the palette again. Plus there’s a list of colors at the bottom of each section.

I did all the thread winding and labeling while listening to election returns on NPR. But there was no news at bedtime, so I went to bed. Days later, I’m still waiting.

Hot tip for NPR. When you plan the coverage of the 2024 election, consider basing people on the West Coast, rather than the East Coast. I could do without, “It’s getting very late,” said at 8:10 p.m. While it was 11:10 p.m. in Washington D.C., on the other coast it’s nowhere close to late for anyone over the age of ten. And not everyone lives in the Eastern time zone.