Feeling SO Much Better!

 

What a difference a day makes (along with mega doses of steroids), huh?!

Yesterday I knew things were improving when

a)  I felt like writing

b)  I felt like shopping

Today I woke up ready to face things.  All the Things.

I'm going to share some suggested reading for you - including Feel Good Reading along with some This Will Fire You Up to Keep Making Good Trouble Reading.

Hopefully Yours by Connie Schultz. Ms. Schultz does, indeed, make me hopeful.  I always ALWAYS love what she has to say.

Sunday Thought - Fighting the Regime's Cruelty by Robert Reich. WE can DO this!!

Letters From an American by Heather Cox Richardson.   Don't miss this one.

An ENORMOUS Rally Included Joan Baez and Neil Young by Scott Dworkin.   Now we're talking!

And a perfect read for Sunday morning from The Everyday Parisian, Rebecca Plotnik.  Go by and wish her a Happy Birthday!  Add some lovely to your morning!

Morning Coffee in Paris by Rebecca Plotnik
available HERE






Mwah!

😘

Hard Days

 

Yes, these are hard days.  

We're witnessing the meanest, the ugliest, most hateful of men making a grab for our country for purely selfish self-serving damning reasons - for himself only.  

Dividing us with lies and hatred.  

It's impossible for me to fully grasp that there are people who still, after all the horrible things he continues to spew, the unbelievably scary things he promises to do, continue to support him. 

How?  

How can that be?  

I don't think I ever truly believed in pure evil before this man, but now I do. 

I do.  

I am so very thankful to have discovered a few women on-line that I lean on - more now than ever.  

Women I do not know personally, but seek out their wisdom, their humor, their goodness, to help me through hard days.  

Thanking Lisa Respers France , Connie Schultz , Anne Lamott , Heather Cox Richardson from the very bottom of my heart and the depths of my soul.

While that guy has spouted off ridiculous lies - easily proven to be lies IF his base would take it he time to just look a little beyond Fox - these women speak truths in ways that help me through these hard days.

Lies and vicious hatred.

That's all he's got.

POLITICAL POST - Recommended Reading

So.

To be clear.

Meanderings and Muses is not about to become a complete and total political blog any more than it has ever been any one thing in particular blog.  

Politics is one piece of my many pieces.  

Tomorrow I'll share the secret ingredient to THE best french fries you will ever taste.  Promise.  So if politics ain't your thing, close it up now and come back on Wednesday.

 That said -

Here's the beginnings of a list of columns you might enjoy if you're of a liberal nature.  Who knows, you might know some conservative (Non MAGA) sorts who might enjoy them as well.  

Not all the links I'll be sharing with you are daily posts, and not all that are daily are posts that I myself am interested in reading every day.  Like most of you, I find large daily doses of politics to be too much.

I rarely watch TV news these days, preferring the opportunities of reading, or saving for later, articles and columns of interest that I'm able to access at my convenience.

Many of the columns I follow are available through substack.com which is a "subscription network for independent writers and creators."

Opinions regarding substack.com range from acceptance to outrage regarding its structure of free content to paid content.  Without getting into all that I'm just here to share articles, columns, and their writers with you.  Philosophies these writers, and substack.com, maintain regarding what they're willing to share at what price is not a cause I'm interested in taking on.  A gal can only fight so many battles.

That said - 

My one daily read is Letters From An American by American political historian Heather Cox Richardson.  Prof. Cox is fond of reminding us that  "To understand the present, we have to understand how we got here." She does it in a clear, concise manner.  Easy to read, easy to understand.  She will often focus on a particular topic from the most recent headlines, give its background, analysis, and a comparison to a similar past historical event giving her take on why the events are important in their similarities.

I love Pulitzer Prize-winner columnist Connie Schultz for her straight shooting, honest, hopeful outlook which translates to writing that speaks to me.  And will occasionally make me teary.  Her column, Hopefully Yours, is available through Substack for free, although the option is yours to upgrade to a paid subscription if you care to.  The content you receive is the same either way, which is not true for all Substack columns.  The choice is yours.  And that's the last time I'll be sharing that little caveat . . .  you get to do your own "to pay, or not yo pay" research from here on. 

AND, i love Mike Luckovich

And to end today's political post, here's a recent story that "should" sicken any civilized person -

A January 6 Insurrection Pinball Game - It was, apparently a hit during the recent Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC).   Disgusting.

Character Matters!

That's enough for the day. 

 Stay tuned!

But do come back tomorrow for the Best French Fry ever recipe with a secret ingredient!  

It's a good day for our country

Here's a quick guide from PBS for the most watched election races  -  https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/your-quick-guide-to-the-most-watched-races-of-election-day-2023

Read what my hero Connie Schultz has to say about the Tuesday elections.

And Jay Kuo

Life is Good

And this is my reminder aka "me nagging" you to

Vote, Vote, Vote

It has never been more important

Connie Schultz, a personal hero of mine, talks about women over 50

One of the first things I saw this morning while having my coffee and reading Facebook was a post of my friend Lesa's.  

She had shared a post written by Connie Schultz.

If you're not familiar with Connie Schultz, I recommend you seek her out and read some of her work.  

Posthaste. 


She's a personal hero of mine.  A woman I wasn't aware of until Lesa brought her to my attention some months back (thank you, Lesa!).

From Wikipedia: " She won the 2005 Pulitzer Prize for Commentary for "her pungent columns that provided a voice for the underdog and underprivileged."

Ms. Schultz recently did a Ted Talk, and she wrote this about it on her Facebook page, where she also included the YouTube video of her talk.

This resonates with me.

It speaks to me.

Loudly.

 I have a personal gripe about women who, for some reason that escapes me, when talking about themselves will insert some comment into the conversation about their age. Some self-deprecating remark like, "I'm so old!" 

Why? 

Why do that?! 

Stop it. 

It's not cute. 

It's not amusing. 

It shows a lack of confidence in yourself. 

And it also appears to be a request for the other person to say, "Oh, no, you're not old!" Or something equally inane. 

So. 

You're not 18 any more. 

Do you really WANT to be? 

(shiver).

So.

You're over 50?

So.  What.

You are still quite capable of getting out there doing new things, discovering new things, doing the things that are unique to you.

Do it.

Get out there and kick some ass.

And have some fun doing it.

And, those "I'm so old" comments? 

Please.

Stop with the "I'm so old" comments.