Notes from Exile: Hey, remember 2020?

Photo credit: Phil Roeder

Wow. So, how is everyone doing this morning?

Yesterday was a rough day, by any stretch, for me. It was the first day of a new semester and that always comes with loads of horrifying delightful surprises as my students realize that forty-eleven thousand things are not right with their accommodations and they need to be fixed NOW. 

It was the first day that I actually had to GET UP ON TIME and be presentable, whatever that means in the current Zoom classroom environment. I wrangled the background in and out of a terribly messy incredibly organized guest room and brought it into the office for my interpreting work. The canine chorus sang the song of their people a few times and blocked out my audio. But it all got done, leaving my brain and body a bit battered but overall glad to be back doing what I know how to do.

And then after all of that, I went to the sitting room with my laptop and phone to stretch out on the sofa for a bit and watch something utterly boring but soothing in its routine and standard practice: the certification of the votes from the Presidential election by the joint Houses of Congress. I admit to bit of anxiety over the contentious mood in our nation's capitol concerning the upcoming transfer of power, but ultimately, my PollyAnna soul was certain that it would roll along smoothly as it has done for over two hundred years.

Because we are Americans. We are loud. We are bossy. We are our own worst enemy. But at our very core - I believed, anyway - we are still Americans and sometimes we just need a bit of reminding what that means. We need to remember our history and build on it for our future, and other such platitudes.

Wow. PollyAnna was WRONG. While I am still finding it hard to believe that the people I saw yesterday are at all representative of the majority of people in my country, that was a terrifying display of what can happen when lies and misinformation are allowed to propagate. 

It was also a reminder of how far we have yet to go in terms of law enforcement reform. I stand by my statement yesterday that if any of those on that front line that broke into the building and quickly overwhelmed the Capitol police had been people of color, that would have been over before it started. We all saw the policeman taking selfies with one of the terrorists inside the building. We watched as the terrorist mob was pushed back, finally, out of the building, and then just left, for the most part, to disperse. Left to disperse, after curfew. Left to disperse after curfew on the same streets where unarmed protesters over the summer, hands in the air, were tear-gassed so that the president could walk over to a beloved church and use it for a photo op.

I certainly hope we are not starting as we mean to go on, but make no mistake, when we see something, say something. This can get better. Yesterday saw horrible violence by some gullible puppets of a tyrant, but it also saw an African-American man elected via run-off in a state that created that very run-off requirement as a part of the Jim Crow scourge. We can stand together and against this kind of insurrection and still do the things we need to do to stop the spread of the coronavirus pandemic. Your voice will count just as much from six feet away and behind a mask, stopping the spread of yet another kind of virus - the so-called MAGA virus that is turning our country inside out.

Now, off to edit. Poor Tairn. That manuscript is expecting PollyAnna. That is not who I am anymore.

Notes from Exile: Elections in the Time of Coronavirus

Complete with masks and stickers.

So, we did the thing. My friend Anne and I went to vote in person on November 3rd around lunchtime, and due to my county having about sixty-eleven polling places we were the only folks there. Compared to the long lines I saw on telly for literally everywhere else and the stories from my friends about 2+ hour waits, we were pretty lucky. 

I didn't have pearls to wear for RBG or Chucks for Kamala Harris, but I wore some of my VERY PROFESSIONAL CLOTHES in black and blue and jeans. It felt like we were joining the rest of our country, picking up our feet and letting our votes carry us along on the blue wave that I was certain would be wiping out the pain of the last four years.

Well, as we know by now (and don't come at me with this lawsuit nonsense, there is less than ANY credible evidence for voter fraud), it wasn't so much of a blue wave as it was a neck and neck battle that is still going on as votes are still being counted and confirmed.

I have had a lot to say over the past week, but I will try to summarize the main points because really, isn't that what you want from a blog? Sure you do. If you wanted flowery and slight sweary prose you'd be following me on social media. (That was a hint. Get to it.)

1. There were always going to be a lot of mail-in ballots because it's a pandemic, y'all. There are people who literally cannot come to the polls to vote, due to being sick or trying to avoid being sick, etc. People don't want to be around others that aren't in their bubble. (Part two of don't come at me: the picture above contains one of only a few people that I will willingly get THAT close to right now. She's in my bubble. The greater electorate is most certainly NOT.) There are also a considerable number of registered voters who are outside of the US at the moment. Those folks cannot come to the polls and show an ID and vote - not to mention the photo ID requirement can be construed as voter suppression, but I digress. To say that mail-in ballots should not count if they are received after the date of the election - even if they are postmarked beforehand or on the day - means that those folks are ineligible to vote, a right of every American over the age of 18. 

Sidebar: If you are going to delegitimize the votes of ex-pats around the world, then could you please do something about the fact that the US is one of only two countries in the entire world that requires its citizens to pay taxes on foreign earned income? Taxation without representation indeed.

2. I'm just going to point out that if there was such widespread election fraud perpetrated by the left/Democrats, then I would love for someone to explain Mitch McConnell and Lindsey Graham to me, please? Seriously. The right/GOP seems to believe that we are so well coordinated that we planned all of this just to get rid of Trump, but thought we'd be okay with having McConnell and Graham? How does that even make sense? The answer is that it doesn't, and I think if I were either of those two men I'd act like shotgun in Supernatural and keep my cakehole shut before someone starts looking into voter suppression in their states. 

Sidebar the second: I don't really think there is voter suppression in South Carolina and I can't speak to Kentucky. I just think that South Carolina is so vibrantly red that most of the state can't even fathom voting blue, even though that might just be a good change for our state. Moving on.

3. Y'all, I have never been more proud to say that Georgia is my home state! Thanks to the herculean efforts of black women in Georgia, the state flipped blue for Biden. I don't think that Georgia has been at the forefront of a presidential election this much since 1976...and maybe 1980. Stacey Abrams, among others, got out and registered something like 800,000 folks who were previously not registered to vote (because if you live in Georgia and you are black or brown, why bother?). She had the governor's race stolen from her (come on, her opponent was the incumbent Secretary of State that managed elections, FFS), but instead of being bitter, she became even more determined to see equality in voting in her state.

4. Finally, a few comments to address the noise I've heard since last Tuesday: a larger than normal turnout at the polls will equate to a larger number of votes, it's just math. Also, if you have spent the last four years trying to exert control over or potentially harm people that I love including but not limited to BIPOC, sexual assault survivors, and women, you will have to excuse me if I need to take a minute before I can react to the election results with anything but glee and a tiny bit of neener-neener. Joe Biden does not have dementia, he is a kind and thoughtful man that doesn't spend his time shouting and trying to bully his opponents into seeing things his way. I can see how you might be confused. 

Whew! Now then. Back to work - and as I saw in more than a few memes over the past week, make sure you wear your shoes, ladies. There's glass all over the floor from the shattering of that ceiling.

Music Monday: Rock That Vote

I have never been afraid to share who I am or what I believe, because I was raised to believe that was a basic tenet of living an authentic life. I am a lifelong democrat, recently turned democratic socialist, probably on my way to full-blown socialist. I don't use my Twitter account to blast political opinions because I don't think that I need to do that - my Twitter is mostly for writing. I have been known to make some loud statements on Facebook, but nothing that I wouldn't say to anyone in person. So today, I am asking you - begging you, if I'm honest, to get out tomorrow (if you haven't already) and vote your conscience. I say that because I still believe that my fellow Americans are good and decent people, and that we want to look out for and care for each other. Part of that responsibility involves voting.

My music Monday is Janet Jackson's Rhythm Nation - the video may seem oddly authoritarian and oligarchical, but the lyrics speak of coming together to defeat social injustice and make a better life for all of us, and that's what we need to be doing tomorrow at the polls.  Five, four, three, two, one...

 

Rhythm Nation

Janet Jackson

We are a nation with no geographic boundaries

Bound together through our beliefs

We are like-minded individuals

Sharing a common vision

Pushing toward a world rid of color lines

Music, poetry, dance, unity

Music, poetry, dance, unity

Five, four, three, two, one

Yeah yeah yeah yeah, yeah yeah yeah

Bass bass, bass, bass

With music by our side

To break the color lines

Let's work together

To improve our way of life

Join voices in protest

To social injustice

A generation full of courage

Come forth with me

People of the world today

Are we looking for a better way of life

We are a part of the rhythm nation

People of the world unite

Strength in numbers we can get it right

One time

We are a part of the rhythm nation

This is the test

No struggle no progress

Lend a hand to help

Your brother do his best

Things are getting worse

We have to make them better

It's time to give a damn

Let's work together come on, yeah

People of the world today

Are we looking for a better way of life

We are a part of the rhythm nation

People of the world unite

Strength in numbers we can get it right

One time

We are a part of the rhythm nation

People of the world unite

Are we looking for a better way of life

We are a part of the rhythm nation

People of the world unite

Strength in numbers we can get it right

One time

We are a part of the rhythm nation

Bass, bass, bass

Bass, bass, bass

Bass, bass

Bass, bass

Say it people, say it different

Say it if you want a better way of life

Say it people, say it different

Say it if you want a better way of life

Everybody sing it

People of the world unite

Are we looking for a better way of life

We are a part of the rhythm nation

People of the world unite

Strength in numbers we can get it right

One time

We are a part of the rhythm nation

People of the world today

Are we looking for a better way of life

We are a part of the rhythm nation

People of the world unite

Strength in numbers we can get it right

One time

We are a part of the rhythm nation

Rhythm nation

Well, it was good while it lasted...

Annoyed face, Louvre, Summer 2012

I was really trying to avoid being political on the Lettuce, but some things are just more important, it seems. Or more obvious. Or...well, I just have to talk about some things, and not into the confirmation bias that is my Facebook feed (for the most part) or my family or close friends.

This is also not an attempt to distract from anything that the Cheeto-In-Chief is doing or not doing to wreck our world via Twitter or his "speeches" or any of that. I was asked a question this morning at work, and I'm going to answer it here because I think it is important enough to answer twice.

I was asked the following question:

"What do you think about the kneeling thing?"

Been under a rock or so laser-focused on 45's latest tweet-storm implosion that you don't know what I mean? I was asked about the latest wave of non-violent protests happening mostly in the world of pro-sports: athletes taking a knee during the national anthem at sporting events rather than standing and singing or covering their heart with their hand as is customary in this country.

Quick disclaimer: it is CUSTOMARY but not a legal requirement of any kind. Therefore it is up to the individual. Clear? Good, now we can continue.

My answer, as I was hurrying to class, was two pronged: While I completely understand the reasoning behind the decision to kneel and share in the belief that our country does not represent or protect all of its citizens equally, I also think that the hype over a person's choice is overblown and probably meant to distract us from what is actually going on in the White House.

You may now don your tin foil caps if you like.

Let's address "the kneeling thing" in parts, shall we? Firstly, it is because the Department of Defense gives LOADS of money to sporting groups that we have the national anthem performed at the beginning of American football games, basketball games, baseball games, etc. It is not, as some would have you believe, something that the NFL and others do out of a profound and genuine sense of patriotism or national pride. That may be a factor as well, but I'm sure that the money doesn't hurt.

Secondly, for all those that are touting the mandate to stand and the requirement by law to honor the flag...well...one of the few things that are NOT legally required is to stand or salute/hand on heart if you are not active duty military (or maybe any category of military service). Interesting.

Third, for those loud voices in the back calling this an affront to the sacrifices of our military veterans and those currently serving...they did not do what they have done and continue to do so that you are forced to behave a certain way in a certain situation. Freedom does not have subtext here. They fought so that the people who call themselves Americans can think for themselves and make their own decisions so that they can follow their own beliefs and support or not support things based on those beliefs. So to say that anyone that chooses to protest in this manner is insulting those that fought for our freedom is just plain wrong. Sorry. My father served in the Army, my uncles served in the Army and Air Force, and one of them was a POW and I can almost promise you that none of them thought they were serving in order to make sure we would all be told when to stand, kneel, or salute. I am proud of all of them and thankful for their service, but I'm not going to use their service as an excuse here. Not. Happening.

Finally, my thoughts on the actual thing that they are protesting? I wholeheartedly agree with their message. 110%. Y'all, why would you honor and support and defend a country that doesn't do the same for you? Why would a Deaf person be bound to stand for the national anthem when no one cares enough to make sure the interpreter is visible during that song? Why would you stand up for a country when you see faces that look like yours being shot by those in authority everyday with little to no repercussion?

This is not a protest directly against 45, but it is certainly fueled by him being in office. His campaign rhetoric and continued pandering to a certain ugly side of our country have emboldened those to come out of their shadows, unfurl their flags, and put on their hoods. They don't have to worry about immigrants because there will be a wall. They don't need to sort out interpreters because if you speak English, you don't need one. Healthcare is a privilege just like a quality education, and if the majority of his base would just work harder then they can afford both. No job you say? No problem... Once we get all the foreigners out of here and look after America First, everyone will have a job and be prosperous.

Also, welcome back to the 1950's.

It will be very difficult for me to interpret the national anthem when I am required to do so at events on campus, and I feel lucky to have a team interpreter that may be willing to do that for me because I'm not sure I can anymore. I think back to when I was living in the UK and got teary eyed every time I heard the Star Spangled Banner...I still do now, but the sentiment is very different.