Happy new year

Stay healthy we have work to do

This sweet boy is Duke. We are fostering Duke while he recovers from an upper respiratory infection. He is mellow and relaxed and just wants to sit in the box in the basement, although part of it might be because he is sick. He’s a stray, but was clearly someone’s beloved pet – he’s affectionate and lets me brush his belly. But he feels crummy because through no fault of his own, he is sick.

Don’t get sick!

I know you are all already vaccinated against covid, including all the boosters, and that you do not do stupid things like fly without a mask. (We mask anytime we’re indoors around other people – we’re not messing around.)

But did you know that because of certain stupid anti-vaxxers, who have decided that it’s not just covid but all vaccines that are bad, that we are seeing a resurgence of whooping cough?

That’s right. That disease that you thought existed only in novels set in Victorian England has returned. And it’s highly contagious. And it’s miserable. And even if you’re vaccinated, you can get it. (But presumably, it’s less bad if you’re vaxxed.)

It’s so contagious that when my friend’s 7th grade son got it, the doctor prescribed preventive antibiotics for the entire family.

PREVENTIVE ANTIBIOTICS!

You’re thinking, “But I was vaccinated against whooping cough/pertussis as a child! Hasn’t that disease been eradicated?”

We would laugh at the idea of a resurgence of old-timey diseases if we were living with normal, intelligent people.

But — you know.

Those People.

Anyhow, check to make sure you’re current on your DTAP (Tetanus, Diphtheria, Pertussis). Who knew that it was something you needed boosted? But you do.

And be thankful that you are probably (if you are reading this) among the people vaccinated for smallpox. Who knows what craziness this new administration will unleash?

Will nobody think of the CEOs?

When will this senseless reign of terror against wealthy, privileged white men end?

What are we even supposed to do about these CEOs?

They don’t feel safe.

Every day, they’re afraid to go to work.

There’s nobody between them and a shooter.

Not even a substitute teacher, standing behind the door with a pair of scissors in her hand.

When will we do something about their pain?

HOW MANY CEOs MUST WE LOSE BEFORE WE ACT?

Maybe we could teach them to hide in a coat closet?

Maybe we could teach them to dial 911?

Maybe we could install metal detectors at the entrances?

Maybe we could have active shooter drills in the office?

Maybe we could arm the administrative assistants?

Every CEO is precious to someone and certainly cannot be replaced.

We continue the fight

We cannot let them win

All I can think about is when I was a Peace Corps volunteer in Chile in the ’90s – shortly after Pinochet had stepped down from being dictator but was still wielding power as a senator for life – and a Chilean woman told me that when Pinochet was running things, there was no rape – that women could walk the streets safely.

I just looked at her and started laughing.

No rape?

In a dictatorship that disappeared people?

Yes there was rape, I told her. There was rape. It just wasn’t reported.

There was a movie years ago about a military coup. The first thing the rebels did was take over the radio station. (This was before the internet.) The most important thing for their coup to succeed was to be able to control the narrative.

I think about these things when I read the sanewashing of that man in major media.

Don’t let them fool you. Read these wise women:

I also like

(These organizations can all use your donations, BTW.)

I asked a man in the Aldi parking lot if he was registered to vote.

He told me he had stayed out of politics for the past few years. “They don’t never do anything for people like me,” he said. “Look at these streets. Look how bad they are. My car gets ruined and I have to pay to fix it.”

I told him about how the Republicans had put such hard restrictions on the cities’ ability to tax that public services were underfunded. I said that I understood why he was frustrated. And then I said that we can’t quit – that if we don’t vote, the people who put that man into office will win.

And that’s what I have for now – I will not let them win anything else. And if they do, it will not be because I didn’t do everything I could.