It used to be that I pretty much did it all, and then I came on here and told it. It's all I can do these days to get a weekly post out, and even that one is hard going. I'm not sure why to keep on doing it, to tell you the truth. Not it as in all of it, because I'm still sort of doing it all, but the blog itself. I don't have anything funny to say anymore, and I feel as blowsy as those peonies dying on my dining room table. Everything of beauty seems somehow tainted these days, doesn't it? I hate saying that the political climate affects everything, but it kind of does. While I'm as committed as ever to resisting, it takes an inordinate amount of energy to maintain composure, to not feel profoundly depressed, to not want to give up and give in. When you have close relatives whose politics are directly contrary to yours -- well -- it's enervating, to say the least.
The only rant I have energy to make is something like what I posted on Facebook, and I'm perfectly aware of how ridiculous and destructive it is to curse and rant and otherwise refuse to reach across the aisle or extend a compassionate hand or seek to come together with those of differing views. There are times for that, and I just don't think this is one of them. So here's what I have to say:
Another round of FUs to those who voted for 45, didn't vote or voted for a third party.
That's my response to the most recent news that our POSPOTUS pulled out of the Paris Climate accord. I might also have posted, "Way to sever global alliances, 45." I'm thinking our return to Dickensian times of chimney sweeps and ten children families is nigh. 45 really is a POS, but the bigger PsOS are those legislators and citizens that are watching and abetting him.
The old gray mare ain't what she used to be. She curses at least 5,456 times a day now, out loud and in her tiny little mother mind.™
So, here's my rant again:
Another round of FUs to those who voted for 45, didn't vote or voted for a third party.
I doubt there are any 45-supporters out there lurking around and reading this blog, but if there are, FU, too.
Charming, right?
The old gray mare just ain't what she used to be, ain't what she used to be, ain't what she used to be.
On a brighter note, the old gray mare is finally getting some pages together of Ye Olde Booke or what I used to call MGDB.* Sorry for cursing again. The process has been to write the thing for nearly ten years, be awarded a prestigious three-week writing residency on Whidbey Island where it is finished and then spend the next two years dismantling it into a series of fragments.
It's in the fragments that I lie.
*My Goddamn Book
Blog when you feel overwhelmingly like you must. Your words are powerful and play a role here. I swear.
ReplyDeleteDo what you're able to do. Yes, like M said "Your words are powerful and play a role here." So whenever you are able to bring them - I will be rushing right over.
ReplyDeleteWhether those peony's are tired or in full bloom, they are gorgeous - just like you.
I know the feeling, the draw backs of blogging in face of the relentless despair of the political scene in your neck of the woods, but your readers need you.
ReplyDeleteYes, your readers need you. I need you. You don't mince words. You're breathtaking.
ReplyDeleteI like the abbreviation PsOS, which I've never seen before but which will no doubt be highly useful.
ReplyDeleteI read that the Paris decision is likely to take several years to bring to fruition, so there's a chance that we'll have an opportunity to "call it off" with another presidential election. I'm clinging to that hope!
Maybe you need a blog break. Sometimes they're the thing -- especially when you're wrestling with other writing projects, too!
I am one of your "newer" readers; an avid one. (come by way of Andrea Carlisle, though I may have said this before). Two things. One, I too, these days, am often moved to speak in swear words and I do it plenty. I look at most of the people in Washington and want to hurl; into the toilet and hurl things at the t.v. or the New Yorker out the window. Two: Write the blog if you are so moved to express yourself. Your readers will be here. They do want to hear you. Love reading your words in all their glory (like those beautiful flowers up above). But I wince at the thought of the blog becoming (or being) one more thing that you are expected to do.
ReplyDeleteThank you.
ReplyDelete"Everything of beauty seems somehow tainted these days." So true, Elizabeth! Please don't go. We need you, and to know that there are like-minded humans out there, just to make it, somehow. Best wishes, and thank you for writing thus far.
ReplyDeleteYour words, your Voice, your perspective and your resilience do play a role here in The Land Of Blog. Blog when you need to, when you want to... but I totally agree with Sandra, I would not want Blogging to become one more thing that you feel in any way you are expected to do. Virtual Hugs... Dawn... The Bohemian
ReplyDeleteSending love for all of the above and more.
ReplyDelete