Wow. What a day.
Freezing rain all day, so I moved my classes online and then was committed to sitting with my laptop all day.
I also got into it with the very pro-Hindu nationalist people on my WhatsApp. Hope springs eternal in a teacher's breast I guess. If even one of them stops to reconsider their exclusionary stance, that would be helpful. But I can't do this every day--it's exhausting and draining and makes me question what kind of world I'm living in.
Then Big A woke up grumpy and I pushed back (I mean, he's not a toddler!) and then we fought on text for a bit. Then he "hearted" something I had said in snark and then I felt bad and then the fight was over. Just like that.
My car has been in the repair shop since Monday and they don't know how to fix it--they're waiting on input from the tech team. I was so alarmed by this, that I texted "Is my Bluey [what I call my car] OK?!? ðŸ˜" to the family chat... except I sent it to the repair shop by accident... and they texted back "We should be hearing something today. Bluey has a bit of a boo-boo." And I laugh-cried in embarrassment.
Motaz Azaiza the passionate Gazan journalist has evacuated Gaza. He did such great work, and I'm glad he's safe, and so humbled that he's only 24!
So many of my U.S. friends texted me in a panic about Trump winning the NH primary... but I don't know what to tell them. Is the option really "Genocide Joe?" The lesser of two evils just seems more like the other evil day by day.
And finally: another day of back pain. Whomp-whomp.
Pic: An icy Red Cedar through the railing on the Sparty (not official name, I think) bridge. From my Monday walk.
6 comments:
Sorry.
I can see myself accidentally sending that text. Once when the kids were little we were in a restaurant and I'd been talking to one of them and then I turned to the waiter and accidentally called him "Sweetie" and I was so mortified I swore I would never return to that establishment. He didn't blink an eye but I was not old enough to get away with that.
I am distressed by U.S. policy in Gaza, too, but I think at the end of another Biden term we will still be living in a democracy and I'm not sure about a second Trump term.
I agree with steph above re: prez, but Maya it is SO HARD to be a liberal Jew and a concerned citizen and a voter right now.
The text to the car repair! I am dying.
My husband works at the same place I do and there have been SO MANY TIMES I have thought I was messaging him on WebEx ("let's leave at 4:30!") to OTHER PEOPLE. It's so mortifying. Yet, do I ever learn my lesson?
Foreign Policy is far more complex than we can know, especially in that region. I find it impossible to believe that President Biden is okay with the deaths in Gaza. I find it impossible to believe that his administration isn't desperately trying to influence a diplomatic solution. Netanyahu is the butcher here. He is the intractable one. He is Genocide Bibi.
RE: We bought a new car once and had to turn in our Ford Explorer. When it came time to leave, I suddenly was overcome with tears. "Look at it sitting there all alone now," I said to my husband (in front of the salesperson). "The boys and I went and did so many great things with that car!" I never saw a person look so tragic and unprepared as that poor salesman. He had no idea what to say although it was clear he was trying to figure out something.
Steph-- 😂 I would have been extra mortified to call some stranger "sweetie" too. And you are, of course, 100% correct with that prediction about democracy.
Sarah--This is exactly it. I'm so silent on FB these days because it feels like a minefield--I love my people there and worry that any criticism will be taken personally. I'm just upset with governments, in general--not people. And also, I'm afraid that saying anything will invite anti-India/Hindu or antisemitic comments.
Engie--I like that you are so generous with your reminders to various people that they should leave and go home. Do any of them think you've invited them to your home? LOL
Nance--What I liked most about Biden was his decency and how he understood human tragedy and empathized with people. In the current situation, he has been actively disseminating lies (that he saw beheaded babies, and that there were Hamas at Al-Shifa hospital) and I don't know what to make of it.
I completely get you on the old car... What a Toy Story 3 moment! Our older one totaled the car we'd had when we were transporting the kids and my parents on road trips, and it gave me a real pang to say goodbye to "Ahnold" (named for Schwarzenegger, cos it was big and hardy). But I chuckled about your salesman's "tragic and unprepared" look. :)
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