GenX

Phone calls for Harris

~ MaryG ~ 8 Comments

I signed up for a two-hour shift making phone calls for Harris tomorrow.

A friend sent this message earlier today:

Hi everyone,

I just finished a get-out-the-vote phone bank for MoveOn.org. It involved asking voters to remind 3 friends or family members to vote. It was fun! Remember this is coming from the person who would rather chew nails than make these calls! It was easy, lots of people answered, most were friendly, many agreed to remind others and one even agreed to volunteer. I had some great conversations.  The link to sign up is already below, but here it is again: https://mobilize.us/s/y58Kqy
One person said she was definitely voting for “Miss Kamala,” all her family members had voted, but she would remind younger co-workers who might not otherwise vote.

There are lots of shifts left between now and the election, and it’s a great antidote to election anxiety.

Lynn
(she/her/hers)

I really don’t feel like making calls, but defeating Trump is my self-professed Number One Objective of 2024. I’ve written more than 30 blog posts focused or partially focused on him. I started this blog nine years ago, exactly as Trump began his ascension. In many ways, he has been hanging over my life and my blog like a dark cloud the entire time.

So I better get off my butt and join my grandmother friends in making some calls to voters tomorrow. We gotta leave it all on the field!

If you live in the US and have some time on Monday or Tuesday, you can use this link (or the one above) to sign up:

https://track-mg.mobilize.us/CL0/https:%2F%2Fmobilize.us%2Fs%2FXSg67M/1/01000192f4afee2c-54e7c91e-cd19-4693-a83d-a9e5af0ef9c7-000000/sV9xaKVYJa9D2NZc-zQNL5kTcP0pHVc6zXxry3G8maA=377

Wasn’t Kamala great on SNL last night?

Wild Kingdom

~ MaryG ~ 11 Comments

The chickens next door are attracting this guy:

I considered my chicken problem solved when I vanquished the annoying rooster last year, but now I have a coyote problem. I was actually scared to walk home yesterday because this fellow was standing on my sidewalk, not at all concerned about being out in broad daylight. To get home, I would’ve had to walk within 30 feet of him. I called my husband to come pick me up in the car.

He clearly wants to eat one of the chickens next door, who periodically roam freely in our yard. Frankly, I’d love to see it. I keep looking out my window waiting for my Wild Kingdom moment, but it hasn’t happened yet.

If I had small children or pets, I’d probably be Karening this situation by now. I would’ve had the Board of Health over here (again) to complain about the chickens attracting coyotes. But I don’t, so I’m just going to wait and see what happens.

GenX, let me know if you remember watching “Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom” on Sunday nights with your family. I think it was the first show to introduce us to both the beauty and the brutality of the animal kingdom. Some of those lion takedowns were epic. It showed us that predator-prey relationships are just part of nature.

I pulpitted (is that a word?)

~ MaryG ~ 6 Comments

As part of my duties as a member of my church’s Executive Team, I briefly occupied the pulpit this morning. First time!

I’m pleased to report that despite my current state of mind, I was extremely pleasant. No F-bombs were dropped. I did not make any verbal references (veiled or otherwise) to the upcoming election, although I did wear my Chuck Taylor sneakers and some pearls. And also a brat-green t-shirt.

I received a couple of knowing compliments on my sneakers and feedback that I was a “natural” up there. I consider this a win (although I did forget to say a couple of things I had planned). Next time I’m going to write my remarks in large print on an index card, instead of looking at the tiny typeface on my phone.

Deactivated

~ MaryG ~ 17 Comments

OK, I’ve deactivated my Facebook as a first step in trying not to care as much about the election. I’ve never done that before, but apparently it can be reactivated easily. I was just seeing way too many upsetting posts, particularly from feminist groups documenting the horrors that women in the Trump Abortion Ban States are enduring.

Also, I’m done reading The Washington Post. My husband reads it daily, so we won’t cancel it, but honestly, fuck Jeff Bezos. I’m so tired of these asshole white male billionaires and their outsized influence. And while I’m at it, fuck Joe Rogan too. Did you know that little shit is only 5’7”? I am taller than Joe Rogan. And of course, it goes without saying…FUCK ELON MUSK.

Aaaah, now that that’s off my chest…

Back to my efforts to not care about anything other than my own inner circle.

I have some fun things to look forward to:

-Luncheon today: I’m attending a ladies lunch this afternoon. (Actually, I think there’ll be one man there, but he’s cool.) The guests are all church friends of mine so there is absolutely no chance that any of them are Trumpers.

-Babysitting next weekend: My husband and I are going to babysit our adorable, perfect infant granddaughter for a few hours next weekend! I cannot wait to see that little angel again. I can already tell that having grandchildren is going to the absolute best part of being 60+.

-Book group meeting next week: I get to see one of my favorite groups of women. I am so fortunate to have this small group of book-loving friends with whom I can be completely open and always feel supported. (We are reading Solito by Javier Zamora this month and I need to finish it this weekend.)

Also, I had a realization that if Trump wins the election, I’m probably going to seek out a paid position (perhaps a part-time one). I’m going to need something else to focus on, other than the news and volunteering for lost causes. And I think I can still make some decent money in my field, which would mean more resources for the people I love.

Emotional roller coaster

~ MaryG ~ 12 Comments

I am not feeling good about the election today. The polls are too close.

I feel like it might be better to just expect the worse. Maybe we’re not such a great country. If we elect Trump again, it would be hard to come to any other conclusion. Maybe the country is deeply misogynistic—to the core. The fact that a second highly-qualified woman could lose to a serial sexual assaulter and convicted felon is unreal.

Maybe people really are only out for themselves.

Maybe it’s time to circle the wagons and focus only on the five other people that actually matter to me. Maybe I should put all my energy and resources into them.

Maybe the “greater good” is not real.

Maybe we’re divided for a really good reason. Maybe everyone who ever saw fit to vote for Trump should be shunned, even family members. Maybe everyone who politely demurred and never made a single public utterance against the rising tide of fascism should be forgotten. Maybe there’s not one single good thing about the other side.

Maybe I should cancel all these damn newspaper subscriptions and save the money for the six who matter.

Letters to Voters

~ MaryG ~ 4 Comments

I’m mailing my last batch of letters to voters this week. It doesn’t seem like simply asking someone to vote would have a big impact, but I think it can.

I liked this message from Vote Forward:

Header with Vote Forward logo

One of our favorite parts of each year is when we receive messages from letter recipients letting us and their letter writer know that they have a plan to vote. As the messages are already rolling in, we wanted to share one we received from a letter recipient in our U.S. Voters Abroad campaign! 

I’m 37 and while I have always maintained my registration to vote, I knew it expired at the end of last year and I honestly wasn’t going to re-register to vote. I had no plan to vote this year at all. I’ve lost so much hope in watching how things in my home country are progressing that I caught the mindset of “my one vote won’t change anything.”

Then I received my first letter from one of your volunteers. There was a simple message in it about it being important for me to vote because all votes count. My husband looked up the process with me to register to vote. We both realized how silly it would be for me to not register and cast my vote. I filled out the documents, printed them, signed them and then they sat on my desk for too long waiting to be scanned.

A few weeks ago, I scanned them and sent them to Hillsborough County, FL to register myself to vote for the 2024 presidential election. I received my ballot last week. I received my new, valid, voter card yesterday. Today, I received a second letter from your organization and this time the message really captivated me.

The message in this letter was from Joseph W. and he mentioned he is 82 years old. He wrote how he feels it is so important for strong voter turn out in order to aid our country. He is right and I wish I could send him so much gratitude for changing my mindset of “my one vote won’t matter” to it “takes a village to make a change.”

My ballot will be finished and mailed off by Friday. I will not give it time to collect dust. From the bottom of my heart, thank you to all of your volunteers who take the time to write letters to those of us in other countries like myself. Thank you for reminding us that our votes still matter and count. I never knew before that this organization existed, but I am certainly glad it does!!

Our group of “Letter Writers for Democracy” at my church last weekend. We wrote over 3,000 letters for Vote Forward.

The Responsible Ones

~ MaryG ~ 21 Comments

I was talking with a couple in their early 70s who have three adult children. One of them is extremely difficult and now finds herself amidst a divorce with no real skills, no money, and no job. This is despite the fact that she was raised with supportive parents and a great deal of privilege. Her parents (my friends) are now supporting her financially…as parents tend to do (if they are able).

My warning to them was this. Think of your relationship with your other children. It’s alienating to watch your parents continue to bail out an irresponsible person. (It’s even worse to get dragged into a sibling’s problems against your will.) Parents of adult fuck-ups need to consider what they may have done to create this needy person and stop doing it. Granted there are very real problems for which adults need assistance (i.e. addiction, illness), but at some point you just have to be fair.

If one of your children used your hard-earned money to go to college (and graduate on time), got a job, raised a family, pays her bills, pays her taxes, invites you to her home for countless holiday meals, etc. And the other one is constantly in crisis mode, with no responsibilities other than herself. Beware of your actions. The responsible ones are watching.

Duck fat biscuits with lemon mint butter and cranberry jam at Greenleaf—a delicious Black-owned restaurant in Milford, NH.

Stranger Danger

~ MaryG ~ 15 Comments

I’m making a sincere attempt to leave my political anger behind for the weekend…there will be no F bombs in this post.

I’m from Massachusetts. We don’t say “y’all,” except when it rhymes. Well, it’s fall y’all and it’s absolutely gorgeous here. If you’ve never been to New England in the fall, you should add it to your bucket list.

After a few days of true sweater weather in the 50s, it’s going to be back in the 70s today.

A view of a pond along the rail trail I walk daily
A skeleton seated on a tractor beside the rail trail
Late afternoon sun shining through some greenery along the rail trail

Speaking of “my” rail trail, there is an empty field that runs alongside it:

Interestingly, this field was used as a shooting location three years ago for “Salem’s Lot,” which is now streaming on Max. The movie is based on a book by Stephen King, the prolific horror writer from Maine.

Back in the fall of 2021 on my daily walk, I watched Hollywood transform this field into a 1970s drive-in, complete with numerous cars from the era.

This is the Salem’s Lot set under construction in October 2021. The blue building on the right is the projection booth for the drive-in.

As you can imagine, there was a lot of gawking by walkers and cyclists along the rail trail. It was still peak COVID, so many people were working remotely and there wasn’t much else going on. This was fascinating! By the time the filming actually started, there were production assistants keeping people off the field. But you could still see a lot of the activity from the rail trail. One day I saw what I thought were zombies crossing the field.

Well, last night we watched Salem’s Lot on Max and I discovered they weren’t zombies—they were vampires! As you might imagine, I paused the TV several times during the drive-in movie scenes to orient myself.

The beginning of one of the drive-in movie scenes in Salem’s Lot on Max. The blue projection booth building is on the left.

I’m sorry to report that it’s not a very good film, BUT if it’s free to you, it might be fun to watch it on Halloween night while you answer the doorbell for trick or treaters.

If you’re a GenXer like me, it might also bring back some bits of your childhood you’d forgotten. The story is set in 1975 and the kids in the film are about the same age I was then…10.

As a ten-year old, “Stranger Danger” was constantly lurking. Adults were always warning us about the possibility of somebody with a puppy or a candy bar luring us into their car. I never worried one bit about school shootings, but I did worry a lot about getting kidnapped!

When that first little kid gets snatched in the film, I thought to myself “stranger danger.”

Duh!

~ MaryG ~ 10 Comments
Posted on Facebook by “Feminist News”

My first thought when I saw this post was “no shit.” Do some women actually think they have to vote how their husbands do? (And don’t even get me started on churches. Pastors should not be telling their flocks how to vote. And if they do, they should get their nonprofit tax-exempt status revoked.)

My second thought was “how sad.” So many women are stuck in power-imbalanced marriages and feel they can’t get out.

I’ve been married 31 years and my husband (thankfully) never even entertained the idea of voting for Trump, but we’ve had plenty of other fights. Two things he’s never done is physically threaten me (even though he’s much bigger and stronger than me) or try to control what I do (even though he earned much more money than I did when we were both working).

If you’re being controlled by your husband or boyfriend—either physically or mentally—you should be making your escape plan. I firmly believe that.

And did you see that interview that Kamala did with Fox News? Infuriating! Fuck Bret Baier. Fuck him right in the ass.

18 more days.

Sweater Weather and Anger

~ MaryG ~ 4 Comments

I love the ubiquitous clip of Amy Poehler and Maya Rudolph saying “sweater weather.” It’s dumb, but it makes me laugh every time. I think it’s because Amy Poehler is using an authentic Boston accent. She grew up two towns over from where I did.

It is, in fact, “sweater weather” in Massachusetts. And I’m very pleased to report that I wore a sweater out to lunch yesterday and did not regret it. Maybe my hot flashes are finally subsiding.

I am continuing to write letters and postcards to help get out the vote in swing states, but that will be ending soon. My extreme anger at the Trump movement has risen to the surface again. I’m really fucking pissed at everyone who voted for him in 2016 and/or 2020, including members of my own family (not my husband or my kids). And I truly HATE all of Trump’s Republican enablers in the GOP. My hatred extends to all the Republicans who don’t support him, but have strategically kept their mouths shut during this campaign. For example, my college classmate Jane Swift (former Governor of Massachusetts) has not said one thing in support of Harris. Fuck you Jane. Nobody cares about your daughter’s engagement ring. Post about something that actually matters. Be BRAVE, like Liz Cheney. Speaking of former Massachusetts Governors, where the fuck is Mitt Romney??!? He should be out campaigning for Harris. Bill Weld has been public about supporting Harris, but unfortunately nobody gives a shit about Bill Weld anymore.

19 more days.

I think I should stop watching the news and just watch videos of cats in sweaters for the next three weeks.