Mary Beth Writes

I wrote this yesterday: “I’m all over the place. How about you?”

Today I’m: “I think I lost weight last night and it was some of the heaviness of persistent stress.”

It’s happening, Friends. Yes, we all know nothing will be sensationally simple going forward. Right now, the Senate is where it was pre-election. (Though hold on, Stacey Abram’s Amazing Georgia is having TWO senate races in January.)

The Trump story right now is that Dems cheated by stuffing ballot boxes with Biden ballots. If Dems composed (tens of thousands?) of fake ballots to tip the scales … then why didn’t those durn cheaters vote for Dem senate and other down-ballot candidates? Did Dems not pay enough to the “backroom thugs?”

Sheesh.

What we witnessed and have been a part of of - is a nation saying "We are better than this." 

An opinion I’m seeing too many places - and I’m arguing it every single time.

“White women increased their support for Trump in this election.” And then the statement is jumped on by many others who are furious at white women.

Hark! Hark! THERE ARE NO EXIT POLLS ON ABSENTEE BALLOTS. Whatever opinions are being tossed around right now on the basis of demographic groups of voters – white women, Black youth, Hispanic males, college students, Ferrari owners – all of those stats are based on exit polls of people who voted IN PERSON.

It is not real information. Fight pigeonholing based on cardinals, bluebirds, and penguins.

There’s a lot to figure out but we won’t learn anything based on exit polls only of people who went to the polls and not by finding out who voted by mail and drop-off. 

There’s so much talk right now about how dysfunctional our society has become. All the cheating, lying, violence, rioting, harmful drug-using, laziness, racism, and xenophobia.

It’s the worse society most of us have seen in our lifetime. That’s what we are being told and that’s what way too many of us believe.

Most of us (who read my small website) are white; that’s the way my cookie crumbles.

Here’s what I think (and hope). I think the statement that society has become terrible – is the swan song of white privilege.

It’s been bad out there for a long, long time. Like this: I’ve been reading American history for decades, but it was only last year that I heard about the Tulsa Greenwood massacre. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tulsa_race_massacre  I knew that it is more fraught to be black than white in this society. I didn’t know about “the talk” Black parents have with their kids, because it is that effing dangerous to be a black teenager walking down a street. It never occurred to me that parents and grandparents of kids who are black live with an entire extra layer of stress and care.

Yes, there’s a lot to take in about being an American in 2020. But let’s not fall into wallows of self-pitying solipsism. Let’s not walk around pining for our personally less traumatic pasts. While we were having rather safe and pleasant lives, others were – and still are - suffering the ravages of systemic racism.

Like this right now: Did you know 140 people drowned two weeks ago, trying to emigrate to some place they could get jobs? https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/11/02/refu-n02.html Are we aware that our sisters and brothers in Central America – RIGHT NOW - are on rooftops waiting for help? https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/other/storm-eta-floods-honduras/vi-BB1aJGDh

I have more to say, but it’s sunny and 70 degrees outside and it is my holy belief that when the weather is like this in the Midwest in November, I better go out there.   

.....

This is the URL that Karen Kant mentions in her comment.  I'm so incredibnly moved. Read the story and then listen. Yes, this is what we mean.  Listen Here. 

Here is a jarring and ferocious poem about the world we want, that David sent to me. Read Here 

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https://www.npr.org/2020/09/29/917826467/the-good-ones-tiny-desk-home-concert
Mary Beth's picture

Damn. When we go outside our privileged lives, what's out there is hard and beautiful and invites us to be powerful enough to listen and care. I inserted the URL at the end of my post, so you all can easily access it.

100% yes Thank you for this

YES!!!! On all counts. Lot's of work to do. Patricia/Fl

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Len’s Birthday

11/30/2023

Last week I mentioned that Monday of this week would be Len’s birthday. A friend remarked to me ever so kindly later that day, “I thought his birthday was the 30th?”

It is. Len’s birthday is the 30th. This same friend has commented to me, over the years, about how much I remember.

Covid Diary #1350 Thanksgiving

11/22/2023

Today is 1350 days since the that March Friday in 2020 when we all went into quarantine.

Today is 60 years since JFK was assassinated on November 22, 1963. I remember that day, so does Len, so do many of you. Here’s a scary truth. We are as far today from that day – as that day was from the Wright brother’s first flight at Kitty Hawk on Dec 17, 1903.

Quarantine Diary #1349 Sci-Fi & Prophecy

11/21/2023

We both took Covid tests this morning and both of us still have pink lines. I asked the internet what this means and it says I might be pregnant.

I have a call into my doctor’s office to discuss. I feel so much better that if I didn’t know I have Covid, I wouldn’t know it. I’ve been sicker than this after too much pie.

Covid Diary #1347

11/19/2023

A few of you might realize yesterday we were 1345 days since March 13, 2020, and today we’re at 1347. Yup, I used a different calculator. Just a fun reminder that precision depends as much on asking the right question as doing perfect math.

I’m in day #4 of having Covid. No more chills. I have a fever of 100.4 which is more impressive than the 100.2 that Len achieved on his Day #4.  I’m taking various OTC meds and I keep track of them in my phone’s notes because, wow, it’s so easy to have no memory of the last time one took something. I’m good. Enough.

Covid Diary #1345

11/18/2023

I thought I was done with the Covid Diary but guess what? Len and I caught Covid this week! Actually, Covid caught us. We have continued to wear masks in stores, library, meetings, and our church so we will never know for sure where Len encountered Covid. And since I got it four days later, I guess we know where I got it…

My New Substack for Short Stories

11/11/2023

Let’s call this “Old Dog Versus New Tricks.” Does it feel to you as if I’ve been extra quiet these past months? It does to me. One big reason is that I’ve been figuring out Substack.

Here’s the deal: In addition to this blog, I’ve been writing more creative fiction. It’s something I’ve wanted to do for a long time, and I’m finally taking it seriously. I’m not giving up this website, but substack is going to let me concentrate on short stories and other stand-alone pieces.

What’s Substack?

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