More floof. More distractions because life feels very overwhelming and fatalistic in our home at the moment. I alternate between swearing about what the current administration is doing to destroy our country and whispering sweet nothings to this guy.
Scenes from my walk around the neighborhood this morning.
One day I’ll feel more excited about lunch dates at the White House than I do during this administration.
Yes, I’m trying to eat less meat and yes, that is totally a pot roast sitting in my instant pot, ready for me to seal it in for a nice 8-hour nap. But when the government shuts down, and we have no idea when my next check is coming in (not tomorrow on my usual payday, apparently!), then we cook meals with what we’ve got in the freezer and pantry. We happened to have this roast squirreled away, so that was dinner tonight (and hopefully tomorrow night too – thanks, leftovers!). I chop onions instead of stabbing people in the workplace – EVERYONE WINS! Except the cow pictured above, to whom I’m v, v sorry.
It’s nothing fancy, but this here is our favorite recipe for pot roast.
And because it’s worth saying – I’m stressed out without an income, but I’ll be damned if the Dems give in on funding a border wall with Mexico. Stay strong, Pelosi!
Shout out to same-day registration and poll workers that didn’t even blink when I had to use my temporary DC license. I know this is a privilege, but this is the way elections should be — not endless lines at polling locations and people getting turned away at the ballot box.
Up close and personal with Julián Castro at Sixth & I. He didn’t say he would run for president in 2020, but he didn’t say he wouldn’t run, either.
Seen at the March to End Family Separation in Washington, DC.
Spotted facing the White House.
Spotted near Logan Circle, Washington, DC.
It’s hard to know what to say these days. I’ve drafted up a few different random posts in my head, but they’ve felt trite or tone-deaf with everything else that’s going on right now. The horrible Nazi shit in Charlottesville. The trans ban in the military. Hurricane Harvey. The ending of DACA. Hurricane Irma. It’s a lot to take in, and it’s even more to actually process the terrible stuff that happens on a daily basis, but I am trying.
It’s important to me that I acknowledge these things in this public space, that I say yes, I’m aware of what’s happening in the world. Some days I just want to check out, but I know that is a privilege. I do limit how much news I take in after hours (since I have to monitor it regularly at work), but I’ve been reading the work of people who are a lot smarter than me. That helps me think critically about what’s going on, even if it still makes no damn sense. And in the meantime, I’m going to keep trying to get those posts out of draft form and published on the page, because writing not only helps me deal with all this other bullshit – it brings me joy, and finding joy is a radical thing these days.
And FYI, here are three good things I’ve read in the past couple of weeks:
If you want to see other articles I’ve been reading and enjoying, I share them over on Pocket.
“One of the most insidious things about gaslighting is the denial of reality. Being denied what you have seen. Being denied what you have experienced and know to be true. It can make you feel like you are crazy. But you are not crazy.”
Ell Gee Writes 