What are you thankful for this morning? I am thankful that I learned to cook early and often as a kid. I am even more thankful that I DIDN’T learn to bake, save the apple pie I’m about to put in the oven. I’m also thankful that I refused to learn to make coffee years ago and even more thankful I found a husband who makes it every morning and serves it to me before my feet hit the floor. Thankful to have a son who is smarter and kinder than I am (most days). Thankful to have the kind of republican friends who put up with my absurd political posts without comment. Thankful that Vince Dooley is gone and Andy Reid may be following. Thankful to work with a great group of dedicated folks who never seem to run out of steam (alert the vague transit reference…) Thankful to always pick homes in neighborhoods with the BEST neighbors. Thankful to have a terrific family, full of cousins and aunts, nieces and nephews. Thankful that despite not having our parents here on earth, our thanksgiving table is filled with friends who go a long way to stem the sadness of their absence. Amen.
Rite of “Passage”
I’ve just completed the Just-Turned-Fifty Right-of Passage, passage, of course, being the operative word. If you are under 50, move along. Please. You have no business here.
If you are over 50, you either know what I’m talking about or you should know. They say the prep is the worst part. It isn’t. The worry is the worst part. (But, the prep is pretty awful – I’ve learned a few tips that helped. PM me if you want to know more.) And, coming out of this with a clean bill of health is a worthy pay-out for a day or two of running through worst-case scenarios in my tiny brain.
The fasting part was actually the easiest, because really, when you’ve just drank a quart of dirty sea sludge, trust me, you don’t have an appetite. I vow never to complain about having four bathrooms in our home again – they came in very handy. A half a stone lighter, not nearly as hungry as I thought I’d be and enjoying life on this side of the milestone makes me want to judge (harshly) those of you who have put off this event because you are afraid.
Colonoscopies are no picnic, but I imagine wearing a colostomy bag on your stomach for the rest of your life isn’t, either. From what I’ve read, colon cancer is the second leading cause of death in our country. Here’s the thing – caught as polyps (as my husband’s were) ensures the cancer is nipped in the bud, so to speak.
Stop being a baby.
The only disappointing thing about this whole experience is that they don’t give out stickers like they do at the voting booth on election day.
Let’s Get Real About Voter Suppression.
If your (honest) argument for voter suppression (or as True the Vote, a conservative “vote-monitoring” organization based in Texas calls it, voter protection) is that voter fraud is rampant, you are either misguided, brainwashed, or an idiot (and by idiot, I mean someone who has a functioning brain, but chooses not to use it).
With under 300 cases NATIONWIDE in the last election brought to prosecution, I believe we can all agree (again, if we are being honest, something not necessarily easy for a conservative hell-bent on denying a fundamental right to millions), this is NOT a problem for our country. If this is your argument, if this is your logic, then you must also believe that because there are 300 hungry children in, oh let’s say Des Moines, Iowa, ONE MILLION volunteers should be mobilized to fan out to the food banks in 15 other states with the hungriest of children. What?? Is hunger not quite on par with voter fraud as a matter of importance? See, your logic and your actions are colored, not by your publicly stated goal, but by your insidious one. Your end, in Machiavellian terms, is, you think, justified by your means.
Except that it is a farce…it is laughable. And it is sad.
Sometimes Silence Tells All You Need to Know
The recent racist comments of John Sununu aren’t so much shocking as is the fact that he is a co-chair of the Romney campaign.
Every campaign, every campaign season, candidates says this is “the most important election in which you’ll vote in your life time.” Sometimes we believe them and sometimes we are onto their hyperbole. But, for four years, I’ve tried to reason with my own sense of patriotism…that although racism (and sexism and all kinds of isms) exist in pockets scattered throughout our country, surely, certainly, the country as a whole speaks out against these sorts of things.
But, what began with Sarah Palin’s “palling around with terrorists” jabs, eventually erupted into the President’s first night in office when republicans gathered to hatch a plan to do anything they could to make him a one term president, even if it meant harming the least among us.
Continue reading “Sometimes Silence Tells All You Need to Know”
Christine Anne Scott 