Category: Current Events

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my Morrigan kitty

A few days ago, I went upstairs to grab a pair of socks and found my 16 year old cat lying in a puddle of diarrhea and nearly unresponsive. I raced her to an emergency vet, certain I was about to lose her.

The vet convinced me that we could save her, but it wouldn’t be cheap. She spent a night in the hospital after bloodwork came back to show she had a stage 2 kidney disease. It was a pretty rough night for me, as our favorite time together is cuddling in bed.

I had to set up the spare room for her before I could bring her home, adding to the cost of the whole thing as I needed new food and water dishes, someplace soft for her to sleep, new litterbox, etc. When I picked her up last night, the cost of the meds and food I had to bring home brought the total cost of this illness to $2900. Luckily I had enough room on credit cards to cover it, but it’s going to strain my finances for the next few months.

I set up a GoFundMe campaign, and I would be humbled and honored if you, dearest Readers, would donate a small amount and/or share the campaign on your socials.

May your winter holidays be especially warm and bright, Readers. Hug your people and your furbabies and always tell them that you love them.

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time journeys on

It is hard to believe that we are at the midpoint of December. It’s been a year of status quo, travel, and challenge. For a good chunk of the year, I’ve felt stuck in a rut, but I’ve also traveled to a number of places I’ve never been before (and a few I have).

Mom and I took a road trip north of here, into gold country. We visited little towns and historical sites. We took lots of pictures. On the drive home, I learned that she wanted to visit New Orleans. New Orleans has been on my bucket list for a long time.

Next thing I know, we’re planning a week in NOLA, with my brother coming along for the ride. We did all the touristy things and even caught a Saints football game.

I also got back to Austin in August, and a few trips to Tucson to help my stepmother. Racking up the air miles! 

But here we are, December 16…Christmas is just 9 days away. The new year is just 7 days beyond that and we’ll be in 2024. There was a time in my life when that seemed impossible. It’s going to be a consequential year. Everything is on the line in the November election. It is easy to sink into despair over the state of things, but I choose optimism.

I choose to believe that Americans have seen the chaos of the last two years and will do the right thing to protect our democracy. Anything else is unthinkable.

These heavy thoughts brought to you by a lack of caffeine. I best get to pouring my first cup of Death Wish Coffee. Y’all have a great Saturday, Readers. 

Photo by Aron Visuals on Unsplash

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most of us

Democracy won in a lot of places last night.

I don’t write much about politics on this blog, but I am a political person. I am a liberal and progressive. I believe in LGBTQIA+ rights, voting rights, and the right of women to control their own bodies.

Last night women and Gen Z turned out and told Republicans that they are out of touch with the majority of Americans.

The thing is, most of us don’t want to go backward. Most of us want more rights, not less. Most of us want to let LGBTQIA+ live their lives and have the same rights that everyone else does. Most of us want everyone to have the chance to vote. Most of us want women to be able to make decisions about their own bodies. Most of us don’t buy into the conspiracy theories.

Republicans seem to be stuck in a mindset that most of us don’t share.

Now, we just need to carry that momentum into next year. And I need another cup of coffee.

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hope rises with the sun

The world is a hot mess right now, and I have to admit that it is eating up a lot of my brain power and making me want to just hide in my safe little sanctuary until it sorts itself out. We’re still dealing with a pandemic, we’ve got monkeypox on the rise, new cases of polio (which we thought we had irradiated), some new virus in China…we’ve got war in Ukraine, a former president who appears to have committed even more crime than we thought, his supporters taking guns to the FBI and calling for civil war (let alone just plain murder of agents). We’ve got Israel pounding Palestine, civilians being killed the world over, continuing gun violence here in the US and a congress who seems to have forgotten they’re supposed to work for us.

It’s a lot, and some days it’s more than I can wrap my head around. Other days, I’m wallowing in it, which isn’t good for anyone.

Still, there is beauty and kindness in this world, we just have to dig a little deeper to find it these days. The sun still rises, the rain still falls (though most of the world really needs more of that), the flowers still open up and people still do good things for one another.

And when you can’t find that kindness around you, the best way to look for it is to be that kindness. It doesn’t have to be a big gesture or cost you a fortune. It can just be the little things, the smile for a stranger, a kind word to someone you pass in the street or stand behind in line. It can be the cup of coffee you bring a coworker who is having a hard time, or the lunch tab you pick up for a friend.

Hope rises above despair, but it needs our help. Find a moment today to hope for something. Bring kindness into the world.

Happy Sunday, Readers. May it bring you peace.

Photo by todd kent on Unsplash

By the way, have you picked up your copy of Thanátou yet?

Thanátou
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on war, religion, and faith

I am not a religious person. What I believe doesn’t fit into neat little boxes, or for that matter, a church pew. I am, however, a student of religion because religion shapes our world.

Notice I say religion, not faith. The two can be mutually exclusive. Religion seeks to subjugate, control. Faith is freedom, or it can be. I guess it depends on where you put your faith.

Today, three of the biggest religions are celebrating holy days. I know people of all three religions, all three faiths. They live their faith daily. It is part of who they are and their faith is beautiful. Their religions? Not so much, in my opinion.

Why is that? I think it’s because faith is an individual thing. It lives in a person’s heart. Religion, on the other hand, is a man-made expression of what a group of men said they believed thousands of years ago, modified and codified and made rigid by human beings who maybe started with the best of intentions, then discovered the money and power available to them through the enforcing of said religion.

I don’t begrudge anyone their faith. Believe what is in your heart to believe. I have no desire to stop you.

So, where does the war part come in?

It’s no secret that religion has been used to justify war for centuries and it continues today. Right here in the US there is a concerted religious war on LGBTQ+ folks, on a woman’s right to control her body and on critical thinking. Around the world, religious groups attack other religious groups as they have done since the beginning of time.

And perhaps most jarring to me at this moment in time is the time and money that will be spent in religious celebration while men, women, and children are under siege by a megalomaniac. Not that I expect us all to sit and wring our hands all day every day over what is happening in Ukraine, not at all.

However, it might be nice if those religious leaders would stop praising the megalomaniac, and lead their congregations in support of those fleeing the violence.

Happy Easter/Passover/Ramadan, if you celebrate, Readers. Please keep Ukraine in your thoughts and remember that Kindness Matters.

Photo by Austrian National Library on Unsplash

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a reminder that freedom isn’t free

In the last two years, we’ve heard a lot of people yelling about their freedom and comparing masks and vaccines to nazi Germany. This week, we have had a glaring example of how absurd that actually is.

While the US and Canada are mired under protests about mandates designed to protect the public health, Ukrainians have had to step up to fight for their actual freedom…the freedom to live under their democratically elected government. They have been forced to flee or take up arms against a country so much larger than their own who seems intent on annihilating them.

I see people in the US declaring that this is why we need AK rifles to be available to everyone, completely missing the fact that a) we aren’t at war and b) we are not imminently under the threat of invasion. The Ukrainian government armed its people to defend themselves against Russia.

Automatic weapons have no place outside of war. They have no purpose other than to kill.

We are watching a nation stand up and fight back under nearly hopeless odds. The ingenuity and strength of the Ukrainian people are an inspiration. And still, here at home, we have people whining that being told to put a piece of cloth over their face to protect others is a violation of their “freedom”…and many of them are the same people who are saying that they would defend their neighbors with their guns if the need arose.

And they can not see the irony there.

Freedom isn’t free. It is predicated on a number of principles, including the idea that we must protect our citizens, even from ourselves, especially in a time of crisis.

I hear that the Ukrainians are open to volunteer militias coming to aid them. Maybe some of our right-wing militias should head over, prove they’re actually willing to do the work of defending the freedom that they keep declaring. But, if you’re going, make sure you’re not carrying a deadly virus with you so you don’t kill those you are there to defend.

Meanwhile, I’ll keep my mask on in public to protect those here at home from the same.

I hope your Sunday is filled with kindness and joy, dearest Readers, and that peace comes sooner, rather than later.

Photo by Eugene on Unsplash

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bullies are not welcome

I had planned to write a blog post this morning about settling in to the new routine in the new house, but with all that is happening on the global stage, that seems a bit frivolous. Sure, my day-to-day existence continues onward, as the epicenter of the current global crisis is far away and currently will little impact that routine.

But it is sobering to see the destruction that modern weapons of war are capable of when waged against a democratic country mostly at peace, especially with tensions so high here at home in a US divided along idealogic and political divides that grow deeper each year.

Honestly, I had expected a second civil war here at home before I’d anticipated the start of what could become WWIII. Maybe that was naive of me, or merely typically US-focused. We do have an issue seeing beyond our own borders at times, and I am as guilty of that as anyone, particularly now.

I’ve always been a fan of dystopian, post-WWIII stories, but I have no desire to actually live in such a story. I’m torn in my thinking regarding the US response. I believe on one hand that we must show a strong, united front in support of Ukraine as our ally, but I have no desire to commit our troops to engagement, particularly after we finally withdrew from Afghanistan.

I’m not sure how well sanctions will work against someone like Putin, who does not care one tiny iota about the Russian people and will likely let them freeze and starve while he throws his temper tantrum over a country that fought to cut itself free of the Soviet Union in the first place.

I am also strongly anti-bully, and Putin here is exactly that. He’s a bully on the global stage and he’s throwing the full weight of the Russian military at a smaller country simply because he can. I don’t have any answers here, I’ll leave that in the hands of our elected and military officials who have much deeper knowledge than I do on the subject.

I have a candle lit on my altar today for the people of Ukraine. May the gods protect them. And you, Readers.

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one year on

One year ago today, I was working from home and had one of my monitors tuned in to watch the certification of the electoral college votes. I was watching not because I expected anything would happen, but because I was relieved that we would finally have a competent adult in the White House.

Well, I expected a few theatrical objections from the Republican side of things because they’d already proven that they were incapable of behaving like rational adults. I didn’t expect to be watching a full-on insurrection.

In fact, I was so incredulous when it started to be clear that something was happening, that I called my mother to confirm what I was seeing was real. For clarity, I don’t have cable tv, I was streaming on YouTube, so I was looking for confirmation that the news was showing the same thing.

Needless to say, not a lot of work got done the rest of the day as I watched the coverage.

There was a lot of shock and some fear on my part, a lot of disbelief too.

In the days that followed, as more and more information came out, that disbelief turned to anger, and over the last year, as we learned more and as social media posts made during the insurrection went viral, that anger grew.

In the last year, some of those people went on trial and went to jail, or had to pay fines. The length of the sentences grew as they went along, working their way up to those who committed the more heinous acts that day.

This is not over, not until those at the top face justice. Not until the full truth about who was involved behind the scenes is known. Not until those in office who were involved are expelled.

I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that the very existence of democracy in America is on the line.

On this anniversary, I hope a somber remembrance will lead us to better days, dear Readers.

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the Harry Potter problem

I have a troubled relationship with Harry Potter. On the one hand, I love the magical world and all of the people who occupy it. On the other hand, there’s the world’s creator, who has shown herself to be…well, a terrible person.

Yesterday, I watched the reunion special on HBO Max, because despite that woman and her TERF views, the movies have been a big source of comfort in my life. I watch them when I need something familiar and yet not real, I can immerse myself in that world and forget the real world exists.

However, I am very aware of her problematic, and vocal, opposition to the notion that transwomen are women. As a part of the LGBTQA+ community, and as someone with transgender family and friends, I simply can’t abide those who would punch down at an already marginalized group of people.

I will never understand how having a penis or not having a penis matters to anyone other than the owner of said penis.

Oh, my, I think I’m getting derailed. Back to Harry Potter…

For the most part, the reunion was a lovely trip back in time, and we get to watch those kids grow up and become amazing actors. I’ll admit to crying when they memorialized those who had died since they were at Hogwarts…to be fair, I was pretty weepy anyway for some reason. Watching them talk about what the movies meant to them, how they became the characters, and what they took away from the experience was moving.

And then there were those clips of her. I mean, sure, she created this world for us to enjoy, but I think I’ve come to a place where the books belong to her, but the movies have a life outside of her, so it felt odd to have her there, even if the clips were from 2019.

I refuse to give up the movies because of her, much as I refuse to give up Buffy because Joss turned out to be an asshole. She can have the books. However, I will not spend another penny on merchandise that will continue to fill her pockets.

Fancy a trip to Hogwarts, Readers? I think I do. It’s a cold day here, perfect for cuddling kitties, drinking tea, and curling up under the electric blanket with some magic on the television. It’s the last day of vacation as well, so I aim to relax. Tomorrow it’s back to work.

Photo by Artem Maltsev on Unsplash

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yuletide blessings

I am, admittedly, not the most devout and practicing Pagan, aside from Samhain, which has always been my favorite holy day. But today marks the Winter Solstice, the start of the twelve days of Yule.

I’ve always loved a good fire, and in ancient tradition, the Yule fire burned for twelve days. This can be looked at as a sort of sympathetic magic, meant to encourage the sun to move forward and lengthen the days because, on the Winter Solstice, the Celts (and others) believed that the sun stood still.

From the Summer Solstice, the days grow shorter until we reach the Winter Solstice. This is the dark time of the year, but from this day forward, the days grow longer and the nights shorter until we complete the cycle at the Summer Solstice.

The Yule log isn’t the only sympathetic magic we engage in at this time of year. Those lights we hang on our trees, porches, eaves…that all started the same way. Drive out the dark, entice the sun to return. And that feast? Back in our pre-Christian, pre-electricity days, we had to squirrel away food from the harvest to get us through the winter, but by Yule, we know the spring is coming, and with it, the earth will once again bear fruit. So we eat heartily as a way of trusting that we will plant again and harvest again.

I don’t want this to turn into a diatribe about stolen traditions…or even stripping those traditions of their original meaning/purpose. I want to celebrate, because gods know this year could use a little celebration.

I don’t have a fireplace, but if I did, there would be a fire burning in it. Instead, I will light candles and wish for spring.

Whether you celebrate Yule, Christmas, Hannukah, or some other holiday this time of year, I hope it brings you joy, the comfort of home, the love of family, and blessings for the coming days, Readers.

Photo by Nathan Lindahl on Unsplash