Bad times in the country, better toe at home

 

I don't write about politics in this space but this is an exceptional time, as in, exceptionally bad, so I will just say:

1. When I was canvassing for Hillary Clinton and the other Democrats in New Hampshire before the 2016 election, I could not believe it when some people said they were voting for Clinton "as the lesser of two evils." We were more supposed to give them information than engage in conversation, but I just could not stop myself from explaining that they were off their rockers. No I didn't say it that way, I just calmly tried to explain the difference. Of course we didnt know exactly how bad it would be. For what it's worth, Clinton did get the state's four electoral votes, and Maggie Hassan, the governor running for Senate, won the seat . This is not to mention (which I just did) the guy who shouted at us from his doorstep that he was voting for Trump and we should get away from his house. It was a rainy day, and my feet and my brain got soaked. After I got dropped off in Northampton, I went and treated myself to a pair of boots that my soaked feet and waterlogged brain needed.

2. After that fateful election night, when I had spent the night at my friends' house for an election night "party," I had to pick Maddie up from my Trump-loving dog sitters (previous baby sitter). I said through tears, "Don't gloat." 

3. In talking to them during the campaign (with Fox News in the background at their house) we had a few words. (I actually love these people except for their politics, and they love my dog so much and take her whenever, I don't know what I would do without them.) They even took the dog when I went to N.H. 

The former babysitter said, "Hillary needs to be in jail" and "Obama ruined the country." When I tried to say otherwise, she said, "You people..." We never talked about it again. I wonder what they think now. I know they also watch "regular" news so they must get some dosage of the truth. 

If it was hard to concentrate before, it's even harder now.

The other day, though, I ran about five miles. It was good to air my brain out. The only way I can run without my glasses getting fogged up is to put contacts in. The contacts are supposed to be "multi-focals," meaning good for reading also. But they just don't work as well as when my eyes were younger and I used to wear them all day. I can't read that well with them so I just use them for running and longer walks. 

I had to wait about a week for the pain in my toe to subside. The biopsy report came back. I really like the young resident who did the work. He had someone call me while he was on vacation because he knew I was worried. The nurse said it was not squamous cell carcinoma or melanoma or anything to worry about. It is, or was, since it is gone, "just" a benign tumor. 

That is of course good except for there is a hole in my toenail. It is actually more like a missing slice. 

I put two Band Aids on it to run.

When I say something gross like this, re: the missing part of my toe, I can hear Alexis saying, Ew, David.

If you have Netflix and haven't watched Schitt's Creek, I'd say to go and do it since it offers as much of a balm as is possible in this time.

Bad dreams about skin, good night with the Dems

Eight years out. Fewer relapse nightmares.

Graft vs. host disease, mostly of the skin. More dermatological nightmares.

For example, in my dream last night I was going to Florida. Or maybe summer camp. It wasn't clear, but I had to pack for warm weather. When I got there, my first thought was that I didn't want my parents to leave. The second was that I had forgotten my bathing suit.

Some other women (girls?) said no problem, they had extras. So I took one and went into a bathroom and tried it on. It was a two-piece with a top that didn't fit over my stomach, which in real life has popped out due to the GVHD of the skin. (No, it is not the same as normal aging, it is what the doctor described accurately as feeling like a band.)

I thought I would just wear a shirt over it. Everything seemed OK until I looked down and saw some raised spots on my abdomen. I went to a doctor who paged the dermatologist. The doctor said he wasn't sure but he thought the new spots looked ominous. I was seriously distressed.

I woke up in a panic.

Then ...

I gave Maddie her morning hug and went downstairs and had half an orange and opened up the free guided meditation that I have bookmarked and did a 10-minute (well, 9:52 min) calming meditation. Then cereal and off to fun tennis (pills, water and coffee in the car), then Starbucks to discuss the headlines, home to walk the dog and this evening, attending a meeting, "Mobilizing the Democratic Party from the Bottom Up: Using our most strategic political tool to resist Trump and reclaim our democracy," held before the Northampton Democratic City Committee's Caucus.

I rode with neighbors from the South Hadley Democratic Committee. After they explained caucusing to me, it sounded interesting and important enough that I might want to get involved with the local Dems. All in all, I got a boost from the commitment and enthusiasm in the packed auditorium at Smith Vocational High School. The pizza was good too.

Boston checkup, Boston Women's March all good

I really didn't know until the last minute if I could go to the Boston Women's March, getting the OK on Friday, just a day before I drove with three friends and packed in with a crowd estimated to be up to 175,000, quite a bit higher than the 70,000 expected.

Like it was for others, it was a major antidepressant, an energizer, after the gloomy Friday of Inauguration Day. Fittingly, the sun came out while we were squished onto the outskirts of the Boston Common, straining to hear the speakers but exalting in the mood and messages against a certain person's divisive agenda.

With Sue, Carol and Len

I had been worried earlier in the week that the graft on my ankle wasn't healing properly. It hurt a little more, not less, and as I said previously, it looked pretty bad to me. I sent a photo to the Mohs office and didn't hear back until Friday morning that I would have an appointment that day, too late to get a ride.

I finished a story that I was writing for HCC and hopped into the car, heading to Jamaica Plain and the Mohs and Dermatologic Surgery Center. Normally I would listen to NPR, but I knew it wasn't safe because the inauguration was on. I listened to some music and rode in silence (which a child of mine considers to be a disordered behavior). I checked in at the exact moment when I heard, "Donald J. Trump is now President of the United States."

Then I listened to part of his horrible American Carnage Speech and decided that riding in silence would have been better.

At the Mohs center, a doctor who said the spot on my ankle looked just the way it was supposed to look. I asked about going to Boston and she said that I should and that she was going to Washington.

That was good news, but I wouldn't have minded if they told me over the phone. I guess it was better to see it in person. In any case, I got a great club sandwich at a cool place in Jamaica Plain, and, a reporter still at heart, managed to eat it on the way home without creating a mess.

The next day was the best. We left bright and early to park at Diane and David's house and walk down the block to the T stop to get the Green Line into Boston. Little did we know that people would have already packed the trains. One after another stopped, only to open the doors onto people jammed in. After about an hour of this, we were lucky to get an Uber to get us as close to the Common as possible. Our march consisted of walking there because once at the rally, we couldn't get out to do the formal march. But that was OK because we got to hear the speakers' determination, such as Attorney General Maura Healey telling Trump that if he takes away women's rights, "We'll see you in court." And we saw a lot of great signs. The mood was festive and determined.


A couple of times, my friends helped me find a corner of a bench to rest on. People were very kind, asking if I needed food or anything. Though we couldn't get to the marchers' route, we managed to push our way out of the crowd and "march" to the T, which was free for the day.

It was invigorating and tiring. Sounds oxymoronic, but you can be both at once.

Back home, I lay down on the couch and talked to my cousin, who had marched in New York. She said it was all over TV.  I turned news on after a long blackout and was additionally energized by watching marches all around the world. It is little hard to figure out were to go from here. Information and ideas for action are flowing in from everywhere.

Today,  David Brooks missed the mark by wring that the marches can never be an effective opposition to Trump. He said they focused on the wrong issues: reproductive rights, equal pay, affordable health care, action on climate change. This makes no sense because those are all important issues.

If you think too hard about it you can lose the glow and get depressed all over again. Hopefully this 10 Actions for the First 100 Days will yield results.

Ways to stay (slightly) sane in post-election daze

Holding signs of solidarity at the Islamic Center of Western Massachusetts

There is so much to get upset about during this post-election season. Did you ever say a word over and over again until it doesn't make sense? Like the word irked? Some of it is extremely upsetting and some of it is a nagging IRK.

I have kept pretty quiet around the people who watch my dog, but for the first time the other night when I went to pick her up I just couldn't control myself.

Attorney Tahirah A. Wudud gives situation update

"How do you like your guy's cabinet picks?"
"How do you like the way he bullied that nice union boss?" (Chuck Jones, who called out Trump's Carrier deal.)

Answer: "We voted for him and he's our president and you Democrats have to get over it. The country couldn't be any worse than it's been for the past eight years." Huh?

During the election, when we had one brief discussion, I mentioned that the unemployment rate was way down and got this answer: "You people believe what you want to believe." So it is a dead end and they are super nice people and they love my dog and I couldn't do what I do without them so I know I have to keep quiet.

I really need them when I go to Boston. I don't actually need them that much otherwise except that having Maddie go there is a win win situation. They love her and she loves to go there so much that when I open the car door she runs up to the house. If I tell her she's going to stay home she gives me that mournful look. (Who's the boss?) When I pick her up she goes over to each one and says goodbye.

Yesterday I told them that I was going to a mosque. I didn't finish the sentence with the reason I was going to the interfaith gathering at the Islamic Society of Western Massachusetts. It was of course to stand up against the hate incited against Muslims and Jews by the President Elect.

It was a cold dark night but I was glad I went. The spirit was amazing. I talked to a lot of people in the standing room crowd and signed up for something (not sure what) on a sheet where people stated their desire to help. There were more than 200 people, and we all got served a delicious dinner. One of the members of the mosque was a student of mine at The Literacy Project and she took me into the kitchen full of brimming platters and told me to make myself a plate. (Others were doing the same.) So, dinner tonight.

I found out about the event through the Jewish Federation of Western Massachusetts. I would like to do more. It fits into number 1 on a 10-part plan of not losing my mind or harming my health over this insanity.

1: Do something (i.e. get out of my head).
2: Donate to more causes within my means. It was hard to chose but I picked: ProPublica (journalism in the pubic interest), Environmental Defense Fund, Anti-Defamation League,  and, drumroll...Planned Parenthood.
3: Talk it over with like-minded people.
4: Pet the dog, walk the dog, talk to the dog.
5: Exercise (TENNIS, yoga, spinning).
6: Write.
7: Limit TV news (bye-bye Morning Joe, one MSNBC program and no more at night).
8: Read about something else.
9: Plan a trip (I'm going to Florida!)
10: Do something nice. I got my dentist and his staff an edible arrangement made of fruit. Because he is so nice to me and gives me the best price he can and because the staff is so friendly. Kind of like my "Cheers"...sigh.
11. Watch and rewatch old and new Gilmore Girls episodes. Because.