Time to get involved again

[spinbaby]

I must admit that I’ve been tuning out news since the orange one was elected. It gives me anxiety. It raises my blood pressure. I take an occasional peek into DU, but mostly I’ve just retreating into my old-lady activities—grandchildren, cats, gardening, baking, reading…

But this morning I had a moment when I realized that I can’t hide from this. I had breakfast with a nurse who works in an ICU for transplant patients. She was upset because a heart-transplant patient had just died. A little boy, a toddler. He had taken a turn for the worse and they didn’t have the equipment they needed to save him. They didn’t have the equipment because there was an equipment shortage, thanks to tariff chaos.

I can’t really hide from what’s going on.

[Efilroft Sul]

1. Welcome back!

Since I ditched Facebook on December 1 (a semi-interesting story in itself), I was wondering how you were faring. Hope all is well with you!

[spinbaby]

2. Doing well

Lots of domestic puttering going on and, of course, too many cats. And you?

[Efilroft Sul]

3. Doing well enough, but could be better.

The wife's mom died in October and we just wrapped up a lot of the post-mortem paperwork. Now we just need to clean out and sell her house. My mom broke her hip in December, but she's doing fairly well with the recovery. The kids just came back from college, but both have summer courses starting on Monday — and the oldest will have to commute three days a week to SRU. Trying to get the gardens all in, but the weather here sucks so much it could pass a porn star audition. Freelance is going well, but nearly lost the whole kit and caboodle when I referred to one job's constant revision work as polishing a turd.

Other than that, I'm preparing for state-sponsored violence.

[usonian]

4. Stay tuned to Activist Headquarters

https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=forum&id=1011

And a good follow, The Way Forward.

https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=forum&id=1324

They are lower-volume, so it's easier to find great, actionable info.