I am depressed and horrified that character doesn't matter to the majority of voters (not Americans, just voters), I am shocked that a lying, cheating, insulting and assaulting, convicted felon can even be considered for this job. I am disgusted that Elon Musk could interfere to the financial extent he did in an election. He had 30% approval ratings during his last presidency and achieved absolutely nothing. How did people forget so quickly? I am depressed by the level of misogyny and racism that brought this outcome (because we all know it wasn't just policies). I am embarrassed to be an American right now. He is not my president and never will be.
Great quote I saw recently: "We could have shown our daughters that girls can do anything. Instead we showed our sons that they can rape, cheat and lie, and still become the most powerful man in the country." It's a tragedy, and yes, happening everywhere because the last few years have been a turbulent hell. I want to believe people are waking up, but I'm not feeling that right now.
My strategy is to find a cause to fight hard for. In my case it is education and libraries. I spent a lot of the 60s and 70s in the streets (and for that matter 2015-2019 living in TX). I don't know that I have the energy for that now (at least I don't at the moment). But I can support people with more energy than I have. By the way, while in TX I took a lot of photographs. Four of them are now in the Austin History Center's digital archive and two of those were included in an exhibition at the Bullock Texas State History Museum called something like Demonstration and Protest in Austin 1950-2018. So even though I'm not in any way a professional photographer, documenting with photography is, for me, a political act. And I'm glad to have left my mark on Texas before getting the hell out of it! [insert smiley face with cowboy hat--I just moved across the border to NM]
Today I went to see art, have coffee and lunch with a fellow artist friend. A very welcome distraction. Go look at art and talk about it. Go to a gallery, visit a museum. We need mental recovery time before figuring what to do next.
Indeed! Thanks for that important reminder, Jennifer. We're screening a documentary film in Madison next week, and the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art is opening a new photography exhibition on Friday, and I plan to attend both of those events. I agree, keeping our creative minds sharp is essential, especially at times like this. Thanks for the note.
I am terrified for my 8 year old daughter and what these next four years means for the environment. I am holding a sliver of hope that there are still some decent people in the GOP who will not let him completely destroy our democracy. Finding refuge in others who are feeling it too.
I studied WWII, so it was clear in 2016 where the country was headed.
I've already seen posts by people who are baffled that tariffs will be paid...not by foreign countries, but by consumers.
I've read posts by Latinos, who seem unaware that Trump's administration is focusing on de-naturalizing citizens, and obliterating citizenship for parents of children born in America. Just who will pick the produce, pack the meat, staff the healthcare and service industries??
Authoritarians always keep their promises...to help the workers (see Hungary, Russia, Venezuela, Turkey, the disasters of post-Brexit UK).
I'm sure the guy with 6 bankruptcies has a brilliant plan to help the 90%...exactly what is it?
Trump will lower the cost of goods...how exactly? Tariffs raise prices, migrant workers being deported raises costs, so how exactly?
Musk plans to gut Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security...hope the Trump voters have large savings.
I am deeply saddened by the outcome of the election. I see many comments online saying it was the result of divine intervention. I disagree - sometimes the other side wins. But we will return to fight again.
I’m glad to be Canadian too, but we are far from immune. The F150s flying oversized flags, the cuts in immigration, the refusal to do anything about climate change (our taxes subsidize the oil industry), the homelessness and poverty in our cities. And our next PM is unlikely to be a defender of democratic values. Will we welcome those the Trumpists expel?
It’s time to connect and build community and resist.
My deepest problem with the election is that truth and fact have taken a beating. One of the most unrelenting liars and skillful denialists is at the helm and controlling the narrative. People are vulnerable in many ways. I worry about humanism and decency. And, I agree that the democrats left a broad swath of America behind in the name of progress and failed to honor them and address their needs.
Yes, Andy, there have been so many losses, and the confusion that comes from not understanding how our neighbors can not see what is so clear to us. That is astonishing to me. And if they can see this man and his party held together by lies and immorality and still embrace him as a savior, I cannot fathom how their minds work. So much to mourn. So much to fear.
But then I think of people who have lived lives of oppression, people who have worked strenuously for generations to find a ray of hope in the political and social lives of our communities, people who have been forced away from all hope for a future, and I think of how our privilege has protected us from the hammers of systemic racism, educational inequality, lack of generational solvency, medical deserts, and more. And yet those oppressed communities continually work toward a better life, a fairer nation. We have work to do, and abject misery and anger make that work harder and less effective. "We are not required to finish the work, but neither are we allowed to desist from it." (Pirke Aboth). Look inside, find a bit of light, open an aperture to a wider f/stop, and get ready for a considerably longer exposure time. Over time the image will become clearer more radiant.
It is hard for some of us who do not have the same viewpoints as others, but I thought I had found a group where that didn't matter and we could focus on our art.
Who said anything about being... "shunned?" If you're OK, fine; some us may not be feeling it. And some of us (with good reason) may not think we're all gonna be "fine."
Art is a political act, even stating that one's art is apolitical is... a political act. My next four years is gonna be a long, tough haul- but that's not gonna dissuade me from believing what I believe in and carrying on best I can... same as you.
I, for one, am not shunning anybody. We are talking about half the country, and many longtime friends of mine. I also understand that the Democratic Party is out of touch with many people - there are plenty of aspects which I have a real problem with, myself.
At the same time, I worry tremendously about some of the fervor, and the source of the same. As you know, I think :-)
Don, he plans to mess with our collective future. Social security, remove environmental laws, tax the rich less and the poor more. Mass deportations of people who are working here and paying into our social security but will collect none. What do you think is good about this? I’d truly like to know. I’d love to feel better right now.
It is indeed a worrying time for you in the US and the undoubted impact it will have on the wider world. In the UK, many of us had similar feelings of despair with Brexit and it still absorbs many of our conversations. I feel for you, Andy.
Shocked, stunned, furious, depressed. I've spent a lot of my life advocating for progressive beliefs in one way or another and it feels like we're tumbling back down the hill we've fought so hard to climb.
When my 15 yr old Granddaughter asks, "What does this mean Grandpa?" and I had no answer, I realized that I am a bit off kilter. Processing this one is a sickening thought and feeling.
I'm slowly assembling a response for my Grand that I hope makes some kind of sense ... of what makes no sense. Praying for the nation and our heavily damaged and threatened democracy.
I am depressed and horrified that character doesn't matter to the majority of voters (not Americans, just voters), I am shocked that a lying, cheating, insulting and assaulting, convicted felon can even be considered for this job. I am disgusted that Elon Musk could interfere to the financial extent he did in an election. He had 30% approval ratings during his last presidency and achieved absolutely nothing. How did people forget so quickly? I am depressed by the level of misogyny and racism that brought this outcome (because we all know it wasn't just policies). I am embarrassed to be an American right now. He is not my president and never will be.
Great quote I saw recently: "We could have shown our daughters that girls can do anything. Instead we showed our sons that they can rape, cheat and lie, and still become the most powerful man in the country." It's a tragedy, and yes, happening everywhere because the last few years have been a turbulent hell. I want to believe people are waking up, but I'm not feeling that right now.
Not ok. I am not ok. My family is not ok. My wife is black. Our kid is trans. We are LGBTQ. Nothing is ok.
:(
My strategy is to find a cause to fight hard for. In my case it is education and libraries. I spent a lot of the 60s and 70s in the streets (and for that matter 2015-2019 living in TX). I don't know that I have the energy for that now (at least I don't at the moment). But I can support people with more energy than I have. By the way, while in TX I took a lot of photographs. Four of them are now in the Austin History Center's digital archive and two of those were included in an exhibition at the Bullock Texas State History Museum called something like Demonstration and Protest in Austin 1950-2018. So even though I'm not in any way a professional photographer, documenting with photography is, for me, a political act. And I'm glad to have left my mark on Texas before getting the hell out of it! [insert smiley face with cowboy hat--I just moved across the border to NM]
Today I went to see art, have coffee and lunch with a fellow artist friend. A very welcome distraction. Go look at art and talk about it. Go to a gallery, visit a museum. We need mental recovery time before figuring what to do next.
Indeed! Thanks for that important reminder, Jennifer. We're screening a documentary film in Madison next week, and the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art is opening a new photography exhibition on Friday, and I plan to attend both of those events. I agree, keeping our creative minds sharp is essential, especially at times like this. Thanks for the note.
I am terrified for my 8 year old daughter and what these next four years means for the environment. I am holding a sliver of hope that there are still some decent people in the GOP who will not let him completely destroy our democracy. Finding refuge in others who are feeling it too.
What interesting comments.
I studied WWII, so it was clear in 2016 where the country was headed.
I've already seen posts by people who are baffled that tariffs will be paid...not by foreign countries, but by consumers.
I've read posts by Latinos, who seem unaware that Trump's administration is focusing on de-naturalizing citizens, and obliterating citizenship for parents of children born in America. Just who will pick the produce, pack the meat, staff the healthcare and service industries??
Authoritarians always keep their promises...to help the workers (see Hungary, Russia, Venezuela, Turkey, the disasters of post-Brexit UK).
I'm sure the guy with 6 bankruptcies has a brilliant plan to help the 90%...exactly what is it?
Trump will lower the cost of goods...how exactly? Tariffs raise prices, migrant workers being deported raises costs, so how exactly?
Musk plans to gut Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security...hope the Trump voters have large savings.
I am deeply saddened by the outcome of the election. I see many comments online saying it was the result of divine intervention. I disagree - sometimes the other side wins. But we will return to fight again.
All I can say is that I am so very grateful to be Canadian right now, even though the events to our south will still deeply affect us as the unfold.
I’m glad to be Canadian too, but we are far from immune. The F150s flying oversized flags, the cuts in immigration, the refusal to do anything about climate change (our taxes subsidize the oil industry), the homelessness and poverty in our cities. And our next PM is unlikely to be a defender of democratic values. Will we welcome those the Trumpists expel?
It’s time to connect and build community and resist.
My deepest problem with the election is that truth and fact have taken a beating. One of the most unrelenting liars and skillful denialists is at the helm and controlling the narrative. People are vulnerable in many ways. I worry about humanism and decency. And, I agree that the democrats left a broad swath of America behind in the name of progress and failed to honor them and address their needs.
Yes, Andy, there have been so many losses, and the confusion that comes from not understanding how our neighbors can not see what is so clear to us. That is astonishing to me. And if they can see this man and his party held together by lies and immorality and still embrace him as a savior, I cannot fathom how their minds work. So much to mourn. So much to fear.
But then I think of people who have lived lives of oppression, people who have worked strenuously for generations to find a ray of hope in the political and social lives of our communities, people who have been forced away from all hope for a future, and I think of how our privilege has protected us from the hammers of systemic racism, educational inequality, lack of generational solvency, medical deserts, and more. And yet those oppressed communities continually work toward a better life, a fairer nation. We have work to do, and abject misery and anger make that work harder and less effective. "We are not required to finish the work, but neither are we allowed to desist from it." (Pirke Aboth). Look inside, find a bit of light, open an aperture to a wider f/stop, and get ready for a considerably longer exposure time. Over time the image will become clearer more radiant.
Eloquent, as ever, Arthur. Thank you for sharing these thoughts with me. I appreciate it. And I appreciate you. I hope you're well!
I do not share your gloom.
I think we are going to be fine.
It is hard for some of us who do not have the same viewpoints as others, but I thought I had found a group where that didn't matter and we could focus on our art.
Sad to see that we are now shunned.
It's not my intention to shun you, Don, I'm just expressing myself. I hope you'll stick around, but understand if you decide to go. Take care.
Who said anything about being... "shunned?" If you're OK, fine; some us may not be feeling it. And some of us (with good reason) may not think we're all gonna be "fine."
Art is a political act, even stating that one's art is apolitical is... a political act. My next four years is gonna be a long, tough haul- but that's not gonna dissuade me from believing what I believe in and carrying on best I can... same as you.
I, for one, am not shunning anybody. We are talking about half the country, and many longtime friends of mine. I also understand that the Democratic Party is out of touch with many people - there are plenty of aspects which I have a real problem with, myself.
At the same time, I worry tremendously about some of the fervor, and the source of the same. As you know, I think :-)
Don, he plans to mess with our collective future. Social security, remove environmental laws, tax the rich less and the poor more. Mass deportations of people who are working here and paying into our social security but will collect none. What do you think is good about this? I’d truly like to know. I’d love to feel better right now.
Broken hearted...
It is indeed a worrying time for you in the US and the undoubted impact it will have on the wider world. In the UK, many of us had similar feelings of despair with Brexit and it still absorbs many of our conversations. I feel for you, Andy.
I’m exhausted - and find the prospect of redoing everything from 2016 again to be exhausting :(
Shocked, stunned, furious, depressed. I've spent a lot of my life advocating for progressive beliefs in one way or another and it feels like we're tumbling back down the hill we've fought so hard to climb.
When my 15 yr old Granddaughter asks, "What does this mean Grandpa?" and I had no answer, I realized that I am a bit off kilter. Processing this one is a sickening thought and feeling.
I'm slowly assembling a response for my Grand that I hope makes some kind of sense ... of what makes no sense. Praying for the nation and our heavily damaged and threatened democracy.