2011

it's new year's eve, which seems to call for some sort of statement.  resolutions, wise observations,  witty comments on the passing year.  all of which seems beyond me at the moment.  personally it's been a pretty good year.  thanks to this blog i've written more of my own stuff than i have in years.  i'm mega grateful for the 'co-authoring' i've done for others, especially susan love, and --book plug warning--the fifth edition of the breast book that came out in october.  i'm proud of that writing, which is more creative than it may sound; and being part of susan's important work is in itself pride-worthy.  but the blog is more directly mine, and the fact that it actually gets read, sometimes by people i don't know in countries around the world, is encouraging.  further this was the year i finally caved in and got onto facebook, so i know what friends i never see are up to, and above all, what castle kids past are doing.

politically, what can i add? obama has still been better than anyone else would have been ---mc cain and  palin are even scarier now than they were when they were campaigning.  but the democrats have proven the accuracy of most leftists' cynicism; mostly wimps at bests and collaborators with the rich and richer at worst.  the cynicism of the republicans' overt lying is fairly depressing, and of course their wins in november are horrifying.

sarah palin sees herself as mama grizzly; i see her as mama 'alien,' with her spawn destroying human lives--those ghastly, unintelligent, smarmy females who certainly prove that women can be as vile as men, given half a chance.  it's been fun watching jan brewer's meltdown, sharon engle's pompous comparisons of herself to thomas jefferson and jesus, and of course the ever popular non-witch and antisexual flirt christine o'donnell.  and perhaps it's somewhat comforting to learn that except for the already-in -power brewer, they lost.  even more comforting to see the loss of the official republican [male] candidate in alaska to the snubbed incumbent with her write-in campaign.  i'd certainly rather have seen the democrat win, but mckowski is a big step past miller, and the write-in's success comes close to real democracy.

don't ask don't tell.  a shaky  victory, given who will be in congress next year.  but a victory nonetheless.

echoes of old songs--the rich get richer and the poor get poorer; empty pockets don't ever make the grade. it will be a hell of a year, for the unemployed, the underemployed, the lower middle class, and the people even obama is terrified to mention----the poor.  the rhetoric of liberals can no longer embrace that class, as though being poor is important only as a danger to the middle class, not as a horrible reality for those who never got near middle class. more islamophobia seems inevitable, more gay bashing.

maybe, maybe, maybe  more resistance.  the memory of those 800 emerson kids marching against the homophobes is warming.    one hopes. i hope.

happy and productive new year.....