“We’ve had 250 years of training for this. We know what to do.”
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Image: The Boston Tea Party Ships & Museum
American culture
Resist: Dates + Ways
One of my aunts just sent this list of national protests on our family text. If you’re looking for ways to resist our current Administration, then maybe you can join in. Along with continuing to call your Representatives. I’ve called mine a couple of times recently.
The protests today already passed, but on February 28th, you could choose not to spend any money.
From March 7 – 14, many will choose not to buy from Amazon. And on March 14th, some will choose to strike and not work for 24 hours.
It’s up to each individual to decide how to resist, but all of us can be more intentional about where we choose to spend our money.
For me, it sometimes comes down to the “ick factor.” Do I feel “the ick” when I associate myself with this organization? Last month I finally quit Twitter for good. I could no longer deal with supporting that platform. Now I’m figuring out the rest. What about you?
A Cozy Quincy Day
Not much in the world has felt cozy lately. Tuning out all the news and noise for a bit is necessary. But cozy can be achieved. Even if only for a few hours.
Yesterday, I went to the library and took out a few books. I already had some, but another that I had on hold arrived. Then I noticed a few that were on display. Now I have quite a library haul with this big stack of books. It makes me so happy and reminds me of when I was a little kid taking out piles of books from the library.
The older I get, the more that I realize what makes me happy now are the same things that did when I was a child. We do grow up and change as adults. But I think that essentially we are that same soul that we were from the beginning. My soul loves books. Although having parents that were teachers helped too!
The library was packed with people yesterday. The parking lot was completely full and I was stuck in a traffic jam before I could leave it to look for additional parking. There were two events going on and some people were turned away from one because they were beyond capacity. Standing room only! I love to see it.
Even with the library crowds, everyone was in a good mood. It had a really nice community feeling. It was also where I met up with someone to sell them a bunch of plants. She was so happy to get her plants, which of course made me happy too. I love to spread the plant joy!
After leaving the library, I went to see fellow blogger and author of several children’s books, Candelaria Silva-Collins. She invited me to see her reading one of her books, Jump! Jump! Jump! Stacey, at a new Quincy bookstore, The Next Chapter Books and More. Since she was in the area and I hadn’t seen her for such a long time, it was a nice chance to catch up.
We chatted for a while and by the time I left, there were a lot of people in the store. It was such a good feeling seeing the people of Quincy enjoying all things books. It gave me a very warm feeling of community. Something that I don’t feel everyday, but that I’d like to feel more of. Even if only for a few hours.
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Now leaving the cozy feeling for a bit. Another book that I’m adding to my TBR list is On Tyranny, by Timothy Snyder. It’s about how to resist fascism in America. He was interviewed by Rachel Maddow last month and spoke about what is happening with our current Administration. He said that they want to make us feel afraid and alone. I definitely think that a way to combat that feeling is through community. Libraries and bookstores are great places to start.
A Jasmine Seedling: Understanding or Awe?
This morning when I looked into this pot, I noticed a new jasmine seedling. When did that happen?! The last time I checked, there was nothing. Then all of a sudden, new growth! I couldn’t figure it out and decided that it didn’t matter. Maybe I don’t need to understand. Instead, I can just be in awe.
Sometimes we cannot understand the how or why about certain situations. Maybe we will never understand. As someone who often performs mental gymnastics trying to figure things out, it’s exhausting.
It feels freeing to let it go. Giving myself permission to only observe and maybe enjoy the mystery without the understanding.
Revel in the miracle of it. Remove the analysis. As a Virgo lawyer, that’s extremely counterintuitive. But better for my mental health. Especially as we head into Round Two of the Trump Era. I cannot understand it. And as part of this country literally burns to the ground, the weight of it all is very heavy.
We are all born into a particular era. So apparently this is the timeline that I’m supposed to be in. Maybe I have something specific to contribute. Maybe I’m supposed to observe and learn. Probably a little bit of both.
January is coming to and end, but the year is still as fresh and new as this jasmine seedling. So I have to be open to what 2025 has in store. Future me knows and hopefully she’ll give me some guidance.
Thoughts on Kindness
Some of my favorite YouTube videos to watch are reaction videos. Specifically, learning about what people think about Americans when they visit the United States for the first time. Overwhelming kindness is what many people experience.
As much as we complain about our country being divided and sometimes feeling that everything is awful, especially after watching the news, there is a lot of good. Video after video after video, I have seen that same reaction. How when people arrive here, Americans are smiling, chatting them up, giving compliments and actually kind of freaking people out. They usually think it’s fake at first, but then after awhile, they realize that it’s just part of American culture. And they like it.
Obviously, Americans aren’t always kind. And some people are so used to being treated badly, they cannot even fathom it. A recent Boston Globe Opinion piece called “The pharmacist and the amaryllis” shook me to the core.
A pharmacist had done a great job helping the writer cut through some red tape and got her insurance company to cover the needed medication. As a thank you, she bought an amaryllis plant to give the pharmacist. But the gift and thank you weren’t received as hoped. The pharmacist couldn’t comprehend the kindness and thought she was in trouble. Below is a portion from the piece.
“Though I was not there, I was the medication recipient and the patient in question. A few weeks later, recovered, I bought an amaryllis plant and brought it to the pharmacy drop-off window. When I asked for the pharmacist by name, the tech looked a little worried. The woman who emerged from the back looked even more worried.
I explained that she had helped to resolve a medical mess a month earlier, that it had required enormous effort, and that I wanted to give her the plant in appreciation. Immediately, her eyes grew a little glazed and fearful.
“I took care of that,” she said quickly. “It won’t happen again.”
“No,” I said, “I’m here to thank you.”
But she couldn’t absorb the thanks. As the public face of insurance noncoverage, delays for prescriptions that were never called in, long waiting lines, unreasonable copayments, and medication side effects that no one explains, she had been trained into a different expectation. It was clear that she was waiting for someone to yell at her.”
After reading this, I thought about the pharmacist. What her days must be like with such constant fear. I hope she can experience a steady stream of kindness. So she can recognize it, when she sees it.
