Wow

One of my two orchids has totally bloomed and it seems too early for this but, wow, it looks nice. In other non-related news, can someone tell Donny T. that black people don't all know each other.  Also, black people don't all live in the "inner city" (i.e., the ghetto). (Get on the job, Omarosa and Ben!) Donny gave Atco CONway and Spicey a break today and decided to bring the crazy to the public all by himself this time rather than do it through a spokesperson. Wow. Just wow. Is American great again? No, just crazier by the day.

Constructive Criticism

I try not to complain or even speak about my day job on my blog because that work and my writing are largely separate entities in my life. However, every once in a while I have to speak about my day gig (usually to complain about it) and today is one of those days. I gave a manager what I considered to be constructive criticism, a brief statement that stated this person has communications issues that need to be resolved. Well, this lone sentence made the manager go crazy me. Clearly, I hit a nerve. This manager has been criticized about his communication (or lack thereof) in the past (and not just by me), so he knows it's a problem. Sometimes when you work a job, you realize you and your manager just aren't on the same page. Sometimes you both can manage to work around this and sometimes you can't. Sometimes you get to a point where something has to change. Either the manager leaves or you do. I think I've reached this point. I'm at the age where I'm not interested in stroking anyone's ego and I need a manager who isn't interested in having his/her ego stroked either.

Expand Your Vocabulary

As I listen to and read quotes from our current POTUS, I am constantly reminded that reading is fundamental. It's painfully clear that Donny T has the vocabulary of an eighth grader, largely due to the fact that he doesn't read. His inability to describe people and/or things as anything other than "great" or "huge" or "disgusting" shows just how limited his vocabulary really is. You can also see the limits when you read Donny's tweets that are often filled with misspellings (before they're corrected) and the same grade-school language he uses when he speaks. Reading does help with comprehension and vocabulary building and it's a shame more people don't read. Also, getting a dictionary out from time to time is helpful also. I know we all rely on the internet for so much these days, but I still get my old red Random House dictionary out to look up words on occasion.

Priorities!

I read recently that some legislators in Illinois wanted to create a state holiday for President Obama. Now I am a huge fan of President Obama. I didn't always agree with what he did, but I thought he did a largely good job while in office. However, creating a state holiday for him is the last thing politicians in Illinois should be doing right now. The state has no budget. Shootings are out of control in Chicago. The Chicago Public School system is on the verge (as usual) of financial collapse. State property taxes are ridiculously high. These are REAL issues state politicians should be working on, yet some of them are wasting time on presidential holidays. Priorities, folks. Priorities! And, speaking of priorities (or the lack thereof), Donny T is wasting time today worrying about his daughter's failing clothing line instead of dealing with pressing governmental issues he was elected to handle. Priorities! As a businessman, you'd think Donny would understand that if a product isn't selling, you dump it! If his daughter's clothes aren't selling, should department stores keep them on the selling floor anyway? Uh, no. They need that space to make room for items that are selling or new inventory that will also be tested to sale or fail.

James Baldwin

I went to see the James Baldwin documentary I Am Not Your Negro this weekend and really enjoyed it. The film didn't tell me much I didn't already know, but it did put some hard truths racial truths out there. Baldwin has been dead for nearly 30 years now, but the words he spoke in the documentary clips from the 1960s and 1970s still apply today. What I found fascinating were the clips from old movies that showed such idyllic views of (white) American life. Clips from movies like The Pajama Game with groups of happy white teens dancing during a picnic look strange and stupid now, but back in the day, these kind of movies (supposedly) depicted the all-American experience. Everyone was white, everyone was straight, everyone was happy, no one had money problems, there was no abuse, and things were great all over. (Well, at least that's what you were led to believe.) When I hear or read about someone praising Donny T's MAGA slogan, I often wonder if scenes like the one from The Pajama Game depict the kind of America these folks are referring to that was "great." I suspect many of them are.

But back to Baldwin. When he returned to the United States after a long stint living abroad in France, he did so to help his fellow brothers and sisters struggling for equality. He felt he needed to be a part of the civil rights movement rather than just an observer of it from afar. If you're a fan of Baldwin's or if you want to learn more about him, I strongly suggest checking out I Am Not Your Negro. Also consider reading (or rereading) some of his written work. I read Another Country and reread Giovanni's Room probably five or six years ago and enjoyed them both.

What Have I Learned?

As this week draws to a close (and not a day too early), I'm able to look back and reflect on what I've learned:

1. The PA and NY varmints who predict our weather cycle each February 2 don't seem to agree whether we'll have six more weeks of winter or an early spring. That's what we get for relying on groundhogs to do anything other than hog the ground.

2. Frederick Douglass lives! (Well, at least in the minds of Donny T and His Band of Idiots (TM).)

3. Apparently you don't have to be white-white to be a white supremacist. You only need to white-ish. Who knew? I didn't!

Bobcat Found!

I've been keeping up on the story of Ollie, the bobcat who escaped from a Washington, DC zoo. Apparently, Ollie has been found...still on zoo property after the zoo officials had given up their search for him. While I'm glad Ollie was found safe and sound, I was disappointed that the zoo folks just gave up searching for her after a few days. What's up with that? Doesn't a wild bobcat deserve more than a search of a few days? Apparently not. Maybe there are funding issues that prevented the zoo from launching a longer search. And, speaking of missing animals, what's going on with the red panda, Sunny, who escaped from a Virginia zoo? Will her search be suspended also? (I read that it's still on.) If animals escape from the zoo, shouldn't the staff members work to find them for the sake of the animals and for the safety of the public? As cute as Ollie and Sunny may be, they're still wild animals who, I'm sure, would injure a person in self-defense if scared.