Right Side Up/Upside Down

 

I’m so tired of the Upside Down. Anyone who’s watched the series “Stranger Things” will understand what I mean immediately. For those that haven’t, the Upside Down is a parallel world, similar to our own but is dark and evil. In the last few years, I feel I’ve been traveling back and forth between Right Side Up World and the Upside Down.

                                       Upside Down
 

When I’m in the Right Side Up World, I’m spending precious family time with my hubby, my adult children, my grandson in NJ, and my granchildren and great grandchildren whenever they're visiting. All is well and we’re surrounded with love. In the Right Side Up World, I’m walking on a trail in the park and surrounded by nature. In the Right Side Up World, I’m writing or reading a book. In the Right Side Up World, I’m a tutor, working with elementary aged children to boost their language and reading skills. Right Side Up World is a happy place.

                                         Right Side Up World

The Upside Down is intrusive. It’s physically and emotionally draining. In the Upside Down, 45 is calling for another insurrection because he is afraid of being arrested. He should be ignored and ridiculed for that, but this is the Upside Down: he has what used to be the GOP under his thumb. He also holds the leashes of some very violent supporters who want nothing more than civil war. Truly, I am so sick and tired of this foul, evil creature. I think it's entirely possibly he’s the real Anti-Christ.

The Upside Down is filled with the power hungry and cruel minions of demon 45. They’re busy infiltrating state and local governments and have been for some time. And why? So that they can bring about laws to restrict voting rights, restricting women’s rights to choose their health care, and restricting children’s rights to a decent education. South Carolina would like to set the death penalty for any woman that gets an abortion. Florida and other red-led states have been happily banning books that have anything to do with different races, cultures, religions or sexualities.

The list of banned books is daunting. But 45’s foaming at the mouth fanatics in the House have proposed The Parents Bill of Rights Act (H.R. 5). I belong to the NEA, and this morning I got an email from them. It read, in part: “The bill would undermine local control, a bedrock principle of U.S. public education. It would also facilitate censorship and book bans, with the federal government cast as a national school board that dictates what students can learn and read.” I suppose they are trying to take control away from local districts because not all across the country are in lock-step with this act of fascism. No, the party wanting smaller government control wants to involve MORE government control in education.

I wrote to Representative Andy Kim. It wasn’t necessary because I know he wouldn’t support this noxious bill. But people need to write, especially when they have a red representative. These people need to hear from us that this is NOT okay. They probably don’t care to listen to their voters and haven’t been anyway.

In the Upside Down, there is no justice unless you’re in the 98% and especially no justice if you’re not white. Traitors and participants in the January 6^th insurrection not only are walking around free, many are serving in Congress right now.

I don’t like this world at all. I’m sick of it. I would like to withdraw and hide but that isn’t the right thing to do. The right thing to do is to keep fighting it.

Spending time in the Right Side Up World helps recharge my batteries so I’m off to do that now.

Parable of the Sower

 I tend to avoid dystopian and/or science fiction stories. Dystopian stories usually depress me, and I maxed out on science fiction in my 20s.  On one of my visits to the library during Black History month, I saw Parable of the Sower on display. I became interested when I saw that the book was set in 2025 (not so far away!) and that it was in first person. I enjoy first person stories because you really get into the mind and soul of the narrator even if it means other characters aren’t fleshed out as well. Octavia E. Butler has a writing style that engages the reader right from the first page.

 

This is an excellent book, but it’s not a happy one. The story begins in a small town in California. Global warming and a complete breakdown in the economy has caused unemployment, food shortages, and poverty. A breakdown in law enforcement has caused the rise of gangs, thieves, and other dangerous marauders.  The main character, Lauren Olamina, and her family and neighbors live in a gated compound, trying to stay safe from the lawless criminals on the “outside”. Lauren, her family, and the community are multi-racial, which was one of the few positives I found early on.

 

Safety, even in a locked and gated community, can’t be guaranteed and Lauren realizes early on that having an escape plan is a good idea. However, her friends and family scoff at the idea. They believe in their own safety. Lauren begins to secretly gather items for a “go bag.”  She has another secret as well: she has been developing her own idea for a religion with a goal.

 

Although her father is a Baptist minister, Lauren isn’t comfortable with that faith although she obediently goes through the motions. She journals every day and that is where she develops her ideas centered around the name “Earthseed.” She reasons that change is the motivating force in the universe and people must either control change or adapt to it. She writes her philosophy out in verse.

 

A major change happens in the community and Lauren finds herself on the road, trying to reach safety with a band of other refugees. To find out more about Lauren’s journey and Earthseed, please read the book. Some of it felt so chillingly familiar, I had to check and see if the book was published recently. I was somewhat surprised to see that it was published in 2000.

I say somewhat surprised because I remember it was around then that Al Gore began warning us about climate change.

 

As for the other events, I think Octavia Butler was remarkably prescient about what our future might look like. I also learned that she was one of the first Black science fiction authors to be published and, sadly, that she passed away in 2006.

 

She did write a sequel called Parable of the Talents, and I am requesting it because this book really pulled me in, and I want to see what happens to Lauren and her group.  I would definitely recommend this book to anyone whether you are into dystopian/sci-fi or not.

 

Before It's Too Late

 I was looking at different sources to see how many people read books. By people, I mean teenagers to adults. I was thinking that perhaps there are too many complacent people in the country, ignoring the spreading fascism because they don’t read enough and don’t believe we could have such a thing in the United States. It turns out that the stats haven’t changed too much and that the average person reads at least one book a year.

To me, that’s shockingly low because I’ve been a bookworm all my life. People lead busy lives as adults, though, and many don’t have much time to sit down and read a book. Perhaps kids and adults would prefer to play video games or check out their social media. Maybe instead of wondering how much people read, I should wonder WHAT they are reading. They sure don't seem to be learning a damn thing about history.

The recent news has me shaking my head.

Florida’s governor Death Santis wants bloggers to register with the state if they’re going to write about him. He also wants reporters to not only register but turn over their material after covering one of his appearances. He wants to know the political views of professors at the college level. Now these are chilling ideas for anyone who has bothered to read what was happening in Germany in the early 1930s. This same governor has further restricted a woman’s right to make choices about her own health.  This same governor has made it harder for minorities to vote. This same governor has terrorized school teachers and districts into removing books from their shelves for fear of being charged with a felony. Does this sound like a book burning without the fire? This same governor had a “don’t say gay” law and an “anti-woke” law passed. That’s not even half of what he’s been up to. He’s a truly scary guy.

But where are the protesters? Why aren’t legislators speaking up about it? Understandably (I guess) half of our legislators side with the repressive fascist but why are there crickets from the other side? Why aren’t they speaking out?

When there was no outcry, fascism began spreading like wildfire. States seemed to be competing to see who could come up with the cruelest and most outrageous violation of a person’s rights. Texas and North Carolina would like to sentence a woman to death for having an abortion. And still … crickets?

Do the citizens and legislators choose not to speak up because they think: oh, that’s just crazy stuff? It’ll never happen here.

Oh yes, it could. Our democracy is still in danger. There are still folks who’d like nothing better than to overturn it and bring on authoritarian theocracies. At that point, it’s too late to say, “Hey, we didn’t want this.”

Today is the anniversary of Bloody Sunday in Selma, Alabama. It took place on March 7, 1965. There was a one-day mention of it on Sunday, but I haven’t seen anything about it since. Is its history too ancient? I’ll bet young people didn’t learn about it in their history classes and maybe it wouldn’t even be legal to teach it in half the states today. White supremacists and christian nationalists want to bring us back to the Jim Crow era or worse. Isn’t there some nut down in FL (where else?) who wants to make the Democratic party illegal?

Recently CPAC held its weekend-long convention in Oxon Hill, Maryland. And Michael Knowle said, “transgenderism must be erased.” Erased. If you erase transgenderism, you’re erasing people. If you erase people, isn’t that just a nice way of saying genocide? After all, the Nazis didn’t start by exterminating Jewish people. They started with “undesirables”. And when no one said anything, then they moved on to the increasingly inhumane treatment of the Jewish population.

There is too much rubbernecking going on. Everyone who disagrees with fascism, Nazism, oppression, suppression, racism, bigotry, and misogyny should be doing something. Boycott. Write letters. March. Sit in. United, peaceful protesting.  The time for that is now, not when it’s too late.

Bloody Sunday

 

Yesterday was the ceremonial memory service of “Bloody Sunday” in Selma, Alabama. That was when peaceful protesters wanting voting rights attempted to cross what was then the Edmund Pettis Bridge in Selma on March 7, 1965. The police beat them bloody. It makes me sick to think about it. I was 10 on that day and completely ignorant of it.  President Biden was there yesterday and gave a speech in which he said history shouldn’t be sanitized. I am very happy he was there and gave the speech BUT…

Reverend William J. Barber II was also in Selma. He was at Brown Chapel, where John Lewis and other activists started their march across the bridge. Rev. Barber said that they all returned to Brown Chapel, which had to become a field hospital for those injured at the Bridge. The bridge has since been renamed John Lewis Bridge after the late congressman.

I was so impressed and emotionally moved by Rev. Barber. He began with a Bible verse from Hebrews which stated something like, we are not of these who shrink back. We persevere for our salvation. So he said to the people watching, “Shrinking back is not an option.  We must stand up and push forward.” He had the congregation repeat those lines a couple of times and then turn to the right and repeat those lines to their neighbors.

Two of his points stood out to me. The first was that the Voting Rights Act passed in 1965 was gutted in 2013. Congress could have restored rights taken away, but they haven’t done anything. There was an attempt by Democrats after red states tried to gut the law further but the Rethuglicans voted it down—including so-called “good” Rethugs like Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger.

Then Rev. Barber cited the poverty statistics in the red, southern, and midwestern states. In all of those states, governors refused the expansion of Medicaid to needy families. Barber said we’re not just talking about Black, Hispanic, and indigenous populations. White people are suffering too. It takes two full-time incomes to “maybe” afford a 2-bedroom apartment.

At presidential debates, he pointed out, no one asks the candidates “What are you doing to do about poverty?” Nothing ever gets done about it, that’s true. Instead, Rethugs convince marginalized groups to vote against themselves by selling a false story “It’s the Democrats who are keeping you in this lowly Position.”

It seems like 40% of the population is struggling. If those groups (and I would include the elderly and the disabled) would come together as a voting bloc, Rev. Barber is sure there would be enough votes to choose the President and the legislators in Congress. What a concept!

But how?

That’s why Rev. Barber was having the people repeat that they have to stand up and push back. Retreat is not an option. Being tired is not an option.

I signed up for his group, Repairers of the Breach. I want to stand up and push back too.

This Is The Twilight Zone

 

I have such a case of sensory overload.

President Biden somehow got into Ukraine, an active war zone, met with President Zelenskyy, and spoke on the anniversary of Russia’s unprovoked invasion. His speech made it pretty clear that the United States stands with and will support Ukraine. Putin will not win this time. This is major because Presidents don’t just go into a war zone where they might be injured or killed. The Ukrainians are amazingly resilient and patriotic, and I’m sure President Biden’s visit gave them a big boost. But Repubs are whining and complaining about it. They’re criticizing President Biden and are openly supporting Putin.

There are traitors running the House of Representatives. On the same day President Biden visited Ukraine, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene began advocating a “divorce” between red and blue states. That’s funny that she uses a word like divorce, where couples either happily go their own way or they fight each other forever. What MJT is talking about is not divorce. It’s succession That is treasonous. But this isn’t the first of her traitorous behavior. She’s one of those who were involved with the January 6^th insurrection. Why else would she have asked tRump for a pardon in his last few days of office?

She is sworn to uphold the Constitution. She’s in violation of that oath. No one is doing anything about it except saying “bad” to say that. Kinzinger and Cheney are the only two Repubs that have openly condemned MJT. MJT isn’t the only traitor. There are over 140 treasonous Representatives and Senators.

Why? Hello? Fourteenth Amendment? You know, the part that says a person who is a traitor can’t serve in Congress?

We’re slowly becoming more lawless, at least among the rich, mighty, and powerful.

MJT and many of her colleagues also espouse that they are christian nationalists. I absolutely insist on calling them christian with a small c because they aren’t Christian. Jimmy Carter is a Christian. He follows New Testament Jesus, who was all about welcoming immigrants, sheltering and feeding the needy, protecting children, and all-inclusive. You know, everything the Repubs are not.

These christian nationalists are dangerous. They want to declare the US a Christian nation, which is something the authors of the Constitution NEVER intended. They want to force their morals and beliefs on us and using violence is just fine with them. They are like a snowball rolling down a hill and picking up more along the way, becoming bigger and crushing. They could destroy our democracy.

Lots of people don’t agree with their mad desire to indoctrinate everyone, penchant for violence, and involvement in crazy conspiracies. The problem is that not enough people are bitching about it or trying to do anything to stop it. I write and write about it and I feel like I’m talking to myself.

You know, if Jesus was here today he’d be called either a socialist or a communist. He was all about telling people to set aside their worldly possessions to follow him. The story about feeding hundreds of people with just a few fish? Isn’t that about socialism, sharing everything with everyone?

Try discussing that idea with a christian nationalist. They’d say you were a blaspheming demon. And, yet, repeatedly, Jesus showed us he was with the poor, the sick, the hungry, the disenfranchised and loving everyone. “Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.” “Let the children come unto me.” “Love your neighbor as you love yourself.”  Jesus was woke.

New Testament Jesus would not be welcome in Florida, where “woke comes to die.” He would not be welcome in Texas. Texas and Florida have both been involved in taking advantage of and mistreating immigrants by placing them on planes or buses and shipping them, without warning, to blue states. For various reasons, I don’t think he’d be welcome in any red state.

I don’t believe Jesus would approve of what some of these red states are doing to trans/LGBTQ kids and adults. I don’t believe he would approve of them forcing dishonest history on students.

Each day, I find it harder to look at even my unbiased newsletters because of the increasing stories about fascism and intolerance spreading across this country.

This is what Real Jesus was teaching: Loving God is the greatest commandment. Then, love your neighbor as you love yourself. Would you want to be treated the way Blacks, Asians, trans/LGBTQ and immigrants are being treated now in some of these states? Hell, no, you wouldn’t. You would want to be treated with respect, decency, and kindness. That’s what we’re supposed to do. Half the country isn’t doing that.

So, what is the solution? I will keep posting even if I’m just talking to myself. I will vote. I will volunteer to make calls. I will find organizations to join. I’m most interested in Rev. Barber’s.

But everyone needs to be doing these things. Too many of us are just complacent and so fascism continues to spread.

I was listening to songs from the Viet Nam era and this one really hit me today. It’s the same thing, 50+ years later.

Eve Of Destruction