ROOTS: ROOM FOR REALITY?

04/26/201704/27/2017 / Marilyn Armstrong / 29 Comments

I’m not thrilled with news. Any news. I can’t abide right-wing lies based on the exact opposite of what happened, especially when they are talking about things through which I lived and have seen. For shear blatant not-even-a-hint-of truth lying, they are the winners. But the left of the aisle crap is only nominally better. They may begin from a hint of truth, but then take some minor thing and blow it up to something gigantic. Put up a headline on it which sounds as if something astounding is about to (or just did) happen. So whatever it was, it ends up a total lie.

At the root was something real, but the result is nonsense.
I would have to be a fool to believe it.
At this point, I don’t believe anything.

My personal political allegiances are not news. I don’t need news organizations to approve or disapprove on my behalf. That’s not the point of news.

I want information, data, and facts based on a recognizable reality. I want the news to give me an informed, intelligent, and preferably neutral idea of what’s going on. I don’t want overblown headlines about how Trump is about to be impeached. Because he isn’t about to be impeached (yet) and anyone with half a brain knows that. I don’t want shouted headlines about stuff that isn’t happening and will never occur. Nor do I want distorted stories which only make the stuff in which I believe look stupid.

I don’t want right-wing “summaries” about news that never happened and will never occur. I don’t want left-wing fairy tales, either.

It’s hard to find believable news from any source. I don’t trust anything from any form of social media. Each has its own version of what they think I want to hear. I don’t want to hear what they think I want to hear. I want to know what happened. What was seen. What was written. Then I will decide what I believe.

In today’s world, is there room for reality?

We’ve been watching a PBS series about World War 1. It was a terrible time. It was also when many of the myths, fables, and lies with which we are now living, began. It was the time when we started thinking we were fighting for democracy, and that somehow, we were “the right country” to defend democracy everywhere. It wasn’t true then. It isn’t true now.

We have been believing those same lies since 1914, the beginning of the breach between our political halves. It was the start of what we see every day in 2017. A hundred years of lying. Wilson could have gotten everything he wanted from Congress including the League of Nations, but refused to accept it because (are you ready?) the “deal” was offered by the wrong party.

Bringing us to today. News agencies? Please get off your soap boxes. Give me facts. That might be a start to a better world. For everyone.

WATER AND WINTER

04/26/201704/25/2017 / Marilyn Armstrong / 11 Comments

Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Winter – Water

The end of winter with ice on the canal

Just a small patch of snow not yet melted

Blackstone River in March as a very cold winter ends

And then comes summer …

YEARNING FOR CAMELOT – BY ELLIN CURLEY

04/26/201704/22/2017 / Ellin Curley / 26 Comments

I love Justin Trudeau. I wish he was my President. I’m envious of Canadians because he is theirs. Why can’t we have an intelligent, reasonable, knowledgeable, worldly, likeable, competent person as our President again too? I liked being proud of our President, as I was for the eight years before Trump was elected.

I was eleven years old when John F. Kennedy was elected President and I was fourteen years old when he was killed. I vividly remember those idyllic years. It was then that I formed my idea of what a president is supposed to be. I remember most of the country being proud of our President.

He helped cement our position as leader of the free world. He gave inspiring speeches and I remember trusting him and believing what he said. He motivated us and made us feel that culturally and morally, as well as politically and economically, we were the envy of the rest of the world.

I’m not making a judgment about Kennedy’s policies or legislative accomplishments during his short-term in office. I’m just talking about how America saw itself and how the rest of the world saw us. I’m talking about how one young girl felt about her country and her President. The Kennedy family as a whole projected the image of wealth and prominence, political activism, philanthropy, and patronage of the arts. Something else we could collectively be proud of.

The Kennedy Clan

JFK epitomized the belief that America was morally righteous, strong and determined and that we could accomplish anything we put our minds to. Even going to the moon. He made us want to be the best we could be. We had ideals and by God we could live up to them all! I thought that that was what Presidents were supposed to do. Jackie added to the mystique. She was beautiful, fashionable, polished, and refined. She promoted the arts inside and outside of the White House.

Americans were proud of their the Kennedys were cultured and educated. We all embraced the ‘elitism’ of the gifted, the knowledgeable and the accomplished. As a country, we celebrated all forms of artistic expression.

I don’t know much about Justin Trudeau. I do know he is caring, articulate, shares my ‘liberal’ values, handles himself well in social and political situations and speaks clearly and truthfully. He supports programs that will improve the lives of his people, not just the wealthy, the corporations or one of his country’s political parties.

Canadians love their President. They are so lucky! In less than 100 days, I’ve almost forgotten what it feels like to admire or even trust the person in the White House. In less than 100 days I’ve forgotten what it feels like not to be terrified or embarrassed by everything our President says or does. I don’t think I can survive another 100 days in this admiration and trust vacuum!

Maybe I should start reading everything I can about Justin Trudeau. That way I can sustain the belief that good and smart leaders can happen to good people. Maybe if I spend the rest of Trump’s term immersed in Canadian politics, I’ll keep my sanity and emerge in time for the next election, refreshed and invigorated. Convinced that people like Justin Trudeau might even get elected President again here. Someday.