Videos

Panic

The Smiths – Panic

Could life ever be sane again? I’m going with no, not for at least four years. Hell, I’m not sure we’ll even make it to Thanksgiving.

Did you see that Glenn Beck, yes, Glenn Beck!, is terrified of Orange-face’s chief strategist. What’s it take? I mean, when was the last time you found yourself agreeing with Glenn Beck and thinking I’m so glad he’s speaking out. Never? Yeah, me too. Hell has frozen over.

I know the tanks aren’t going to start rolling down the streets on January 21 but I’m still panicking that we don’t have enough people or tools at the ready for what lies ahead. And it’s an order of magnitude worse than anything we’ve dealt with before. The usual methods don’t apply here.

I live in a house built before the Civil War. The house we lived in before this one was built before the Revolutionary War. I try to convince myself that this shows everything will be ok, but then I read articles like Prepare for Regime Change, Not Policy Change. or Autocracy: Rules for Survival, and that knot in my stomach tightens.

Accident Waiting to Happen

Billy Bragg – Accident Waiting to Happen

Yesterday evening was the first time since about 9pm on Tuesday that I didn’t feel like I was about to either break down in big, ugly, gulping sobs, or throw up. That calm was short-lived as Sunday morning brought the video of Kate McKinnon on SNL as Hillary Clinton singing Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah. 😢 Followed by reports of Orange 45’s cabinet  appointments. 😨😭 Talk about an accident waiting to happen. 😠

It’s a real roller coaster of emotions. I have read so many articles over the last couple of days, some that made me feel like I can handle it and I see a path forward and some that made me feel like we’re all fucked and oh god how do I raise children in a fascist regime? That’s not in the parenting books.

I’m sad. I’m so very sad that our country’s children have to grow up with the worst possible person as president. I’m sad that a tacky, ugly man will be the one to follow our dignified, classy Obama. I’m so sad to have the Obamas leave the White House and leave public life.

I’m scared. I’m scared of the violence against women, people of color and different religions. I’m scared rights will be stripped from anyone who isn’t a white wealthy man. I’m scared that we won’t be able to stop the horrible cabinet and court appointments. I’m scared there will be permanent damage to our democratic society and that our congress people will become so accustomed to the outrageousness that they allow us to slip into a fascist state. I’m really fucking scared of that. I’m scared of the rising alt-right all over the world.

I’m angry. Angry that the people who voted for him have so little concern for their fellow citizens that they were willing to unleash the Furies. Yes, I know some will claim they were voting for jobs or some other reason but shame on you for being so gullible as to believe a reality TV celebrity with no policies for actually creating jobs, who has never done anything for anyone but himself, will magically bring back jobs that automation has eliminated. I’m angry at anyone who is trying to normalize the incoming administration. I have a lot of anger to go around.

Where do we go from here and how do we get there?

Seriously

Leslie Odom, Jr., Sara Bareillis – Seriously

A little more than a week before the election, This American Life released this song written by Sara Bareillis, imagining what President Obama might be thinking about the election that he can’t say publicly. Leslie Odom, Jr., of Hamilton fame, knocks it out of the park.

I haven’t had the stomach to watch any of the speeches. I did see a snippet from the Orange One’s visit to the White House, maybe you saw it too. The uncomfortable handshake, the strained words, the drained expression on Obama’s face. I think this song is damn close to right.

I did not love everything about Obama. There were plenty of things I felt he didn’t get right or wasn’t quick enough about setting right. But he was dignified, smart, classy, morally upstanding, eloquent, and even had a finger on the pulse of popular culture. His presence was warm, welcoming, reassuring, compassionate, and his flair with kids…shit, just thinking about it makes me tear up.

Putting aside all of the more frightening aspects of the election for a minute, I think a tiny part of the awfulness of the last few days, even if it’s such a minor point that this hasn’t been on your mind, is that we were already going to miss the whole Obama family, but to be followed by a family that is so odious is just adding insult to injury. Can you picture his successor at the next (because you know it’s just a matter of time) national tragedy? There is nothing genuine about him. It pains me to even think about it. Seriously.

I have a lot more to say about the election but I’m not still able to do that yet.

You Are the Everything

R.E.M. – You Are the Everything

So, the other reason I was superstitious about this election is that it falls on the same day as my first presidential election, November 8, 1988. That one didn’t turn out so well.

At this point the prospect of having George H.W. Bush would be a godsend in comparison to what seems poised to happen here tonight. I’m not going to wait up to find out. Not that I think I’ll sleep but I’m going to stop watching.

This album came out 28 years ago today. I hated it. I hated it, hated it, hated it. I won’t say that I thought they sold out but it was not the album I wanted them to make. And I hated that people who had made fun of me for the way I looked and the things I felt were important, suddenly were listening to R.E.M. This was my band and how dare they like them now. I felt like I’d lost a lot that night. I’d lost the election, and I’d lost my favorite band to something that I didn’t understand.

I’m very scared for this world but there is still beauty out there. Deep breaths.

Rise Up and Walk

Poi Dog Pondering – Rise Up and Walk

My Election Day playlist is nearly ready. I’ve been testing it out on the commute and I’m pretty happy with it but it might need one more song.

Since there isn’t a video for this song, I really hope you have Spotify and are logged in when you press play because it’s important to hear the song from the beginning, and stick with it to the end, even if it doesn’t feel like your jam. It really sets the tone for the rest of the playlist.

It also reflects my saving grace of this past week. I was added to a secret Facebook group on Wednesday last week and quickly became addicted to it. I stopped checking Twitter, I didn’t bother to read the onslaught of articles my friends posted on their accounts because I couldn’t take any more bad news. Enter Pantsuit Nation.

Even someone like me, a former Bernie voter, couldn’t help but get swept up in how incredibly good it felt to read all of these positive feelings about voting for Hillary and celebrating nasty women and bad hombres. It was contagious. Because the group is secret, people felt free to unburden themselves with their enthusiasm for Hillary. I remember during the primaries a few women friends of mine said they’d voted for Hillary but said so defensively and hadn’t wanted to be very public about it. You opened yourself up to a heaping of shit from the other side if you did. To be fair, you could get it from the left too. But in Pantsuit Nation, people know they are among friends and post story after story about why they are”with her” without worrying they’ll be shouted down.

When I was added I think there were about 80,000 members. Soon it had ballooned to 400,000, then 750,000. The growth was explosive and over the weekend it hit 1,000,000, then yesterday 1.5 million. Today it hit 2 million members all of whom had been added by friends so there are no trolls. The closest thing I’ve encountered to it is the Humans of New York on Facebook.

It has been the most refreshing thing after the trauma that has been this election season. It’s people of every stripe; life-long Republicans who won’t dare say they’re voting for her but who are actually relieved to have a candidate who is smart and experienced that they can vote for. Women in their 90s and even a couple over 100 who have proudly gone to the polls to cast a vote for a woman, which they never thought they’d live to see. Every category of person that Trump has insulted is represented and they are enthusiastically behind Hillary. No lesser of two evils, no vote against Trump, all firmly FOR Hillary. In the process of just finally being able to say why they’re happy to choose Hillary, they have also rounded out a picture of who she is for those of us who only got the soundbites.

My playlist reflects my mood thanks to Pantsuit Nation. It’s a party guaranteed to get your grandma out on the dance floor. I may be living in a blue bubble and I may have my head in the sand along with two million of my newest close friends, but it’s beautiful here and I’m ready for Election Day.