Damned Right, I'm Depressed.

Well, clearly, somebody neglected to take her anti-depressant when she penned the last post.

It has been nigh impossible to manage any sort of cheerful outlook since the U.S. presidential election. At first, I felt somewhat vindicated, as I contemplated all those voters who swore they'd leave the country if Trump won. I am already out of the country, with no plans to return, but it doesn't really matter where I hang my hat. I am a U.S. citizen, and I am desperately afraid for the near and continuing future of my country. I see an ignorant, pompous, self-absorbed ass with absolutely no concept of how complex and critical his new job is, to both the country itself and the rest of the world.

I felt proud of my sisters and cousins as they marched in Washington last Saturday, but also sadly detached from the event. I wonder if anything good and lasting will result from their efforts and those of people around the world. Just as the lowest number of annual abortions since Roe v. Wade was announced, due in part to better availability of contraception to poor women, Republican senators are enthusing about defunding Planned Parenthood as soon as possible. Many women did not participate in the Women's March because it embraced liberal priorities and LGBTQ issues. Will these conservative women be able to compromise when they, too, become afraid that Trumpish chaos threatens the country's existence?

Remember the "camp-in" of the 98%? Did anything lasting come of that? We have just put one of the 1% (and a pretty repulsive one, at that) into the driver's seat of the free world.

The tyrant in the White House seems incapable of political triage, of putting aside petty or minor annoyances in favor of acting promptly on pressing problems facing the nation. Yes, he is focused on developing jobs, as he promised he would. But what I see is deal-making AT ANY COST; Trump is dangling tax breaks and federal support on one hand, and daring industry leaders to risk his rage if they do not accept the taxpayers' largess. That is no way to create or save lasting jobs, to pay companies to hire Americans.

Of course, we have only Trump's dubious word that "everyone will have great healthcare" when he and Congress repeal the Affordable Care Act. And is America's long record of supporting democracy abroad and aiding impoverished nations in times of pestilence or catastrophe next on the chopping block? It does seem as if Trump is a spoiled brat demanding his own way or he'll take his toys and go home. Perhaps The United States is finally going to act like the global bully many nations accuse it of being.

Pictures of Plants

My recent excursion to Caterina has added five new plants to my garden. Today I took some pictures to document their addition to my little landscape. I bought two hibiscus. One, as you know was supposed to be yellow, but bloomed red. Today the second bloomed as expected, and hugely:

The red hibiscus with buds.

Palmettos

Volunteer zinnias

Nasturtiuns have thrived here,

This weekend has been rather desolate. Goings-on in Washington on Friday were nauseating, and today, I sorely missed being with my sisters in the D.C. demonstration. I feel lonely and meaningless.

On Second Thought, Call Me "Teach!"

The holiday vacation and the first week or so of school at Keiser University in San Marcos gave me no reason to visit the capus until the end of last week, when several students needed help preparing for their first quiz in 19th-century American History.  I am on the tutorial staff as an English helper, but thanks to a stretch as PR wonk at the Heinz History Center in Pittsburgh, and a broad interest in the 19th century, I felt competent to help fill in the gaps. The biggest gap, in fact, is English, which, though the official language of the campus, is often the biggest hurdle, especially for first and second year students.

I went in to Keiser an extra day this week, and was thrilled to see some good result of my work. Never have I fancied myself a teacher of any stripe. I do not suffer fools and have little patience for anything else. That said, this past year and a half in Nicaragua has given me new perspective on BEING the fool, and needing the patience and understanding of others. This insight may be working some magic on my potential to teach and explain. In any event, the notion that I can be useful, or have an otherwise positive affect on my students is wonderfully satisfying!

I also use the library on campus. Just finished E.M. Forster's Maurice, and I am midway through Virginia Woolf's last novel, Between the Acts. There is a poignant note from her publisher husband Leonard explaining that Virginia had died before she could make any final adjustments to the text. I suppose she was satisfied with the script, or she might have delayed her suicide. This rather morose genre is meant to restore my equilibrium after my recent infatuation with Henry Fielding, laughing out loud all through Tom Jones, Shamela, and Joseph Andrews.

Well, now that I am a history tutor, I think I'll browse that genre next. Unless I become too, too excited about my sweet boy Gabriel arriving a month from TODAY!

Call Me Henny Penny

After the well-wishing and celebratory activity has receded into the memory of another year's passing, there is a particularly harsh reality coming into sharper focus with each passing day.

Just yesterday, over lunch with two colleagues at the University where I volunteer, we three each admitted to an edginess, a cranky dark cloud that has threaded its slimy tentacles south from the States into our Edenic environs in Nicaragua. Earlier, as I helped two students prepare for a test on 19th-c. American history, the horrific working conditions, the monopolies run by a ridiculously wealthy 1% of a largely poor population began to sound horribly familiar. These ideas sound not only true for contemporary Central America, but also for the United States.

Are we pushing closer to the brink of deregulation of OSHA standards that save lives, but slightly lower profits? Are we ever going to call out this lying, self-absorbed, snake-oil salesman on his nepotistic, lawless behavior? Will anyone suggest that we closely examine the actual legitimacy of the recent election? Does this feckless monster actually belong in the Oval Office? If the Russians or anyone deliberately (and provably) affected the outcome of the election, does it not mean the election is fraudulent and must be nullified?

We see hints that some GOP legislators are reluctantly signaling modest opposition to the more ridiculous claims of this buffoon. Will they grow a few pair and insist on a more gradual replacement of the ACA with...What? Don't the American people deserve to know SOMETHING about what is to replace universal healthcare?

I feel a stifling miasma of doubt and doom settling over nearly every aspect of my life.  I just received the happy news that my Social Security is going to go up a whole $7 per month!  Why, that's enough to buy a bottle of rum, a big one. It's not a great substitute for hope, but it may have to suffice when the sky falls.