Things in the think-pot today

Things I’ve thought about today while walking around Madrid, going to the gym, getting lunch, and then watching as my country woke up, put on its marching shoes, and hit the streets. I might add to this list but for now this will do…

What I like

• Dogs that walk themselves with their own leashes in their mouths
• America Ferrera and her classiness
• Big-ass marches full of people who know their rights and genuinely care about their country
• Spaniards and Italians with their broad gestures and incomprehensible slang
• The improvement in poverty figures over time – slow but steady progress toward better education and health
• When people listen, really listen to you, and answer honestly
• Pussy hats (it had to be said)
• Cat videos where the cats drink water from the tap or get stuck in the blinds because they’re trying to catch a bird on the other side of the glass
• Colombia, its people and its landscapes and its promise, rising out of the pain of its past
• Friends on Facebook who put so much effort into outing what’s going on
• Spanish-speaking women rappers
• Facing other Americans who are not at all like me, but who believe in the same experiment in democracy that I do, and coming to terms day in and day out with that changing reality that is part of who I am and who they are as well
• The list of cities, towns, and countries that are marching today is absolutely over the top, people! Can you imagine people in Kinshasa marching for you? THEY ARE DOING IT!
• Here are some signs from the march that are fantastic!

What I don’t like

• The smell in a butcher’s market
• Fake worship of women and mothers that dampens and minimizes real women and mothers
• Bullies and fakers and corner-cutters who look out for themselves before their constituents. What happened to the term “public service,” people?
• The Electoral College in its over-valuing of votes from the Heartland, who SHOULD be appropriately represented but shouldn’t have more representation than the millions in the country who are undervalued just for being in the vital urban centers that share in the creation of our collective GDP
• Agricultural subsidies for expensive programs to keep mega giant agribusinesses rolling in money
• Government telling me what I can and can’t do with my body for abstract ideological purposes that have nothing to do with me
• Wondering how on earth I’ll have an impact besides Facebook posts and letters to my congresspeople
• People who still say CongressMEN
• That whole ridiculous crap about “Happy Holidays” like wishing someone something neutral was an affront to Christians, as if Christians are so sensitive and snowflakey that they can’t take good wishes as they’re intended – of course, Christians can, but flakey politicians riled up a few of their number to detract from the fact that they’re staffing the Cabinet and Executive Branch of government (and will staff the Supreme Court, if given half a chance) with BILLIONAIRES who have no one’s best interests at heart but their own
• “News” that derides the media in general as some sort of underhanded leftie force