Friday
Just a quick journal entry. It’s been over a week since I wrote in this online journal. Last week was a bit of a production blur with both my Pink Dandelions newsletter and a Type M for Murder post AND a guest post coming out.
What have I done since then? I addressed and wrote postcards to send to readers who requested them–a fun project this week. Now I need to find a postal service shop to mail them out as one card is going to the U.K. so I need an international stamp.
I’ve been reading a book on the history of special operations teams (several countries) during the Cold War era. It’s actually quite a fascinating history. Quite James Bondian! This is for a novella series I’ve been hatching, but who knows what will come of it. Some ideas are meant to ripen and be picked and made into a sauce while others wither on the vine, so to speak. Like tomatoes.
Speaking of tomatoes, I sure could go for a good, old-fashioned American BLT right about now. Heavy on the mayo. I’ve done well this week with the meals and home-cooking. Pork chops with a brown sugar and soy sauce gravy. From-scratch sloppy joes. Veggie lo mein with leftover pork and a fruit salad. I think tonight will be burgers with bacon, lettuce, and tomato!
We went to breakfast at a well-known Guam diner last weekend. I didn’t have my phone with me, so C took the photos. He hasn’t sent them to me yet, but when he does I will post about it. Shirley’s is a local landmark. This weekend I hope we find something touristy to do. Maybe Two Lovers Point?
HOMELESS ICON. Can you spare a quarter?
Mostly, I think I’m having trouble focusing on writing because the outside world–despite my best efforts sheltering myself in a Creative Sanctuary (see latest Pink Dandelions newsletter), the outside world is pressing in on me. Other occupations seem less urgent than what’s happening out there.
I am distressed by a lot of what I’m seeing/hearing from various sources, and I know I should just tune out. The latest threats to PBS really bum me out, man. The way I’m expressing it seems to be art. Imagine throwing Big Bird out on the street!
Seriously, though. How many children have gotten a start on reading by watching Sesame Street and learning their letters? Or math/numbers? Or the concept of sharing? All supported by an institution funded, in part, from viewers and taxpayers because we thought it was important for all citizens to have access to good public television?
Raising hand. I did! Did you? Poor kids getting access to free education programming. Hmmm……
Regardless of where people sit, politically, I find it hard to believe that my fellow citizens (and my readers) don’t see the good in free, public television that offers culture, news, education, and arts programming. The balance to that is commercial tv that panders to current trends and an increasingly fractured public.
Shouldn’t we have access to both types? In a free society?
[Media News Bias: Yes, PBS News hour does lean slightly left, a -1.1 out of -6 on the chart. See https://www.allsides.com/news-source/pbs-newshour. To check where other media companies fall on the chart, I look here. https://www.allsides.com/media-bias/media-bias-chart]
But let’s not throw the Big Bird out with the bathwater!
Some may wonder why I’m writing about this at all, here, on my writing journal, and here is the answer: it’s almost all I can think about right now.
It’s overwhelming me and sucking at my creative energy. I will endeavor to ground myself more in my Creative Sanctuary and get some work done, but until things calm down (and that’s NOT up to me; other, much more powerful people are doing this) out there, I’m afraid I’m going to continue to be impacted whether I want to or not.
Hi Shelley! Yeah, it’s really tough to manage one’s emotions through these times, even when we know we SHOULD. I think journaling about it is helpful, not only to you and your readers now, but also for down the road (if there is one!) when we look back at what we have been through and experienced. I have to keep reminding myself that giving up/ acceptance means that this evil will prevail, but HOW do we fight?
Hi Debbie: That’s the big question, isn’t it? And fight who? Because I think most people are good people who just want to have a decent life. I honestly think our fractured information system is the big culprit. It allows bad actors to use the situation. Maybe the key is to ditch anything at the extremes and try to convince others to do the same.