Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Optimism opens the door to great things.

Take hopelessness and turn it into resilience.

Accused of treason; bitches about the ratings. I am in awe.

Putin dreamed of ending NATO, and now it’s Finnish-ed.

Hot air and ill-informed banter

… pundit janitors mopping up after the GOP

Our job is not to persuade republicans but to defeat them.

In my day, never was longer.

DeSantis transforms Florida into 1930s Germany with gators and theme parks.

If you’re pissed about Biden’s speech, he was talking about you.

My years-long effort to drive family and friends away has really paid off this year.

Come on, media. you have one job. start doing it.

Anyone who bans teaching American history has no right to shape America’s future.

Let’s not be the monsters we hate.

Don’t expect peaches from an apple tree.

I did not have this on my fuck 2022 bingo card.

The revolution will be supervised.

“The defense has a certain level of trust in defendant that the government does not.”

I’d try pessimism, but it probably wouldn’t work.

Everybody saw this coming.

Nothing worth doing is easy.

Take your GOP plan out of the witness protection program.

But frankly mr. cole, I’ll be happier when you get back to telling us to go fuck ourselves.

Battle won, war still ongoing.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / And Now For Something Completely Different

And Now For Something Completely Different

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Albatrossity sent me a link to a site for an organization that turns 25 this year.  At 25, they are even older than we are!

He and his partner are both involved with this group (are they cheating on Balloon Juice?) as Elizabeth is the (unpaid, volunteer) non-fiction editor for their online literary journal.  I am polite (at least most of the time!) so I took a look.  I found stories, poetry, beautiful pictures, a lovely time-out from elections and the barrage of current events.

The site turned out to be calming, better than a walk in the woods on this cold, damp day.  And I came across this thoughtful article and a poem that I want to share.

Continue to Be: A Response to Roe

A Letter to America of Prose + Postcard Collages

by Jennifer Case

Continue to Be: A Response to Roe

The truth is: when the news about Roe came out, I could feel it in my body. Not like a gut punch, but something worse, and something deeper. I felt a violation in the deep, recessed, thrumming part of myself that knows what it is like to feel forced to give birth. I have had a planned pregnancy, and I have had an unintended pregnancy, and I know what it is like to pee on a stick and come up against a husband, a mother, a family, a society, a political system, and a religion that will not allow me an option.

That tell me I will get over my despair, and that my life doesn’t matter, and that I have no choice because there is only one choice. I know what it is like to collapse under those pressures and to lose my voice.

That is just one contribution from their Letter to America series.  Here is another one, a poem by Cati Porter:

Dear America,

I am your daughter and
I am angry.

Born in a barn and
raised by wolves,

I have eaten
the porridge

and the plums
and I am not sorry.

You told me that
I can’t go home again

but it was you
who sold me a bridge

that was not yours,
then set it on fire.

They are having an auction as part of their anniversary, which includes photographs from Albatrossity, but (more importantly), possibilities for interactions (hiking, birdwatching, writing workshops, etc) with some of their published authors, including Elizabeth and a newly-minted MacArthur Genius award winner, Drew Lanham, as well as many others.

If any of that sounds interesting, check it out.  I think the auction ends a week from today, but of course the site will be there long after that.

Reader Interactions

51Comments

  1. 1.

    Mike in NC

    Got an email from the Franken for Iowa campaign, noting that Traitor Trump is going to Iowa again to campaign for insurrectionist Chuck Grassley. That was sufficient for me to kick in another $25 donation.

  4. 4.

    opiejeanne

    This looks like a great site. Thanks for showing it to us.

    In other news, The Baby is still not here. They just broke her water.  Mama is resting comfortably, having mild contractions, The Baby is doing great. They’re saying 6-8 hours, possibly.

  13. 13.

    Leslie

    Okay, question for alla y’all. Got paid today and want to make my final thermometer donations. I can give little bits to all of them, or a bit more to a few. The latter feels like it might be more useful at this point. Opinions about which candidate / group(s) might benefit most? I’m leaning toward the AZ gotv operation, but am happy to give to any of them.

  15. 15.

    bupalos

    That poem is… I don’t have the productive poetic gene… VERY GOOD. It does rely on literary literacy, but given that, it’s VERY GOOD.

  17. 17.

    Almost Retired

    @Leslie: that’s where I’m going.  The AZ group is driving turnout.  I am still optimistic about Arizona, and Worker Power/Unite Here Union  (and Four Directions) are the reason why.

  18. 18.

    Barbara

    @opiejeanne: Ugh.  I remember when I was induced and the doctor assured me that it would be 10-12 hours and it ended up being 16.  It dragged on and on — and every step of the way as soon as the doctor “threatened” more intervention, it’s like baby heard and said, yikes, time to get going.  Hoping it goes a little faster!

  19. 19.

    bupalos

    @Leslie: I feel like Ryan in Ohio has been outspent, and that’s the reason we’re down to a longshot at this point.

    People will tell themselves bad and largely false stories about this race if it goes the wrong way. Because on the merits and within the context, I think Ryan won, and I think that outcome is a grand slam in the top of the 9th. I think a win here could resonate out in a way not many others could. But I think he’s been outspent to this point, and I think that money could end up burying the story.

    Which is a long way to say I think there’s a lot of leverage in putting money down right now on Ryan. It’s winnable, and it can be a shockwave.

  21. 21.

    WaterGirl

    @Leslie: From our Winnable House Races Purple Districts, these are the two that were added last.  Most everyone else is at $5k or more, except Brad Pfaff but I think these two have a better shot than he does.

    And Now For Something Completely Different

    Hang on while I do the same thing for the other two thermometers.

  22. 22.

    prostratedragon

    @BlueGuitarist: ​ Ah yes, Ima Hogg always comes up in these contexts. I have a relative who has the same initials as, for instance, Aloysius S Scofield. The “S” does not stand for anything.

    There’s a very weird sense of humor that runs through my family.

  24. 24.

    currants

    Oh WOW.  That is fantastic. I’ve had this roiling angst since we first heard about Roe–I grew up with those shitheads, and having Trump win felt like they all were in charge of my life again, even though I no longer live there and am several states away.  But the new Roe decision makes me want to run as far as I can get. I’m older and don’t need to fear pregnancy, but I very much fear the abuse women take (in the guise of “guidance” and “correction”) under such regimes.  And I am very, very angry, because the entire thing is a fraud, though I know (having grown up in it) that this is what that entire movement is driving for–Christ’s kingdom on earth, where only white men have lives worth living.  F#ckers.

    Anyway. Drew Lanham is fantastic–and if the sampled writers are any indication, the entire thing is worth all the time we want to give it.  If you are on Instagram and don’t follow him, please do!

  27. 27.

    WaterGirl

    These are the AG candidates in Texas and Georgia

    And Now For Something Completely Different 2 And Now For Something Completely Different 3

    And here are all the players in Election Protection:

    NEVADA

    Steve Sisolak  (Governor)
    Cisco Aguilar  (SOS)
    Aaron Ford  (AG)

    ARIZONA

    Katie Hobbs  (Governor)
    Adrian Fontes  (SOS)
    Kris Maes  (AG)

    TEXAS

    Rochelle Garza  (AG)

    GEORGIA

    Jen Jordan  (AG)

    OHIO SUPREME COURT

    Jennifer Brunner
    Marilyn Zayas
    Terri Jamison

    Back in a minute with one last set of info.

  28. 28.

    Steve in the ATL

    @Mike in NC: saw a story on the local news* this morning about Franken; noted that he was wearing his Navy hat with a suit.  Not sure how big the Navy is in Iowa, but I grew up in Memphis where we had a large naval base so I can’t judge (you never know when a Union ironclad might sneak up the Mississippi to sink our riverboats and defile our debutantes).

    Have also seen a lot of Grassley ads where Franken’s face morphs into Biden’s.  Terrifying!!!!

    *In my defense, I was on the elliptical and that was the only channel that worked

  29. 29.

    Mousebumples

    @Leslie: I vote something that will GOTV. Arizona group is a good choice, or potentially some of the Upballot races of any appeal to you.

  30. 30.

    WaterGirl

    @Leslie: For GOTV with boots on the ground in AZ – which is what we’re moving to exclusively on Friday anyway – I would suggest Worker Power.

    $1,000 puts a full-time person on the ground in AZ for a week.  We have two weeks left, and they will have boots on the ground until the last day, including election day, so this is a terrific place to give.

  31. 31.

    WaterGirl

    @Leslie: In case you want to go the down-ballot in super swing states route, you definitely just want to pick one or two from the thermometer.

    This will tell you what state everyone is in:

    Candidates

    Jeanne Casteen AZ-S-02
    Cindy Hans AZ-S-13
    Taylor Kerby AZ-S-16
    Laura Terech AZ-H-04
    Lorena Austin AZ-H-09
    Dana Allmond AZ-H-17

    Shea Backus NV-A-37

    Christine Kelly NC-H-037
    Marcia Morgan NC-S07

    Rachel Baker OH-H-27
    Erika White OH-H-42
    Patricia Goetz OH-S-27

    Eunic Ortiz FL-S-18
    Raquel Pacheco FL-S-36

    Mandy Steele PAH-033
    Anna Thomas PAH-137
    Mark Moffa PAH-142
    Gwen Stoltz PAH-143
    Melissa Cerrato PAH-151
    Ann Marie Mitchell PAS-06
    Mark Pinsley PAS-16
    Jennifer Shukaitis PAS-40

  34. 34.

    currants

    @bupalos: ​
     
    I was visiting my daughter this past weekend, down near Cincinnati. I know Cincy is blue, but they live a ways east of that (toward the very rural areas) where nobody has worn masks (like ever), and I was surprised at the Ryan signs.

  38. 38.

    Elizabird

    @WaterGirl:

    Thank you so much for sharing our efforts with the BJ community! I’m so glad that Jennifer Case’s piece spoke to you (and others!). We have tried to provide a literary community to resist contemporary American fascism through our Letters to America series, plus a whole anthology of rage against the tRump administration, titled Dear America: Letters of Hope, Habitat, Defiance, and Democracy (from Trinity University Press)…and we focus on place and environment in so many ways. I really appreciate your making space to share our work–and our quest–with BJ readers. Our goal is to be able to actually pay our authors, which is part of our fundraising effort.

  40. 40.

    opiejeanne

    @WaterGirl: I think they’re trying to deliver the baby the regular way, but I can’t believe how slowly this is going. I guess it’s ok as long as everyone is healthy, but this is a bit frustrating.

  41. 41.

    Elizabird

    @currants: Yes, Drew Lanham IS FATASTIC!  And I’m so glad you enjoyed Jennifer’s piece. We have a whole series of Letters to America. You can search on the site–which is totally free to access.

  42. 42.

    WaterGirl

    @Elizabird:   Hi Elizabird!  Great to hear from you on this.  I was impressed by the site, and the longer I was there the more I could see an intersection between your community there and ours here.

    More in common than one might think from a brief description of the two sites.

  44. 44.

    WaterGirl

    @opiejeanne: Easy for me to say, but I think that as long as everyone is healthy, it’s good to let nature take its course rather than jumping to induce.

    Patience.  Like I said, easy for me to say from over here! :-)

  47. 47.

    opiejeanne

    @WaterGirl: Oh, she’s being induced, but very, very slowly. Tiny doses of pitocin, they finally broke her water, but she was only dilated to 3 cm.

    She didn’t want to bother with a birthing class because “she knew what to expect”, which is nothing like what is happening (thank God, her treatment by doctors in Louisiana and Mississippi is a horror story of incompetence and malpractice).  These nurses and doctors actually know what they’re doing, they’re just doing it very slowly, and I’m an impatient person.

  50. 50.

    Leslie

    @WaterGirl: Thank you so much! I apologize for disappearing after my question; I was interrupted by family stuff. I really appreciate you getting all that information. And boy, I wish I had deep pockets and could throw some real money at these races, but I know that smaller amounts go a long way with most of these.

    Thank you, also, to everyone else who responded with insights and suggestions. I will consider them all.

  51. 51.

    James E Powell

    @Mike in NC:

    Grassley losing would be an incredible turn of events. It is surprising that he’s not walking away with it.

    I’m so old I remember when Iowa was not insane.

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