George W. Bush’s Painted Atonements.

Posted on by

bush-painting-7-690

During his presidency, I did not like George W. Bush or his policies, even though I always felt that he wasn’t a bad person and that he truly believed that what he was doing was right for America.   I never voted for him, and was disappointed when he won the presidency (for two terms), but I also never experienced the visceral level of fear and dread that I do now with Trump in office.

Eight years ago, I never would have imagined that there’d come a day when I actually would start to like Dubya, at least a little.

But last week, Bush said a few things that indicated he definitely did not approve of Trump’s immigration ban, or his attacks on the legitimate media.

“A bedrock of our freedom is the right to worship freely.” — Former President Bush in response to question about Trump travel ban

On the Today Show, he said this to Matt Lauer:

“I consider the media to be indispensable to democracy.  We need an independent media to hold people like me to account. Power can be very addictive, and it can be corrosive.”

Source: George W. Bush Throws Shade at Donald Trump

How right he is.

I also found out he was never a Trump supporter, and in fact, he voted for Hillary Clinton!   Imagine my shock.

This week, the New Yorker published an article called George W. Bush’s Painted Atonements.   They are from a new book, “Portraits of Courage: A Commander in Chief’s Tribute to America’s Warriors.”  The New Yorker article includes a slideshow of several of Bush’s  individual portraits and a group mural which Bush painted, from photographs, of 98 physically and/or mentally wounded Armed Forces veterans of the Afghanistan and Iraq wars.

bush-painting-1-690

I knew Bush painted, but it never occurred to me he could actually have talent, and yet he does.   These paintings are wonderful and the expressions on the wounded veterans in his portraits capture their pain, despair, and anguish.   The paintings also seem to indicate that Bush has compassion toward these wounded warriors, and may be struggling with a lot of guilt over both the wars he got us into.    Painting may be how he’s trying to redeem himself.

bush-painting-5-690

“The Most Narcissistic Schoolteacher Ever” (by Lenora Thompson)

Posted on by

Lenora Thompson writes about narcissism for PsychCentral.  This article about her narcissistic third-grade teacher stood out to me,  not only because it is an entertaining (and of course, heartbreaking) read, but also because not much has been written about narcissistic teachers.  This is strange to me because teachers probably have the most impact on young children, after their parents.

I had one such teacher (also my third-grade teacher), Mrs. Morse, who  decided to make me her scapegoat.  You can read about that here, in an older post I wrote about my childhood, called Crybaby. 

The Most Narcissistic Schoolteacher Ever

By Lenora Thompson, for PsychCentral

narc_teacher

The class of thirty 9-year-old third-graders looked like something out of a 1950s photograph. They sat perfectly still. Their reading books were held in identical grips in their chubby hands. Every student held their books at exactly the same angle. No one slouched. It looked like a model classroom.

What no one knew was that, just the day before, their narcissistic teacher had taped a student’s mouth shut, tied him to his desk and struck him.

They were not model students. They were quite simply terrified.

The Mean Teacher

Finding out who your new teacher will be at the start of each school year is always very exciting. In my über-religious Protestant school, there were two third grade teachers. There was the beloved nice one who, unbeknownst to us, was slowly dying of cancer.

Then there was the other one. A newlywed. Very young. Very pretty. Very mean.

As luck would have it, I got the mean teacher. But I adored her. Back then, I adored all my teachers and often was the teacher’s pet.

You’re Not Sick

Who doesn’t have a dire tale to tell of getting sick at school. On this particular morning, I felt fine when I boarded the schoolbus. I felt fine when I arrived at school and handed in my completed project.

Then it struck me, the waves of nausea. That salty flavor in the mouth that precedes losing ones cookies. “Please teacher,” I begged. “I think I’m sick. Can I go call my mommy?”

“No,” she snapped. “You’re just pretending to be sick because you haven’t finished your homework.”

It wasn’t true, but she was scary. So I shut up.

Then I threw up…all over the floor. Served her right.

*****

Read the rest of Lenora’s article here.

 

 

I am no longer accepting emails.

Posted on by

sorrynote

I just had to change my contact information.  I am no longer able to accept emails because of the sheer number of them I receive and my inability to reply to them.

I would love to be able to answer each email personally but I don’t have the time to do that.   My friends already know about how bad I am about answering emails promptly, and sometimes  they even think I’m angry with them because days or even weeks pass before I reply.   Of course, this is my problem and not theirs, and is something I need to work on, but I decided it would be best to no longer accept unsolicited emails from readers who stumble on this blog and want to ask a question, tell me their story, or just need someone to listen to them.

I apologize if this seems cold or uncaring.  I do care about my readers, but I was beating myself up with guilt over so many unanswered emails sitting in my Inbox.   There are other ways to contact me though — this blog has a Facebook page and I have a Twitter account (both are in the sidebar).

There’s another reason why I’m no longer accepting emails.   This blog has grown big enough that I get a lot of spam, and I also want to discourage trolls or the possibility of opening up an email virus.

Comment policy:

You can always communicate with me via the comments under almost every post.   I will try to answer most comments, or at least give it a “Like” so you know I read it.

If you’re a first time commenter, your comment will go under moderation but after that, they will appear immediately.   With rare exceptions, abusive or troll comments will not be approved and you may be banned from being able to comment in the future.

I hope this causes no one any inconvenience, and again, I apologize for removing my email address and no longer accepting them.

This does not apply to my friends who already email me.   I’m not just suddenly going to stop replying.   You can certainly continue to communicate with me that way, but don’t expect a reply right away.

 

 

I think Melania Trump is an abused woman.

Posted on by

I think Melania Trump is showing signs of PTSD.  Watch the way she flinches and looks uncomfortable when her husband passes her and touches her arm, before she starts to recite the Lord’s Prayer at the Trump rally in Florida last week.  Also watch the smug expression on her husband’s face after he passes her.

Melania has admitted she hates the position of being First Lady (because she is apparently an introverted, shy person — and English is not her first language), but I wonder if there is something more going on than just natural reticence and a dislike of being in the public eye.     I find it strange that she has rarely been seen in public with Donald, and seems to prefer to remain in New York with Barron, meeting up with her husband only rarely.   Whenever she is with him, she looks miserable and scared, and her smile is VERY fake.   When he does touch her, she always seems to stiffen, if not outright flinch.  She seems either disgusted by, or afraid of him, and possibly both.

There is also this video of Trump and Melania attending a worship service.   Melania is either moved by the song (which is very spiritual) or is just feeling sad and miserable, and toward the end she is wiping away tears, but Donald just sits there, with his arms folded, not offering her a hand on the shoulder or a hug or even a word of comfort.   He never shows any affection or love toward his wife, and appears to treat her like an object or a prop, just like the extreme narcissist he is.

Most of us also remember that viral video of Melania’s reaction to SOMETHING Trump apparently said to her during the inauguration proceedings (he smile disappears and face falls as if he just broke her soul).  This video also shows other evidence of Trump’s and Melania’s body language, that seems to indicate to me she is being abused.

Donald seems to ignore her or walk in front of her whenever they are in public, as if he’s ashamed to be seen with her or just oblivious to her presence.   During his inauguration, he just walked ahead of her, and Obama and Michelle had to lead Melania up the steps instead.   In contrast, Obama always acknowledges his own wife’s presence and seems to treat her respectfully and affectionately when they are together in public.

Some cynics criticize her for being a gold digger and says she got what she deserved.  Personally, I don’t care why she might have married him.   Maybe it was for his money, or maybe she really did love him, or maybe she’s a codependent type of person who is attracted to narcissistic men.   Donald probably lied to her  and swept her off her feet, the same way he is lying to an entire nation and appears to have swept at least some of his supporters off their feet.  I feel sorry for Melania. I think she is a quiet, sensitive person who is being slowly destroyed by this man. She’s smart to stay behind in New York with Barron.   She needs to leave him.  He may not be physically abusive of her (though the flinching makes me suspect he probably is) but he is clearly at least emotionally abusive and she seems miserable.  Melania Trump is literally a prisoner in a gilded cage.

This post is just my opinion.  I have no proof that he is abusing her, but I think there’s a good case to be made that he is.

In defense of “needy” people.

Posted on by

Many of us complain about certain other people acting too “needy.”  But maybe they’re not the problem; maybe we are.

Hey, Cat.

Posted on by

I just died laughing.  This is so stupid.

Rally for ACA (Obamacare), Asheville, NC

Posted on by

rally5

This event, which was really an outdoor Town Hall meeting, focused on the right to affordable or better yet, single payer healthcare and the importance of not repealing Obamacare, since the ACA was an important step in that direction — and now it’s under threat.

I arrived early, so early there were only a few people there before me.  The day was cooler than it has been, but clear as a bell, as you can see in the photos.  It was fun taking pictures of all the different sights I saw.  Some of the protest signs were really creative.

rally0 rally1-1

I apologize — the tops of her signs got cut off but I think her shirt is a hoot.

I would say probably about 400 people attended, and maybe a few more than that.   Most of the people attending were older folks — some older than me (Medicare age), which makes sense since older people are the most likely to have medical issues and the most at risk should they lose their healthcare.   There were some young families there too though, and a couple of the speakers were quite young.

rally3

I was surprised how many people brought their dogs, and one woman, wearing a “pink pussy hat” had dressed up her little dog in an adorable miniature version of the hat she wore.   The sign she had made was pretty funny too.

rally6

rally7

Not everyone there was a Democrat. There were some independents, and even a few stray Republicans, who agree that ACA should not be repealed, like the sign of the lady shown below. When it comes to affordable healthcare, party really doesn’t matter. Some actually understand that.

rally14

Some of the signs were quite funny.  Here are a couple.

rally16

rally11

There were four speakers.  One speaker’s story brought tears to my eyes.  She talked about her son, who was born in 1974. Doctors urged her to have an abortion because he had some genetic abnormalities but she refused.   Well, the condition he had left him extremely vulnerable to certain forms of cancer, especially colon cancer.   In 2008, just before Obama was elected, when he was just 34, he had to be rushed to the emergency room.  He hadn’t been seeing doctors regularly  because they didn’t have the money and he could not get health insurance because of his pre-existing condition.  He was too sick to work enough hours to get company sponsored health insurance so he never got the surgeries and other treatments that had been recommended.   So he just did without.

rally2

One of the young volunteers.

On the day he was rushed to the ER, some tests were run, and it was found he had developed inoperable colon cancer. He died just before Christmas in 2008, just after Obama was elected, but before Obamacare was a reality.  It was too late for him.

rally4

The woman, who was now in tears, concluded her story by saying that no politician who says “No” to the ACA or who wants to repeal it has the right to call themselves pro-life.  Life doesn’t stop at the end of the birth canal.    Being pro-life means caring for people of ALL ages — and making sure everyone has affordable health care. No exceptions.

rally12

These are the kind of tragic personal stories that used to happen on a regular basis before the ACA was passed.  People dying prematurely and unnecessarily, and sometimes suffering horribly — just because they couldn’t get health insurance and weren’t wealthy enough to pay for treatments out of pocket.    And now our “dear leader” wants to roll back not only that but is also threatening social security, Medicaid, Medicare, and even Veteran’s benefits.   Can you imagine how horrible things would be if they were to succeed in taking all that away?   We can’t allow that.

rally9

rally10

I took lots of pictures — the rest are below this post. I didn’t have a sign this time, but next time I will make sure I do.  It was a good experience, and was very peaceful. In spite of the serious issue being addressed, it was a lot of fun too.

rally18

On my way out, there was a vendor selling related merchandise, such as T-shirts and buttons.   The proceeds go to the Indivisible movement, which co-sponsored this event.   These are my purchases (I’ll  be wearing these at the next event I attend — and carrying a sign too).  The button in the middle was free — it was given to me when I signed up for emails.

rally20

The rest of the photos:

rally13

rally15

rally17

 

 

Last night’s anxiety dream.

Posted on by

relativity

I don’t have that many anxiety dreams anymore, but when I do have them they are doozies and tend to be extremely vivid.

The one I had last night bordered on being a nightmare.    It was nighttime (for some reason, in these dreams it’s always late at night) and I was in a vast subway system (like New York City’s) and had no idea where I was.   I was trying to make it home, and kept taking the wrong sets of stairs and getting lost on the wrong platforms.  I’d go and ask people where the platform I should be on was to get home, but no one seemed to be able to answer me.    I was becoming frustrated and upset, and was on the verge of crying.

Then the strangers I asked for directions began to make fun of me — somehow knowing I was originally from the New York area, and unable to believe I couldn’t find my way around a big subway system.   I continued to climb stairs and look for my train on different platforms (there seemed to be thousands) and then I realized with horror that I couldn’t even remember where I lived!   That’s when I woke up and it took me a few minutes to shake off the dream — and I spent a minute or two trying to remember where I lived before it came back to me.

*****

Later today, I’m going to an ACA rally in downtown.   I’ll report back later, with photos.

 

I’d rather go back to sleep.”

Posted on by

This is my tux cat, Sheldon, after being rudely awoken from a cat nap on top of my car.

sheldononcar

 

Indivisible: starting to get involved.

Posted on by

indivisible-goes-local

Every day, the Trump  administration’s actions get more outrageous, more boneheaded, and meaner.   They seem to have no shame in how low they will go to destroy an entire nation.  They care nothing about the American people or what they want or need; they have no respect for the Constitution, are contemptuous of basic human or civil rights,  they are without a shred of empathy or kindness, and seem intent on bringing what’s left of our system crashing down and leaving everyone who isn’t part of the 1% (or white) without a voice, without freedom, without healthcare, without education, without clean air or water, but heavily controlled, deceived, and policed instead.  They seem to be fostering ignorance, intolerance, divisiveness, and hatred.   Every day it seems to get worse.  This administration has not done one thing that benefits the vast majority of Americans, and every decision they have made has been stupid, or evil, and usually both.

According to experts, we no longer even qualify as a democracy; in fact, the other day I read an article saying that  we have dropped to 21st in the Democracy Index, between Italy and Japan.  As of 2016, we are categorized now as a “flawed democracy” but I’d say even that’s way too generous.   Since Trump took office, I would say by now we have sunk even lower that that.    The next category down is “hybrid regime” (common in much of Eastern Europe, and some African and South American countries), and then “authoritarian”  (Russia, China, North Korea, much of Africa, and most of the Middle East).  We seem to be emulating Russia, one of the most authoritarian regimes in the world — and we have a president who may well have committed treason by involving Russia in the election.   We are becoming one of the most hated countries in the world, if not the most hated.  Trump’s actions against immigration are not making us safer; they are actually making us far more vulnerable to attack, not only by angering other countries, but by alienating us from our allies (such as Mexico) so they may refuse to step in and help if we need them.

I know lately I’ve been writing a lot about the political situation because it’s everywhere — and has taken over my mind.     The other day, TIME Magazine had an article about a PTSD-like condition that has become epidemic ever since Trump was elected.   Here is another article I found (there are many others):

Psychologists Say Stress Caused By Trump Administration Poses Threat to Public Health

I remember asking my therapist if there was something wrong with me because I was getting so depressed and obsessing so much over the political situation.  In fact, he said that most of his clients are very upset and some are finding it difficult to function.  Our mental health really is is suffering, especially those of us already suffering from PTSD, C-PTSD and other trauma based conditions.

Rather than just writing about it all the time,  I’m finally getting involved.  Besides attending the March for Science on Earth Day (April 22), I’m attending an ACA (Obamacare) Rally here in my city on February 25th.     I’ve become a member of the Indivisible Movement, a movement that is growing as fast or faster than the Tea Party did.   It seems better organized and more focused than Occupy and doesn’t seem like it will fizzle out or be silenced anytime soon, or at all.   Joining the Resistance makes me feel better; it makes me feel like I’m making a difference and my voice is being heard.

I urge everyone who agrees that this administration is evil and cares nothing about anything but stripping away everything good this country once stood for to join the Indivisible movement and attend any rallies or Town Hall Meetings in your area.  It costs nothing to get involved.

Here is their website, where you can download their guide or ask questions.

https://www.indivisibleguide.com/