Claim Your Country, Hone the Self

I. Claim Your Country

Texas journalist Molly Ivins said,

"It is possible to read the history of this country
as one long struggle to extend the liberties established
in our Constitution to everyone in America."

Last night I donated to Kamala Harris's campaign, inspired by reading that "progressive donation platform ActBlue raised $27.5 million from from small-dollar donors in the five hours after Biden endorsed Harris."[via cnbc].
I wanted to be part of that wave.
(By this morning, it'd risen to nearly $50 million. A lot of big-buck donors immediately stepped up to support her too.)

I'd woken up thinking of Béyonce's latest album cover, for her album Cowboy Carter. (She’s also a Texan.)

Some critics said it was wrong-headed, that Black people shouldn't be patriotic to this racist country, but I'm like, if you've built much of the country and continuously pushed it to live up to its (our) ideals--struggled to extend its liberties--why not fly your flag?
That's worth being proud of.
Women, double that.

Claim your country.
All people are created equal. Doesn't matter who wrote that sentence, it's a great ideal, worth working for.

My favorite:

 "The thing about democracy, beloveds, is that it is not neat, orderly, or quiet. It requires a certain relish for confusion."
--Molly Ivins.
_____________________

II. Hone Your Summer

On a separate note, I go back to work in 5 weeks or so... What do I want to do?
I'm loving being off work much more than I expected!

Signing up for classes has turned out to be a smart move--both to push me to work on projects and to connect socially.
Last week I even felt overwhelmed from socializing every day, and sometimes with people I don't know well, or at all (the new neighbors, the glass class).  That's energizing and draining. (Different brain batteries.) I'm glad of it--keeps me alert.

Maybe it was President Biden and the light that his stepping out of the race shines on aging... He's nineteen years older than me.
What do I want to do with the time I have left? (Nineteen years? who knows.)
What have I left to do?

I'm not interested in bucket lists of fun. "I haven't been to Bali." I don't need more entertainment.
It's more about...
Hm...
Honing the self.
To hone: to sharpen or smooth, to make more intense or effective

I'm not in love with my job, but it sure is a whetstone!
The grit of the public schools... Gotta make sure I use it to intensify my self, not grind me down.
Must think more on how to approach school work as a tool.

A customer at the thrift store, when I told him I work with autistic students, said, "There's a special place in heaven for people like you."
(I don't know why people say teachers don't get respect--people tell me things like this frequently. Maybe more because I'm in special ed?)

I said, "Well, that may be true––but not because of the kids, who are a delight––for dealing with the school system!"

But honing is not only about getting better with people (though that's maybe the hardest challenge).
It's about sharpening, clarifying the mind, paying close attention...

What is undone?
Well, there are important movies that I haven't viewed, or that I would like to revisit.
And then write a mini-review, the writing of which makes you PAY ATTENTION (like Orange Crate Art's "Twelve Movies" series of well-crafted, 4-sentence movie reviews).
Ingestion is not digestion.

Could I, say, watch all the Criterion Collection "of the greatest films from around the world"?
There are now 1,696 films. If I watched one a day, that'd only take about five years. That's unlikely (one a day!), but possible.

I like the idea of watching the movies at random, rather than with a plan. At the library yesterday, I scanned one shelf of DVDs (alphabetized S—Z) for the Criterion label and grabbed all six that were there.
What a wacky mix-up!

I've seen three (That Hamilton Woman, Secrets & Lies, and--a favorite--The 39 Steps), but not recently.

Not sure I can take A Woman Under the Influence, about a woman's mental deterioration. I love Gena Rowlands and Peter Falk though. I'll brave it, inspired by this youtube comment on the trailer:
"This film was so fucking real, it was deep, loved every bit of it, fantastic piece of cinema"

Onward!