We are all living it seems in a world ruled by chaos. I can hardly recognize my country. This chaos appears to be infectious, a pathogen that laughs at stability and rips it away. All we can do is take strength from each other. That means we have to care, we have to give a shit. That's what worries me more than anything else. We're getting worn down by design. Let's continue to resist. And let's continue to care about one another. Keep us posted my friend and hang in there.
Sending strength from afar. The world has gone bonkers, that's all there is to it. Hang in there, keep loving hard and making art. What else can we do?
No, I am not familiar. But I like John Prine's line about how "she takes a lickin and keeps on tickin..." the musical version, perhaps of what you are suggesting.
Glad to hear you have a backup way to prepare warm food! Hopefully you have some backup heat?
One needs backup systems for some semblance of self sufficiency as one clearly cannot rely on government systems to work or be maintained.
We've had a bunch of water main breaks in our Chicago neighborhood, never had that before in 30+ years of living there, but now the city is busy with DEI, filling the coffers of the teachers union, and housing migrants rather than maintaining infrastructure.
My husband's bottled water all of a sudden was a godsend!
Plus, stuff simply breaks. The Geothermal at our country house just blew up and no one is in charge there except us. Thankfully, we've got a wood-burning stove for backup. Wishing you the best to get through this crisis!
Annette, thank you for the kind words! We are used to water going out here - as every time they do construction in our neighborhood, it goes off for a few hours, sometimes half a day. The electricity goes out for 15 minutes, an hour at the most. The gas, very very rarely. For the water outages we have an army of 5 liter plastic bottles stashed wherever we can put them, and tend to survive unscathed.
This new wrinkle, of the gas going off like this is a government tactic, to strike fear and unrest in the people that are opposed to them (about %80 of the country). This is why it will be off for a good day, to show us they can literally turn things off at a whim and blame it on "third parties" that "caused damage to vital pipelines". It is a classic technique learned from the Kremlin, create a false flag and make people suffer and paint themselves as innocent good guys who are just trying to fix things. And to that end, we got caught off guard this time. As winters are so mild here (it literally snows for about 5 minutes total during winter, it just rains sometimes, and is windy sometimes). This year is the first one that went below 9C for some time. So, between Mother Nature and politics we got snagged. We will buy some kind of space heater, to hide like those water bottles and be prepared for next time.
I wrote today's piece knowing full well that something similar is happening in the states.I try to draw those parallels when they present themselves.
My wife and the little one are out of the country visiting relatives, so it is just me, dealing with this, which makes it kind of easier.
I wish we had a wood burning stove!!! We do have an electric over, which is the norm here - gas burners, electric oven.
Phew, that is a sad state of affairs. At least in our case it's not intentionally turning off essential services (at least I don't think), "just" misplaced priorities and incompetence.
Agreed. The intentionality with the lazy, paper thin excuse is a great way to make people feel utterly powerless. Fortunately, we know the playbook quite well and are immunized to this. It is a drag, that's all. A real slog.
I wish I could do more than tell you I think of you and your family often ❤️. And as awful as it is, you are fortunate to have each other. This is a sad time for so much of the world and yet living here it’s hard not to pretend that it can’t be happening. I don’t want it to be real. Half of our country is living in dread of tomorrow’s headlines. The other half will pretend that it’s ok. Until IT comes for them. 💔
Indeed. I am trying to keep my feet on the ground, and kind of roll with the punches. As for my family, yes they are the lifeboat. Irony, they are away visiting relatives this week, which does quickly get me untethered!
The headlines are always going to be fear-mongering and conjecture presented as truth. How many times does a news person say "it may be" or something like that and then they "report" on this possibility until they turn purple. In my own way I avoid that trap, and am very careful about what I read - I support quite a lot of independent journalists that witness things up close and personal, and then tell you what they saw, not what might happen tomorrow.
FWIW, the New York Time publishes about the situation in Georgia, thanks to their reporter who lives in Moscow. YEAH. that's not journalism. It is creative writing.
We are all living it seems in a world ruled by chaos. I can hardly recognize my country. This chaos appears to be infectious, a pathogen that laughs at stability and rips it away. All we can do is take strength from each other. That means we have to care, we have to give a shit. That's what worries me more than anything else. We're getting worn down by design. Let's continue to resist. And let's continue to care about one another. Keep us posted my friend and hang in there.
Right on. My main thought it - pace ourselves, very easy to get burnout. This is not a sprint but a marathon.
Sending strength from afar. The world has gone bonkers, that's all there is to it. Hang in there, keep loving hard and making art. What else can we do?
Stella, if someone did a 21st Century version of that Keep on Truckin' shirt, they would be rich. Do you remember that one? Illustrated by R. Crumb.
No, I am not familiar. But I like John Prine's line about how "she takes a lickin and keeps on tickin..." the musical version, perhaps of what you are suggesting.
Oh that John Prine - love that one. And anything with him and Iris Dement.
Here's the trucking guy - https://pop-culture.net/keep-on-truckin-by-robert-crumb
LOVE IT!
Glad to hear you have a backup way to prepare warm food! Hopefully you have some backup heat?
One needs backup systems for some semblance of self sufficiency as one clearly cannot rely on government systems to work or be maintained.
We've had a bunch of water main breaks in our Chicago neighborhood, never had that before in 30+ years of living there, but now the city is busy with DEI, filling the coffers of the teachers union, and housing migrants rather than maintaining infrastructure.
My husband's bottled water all of a sudden was a godsend!
Plus, stuff simply breaks. The Geothermal at our country house just blew up and no one is in charge there except us. Thankfully, we've got a wood-burning stove for backup. Wishing you the best to get through this crisis!
Annette, thank you for the kind words! We are used to water going out here - as every time they do construction in our neighborhood, it goes off for a few hours, sometimes half a day. The electricity goes out for 15 minutes, an hour at the most. The gas, very very rarely. For the water outages we have an army of 5 liter plastic bottles stashed wherever we can put them, and tend to survive unscathed.
This new wrinkle, of the gas going off like this is a government tactic, to strike fear and unrest in the people that are opposed to them (about %80 of the country). This is why it will be off for a good day, to show us they can literally turn things off at a whim and blame it on "third parties" that "caused damage to vital pipelines". It is a classic technique learned from the Kremlin, create a false flag and make people suffer and paint themselves as innocent good guys who are just trying to fix things. And to that end, we got caught off guard this time. As winters are so mild here (it literally snows for about 5 minutes total during winter, it just rains sometimes, and is windy sometimes). This year is the first one that went below 9C for some time. So, between Mother Nature and politics we got snagged. We will buy some kind of space heater, to hide like those water bottles and be prepared for next time.
I wrote today's piece knowing full well that something similar is happening in the states.I try to draw those parallels when they present themselves.
My wife and the little one are out of the country visiting relatives, so it is just me, dealing with this, which makes it kind of easier.
I wish we had a wood burning stove!!! We do have an electric over, which is the norm here - gas burners, electric oven.
Phew, that is a sad state of affairs. At least in our case it's not intentionally turning off essential services (at least I don't think), "just" misplaced priorities and incompetence.
Agreed. The intentionality with the lazy, paper thin excuse is a great way to make people feel utterly powerless. Fortunately, we know the playbook quite well and are immunized to this. It is a drag, that's all. A real slog.
This feels like the spirit of 2025.
Stay safe and well, all.
thanks Dave. -yes, navigating is a real tap dance.
I wish I could do more than tell you I think of you and your family often ❤️. And as awful as it is, you are fortunate to have each other. This is a sad time for so much of the world and yet living here it’s hard not to pretend that it can’t be happening. I don’t want it to be real. Half of our country is living in dread of tomorrow’s headlines. The other half will pretend that it’s ok. Until IT comes for them. 💔
Indeed. I am trying to keep my feet on the ground, and kind of roll with the punches. As for my family, yes they are the lifeboat. Irony, they are away visiting relatives this week, which does quickly get me untethered!
The headlines are always going to be fear-mongering and conjecture presented as truth. How many times does a news person say "it may be" or something like that and then they "report" on this possibility until they turn purple. In my own way I avoid that trap, and am very careful about what I read - I support quite a lot of independent journalists that witness things up close and personal, and then tell you what they saw, not what might happen tomorrow.
FWIW, the New York Time publishes about the situation in Georgia, thanks to their reporter who lives in Moscow. YEAH. that's not journalism. It is creative writing.
This is not far off from how many here in the U.S. feel today. The gas/lights/liberty being turned off for someone somewhere. ❤
That is exactly why I wrote this - that what happens in one place can be happening in its own way on the other side of the world.