I paused listening to Vibe Check to listen to this :) Loving the podcast btw. I wholeheartedly agree with you. For me, the day-to-day is okay, but there's also this feeling of precariousness to everything. I often think, "This is the montage in the disaster movie of everyone going about their daily lives not realizing that something cataclysmic is on the way," and then I realize that the cataclysm is here (pandemic, climate change, mass shootings, etc.), and yet we go on. Asterisks everywhere.
YES. We've become the people in the background of action movies, eating in a sidewalk cafe as aliens attack. I get it now. I understand. I, too, would like a dirty martini to go with the surrounding chaos.
I think we all feel like Caesar, in a way, but at least for me, there's a switch that went on when the OG pandemic started that I've not been able to switch off again. So here I am, trying to do my best and continue this process the therapy I started during the last year has brought forth and that is reconnecting with the family I left behind in Argentina. It's very weird how the (more than timely, yes, I am bitter about that) death of my aunt/godmother who decided after my Mom died I was a demon because I would not "bend the knee," so to speak, has completely changed the dynamic with my oldest cousin and her brother, my favorite cousin since forever. I don't know what's gonna happen next, I just hope we somehow enter the final stages of "Endgame" soon because I am so tired of Thanos and his army of dumbasses... Sending love.
These are words and feelings I needed to hear and read from others. Thank you. The asterisks are getting a little (ok a lot) annoying, but it is comforting to know we're not alone.
Thanks for this lovely visual metaphor for a feeling state! It makes me think of a link between your last post, where you talk about your ambivalent responses to joy, and this moment of disjunction between a (sometimes) local safety and a larger global state of distress. I feel one of my asterisks is the contrast between having moments of joy in my personal life, and tremendous gratitude for things like hummingbirds in the garden, my cat, a loaf of zucchini bread . . . .and at the same time feeling the grief and love for the larger world, where there is such a moment of possibility for transformational change, and at the same time, the imminent need to gather energy to fight the structural forces that block it.
I just wanted to thank you for the teacher solidarity. I've been a public school teacher for 9 years, and these past two years have been by far the hardest of my entire career. I'm sick of being told I'm a "superhero" while simultaneously having to beg for a living wage and a reasonable student caseload. It means a lot to hear someone say that I deserve fair compensation for what I do and to acknowledge the shit storm of the past few years rather than another superficial RAH RAH before a diatribe about how inconvenient our possible upcoming strike will be.
The US has its particular and unique asterisks as well. For example, questions of justice (in some slight forms even) seem to permanently require asterisks -- slavery for one -- but in current times any justice from the crimes of 45, to correcting the injustices of repealing Roe all seem semi-permanently in a holding pattern; and those hopes even require the asterisk of hope that even small corrections or justices can happen, which don't always seem optimistic, see slavery. In addition to our unique constitution, justice and laws, the US is the only developed nation without nationalized healthcare, which is especially fraught in this time of pandemic and virus. As a queer man I like you Saeed am especially angered and frustrated with the Monkeypox response, and this administration is one of Democrats. Finally, regarding pandemic and viruses I am especially feeling heard and valued reading Dr. Joe Osmundson's new book "Virology," (stellar review from New York Times even), it is a book I needed at this moment. Thank you Saeed and Caesar. Paul
I paused listening to Vibe Check to listen to this :) Loving the podcast btw. I wholeheartedly agree with you. For me, the day-to-day is okay, but there's also this feeling of precariousness to everything. I often think, "This is the montage in the disaster movie of everyone going about their daily lives not realizing that something cataclysmic is on the way," and then I realize that the cataclysm is here (pandemic, climate change, mass shootings, etc.), and yet we go on. Asterisks everywhere.
YES. We've become the people in the background of action movies, eating in a sidewalk cafe as aliens attack. I get it now. I understand. I, too, would like a dirty martini to go with the surrounding chaos.
I'll have an old fashioned and raise my glass to you.
Love the cameo by Caesar!
He's a star.
I think we all feel like Caesar, in a way, but at least for me, there's a switch that went on when the OG pandemic started that I've not been able to switch off again. So here I am, trying to do my best and continue this process the therapy I started during the last year has brought forth and that is reconnecting with the family I left behind in Argentina. It's very weird how the (more than timely, yes, I am bitter about that) death of my aunt/godmother who decided after my Mom died I was a demon because I would not "bend the knee," so to speak, has completely changed the dynamic with my oldest cousin and her brother, my favorite cousin since forever. I don't know what's gonna happen next, I just hope we somehow enter the final stages of "Endgame" soon because I am so tired of Thanos and his army of dumbasses... Sending love.
Asterisks all over the place. Trying to be present and to do the best I can with what I have.
I’m with Caesar.*
*and you
These are words and feelings I needed to hear and read from others. Thank you. The asterisks are getting a little (ok a lot) annoying, but it is comforting to know we're not alone.
Thanks for this lovely visual metaphor for a feeling state! It makes me think of a link between your last post, where you talk about your ambivalent responses to joy, and this moment of disjunction between a (sometimes) local safety and a larger global state of distress. I feel one of my asterisks is the contrast between having moments of joy in my personal life, and tremendous gratitude for things like hummingbirds in the garden, my cat, a loaf of zucchini bread . . . .and at the same time feeling the grief and love for the larger world, where there is such a moment of possibility for transformational change, and at the same time, the imminent need to gather energy to fight the structural forces that block it.
Definitely feel the same. This is a great book title ;-) and I am grateful for you and Caesar.
I just wanted to thank you for the teacher solidarity. I've been a public school teacher for 9 years, and these past two years have been by far the hardest of my entire career. I'm sick of being told I'm a "superhero" while simultaneously having to beg for a living wage and a reasonable student caseload. It means a lot to hear someone say that I deserve fair compensation for what I do and to acknowledge the shit storm of the past few years rather than another superficial RAH RAH before a diatribe about how inconvenient our possible upcoming strike will be.
The US has its particular and unique asterisks as well. For example, questions of justice (in some slight forms even) seem to permanently require asterisks -- slavery for one -- but in current times any justice from the crimes of 45, to correcting the injustices of repealing Roe all seem semi-permanently in a holding pattern; and those hopes even require the asterisk of hope that even small corrections or justices can happen, which don't always seem optimistic, see slavery. In addition to our unique constitution, justice and laws, the US is the only developed nation without nationalized healthcare, which is especially fraught in this time of pandemic and virus. As a queer man I like you Saeed am especially angered and frustrated with the Monkeypox response, and this administration is one of Democrats. Finally, regarding pandemic and viruses I am especially feeling heard and valued reading Dr. Joe Osmundson's new book "Virology," (stellar review from New York Times even), it is a book I needed at this moment. Thank you Saeed and Caesar. Paul