Posted onOctober 12, 2021|Comments Off on Another Speaker Series Night (or Watching Obama)
I’ve been lucky to get to watch the San Jose Speaker Series a few times because my parents had an extra ticket. Right now, the series is still virtual, so they can watch from wherever they are in the world and I’m able to watch from LA. I know that one day it will be in-person again and I won’t be able to enjoy these. But I’m grateful that I get to do so now. And when my parents were here about a month ago, they showed me the upcoming series and I immediately saw one that I was interested in getting their extra ticket if they had it.
I knew that I wouldn’t necessarily get the extra ticket since sometimes my parents give them to a friend, but I asked if I could have it if they had it available. And when the lecture was coming up this past week, my dad let me know that it was mine if I wanted it! And of course, I said that I did!
I’ve learned from the few times I’ve watched these lectures about how to make it the best setup for me. It’s done over Zoom, and it’s best if I run it through my laptop and then use AirPlay to send it to my AppleTV. And I also learned from the past to double and triple check the start time so I don’t miss the beginning of it. I also set an alert on my calendar so I wouldn’t miss the start time. Thankfully, this time things went a lot smoother for me with setting everything up so I was ready to watch and sitting on my couch with a little bit of time to spare!
The only negative for me this time was that I was feeling pretty nauseous that day so I wasn’t as focused on watching as I could have been. I did try to time out my medications so I would be feeling my best while watching, but I was distracted by feeling sick and I know that I missed parts of what President Obama said.
But even with feeling sick and missing some parts of it, I really enjoyed this lecture! President Obama had some fun stories to share about his time as president and his life in politics. And I appreciated how he was honest about things that were tough for him during his presidency and where he might have been able to improve. I think admitting flaws or imperfections is a positive character trait because it shows you can grow from your past.
I do wish these lectures were recorded because I would love to watch them again and see what I missed. And I know that because of other distractions in my life that I had moments when I zoned out. Even though I really tried to focus, sometimes my mind wanders. And if I could rewatch this then I could see the parts that I missed the first time.
I’m still so grateful that my parents let me have their extra ticket for this. President Obama was the first speaker for this new series, so maybe I’ll get a chance to watch another one this season. And I’m guessing that after this season, as long as things are safer, the next season will be back to in-person so I won’t have this same opportunity. But I’ve been enjoying them, even when things aren’t always going my way, and I’m going to appreciate whatever lectures I can watch even if this was my last one.
Posted onAugust 31, 2021|Comments Off on Almost The End Of Election Season (or Only A Few More Days To Go)
I’ve written about election season quite a few times on here. In the past, I don’t think I had as much to say as I did this year. And part of that is because my responsibilities and leadership role grows each election season. But the other part is that this time things were so different from what we are used to.
So often in the past, we talk about how social media isn’t everything and how important it is to be face to face or one on one with someone when discussing union politics. It’s better to have a real conversation with a friend than to blast out an impersonal message. And it’s better to have a conversation that is more than the character limit of a tweet.
But this year, in a way social media was almost everything. We were all still messaging our friends one on one and some of us had phone calls or small gatherings to talk with others about why we are running or why we are a part of Unite For Strength. But so much of campaigning this election season was on social media (mainly Twitter from what I could see). And that also meant that we had a lot more attacks on social media as well.
I know I see more than what most would see since I run the social media accounts for UFS, but I know a lot of people saw similar things to what I was seeing. And so much of it was misinformation (such as not understanding what our dues went to versus when people paid premiums for the union healthcare). Part of my job with running our social media is seeing when people have questions or they have misinformation and making sure they get the correct information. I might not always be the person who can answer it, but I can find the person who is. And it is so rewarding when I can help someone get the information they need or when something they were concerned about is either already fixed or being addressed and a fix is in the works.
And I will say, a majority of what I was seeing on social media during election season was positive, especially from the people I know. So many people were listening to each other, helping people that needed help, and just being good and kind. For all the times I was overwhelmed with seeing attacks that may have had a lot of misleading information, I’d see multiple things that made my heart happy.
And now, election season is almost done. Ballots are counted starting on Thursday morning and the results should be known by late Thursday night or early Friday morning. Then we can move to getting ready for the National Convention, which will be virtual this year. And I’ll still keep working on the UFS social media since that is something I do all year. But it’s very different during election season and I’m looking forward to when it’s a bit more calm. And before I know it, it will be time for another election season or vote of some sort and things will ramp up and be crazy again.
But for now, I’m just proud of the campaign we did for this election. I’m so proud of the work others did on social media that helped to make my work easier or better. And no matter what happens, I’m happy with the work we did as a slate and how we represented ourselves.
Posted onJanuary 26, 2021|Comments Off on Watching History Happen (or Actually Enjoying A Political Morning)
I didn’t realize I was going to be writing about politics again so soon. But then again, I didn’t realize how much I was going to react to the inauguration happening. I knew I’d be watching it, but I wasn’t expecting to be so emotional about it. But I was.
This inauguration was literally history happening in front of my eyes. To see the first woman saying the oath of office to be the Vice President was amazing. In one sense, I can’t believe that this is happening in my lifetime. But in another sense, I can’t believe it took this long to happen. And I know for many of my friends, it was even more meaningful to see someone who looked like them or was of similar ethnicity. I feel like everyone I know was just in awe watching everything happen considering what happened only 2 weeks before.
And it was so nice to know most of the people in my life were watching the same thing at the same time as I was. I had several texts going with friends plus one texting group where we were all reacting in real-time to what we were seeing on tv. Some of it was serious and emotional and some of it was silly (like discussing fashion). But it really gave me a sense of community and communal experiences, which is something I have missed so much during this pandemic.
I wasn’t able to watch the entire thing without distractions. I did have to log in for work right after President Biden took his oath. But because my job now doesn’t require me to make phone calls, I was able to keep it on while I worked and I was able to listen to it. And I was recording it on my DVR so I did go back and watch some parts that I knew I hadn’t really been able to listen to. And there were so many good parts during the inauguration.
I loved seeing so many people posting positive things about politics for a day. People were feeling so much hope and not the fear that many of us have felt for a while. That’s how I felt. I knew things wouldn’t be changing right away, but at least now we had someone in charge who would make some changes for the better. For example, Trump had been saying for a while that there was a plan for vaccinations. But now we know that there wasn’t one. If he was still in charge, how long would be believing a plan was coming when one wasn’t in the works.
But I think one of my favorite things from the inauguration was seeing all my friends post photos of their kids watching it happen. I loved seeing kids watching history happen. Even if they were born during the last presidency, they might not remember that happen. So many of them will grow up in a world where a woman has been elected to such a high office. It won’t seem like a dream or something to hope for. It’s a reality of their world.
After seeing so many friends post photos, I texted my sister-in-law saying I wanted to see a photo of Rory watching. One day, he will learn about this time in school and I wanted him to have a photo proving he was there when it happened. And I loved the photo that I got texted back to me.
Since that day, it’s been nice to have things feel almost a little boring in politics again. There are daily press conferences. Things aren’t being announced on social media that others are confused about. Nobody is reacting based on just emotion. Things may be slow and boring, but they are working on getting things done and making sure they are done correctly. And that’s what I want out of my government.
Posted onJanuary 20, 2021|Comments Off on The End To One Political Era (or This Is Still Just The Start Of My Involvement)
Today, Joe Biden goes from being the President-Elect to being the President. I’m still shocked that he won because historically an incumbent wins the election. But I’m so excited to have Biden as our President and to see what happens with this country. And I don’t think it’s a surprise that I’m glad that Donald Trump will not be our President anymore.
I’ve never really hid my unhappiness with him. He liked to spread half-truths (or complete lies) and found that dividing the country worked to his advantage. He didn’t see how to help the entire country but how to help himself and those in his inner circle. And yes, I did benefit from some of his tax cuts because I’m considered a business owner, but the benefits I personally got weren’t worth all the financial penalties other people I knew got. I’d rather things be much more equal (which would mean I owe money) than for my friends to owe extra money and for me to get some bad.
And his mishandling of the pandemic continues to make me mad. We have seen how other countries have gotten things under control. Or if they aren’t totally under control, they have a fraction of the cases and deaths that we have. If Trump hadn’t been talking for months about how this is all a hoax and discouraging ways we could stay safe, who knows how many lives could have been saved. Things didn’t have to be like this. And if we had politicians who were setting better examples for us, maybe we wouldn’t be in such bad shape a year into this.
And I know that with Biden being President, things won’t just change immediately (although some Republicans did claim that nobody would be talking about the pandemic after the election and it would miraculously end). But I do have hope that things will be turning around and getting better in the near future. I hope that we will have a better plan for vaccine distribution and more guidance on ways we can stay safe while we wait. So many countries got this under control without a vaccine, so maybe we will do the same and the vaccine will just be extra protection.
While I’m not really grateful for much about the Trump Presidency, there is one thing I am grateful for. Because of him running and understanding the risks 4 years ago, I became much more involved in politics. I don’t know if I would have been involved if another Republican was running. If Trump lost, I don’t know if I would have kept things up as much. But now, I have seen how politics is something I need to be involved in. I will not be unaware because something doesn’t personally affect me. I will not hide my political views to try to be polite. Being politically involved is something I feel like I have to do. I need to do it for everyone, not just the people in my life. And I have seen what happens if our elected leaders do not feel the same push to be working for everyone.
I hope to be more involved in the future. I know that I didn’t do as much as I wanted to in this past election. But I also have learned of more ways I can be involved in the future and I am on a lot of different email lists to be notified when there are opportunities for me. I want to take advantage of them as they come up and continue to be more and more involved.
Today, I’m celebrating our country having a new president. And yes, he is the candidate I voted for, but I also believe that he feels he needs to work for everyone. He is not going to divide the country into those who voted for him and those who didn’t. There may still be a division with people who believe he was fairly elected or not, but that division is not because of Biden but because of other politicians. And if they want the unity they claim they want to see, they know they need to let their followers that Biden is the president and that he was elected fairly. We cannot have unity until those who have worked hard to divide us make things right. And I don’t know if that will happen, but I hope it will. I am so sick with how some people have believed some extreme conspiracy theories and that they cannot see beyond it. I have people in my life who do believe this pandemic was created to get Trump removed from office (they don’t believe it matters that other countries were affected too). I know people who believe that somehow, Biden will be removed and Trump will be president again, even though that’s not how it works. I have tried to reason with them and explain how certain policies and rules work, but some people still won’t listen or believe that the rules have to be followed that way.
But I do have hope that in the future, some of those people will start to see what happened and that they were misled. I don’t think they will become Democrats or huge fans of Biden, but I do hope that they understand how he was elected (and not claiming it has to be fake because Trump had bigger crowds). I want there to still be a debate within the country, but not the violence and hate that we have seen recently. We don’t all have to agree on everything, but we need to agree that everyone deserves a voice and that our elected leaders represent everyone and not just those they voted for.
And hopefully, as I become more and more involved in politics, I will find ways to help bring things together and to get others involved, and trying to help this country heal from the past 4 years.
Posted onJanuary 8, 2021|Comments Off on I Don’t Know What To Say About This (or What Happened Doesn’t Feel Real)
Like so many people, I spent a lot of my time on Wednesday watching the breaking news of the Trump supporters storming the Capitol and breaking in. I spent most of the day in shock watching what was happening. I found out because some members of a message group that I’m in started talking about how they were in shock. I asked what was going on, and once they told me I immediately turned on the news.
I had the news on my phone sitting next to my computer so I could listen as I worked. There were a few times during my work shift that it was quiet so I could watch and not just listen. And that made things even more unbelievable. It didn’t feel real. It felt like a scene from a movie or a news story about another country. This didn’t feel like it could be here and actually happening.
I couldn’t believe I was watching our Capitol being broken into and damaged. The number of people who were able to get in without any attempt by the police to stop them was shocking. We have all seen what has happened during various Black Lives Matter protests. When Trump wanted to walk to a church for a photo op, tear gas was immediately used to clear a path in the middle of a peaceful protest for him. But when people were committing crimes and waving guns around, authorities acted like they were helpless. They didn’t stop anyone from climbing the walls or breaking windows. We have all heard how police feel like they have no option but to shoot if they feel threatened. And they seem to feel threatened when someone raises their voice or walks away. But it’s ok with them and they feel safe when people are running at them with guns? It’s disgusting.
And the people who were attacking the police are the same ones who scream that blue lives matter and who tell people that they wouldn’t be shot if they just listened to the police. But they don’t feel like they have to listen and they didn’t seem to care that they were trying to physically harm the blue lives they claim matter. I guess they only matter to them if the police aren’t on the opposite side as them.
All of this was because some politicians refused to believe that they lost. They created ideas that fraud was occurring. They claimed that counting ballots that were received on time but being counted past midnight due to the number of ballots they had to count were somehow no longer good. According to them, it doesn’t matter if you voted legally, if it took too long to count them and an arbitrary deadline wasn’t met, they weren’t legal anymore. They made up a rule that the counts had to stop at midnight even if they weren’t done. They believed that because of the size of a crowd, there was no way they didn’t win. Crowd size doesn’t equal votes. I didn’t go to any rallies (I wouldn’t have gone even if there wasn’t a pandemic), and that doesn’t mean that my vote wasn’t real. They were making up so many false claims that they knew were false but that their followers would believe. And because of that, they created the mob that tried to break democracy.
There may be some politicians that believe in what they were saying, but I know many of them didn’t. If they did, they wouldn’t have changed their minds just because of what happened. So many politicians who said they were going to protest the count didn’t do so. So either they knew they were lying and were feeling like they should stop, or they believed what they said and they were ok with ignoring fraud. Considering how much noise they made trying to claim any fraud, I doubt they would ignore fraud.
I want to be hopeful for our future and our government, but after what happened on Wednesday it’s really hard. I know that a new administration is coming in, but that will not stop the supporters who have been attacking anyone they feel is against them. The supporters are turning on the people who they thought were the greatest because they no longer work with the narrative they want to believe. I can’t see how this will stop as long as Trump lies and makes up things to feel like he is adored by some people.
I am grateful that he has been banned from social media sites. Some of the bans are permanent and some are temporary. But even if they were all permanent, it’s a little too late. The people who made groups online to organize this mob weren’t Trump directly. They are people who feel empowered and emboldened by what Trump has said and they have taken things up on their own. They will not be stopped because the person they look up to most is silent. They will still talk among themselves and I am worried about what they might try to do next.
As I am writing this post, very few people have been arrested after attacking the Capitol. I hope that this will change. Anyone who broke in should be arrested and punished for what they do. They should personally pay for the damage that they created. And they should not be allowed to be anonymous. They shouldn’t be allowed to hide what they did. They should have to own up to what they did and what they believed in and accept that they will be judged by many for it. This was not a small mistake or lapse of judgment. This was planned. They knew what they were doing. And they didn’t stop until they were forced to. This was all their choice to do, they cannot be dismissed as confused about what they did.
The next few weeks will possibly be a very trying time for our country. I hope that we will come out of it ok and we will be able to rebuild. This country should be for all and our government should be fair and for everyone. And we need to work back toward that. I don’t know if we can get there soon or if it will take a while. But we cannot continue going the way we are going and expect that everything will be ok. This will be a challenge, but I hope that many people are up to that challenge. I know I am and I will not stay quiet when I see injustice and wrong as I did on Wednesday.
Posted onNovember 3, 2020|Comments Off on Election Day (or Just Vote)
I’ve written about the importance of voting on here the other day. I’m not going to go into those same discussions again in this post. But since today is Election Day, I’m asking all of you again to please just vote.
I’m sure many of you have already voted either by mail or early in-person. And thank you for doing that. Voting is always important, but I think most of you would agree that this election is critical. There are so many things happening in our country that could be fixed or worked on if our elected leaders wanted to do so. But right now, many elected leaders do not see those issues the same way. For example, the extra unemployment could have been extended but the politicians in charge did not see that as something they needed to do. In fact, they have said they wanted to wait until after the election. So they felt like people getting a few hundred dollars a week was more than enough and it didn’t matter (for example, I’m only getting $200 a week right now which doesn’t even cover my rent).
There has been a lot of stress leading up to this election. I honestly don’t know how I’m going to feel after it’s all done. I didn’t do as much as I could have to help get the vote out, but I did as much as I could handle. I wish I had the ability to do phone and text banking like many of my friends did. And I looked into writing postcards. But honestly, my mental health couldn’t take it. And I had to be ok with that. I focused on what I could do, such as reaching out to my friends and posting on social media and amplifying voices that were more informed than mine.
And because so many of us haven’t been working, we’ve had more time than ever to worry about this election. While I don’t expect us to know who won by the end of tonight, by tonight there will be very little that we can do. All that is left is making sure that all the votes are counted and that the courts don’t stop counting ballots that arrived on time because of an arbitrary deadline. I think everyone would love to know for sure who won tonight, but that’s never really the case. So I’m mentally prepared for several days of uncertainty.
Since there will likely be uncertainty, I am doing things to make the time a bit easier on me. And one step I can do is to write these blog posts in advance. I have the next few days planned out and will likely be writing them before this post goes live. So I want to explain that the next few days will probably not mention the election or current events. I might re-write posts or move things around if I feel up for it, but I’m allowing myself to not have to worry about blogging for the next few days. I do have some fun things to write about and I’m looking forward to sharing them. And when we have more news about the outcome of the election and I can put my thoughts together, I will write about it then. But I don’t want to write a bunch of posts saying I don’t know what’s going to happen or speculating. So until there is something to write about, I don’t think I will be writing much about the election again.
So this is my last time asking you all to please vote. Being apolitical or not voting is not a sign of anything other than that you are perfectly fine with how everything is happening right now. You don’t have to have a perfect candidate to vote for them. You just have to vote for the one you feel would do a better job running our country. If you aren’t registered to vote, please check your state as many states do allow Election Day registration. If you haven’t voted in multiple elections and are embarrassed to be a first-time voter, don’t be. It doesn’t matter what you have done before now, it matters what you do this time. So vote. That’s it. That’s all you have to do. And let’s hope that this election will be one that helps our country move forward and start to improve.
Posted onOctober 9, 2020|Comments Off on Another Night Of Debate Watching (or Trying To Have Some Fun With This)
Just like with the Presidental Debate, I had a plan to watch the VP Debate. And my plan was pretty much the same for both debates. I was going to watch it through Crooked Media‘s YouTube channel so I could see their Slack conversation and I had my own FB Messenger group to message with during the debate. I find it so helpful to have people to talk to while watching debates. Sometimes for making jokes and being silly, but sometimes for asking if someone knows if something is true or not.
Also, debates can be frustrating and upsetting, depending on what they may say. If someone is saying a complete lie, it’s hard not to react to it. If someone says something that you know is against everything they said before, you want to call them out. Having people to chat with, even over text, really helps me get out whatever emotions I might feel during the debate.
For the VP Debate, there was a good mix of getting out frustration and telling jokes. Hearing Pence say that Trump has taken this pandemic seriously since January when he was calling it a hoax well beyond then was frustrating. Whenever Pence was asked about his administration, he seemed to ignore that question and just say that the American people are doing the right thing. For example, when he was asked about wearing masks, he didn’t say anything about anyone in the White House wearing masks and only that the people will do the right thing. That’s also ignoring the people claiming that wearing a mask right now violates their rights or is discrimination.
And Pence kept interrupting Harris and the moderator. My messaging group is all women, and we all have experienced men interrupting and talking over us. We were all so frustrated watching it happen. Thank goodness Harris did try to explain that she was speaking so he shouldn’t be interrupting her. But I know that so many women online were posting about how we have experienced this so much and how we wish men wouldn’t do this to us.
Even though there were a lot of things to be frustrated at, I think our message group had a lot of silliness going on too. You have to find comedy in these things otherwise you will be overwhelmed watching them. And there were a lot of moments to laugh at. But nothing was a bigger moment than the fly on Pence’s head.
I don’t know why everyone found the fly so funny, but it became one of the biggest moments of the debate. There were so many jokes being posted and I was enjoying all of them. I kept seeing a lot of posts about how the fly had been on the screen long enough to be eligible for SAG-AFTRA (even though that’s not how it works), and I decided to create something to go with that.
I lucked out that I found an image of a union card that didn’t have a member name or number on it, so it was really easy for me to come up with this tweet.
I posted it in a few places and everyone seemed to get a good laugh out of it. I also saw posts saying that the fly should be up for a SAG Award now or asking if the fly will be in the In Memorium segment at the next SAG Awards since flies don’t live that long. I know that having a fly on someone’s head wasn’t the most important thing we heard, but it was the moment that stuck with most of us and gave so many of us a much-needed laugh.
There is supposed to be another Presidental Debate in a week, but I don’t know if it will be happening. Because Trump was diagnosed with COVID, the group organizing the debates said that they would be doing it virtually for the next one. Trump has said that he will not be participating because the debate is only trying to protect Biden, which they are because Trump shouldn’t be wanting to expose others to this disease. But I know that Trump also changes his mind a lot so even though as I am writing this he says he will not attend and will do a private rally instead, that can change by the time the debate is supposed to happen (or by the time this post goes live).
I don’t know if I hope there will be another debate or not. The last Presidental Debate wasn’t good. There was no information really shared because of how often there were interruptions. It was not a good moment for this country. And I don’t know if any other debates would be better. But if there is another one, at least I have a good system figured out to make them a bit more entertaining.
Posted onOctober 2, 2020|Comments Off on Trying To Make The Debates More Fun To Watch (or Group Chats Make Things Better)
I’ve been more and more involved in politics as I’ve gotten older. Part of it is that I’m more educated about politics and how things can affect me and how my vote can really change things. And part of it is that we live in a time now where it’s difficult to not be involved unless you are really making an effort to ignore what’s happening in the world. I know there are more things that I could be doing and I’m trying to figure out ways to be involved that will work with my schedule no matter what happens. I am working on getting approved to write postcards for future elections. I just need to work on my handwriting a bit more because I have such sloppy handwriting (even after working on it before).
Because this year is the year we have nothing but time, I’ve been able to watch more political events online than I normally would. I don’t know if I’ve ever watched the Republican Convention before, but this year I did. It also helped that the Convention was a short prime-time tv event and not something going on all day. I also watched the Democrat Convention, but that’s something I normally watch at least a little. And this year, I did my watching a little differently.
Normally, I watch on tv since it’s on every single tv channel. I usually also live-tweet because I have thoughts I want to get out. But this time, I actually watched through YouTube. Crooked Media has a lot of podcasts that I love. And for events like the conventions and debates, they stream the event through YouTube on half of the screen and they have a group chat from their Slack account on the other. The people in Slack are all very involved in politics. Many worked for past candidates or administrations. They are really informed about the issues and can almost do live fact-checking (although they aren’t fact-checking like some news outlets do with checking every statement). It’s a great way to watch and to be a bit entertained and learn as well.
For the conventions, I not only watched through Crooked Media and enjoyed their chat, but I also had my own chat going too. Some of the women from Movie Club wanted to chat during the conventions, so we started a new message group to do that in (we didn’t want to clutter up the Movie Club message group). Watching with them helped keep things entertaining, just like Crooked Media did.
So before the debate, I messaged the separate group to see if they wanted to have a chat going during the debate as well. Everyone did, and we had a few other group members from Movie Club who wanted to be in it too. We had a nice sized group of people who all are very vocal about politics. So before the debate started, I got YouTube up on my tv and my phone in my hand with the message group open.
And I am so glad I had both the Crooked Media Slack to watch and my message group. I think everyone agrees that the debate was not good. It was so difficult to watch. I support Biden, but I’m not going to say he was perfect. I think he did a great job considering how often he was interrupted. It was not easy for him to get a point across because Trump was interjecting so much. And the questions didn’t seem to be ones that would push both Trump and Biden to answer with specific policy ideas. I know Biden tried to change his answer so he could include policy information, but it was so hard to hear what he wanted to say when he couldn’t speak without having to stop and start a lot.
All of us in my message group (and everyone in the Slack) seemed to be just as frustrated while watching as I was. This wasn’t a debate. I don’t know what to call it. A yelling match? A waste of time? It wasn’t what we wanted out of a debate and not what citizens deserved when listening to a current president and possible future president.
I could go into detail about a lot of things that made me mad, but I think the biggest two were things that seemed to anger so many people. The first was Trump talking about Biden’s children and trying to say some horrible things about them. Having a drug addiction isn’t good, but it’s something that so many people struggle with. Saying that having a drug addiction makes you a horrible person is not right in my opinion. Saying drug addiction is horrible would be better. Fortunately, Biden was able to say that while his son had a drug problem, he overcame it and he was proud of him. That’s an important thing for people struggling to hear. I also didn’t like how Trump was talking about one of Biden’s sons and when he didn’t get the response he wanted he switched to talking about his other son. Trump and his supporters have said many times that politician’s children should be considered off-limits. I know there is a difference between a minor and an adult. But also, this debate had nothing to do with their children. Biden did not mention many of the things Trump’s children have gotten in legal trouble for.
But what made me so mad (and it seems made most of the country mad) was that Trump would not condemn white supremacists. He was given a very clear chance to do so and claimed that he would. But he wouldn’t do that. He did tell a group to stand back and stand by and that group is now using that statement as a sign that they need to be ready to go (the idea of standing by is making them think they need to be in the streets soon). When a Republican commentator was asked about why Trump wouldn’t clearly say he was against white supremacists, the commentator said that Trump does not want to say he was against his supporters. Even FOX News hosts were saying that it was such an easy thing for Trump to do and they don’t know why he didn’t condemn such an evil group that has so much hatred. I don’t want to believe that Trump really approves of what white supremacists and other hate groups do, but it’s hard to say he’s against it when he can’t say he’s against it. And the day after the debate, he claimed he didn’t know anything about a group that he called out and said he didn’t know their actions. So if he didn’t know who this group was (which I don’t believe but I’m going with that idea), why would he say he condemns their actions when he doesn’t know what they do?
Honestly, this debate left me feeling so sad and hopeless about things. My friends in our message group felt the same way and we were all trying to cheer each other up. What we can be hopeful about is that so many people seem to be upset with what Trump did and they do not agree with how he has been handling this pandemic. I know that we might still be dealing with COVID no matter who the president was. But I wish we had a national response 6 months ago. I wish we had a leader who accepted the tests when they were offered to us instead of taking the time to create new ones. I wish we had someone in charge who was encouraging people to wear masks. So many doctors are saying that if we just wore masks that we would be at a fraction of the cases. I have known too many people who know someone who died. I have had too many friends get sick and I have worried that they would not make it. Even though all my friends have gotten better, we have no clue what the long-term effects will be on their health. I wish we weren’t dealing with policies state by state because until we have a vaccine (which looks like it will be in maybe 6 more months), we might not be able to get a handle on this like other countries have done.
Even with how upsetting it was to watch this debate, I am still going to watch the other debates. I’ll be doing it with my friends in a message group and the Slack conversation on my tv. I just hope that whatever changes the debate organization makes will allow it to be much more civil and both Trump and Biden can announce all their policies (although Trump seems very hesitant to announce any policies like what his new healthcare plan would be even when he is given the chance).
We are a month away from this election being done. If you are going to vote in person, see if you can do so before Election Day. Lines will likely be long on Election Day so voting early is a great way to avoid that. Also, voting by mail is an option. I always vote by mail (I usually can’t get the time off I need to vote and I don’t have the ability to take a day off work to wait in line if I need to take a few hours). It’s safe and voter fraud is very very low. If you don’t want to mail your ballot back, many states have boxes you can drop your ballots in near polling places. I recommend looking online at your options and picking which way will be best for you. But please vote no matter what.
And to end this on a positive note, this video made me smile. Yes, the debate was depressing, but at least this funny song was created from it.
Posted onSeptember 11, 2020|Comments Off on Things Feel Like They Are Too Much (or Being Informed Might Not Be The Best For Me)
There is no question that things are overwhelming right now. I think it was overwhelming enough when we just had the election. Then add the pandemic, massive job losses, the Black Lives Matter movement, police brutality, racial discrimination, concerns over the availability of food and supplies, misleading news, national disasters, and everything else going on in the world. It’s so hard to find good news these days with all the bad news we are hearing. And while I know it’s a good thing to be informed and to know what is happening in the world, it also isn’t always the best thing.
We have an endless supply of news between the 24-hour news channels, online news, and social media. When we are busy with other things happening in our lives like work and going out, we don’t have as much time to see all the news that never ends. But now, most of us have very little to do each day. I try to stay busy, but some of that busy time is scrolling through social media and then I see all the news as it’s happening. And then sometimes if I see a tweet or a post about something I don’t know about, then I go down a rabbit hole of learning more about it.
There needs to be a balance in my life of staying informed but not being overwhelmed. I know I’ve struggled to find this balance so many times in the past. But it feels so much harder now that I don’t have other things taking up my time. I’ve been trying to take steps to work on this a lot lately. The biggest step I’ve taken is to do daily breaks from my phone. I will put my phone down, turn off notifications, and sit in a different area to read or do something else. I don’t do this too long each time since there are some things I do that are time-sensitive for the little bit of work that I have now, but I can take 15-20 minute breaks a few times a day.
I have found these breaks to be helpful and have been calming me down a bit. I do have some anxiety from not being next to my phone (which is a different issue that I know many of us have), but the positive effects of doing this have easily outweighed the bad. When I take these breaks, I also usually am doing something that distracts me from my phone like watching some tv or reading a book. I know that while you are doing something else you aren’t always looking at your phone, and I typically don’t while reading. But when I’m reading, I have taken time out to scroll through my phone even though I don’t need to. And when I’m watching tv, I’m also usually on my phone doing something too. There are some shows that do get my full attention, but these days I’m watching a lot of random stuff I don’t focus on too much. And while multi-tasking can be a good thing, it’s not necessary for me to do and it’s not helping me.
I know I can’t ignore the news completely because I do like being informed and trying to use my voice and platform to raise voices that need to be heard. I want to be an activist for causes I’m passionate about. I might not be an activist the same way that others are, but I know that I’m taking steps to do what I feel like I can do and handle. I don’t feel comfortable going to protests for a few reasons, but that doesn’t mean I can’t support them or use social media to share my message and what others are saying.
I doubt the news is going to be any less overwhelming for a while. Even if natural disasters aren’t in the news, there are so many other things that will only be intensifying. The closer we get to the election, the more news I know we will be hearing. And after the election, I expect things will still be tough. I need to be mentally prepared for that. And part of that preparation is realizing that sometimes I don’t have to be reading as much news every day to stay informed.
Posted onMay 14, 2020|Comments Off on A Virtual Town Hall (or Getting Some Answers About My Industry)
There have been so many things that feel up in the air right now. Nobody knows when things will be back to normal (or even when we can start to figure out what the new normal will be like). People don’t know when they will be working again. The entertainment industry is at a complete halt and there is no timeline for when we can start working again. It’s overwhelming and scary.
On top of that, there have been many issues with people who don’t have a traditional job to get unemployment. If you were only an independent contractor, they did create a new system to be eligible. I’m so grateful for that since all my income is 1099 and I don’t qualify normally. As easy as it was for me to apply, I’m still dealing with issues as they never asked me how much I made and my unemployment amount is not what it should be. But my issues are much easier than others. Some people who worked both W2 and 1099 income can only apply for unemployment under the standard system. So if they made $50,000 last year and $49,000 was 1099 and $1,000 was W2, they have to file with the $1,000 of W2 income (which makes the amount they get significantly less than it should be).
There are also issues with people who have incorporated and are dealing with small business options. I know the government is doing their best and this is not what they ever expected to happen, but it’s still hard when there are so many people depending on things to be fixed so they don’t have to worry how they will pay the bills.
A lot of these unique circumstances are unique to people in the entertainment industry. So when I heard that our union president, Gabrielle Carteris, was doing a town hall, I knew I wanted to watch. And the town hall was also hosted by the president of IATSE, Matthew Loeb so it was going to discuss issues that other entertainment industry employees would have. But it wasn’t just SAG-AFTRA and IATSE, Congressman Schiff was going to be a part of it so we could hear what a representative of our government thinks and we could share some of our concerns to him.
I didn’t submit a question, but I was very interested to hear what others were worried about. And a lot of issues I expected, like the split income for unemployment, was covered and Congressman Schiff seemed surprised that we had that issue as the bill they passed was supposed to prevent that. And it was good to hear someone who felt very strongly about us needing to get back to work but needing to be cautious so things don’t get worse. There was no sugarcoating things, our industry might be one of the last ones to come back due to the large number of people that would be on set or the fact that actors work very close to each other (and that’s not counting intimate scenes). But it was hopeful to hear that Congressman Schiff does want to figure out how we can work and get back to making the entertainment that so many people have been spending their days watching.
I know that acting work won’t be coming back soon, but I hope it will be not too far away. There are so many things I miss about the entertainment industry and I know they can’t start up again until it is safer for us to gather in groups. We had no clue that things would get like this as quickly as they did, so there is a chance that things can get better just as quickly. But I don’t want the government to rush it and force us to go back into isolation to stop another surge.
I guess the unknowns will just have to continue for a while longer until more is understood and can be known.
Another Speaker Series Evening (or I Really Should Read Emails)
