Hi there peeps. I got nuttin'. Just trying to buckle down here and get through the rest of the semester with my husband and daughter. Sometimes I miss teaching, but not during finals & grading season.
I'm also still unpacking and settling into our new house. Some rooms are pretty well organized; my office is not one of them. I need to set a deadline somehow to keep me going toward order. I have too-high a tolerance for chaos, I guess.
I did not go to the U-M Diag "Die-In" today after all, but it got very good coverage in our local online paper, surprisingly enough. This won't be the last event of its kind, I am sure of it. The next action I am aware of related to police brutality will be close to home. It will entail community presence at the upcoming Ann Arbor City Council meeting, to demand the termination of the employment of the Ann Arbor police officer who shot and killed Aura Rosser just over a month ago.
I have to say, in the face of what is happening all around us, it is difficult for me to pretend ignorance or indifference. Hard for me to be celebratory amidst so much news of pain and sorrow, even if I do not personally know the individuals who have been harmed.
Then again, it is not as though all this is "new" news. Not at all. I don't think that makes it any better, however, to acknowledge just how cruel and heartless people can be, have been, and will be in the days to come.
On a personal-and-political note, I'm happy to announce that at the Washtenaw County Democratic Party meeting on Saturday, a slate of candidates headed by Chris Savage for Chair was elected unanimously. (You all know him here by a different name. ;) I am now co-chair of the Precinct Organizing Committee, which will keep me very busy for the next two years starting right about now.
Other than that--how's about all of you? Travel plans, party plans for the holidays? Do you play it up or play it down? Is this a season of inspiration for you, or a time of sadness?
Let me also note that next Wednesday's Weekly Open Thread will be our last of 2014, since Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve are both on Wednesdays. Unless, of course, someone else volunteers to cover one or both. Just let me know if you are interested, then or any other Wednesday.
Floor's open to news, views, and blues.