It Takes A Village: VNV Wednesday Ides of March Edition

March 15, 2017 MomentaryGrace Found on the Internets, It Takes a Village, Music and Art 45

The Village News & Views March 15, 2017
Wednesday Get Over the Hump Free for All

Good morning fellow Village people!

It’s Day 55 of the Resistance and the election is far, far behind us. Perception is a weird thing, and in this new America it often feels like one day is a week and every week is a month. So much tension, so many assaults on our sensibilities, Muslim bans, destruction of health care, Russian collaboration… the list unfortunately goes on.

So I realize I should “be over it”. However, it seems I may not be. In fact, my mind wants to argue that there is some illogic to “being over it”, that something valuable and important may be lost if I just give in and get over it.

I haven’t.

March 15th is of course the Ides of March. I remember as a little girl demanding to know what Ides were and why Ceasar was supposed to fear them. Shakespeare has never been my particular thing but I always did love Marc Antony’s speech in Act 3, Scene 2, and have parodied it a time or two, however badly.

It appears I haven’t quite gotten that out of my system yet either.

Patient friends, I promise tweets and a cat meme or two at the end. Meanwhile…

Yo, Village – blank verse by momentarygrace

Yo Village, including but not limited to my friends
Hope you don’t mind if I borrow a bit of your time
I’d say your ears, but I’m writing not speaking, so your eyes at bare minimum…

I’m here to put something in the ground.

What, you may ask, or if you’re feeling grisly, maybe who…

Simple: the idea that choosing the most qualified candidate ever to run for President of the United States, was wrong.

The evil that she’s supposed to have done seems like it’s gonna live forever. Right-wing memes, Left-wing memes, all kinds of lies and half truths and implications and suppositions that it seems like everybody is so damn sure about…

Except it’s not everybody. Plenty of us know better. Plenty of us paid attention. Plenty of us voted for her without holding our noses even a tiny little bit.

But she wasn’t inspiring! Or so say those who think they know something.

I know better. I was inspired. I know other folks who were very inspired.

Our hopes and dreams are worth something, by the way, even though popular opinion might suggest otherwise.

But yes, the memes were out there, and yes, she wasn’t perfect…

Of course nobody is perfect, no man, no white man, black man, not even Barack Obama, whom I love more than really good gumbo, is perfect.

But it’s mostly the bigots and racists who feel the need to comment on that. Most folks don’t consider it necessary, so why was it necessary to mention it every single damn time someone wrote an article or prefaced an interview?

One of those mysteries of the ages I guess. Now, if you say it, say it softly – misogyny – and be ready for the back-spatter.

So, not perfect, and yeah, it seems as though she’s paid for that, hasn’t she? Of course in my humble opinion or IMHO as we say on the interwebs, the ones who are paying are those she would have helped and protected, the men and women of color, the LGBTQ community, the hard working immigrants, but what the hell.

Over here we got Bernie Sanders and a lot of other folks who think they know something about something, and for sure, they mean well, and that’s what matters, right? I mean they’re all honorable folks, aren’t they? No axes to grind or anything…

Well, I’m the one who’s talking and I’m just here to say this: I like her.

I respect her. I trust her. I’m even a little bit intimidated by her, I mean, damn, she calls me to my higher self, if you know what I’m saying.

She shows up, she works hard, she was on the campaign trail with frickin’ pneumonia, and people dancin’ around and anything, but she didn’t get mad, she didn’t stay down, she just kept working.

I liked it when I heard that she didn’t just talk, but she listened, to the Mothers of the Movement, who had lost so much, so cruelly.

I liked it when she gave Khizr and Ghazala Khan a moment on her platform, and a chance to speak directly to that guy who has been so disrespectful, before during and after.

A lot of people came that day and the next, some to sing her praises, but many to talk about what they believed in and thought the people of our country needed.

But Bernie said she gave some speeches. And Bernie knows about speeches, right?

Tax returns not so much, but he can talk about speeches…

You know, a lot of people said she was ambitious – hungry for power, even! Of course every time she’d been in the spotlight, she’d have to fend off the most disgusting attacks, but hey, if you’re power hungry, who cares about that, right?

But she always seemed to have time to listen, to so many people. She had time to hear what was bothering them, and what they needed.

She admitted to looking at cat gifs when the ugly and rough talk got her down maybe just a little, I guess since she admitted that, I’m supposed to think she’s weak.

Ambition is supposed to be tough. Right? And self centered…

But you know, they said she was ‘corporate’ and la la la Goldman Sachs and so on, and they’re honorable, aren’t they?

Isn’t Bernie? And the media pundits? They mean well, right?

Well, time can’t be made to move backwards and there aren’t any do-overs so even though the future that could have been so bright is still sharp and present for some of us, I guess we can’t dwell on that.

But I’ll tell you what. Just because someone tells me to shut up about it, and wants to take a crap on my thoughts about the subject and my deep convictions and what I know to be true in may heart, well that does not mean I have to take those hopes and dreams and tear them up into pieces or grind them to dust.

Nor do I have to bury them in the ground.

Maybe this chapter has ended but the book is not closed and the fat lady ain’t sung yet and by all that’s unholy, I should know, being both a fat lady and a singer myself.

Pink hats are wondrous things but I have a banner and a standard that is a whole lot more solid to me.

What would Hillary do?

So no, I won’t shut up about it. Get used to that. You have your touchstone and I will have mine, thank you very much.

It keeps me on my feet, damn it all.

Just give me a moment to freshen up the image in my mind of all we could have had and all we could have done.

Just need a minute. Then I’ll put on my pink pussy hat and pick up my sign, sign some letters, send a few tweets.

But when we get where we are going, however long it takes, you best be prepared to understand who pointed the way.

She did.

Now just be quiet for a bit.

From the Twitter-verse:

https://twitter.com/RihCoconutt/status/841096791525330944

https://twitter.com/Rosie/status/841471544190742529

https://twitter.com/burrilliance/status/841708619120930817

 

Thank you for your patience. Love and peace, Village! Enjoy your Wednesday gathering.

We are #StrongerTogether

We are #TheResistance and #WePersist

All are welcome!

 

About MomentaryGrace 41 Articles
I voted for the Democrat in every election since 1976. I appreciate honesty, kindness and courage. I loathe cruelty and indifference. I am Discordian. I mean you no harm. But if you are cruel, or indifferent, I may point and laugh. #stillwithher.

45 Comments

  1. {{{MomentaryGrace}}} – that is a wonderful whatever you want to call it. And so glad we have the Village by the Moose Pond for you to be able to say it. I love Hillary. I trust her. I support her. And I sure as hell wish just a few of the holier than thou honorable men (and women) who voted for anybody else would have stopped listening to the voices in their microwaves long enough to vote for her. She warned them. We warned them. All the marches in the world are not going to get us what we lost (especially ones that quote her feminist statements but refuse to list her name as a feminist). And the Augean Stables are nothing to the mess we’re going to have to clean up after this administration craps all over the country and the world.

    What would Hillary do? Keep going. Find some something to make things better even though she wasn’t allowed to make things good. Eyes on the prize – work on all the pieces parts necessary for the health and well-being of our children, for Freedom and Justice for All. That’s what Hillary would do – has done, is doing. So in my small way, even though it’s nowhere near the class or caliber of what Hillary would, has, and is doing, I will do the same. As will all our Village – and Villages. moar {{{HUGS}}}

    • {{{{{{{{{{{bfitzinAR}}}}}}}}}}}

      I asked myself a number of times the appropriateness of writing this now, and posting it now. I hear the drumbeat in my head of “getoveritgetoverit” and I understand it. But those who forget history are doomed to repeat, say the sages.

      I agree completely with your assessment of what Hillary would do, has done, is doing. And that is where this is not about the past but the present and the future. Inspiration – she does inspire me to dig deeper.

    • (especially ones that quote her feminist statements but refuse to list her name as a feminist)

      You got that right…turns out a lot of people who were against her had never read her policy papers…some pollster showed some BLM activist her policy paper on righting the Justice inequality…they were very excited …said it was exactly what they want and whose was it….shocked that it turned out to be Hillary’s…too much taken at face value and never checked out…I guess that’s what happen when you get your political news on social media….

      • Social media is a blessing and a curse. But what it frequently is, is a confirmer of prejudices. If it says on social media that someone is great, why would you need to read their policies to verify. If it says on social media that someone is evil, why would you subject yourself to reading their evil policies. But then, that’s also part of anti-science and anti-education – manipulate the masses to accept, have faith, trust but don’t verify – whether church or government, Extreme Right or Extreme Left, to have Power and Wealth the first thing you must do is convince those you’d take that wealth and power from to trust you but not verify anything you say.

      • I also think people filter up in the pink matter, even when info makes it through the eyes, the brain doesn’t always get it.

  2. Good morning all who dwell at the Pond. Wow, Grace. That was awesome. I couldn’t have said it any better. Yeah, I ain’t done resisting or persisting. But I am done allowing others to second guess me or try to bring me down to their standards. I know, it’s just a line from a song, but…”I am woman. Hear me roar. In numbers too big to ignore.” Hillary on.

  3. That was indeed awesome Momentary Grace, thank you for saying it so eloquently. And thanks to JanF for making a space for us. Signs of spring are all around us except for the crucial one which is when the mesquite trees start budding out. It’s funny because the mesquites are invasive and yet proved to be even hardier than the native flora. Places where landowners have grubbed out the mesquite are beautiful as our native grasses make a return.

    • Thank you, wordsinthewind. ♥♥♥♥♥

      We had an unseasonably warm first of the year and now, now it’s cool. Sinuses have no clue how to react. ;P

  4. Thank you, Momentary Grace.

    Made me cry.

    Starting several months prior to the election, I visualized inauguration day: Hillary, with her hand on the Bible that Bill would be holding for her, saying (for all of us) “I, Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton…” I never intend to get over it.

  5. Thank you for this, Grace. If getoveritgetoveritgetoverit means ceding my opinions, my beliefs, or my values for the sake of going along to get along, then it won’t be happening soon. Hillary awakened something in me that had been long-dormant: the recognition of the insidious, ever-present (but often overlooked) presence and nature of misogyny. With my eyes opened, there’s no going back.

    • {{{{{{DoReMI}}}}}

      My reply to you is down below, interwebs burped when I submitted it.

      Short version – I’m with you. No going back. ♥♥♥♥♥

  6. Wow wonderful wonderful post MG…this a 100x over…every time I hear President Trump I grieve for what could have…no should have been…

    • Yep, if we had some (haha) “normal” Repub pres it might not be so bad… but then, this issue was decided by racism, so I think it took the outed racist to beat her. Evil won this round. Can’t get over that, not after 8 years of Barack, not after Hillary’s whole career, not after we were so. damn. close. And we were. Popular vote, dammit. I keep mopping my brow with that when my faith in the country cracks.

      Sanders = Brutus?

      Shouldn’t go there I guess.

  7. Excellent write-up and never get over her. I will always include a HRC note in my diaries. So thanks for the memories and continue sharing them.

  8. Afternoon friends…Love you Gracie for this wonderful diary…
    I have Hillary rattling around in my head every day and she is the only reason for all of you and for my faith
    that everything is going to end up alright with her and Barack mounting a comeback and putting the alt-left
    and their butthead of a leader in his rightful place…The trash bin…and to put the country back where it
    belongs…In the hands of the grownups who care about each other instead of the assholes that only care about themselves.
    Thank you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    • Just trying to get anything posted much less signed in has been a lark as seen from the terrible spacing in the above comment…

    • {{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{Batch}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}

      I’m having trouble posting comments too, Russian hackers, that’s what it is…

    • {{{{{{{{{{Batch}}}}}}}}}} – so good to see you. I miss you just being around. And Hillary will keep hillarying on as she always has. She’ll keep making things better even though she’s never allowed to make things good. But then, making things good would spoil the rationales for both the Extreme Right’s and the Extreme Left’s call for revolution. Can’t have that, now can we. moar {{{HUGS}}}

  9. I have had a similar feeling, of awakening to something I cared about a great deal and somehow had been overlaid by layers of life. Finding it again was precious to me and I get angry when I feel like people who don’t understand, some purporting to be Democrats, are disrespecting and degrading her, and by extension, me.

    I am with you 100%. No going back.

  10. Day after day there’s a new analysis of the factors in the 2016 US Presidential election, and time after time none address the huge, glaring elephant in the room….has there even been one serious network news discussion of sexism and its role in the election?

    I have 0.0 respect for the intellectual capacity of anyone who can fail to acknowledge that women make up 50% of the population (actually more) and have made up 0% of presidents of the US. Until someone can provide a logical explanation for this aside from rank sexism and complete inequality for women, they better be acknowledging the significant role sexism played in the election.

    • But.. but… it’s like you’re saying there’s something wrong with that! /s

      Obama’s presidency opened our eyes to how much racism there was “out there”. Hillary’s campaign showed how thorough the misogyny is… but those who breathe it can’t see it.

      • Yes, and I hate when the uninformed try to make this an oppression Olympics between racism and sexism…it’s not. It’s using the racist examples and incidences to draw similarities and help people to ‘see’ the sexism.

        It kills me when people go around and around discussing ‘why did Obama voters go to Trump’ sure, they were racist…but why?

        But have you considered, that possibly, racists are also sexist??!?!? And maybe, just maybe, they were reactionary enough to take a chance on Obama after 2 terms of a Repub president, and they weren’t willing to take that one step forward toward women’s equality, after being bombarded with Hillary’s intersectional campaign and 2 terms of Obama and Dems gaining civil rights for all those people who can now marry, and use bathrooms, and get healthcare, and contribute to society as citizens?

        Nah, can’t be. They’re just poor, economically anxious white men. Who still happen to do better than all the groups of people they voted to take rights away from. But whatevs.

        • Exactly. For a large chunk of white folk, it was a bridge too far. They had buyer’s remorse over things they didn’t expect to happen under Obama (gay marriage, wider acceptance of gay and transgender people, wider acceptance of climate change, BLM and more attention to oppression in the system) and Hillary with her left of center agenda and her fearlessness to call out system racism and deplorables, standing calmly up to the bloviating reality tv dude, it was too much. They had a gut instinct that he was more like them, she embraced too much of the Others. The line stretched too far and snapped.

          • Of the various ways you can describe folks, one is – the folks who see someone better than they are and are encouraged to do better and the folks who see someone better than they are and try to destroy that person for showing them up. Both Extremes fall into the latter category.

    • Extreme Left and Extreme Right are mirror images. One wants the government to run everything. One wants the government to run nothing (except the military). Both use the same tactics and have the same disregard for anyone who isn’t them. And as far as Europe and the U.S. is concerned, them is white and male and probably claiming to be atheist on the Left and Christian on the Right. And it goes back to the same “core” – human is them. Anybody who isn’t them isn’t human and so can be disregarded. (yes, I know that’s an over simplification and doesn’t explain women who vote with them – other than the possibility that said women believe it, too, having been brought up in that belief.)

  13. This is was a wonderful post, Momentary! Would have come earlier—in fact, I tried to—but the Moose was misbehaving and wouldn’t let me fierce or comment. Bummer.

    What I wanted to say was, there will always be a huge hole in my heart where “President Hillary Clinton” should have been. I was so excited when she won the nomination, and so full of joy to be able to vote for her! I even took a picture of my ballot. I watched in horror as the evening wore on, unable to believe my eyes. I went to bed at 2 a.m., thinking it was all a horrible mistake. And then, alas, it was morning.

    I don’t ever expect to feel as excited as I did last year at the prospect of a woman president, because by the time there is one in this benighted country, I’ll be pushing up the daisies. Wanted so desperately to see a woman president in the White House before I joss it. And now I won’t. Who, tell me, could possibly be as qualified as she? Who could ever run? Next time around it’ll be another old white guy. So tired of it.

    That’s my rant. Time for bed! It was great seeing you all and reading your comments. Basket, dear, hope you’re feeling a bit better by now.

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