Saturday Snippets from a Week of Shut Downs

This week has been one of those weeks where I went to bed embarrassingly early on Friday night:  lots of long days at work, spin classes every day as I try to win a bike in the Feb. spinathon, my online classes gearing up, time with friends.  In other words, it's been a mix of delightful and drudgery, as most weeks are.

Despite my early bedtime, I'm still feeling a bit brain dead, so let me just list some things that have been on my mind, rather than trying to craft a coherent essay:

--I've been asked to write for Gather magazine again.  That makes me happy.

--I had a lovely evening where I read Marie Howe's Magdalene straight through.  What a wonderful collection of poems, with interesting insights into what it means to be a woman through the centuries.

--Although I'm sad about the death of Mary Oliver, I'm delighted to see people posting her poems and talking about how much her work meant to them.  It's been a great reminder that a life in poetry can make a powerful difference.

--I'm distressed about the state of the U.S. government and this longest government shut down ever.  But Nancy Pelosi impresses me beyond measure, even as I wish she'd do something more to break this stalemate.  Do I know what that something should be?  No.

--I wonder at what point air travel will be impacted beyond the longer wait times at the security lines.

--I continue to be shocked at the extent to which it appears that the president of the U.S. has been in the service of Russia.  I'm the daughter of an Air Force colonel, and I never thought I'd see this day in our country.  I am shocked that others, especially those in high office, have not been reacting in a more distressed way.  I want to believe that they are quietly, privately distressed, but I no longer have faith in many of these people.

--I know that a massive winter storm is barreling through much of the country.  While I am glad not to have to deal with snow, I do miss the first bit of a snow, the thrill of the flakes drifting down. I suspect it may be a bit like our rainstorms are here. I used to love a rainy day, but now I worry about flooded streets and the house springing a leak. Snowstorms seem more ferocious these days--welcome to climate change on a wrecked planet.

--I've been doing a better job of reading, but aside from volumes of poetry, I haven't actually been finishing books.  That will be a goal for next week, to actually finish one of the many books I've started.

--It's interesting to reflect on this time period as one of shut downs:  the government shut down, the LA teacher's strike, weather that cripples us.  The shut downs that leave us limping seems like an overarching metaphor.