January 20, 2022 - Get out of My Dreams, Doug Judy

The other morning I overslept and was freaking out until I realized Doug Judy (Craig Robinson's character on Brooklyn 99) had messed with my alarm. When I went to his room, which until now had been Horatio's room, I saw that he changed his clock, too, so I had no idea what time it was at all. Not cool, Doug Judy. Not cool.

As the day went on, when Jessy and I were in the kitchen, I looked down to see a promotional stand for Loverboy's new jukebox musical. Jessy told me to put it in the basement room where we keep the Grogu pinball game. It's also where we keep the U.S. women's Olympic hockey team's jerseys. Except when I opened the drawer, only two jerseys remained because Doug Judy gave them away. Dammit, Doug Judy, knock it off!

Anyway, here's a picture of Horatio pounding some water.

January 8, 2022 - Reclamation of the Flag

Every time I see a truck or a Jeep waving an American flag behind it, I instinctively know the driver is a far-right conservative. This is true even without the accompaniment of a Trump flag, a Blue Lives Matter flag, or - ironically enough - a Confederate flag. They seem to be screaming to the world, "Look at me! I support the values of America!"

But they don't. In fact, it's the opposite. At least it's the opposite of what the values of America are supposed to be. We are the land of the free and the home of the brave. We are one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. We believe in promoting the general welfare. Anyone who's ever attended a public school or been to any sporting event has heard these phrases repeatedly. Yet those who wave this flag the highest are the ones who are attempting to deny those promised ideals to those this nation has routinely and historically oppressed. 

If we had liberty and justice for all, we would not have a system designed to keep certain segments of the population from receiving those promised ideals. Look at education. Every state in the nation, to some degree, links education funding with property taxes. This means that the lower the income of a city or town, the less educational funding they receive, and it's no coincidence that those areas are often non-white populations. Look at Arkansas as an example of how these conditions impact education. Without necessary education, progress in any field is impossible, ensuring that those with means are primarily the ones who will advance, while those without means, often people of color, are trapped in a never-ending cycle of poverty.

If we were the land of the free, people would not be denied basic rights based on gender identity. They would not be prohibited from serving their country in the military based on how they identify. If we were the home of the brave, people would have the courage to stand up for what's right, to stand up for those being oppressed, yet those waving the flag like this are the ones voting for people, at all levels, who refuse to let everyone in this nation enjoy the same rights. Look at the voting restrictions red states are implementing, those that would deny people, usually of color, the ability to vote by mail or on Sundays or after nine-to-five working hours. 

If we were one nation, everyone would have equal access to health care, yet conservatives, primarily white men, are doing everything they can to deny women their own reproductive rights based on beliefs derived from a religious text instead of medical science. The hypocrisy is palpable as red state after red state passes cardiac activity based legislation to deny women safe access to abortion, yet in every single state it is legal to take someone deemed brain dead off life support even though their heart is still beating. 

If we believed in promoting the general welfare, every single eligible person in this country would be vaccinated and boostered against COVID, the same way we're vaccinated against the mumps, the measles, rubella, Hepatitis, Tetanus, and Polio. Vaccines were once lauded as miracles, and scientists were praised for their contributions. Instead, the far right are launching successful efforts to take over local school boards for the right to be ignorant (at best) and a health risk to others (at worst) based on meritless conspiracy theories instead of believing in and trusting medical science. 

It is because of the values of those broadcasting their self-described patriotism that I proclaim those supporting these mentalities as unfit to wave this flag. Instead, I propose that those in favor of supporting every American, regardless of race, gender, religion, sexual identity; those who believe that all people are indeed created equal; those who are more concerned with helping the majority instead of hampering them be the ones to wave the flag. Wave it alongside the Pride flag. Wave it alongside the Black Lives Matter flag. Wave it alongside whatever way you can proclaim your faith in science. 

Let those who would deny others the ideals promised by this nation yell about taking our country back; let the rest of us take our country forward. 

And if for some reason you disagree with any of these thoughts and observations, please don't ignore me. Don't block me. Don't flame me. Talk to me. 

If you've read this far, here's a picture of Horatio playing in the snow:

December 29, 2021 - Going off Social Media

As of January 1st, 2022, I am going to try to give up Facebook and Twitter. I wrestled with staying on social media before and decided to stay for a number of reasons: staying in touch with family, friends, and former students; seeing what is happening in my town; keeping up with my favorite bands; trying to promote my photography... As I've stayed, I've found that little of that is actually happening. 


I find that the more I'm on social media, the more time I'm wasting and not finding those benefits as much anymore. My friends are posting more memes and jokes they've seen elsewhere and less about themselves. My hometown page is more about petty squabbles, irrelevant (to me) business promotions, and random pipe dreams of the town's future. While I did find out about Joe Jackson's and "Weird Al"'s latest tours, the information is as easily accessible on their sites. Promoting my photography is something I don't have as much time for these days. And that doesn't count all the sponsored content that I have zero interest in and can't avoid. 

I know all this, yet I still find myself logging in repeatedly throughout the day. I've been watching Dopesick here and there and find myself identifying too much with Michael Keaton's character. We both know there's a problem, we both know we're addicted regardless, and we still find ourselves giving in to it and hating that we're doing it. Every single time I find myself with a spare second, I log in to see little worth seeing. And if I'm being honest with myself, I find myself going down stupid, meaningless rabbit holes of strangers' comments on ridiculous topics. I need to get out.

I would have left sooner - and this is going to sound like a (what do the kids call it these days?) flex - but many friends have told me how much it means to see pictures of Horatio. More than one has told me that seeing his face has helped them through the pandemic. I know I can't be objective, but I choose to believe them, so I waited until he turned one. Now folks are going to have to come here to get periodic updates and fixes. Keep an eye open to see how I manage to do that, because I haven't figured that part out yet. 

I'm hoping to take the time I would spend there and use it to read more, to write more, maybe to adult more, to be me more. All those times I think, "Let's take a quick peek" that turn into a five, ten, twenty minute time suck can be put to better use.

That said, I am not deactivating the account; I'm simply removing the app from my phone and blocking the site on the laptop. I'm doing this so I can keep the messenger app working. My hope is that any time folks are tempted to tag me in something, they'll take an extra second and message me instead, whether it's a Star Wars meme, a Shakespeare joke, or a funny cat video. Or, Gods forbid, we have an actual conversation. And I will try to do the same. If this means we don't hear from each other for a while, I wish you all the best. If you stop by here from time to time, I'll try to make it worth your while with my not-even-close-to-trademarked witticisms, observations, and photos. 

In the meantime, here's a picture of Horatio with a spoon in his mouth :-)>

November 14, 2021 - Takeaways and Observations from Last Night's Cheap Trick Concert

Last night we went to see Cheap Trick at the Providence Performing Arts Center (PPAC). I'd never seen them before, could only name three songs by them, but they've always had a reputation as a fun show, and we'll take almost any excuse to get out of the house these days. 

Throughout the show, I had a number of realizations, both specific to the band and about concerts in general. Here, in no particular order, are some takeaways:

If you want to see a great show, get seats near the stage. If you want to hear a great show, get seats near the soundboard. Our seats were dead center, row S - pretty good seats as far as seeing the stage. From the first notes, the sound was awful. The guy next to us asked what song they opened with, and we had no idea. Even though I'd never heard the song before, I should have been able to figure out something close to a title to help him out. After about five or six songs, we moved toward the back and everything sounded infinitely better. My non-technical, non-professional opinion thinks it's because the seats toward the front were in a more open space, floor to ceiling in the venue, while the soundboard was under the balcony with less room for the music to dissipate (if that's what I can say the music did). 

I was surprised by how punk this band is. The few songs I could name ("Surrender", "Dream Police", and "I Want You To Want Me") fall under the pop/rock genre, but much of what they played last night had a distinctly more punk feel to it. Except for "The Flame". This song has such an '80s vibe to it that I can't believe it's not from a John Hughes soundtrack.

It was odd that Robin Zander spent the show in an outfit that included a trench coat and a leather captain's hat, yet said literally nothing to the audience until the last song of the set; Rick Nielsen was the mouthpiece for the band for the entire show. It seems to me that if Zander's going to cultivate an image like this (to the point that a woman in the front row wore a similar hat), he would have more of a role as a front man.

If someone is going to have a five neck guitar, it's more impressive if they play more than only the top two.

When a band whose heyday was in the late '70s/'80s says that their 2021 album was number one for a "weak week", take it with a grain of salt; While Rick Nielsen claimed their 2021 In Another World was #1 on the charts, it seems that the album peaked at 142 on the Billboard top 200 chart, and the highest it charted anywhere was #2 on Billboard's Top Tastemaker Albums (I never knew that was a thing). 

See live music. See it wherever you can. See it whenever you can. See whomever you can. I get that COVID is still keeping a lot of folks home, but it was sad to see the place maybe two-thirds full. 

September 28, 2021 - Who Decided on Letter Names?

 

Who invented the names of the letters in the American English alphabet? Why do A, J, and K end with an -ā sound while B, C, D, E, G, P, T, V and Z end with an -ē sound? Why do F, L, M, N, S, and X end with their respective sounds while the previous letters begin with them? Why do H, Q, and W not contain the sound they make? Come to think of it, what sound does Q make on its own? If it's only the same as K, why do we need qu- when we could just use kw-? Why does the letter C exist, when we already have K and S? Why does the soft G exist when we already have J? Why is W called double-u, but M is not called double-n?

You might think I'd have better ways to spend my time, what with school back in session and a baby at home, but here we are...

April 4, 2021 - Why I'm Staying on Facebook

About a week ago, a friend posted a link to this article about how Facebook has been not only allowing groups and pages that support white supremacy, but auto-generating them on their own. In addition, they've been linking supporters of one page to similar pages through their "you might be interested in..." feature. People talk about how the January 6th insurrection was an organized event rather than a spur of the moment happening; this is one of the reasons that was possible. 

Upon reading this, I underwent a crisis of conscience. I understand that many people, including some of my Facebook friends, have opinions that differ from mine. I accept that. I have, numerous times, attempted to engage them - and total strangers - in civilized discussion (see my July 27, 2020 entry). My issue was that this time it's Facebook encouraging these hateful views. I had friends support my incredulity at what was happening, but say that they simply scroll past the objectionable content. That's the problem, though; we don't see the objectionable content. It's those we have to worry about who see it, who see that their hateful views are shared by others, and who find ways to expand their circles of hate and ignorance. I had to ask myself if this was a deal breaker. At the time, I thought it likely was.

And that was too bad. Facebook offers many benefits: staying in touch with family, friends, and former students; a place to see what is happening in my town; keeping up with my favorite bands; a place to promote my photography (this includes Instagram, which is owned by Facebook). I was ready to pull the trigger and move everything over to Twitter, knowing full well that it would limit what I was able to do and limit who would be able to see it; I think most Facebook folks would not follow me there. 

The more I thought about it, though, the more I realized that would be a mistake. The best analogy I can think of is the Thanksgiving dinner with the relative who makes casually racist comments. When that happens, I have three options. Option one is I can ignore it and try to enjoy the rest of the meal with my family. I could continue with Facebook as I have for the past almost fifteen years. The expression says that ignorance is bliss, and that would be 100% true. But I would know in my heart that the problem exists.

Option two is getting up and leaving the table. I could simply walk away. This is where I was heading. I want nothing to do with this entire situation; sorry, folks, but I'm outta here. In the short run, while I would be disappointed to not have the turkey, mashed potatoes, and three different kinds of pie, I simply can't be part of this situation. I can find a restaurant that might be open and have something there. Sure, the food isn't as good, and despite my best offer, no one else at the table is going to come with me, but I can hold my head up and proudly claim that I want no part of this. But, I thought, where does that really get me? Who benefits from that? The problem still exists, and I'm the one suffering.

That leaves me with option three: I stay, but I speak up. I look Uncle Zuck right in the eye and I tell him that what he said is inappropriate and absolutely unacceptable. I've read that it's not enough to be not racist; we have to be anti-racist. We have to call it out when we see it, not simply say, "Well, that's not my belief." Full disclosure: I don't yet know what to do, but I have reached out to the Tech Transparency Project, the Southern Poverty Law Center, and the Anti-Defamation League for suggestions on how this small town English teacher with a few hundred "friends" on the platform can challenge a multi-billion dollar international monolith. I will bring the fight to them. I hope others will join me. 

January 24, 2021 - Reclaiming My Time

A while back I noticed that I was getting some strange ads in my Facebook feed. Ads for demographics to which I do not remotely belong: guns, beer, daughters, God/Jesus, horses.... I also see innumerable ads that are blatant copyright and trademark infringements: Star Wars tee shirts, Van Halen sneakers, any variety of posters and apparel with photoshopped images of Paul McCartney, Robert Downey, Jr., Mark Hamill and more appearing to hold the merchandise. For a while it was fun posting comments about how poorly they were photoshopped before reporting the ad as a scam. For the past few days, I've been sharing some of them under #FacebookDoesNotKnowMeAtAll, an attempt at humor to decry their algorithms. 

Then some more tech savvy than I clued me into the fact that what I post is not the primary factor in the ads I see. If it were, I'd be seeing many more ads for baby products. A friend suggested I watch the Netflix documentary The Social Dilemma, which sheds light on how social media companies market us to their advertisers, and how simply hovering over an ad results in more ads similar to it showing up. It was contrary to everything I'd been trying to do; time spent reporting the ads only served to generate more of them. 

The documentary also explains how advertisers seek to alter my own personal habits by providing my data to those who would exploit it. I'll be honest, I don't completely understand how it works, but it still frightens me. What frightens me most is that I don't know if my behavior has been altered. I don't think so, but I can't say for sure. I'm somewhat heartened by the fact that I only see Facebook ads on my phone; the Facebook Purity extension blocks most of them on my laptop. But the lengths they go to in order to keep me looking does strike a few chords: the dots when someone is typing a comment (it does keep me there a while longer to see what they're writing), the notifications that someone did something related to my feed to trigger that need to see what it is (I turned the notifications off long ago), the "people you might know" function designed to link me to as many as possible which keeps me looking longer, and the god-awful infinite scroll that keeps me looking at posts I've already seen; I do that way too much, and I hate that I do it.

Having been spending so much time at home - partly because of the pandemic and partly because of a new baby - I find myself with my phone in my hand more than usual. I find myself falling prey to the habits I've long railed against. To that end, I have decided to try to purge myself of these behaviors. Part of me would love to take social media off my phone entirely, but I post many pictures from my phone, and I will admit it's much easier to post that way instead of emailing them to myself to post from the laptop. That said, I have taken the step of limiting myself to ten minutes per day on Facebook and Twitter on my phone. The plan is to see what folks are up to in the morning & post what I have to post and to check once more in the evening to see what folks are up to and to get that quick high from the likes and comments on what I posted.

I like Facebook. It keeps me in touch with family and friends from all over the world. I enjoy seeing what they're up to. I appreciate being able to celebrate with them, even if it's via a post. This is especially true during the pandemic when I am unable to see people in person. I like Twitter. I don't follow too many accounts; the majority are work-, book-, or grammar-related who don't tweet too much. I don't want to give them up, but I don't want them to have as much control over my time as they've been having. To that end, I have subscribed to the Boston Globe, so I can get my news from professionals instead of the echo chamber that is my social media feed. I should have plenty of time to read it as I won't be on social media as much anymore. 

I have long encouraged my students to spend more time in the real world and less time on their phones. It's time I practiced what I preach.