Art and Color

Oddly enough, I read an "I'm out" message just as I was about to share about my visit to the brand-new Epcot Festival of the Arts.  Apparently I'm being "too negative."  I had to go back and read what I wrote, because I'm honestly not feeling negative, and I hope I didn't sound that way. Negativity is dark and hopeless, and I don't feel hopeless at all. To the contrary, I'm feeling stressed and tired of keeping up with the fire hose of issues spraying from that madman every day, but also energized about how Americans have (mostly) snapped out of their complacency and are paying attention to what's going on.  There's a graphic being shared on Facebook - you've probably seen it, so I won't bother to go find it - it's a three part pie chart:  People Who Voted for Trump, People who Voted for Clinton, and People Who Suddenly Give a Shit.  If this awful event has caused the formerly apathetic to give a shit about saving our democracy, I consider that a very positive thing.  The ACLU continues to rake in the bucks - "rage donation" is a thing now.  People are starting to send a few dollars to a worthy cause whenever they feel really pissed off, to feel just a bit better. We can't all afford to do that, but I do think it's immensely helpful and not "slacktivism" at all.  Legal battles cost money, and money plus phone calls and pestering public officials gets results. It's already rolling back a few of the egregious overreaches. Marching is great too, of course, it gets the media's attention and has actually shifted them away from "normalizing" this game show host puppet. Yes, I was quite sweary in my expression of these points, but I don't think I was being "too negative."  But whatever.  (I actually, briefly considered a new blog called, "Sweary Grandmother," but it's probably taken.) 

This is my wee little corner of the internets. It has been around since 2003 (except for that one stupid year, 2007, when I decided to make a "fresh start" and promptly nearly died of a brain aneurysm and ended the year with my employer closing).  I've often thought I should just give it up, or retool it to be a big kid blog and build it until it actually generates ad revenue, but I haven't bothered, for a number of reasons.  A big one is I don't like the way the plug-in ad revenue packages work. They work off algorithms and key words, so, for example, if I talked about my grandchildren, my sidebar ads would be all about fashionable incontinence underwear and sensible shoes.  If I mentioned Trump, it would be political crap, etc. So until they work out an ad program where I can advertise stuff I actually LIKE and USE, I feel like I'd be selling space on my personal thoughts.  And these are my personal thoughts.

I also don't think my personal thoughts have ever held back from real life, but I also don't share every detail of my personal life.  I do share random stuff I'm thinking and doing, but this is not Dear Diary.  And I do talk about things that really matter to me, and right now, the state of our country is front and center in my mind.  I am a 58 year old single woman with a pre-existing condition (yeah, a 10 year old brain aneurysm counts) so the future of our health care "system" matters to me.  I have three granddaughters, all extremely bright and talented so  I care deeply about the wildly incompetent rich bitch about to be appointed as Secretary of Education, a woman with zero qualifications other than her political contributions.  I also care about environmental regulations being stripped, and the alarming intrusion of religious tests into our secular political system.

I also can laugh at the very funny "remember the Bowling Green Massacre!" stuff rocketing around social media, because this situation is that absurd, but seriously bad legislation is being passed, often while breaking the rules and conduct that has been normal in Congress for decades, and talking about that isn't being negative, it just IS.  The good news? People are paying attention, and hell is being raised in response, on a daily basis.  This is what patriotism looks like. Yes, I'm damn angry that we are in this place, having to do this shit. I'm very deeply annoyed about that. But righteous rage isn't being negative. Righteous rage gets shit done.

So whatever.  Anyone who wants to check out can do so. I don't bother to check my stats and this doesn't pay the bills. So, and I do mean this kindly:

Meanwhile, on the subject of self care, today I visited the brand-new Epcot International Festival of the Arts. 

And, well, it's a brand-new event, and it has to grow up, and it will.  They seemed to be a bit short on artists - I saw the same artists displaying their works at three places around the World Showcase.  The food was good, but with fewer selections than Flower and Garden and of course the biggie, Food and Wine. It was a pleasant half day, but I was quite able to control my urge to spend money on art, and after about three hours I was ready to say goodbye to my companions and come home to go to Publix and do laundry and such.  I suspect Disney is just testing the waters with this event; it runs Friday to Monday, not 7 days, and while they do have some good musical acts booked, it felt like they're doing a soft opening.  I wouldn't mind going again next year if it becomes a thing; I think it has potential to grow.

I do want to spend my evening testing crochet motifs for a wildly colorful scrap afghan. Not squares - I'm thinking hexagons would be fun.  I do love me some granny squares, they are incredibly soothing to make, but I'm feeling in need of something different.  I'm thinking motifs without borders, just a big splash of color.  I don't know yet. I'm just going to play.