We've got cardboard Dolly!

  Like in that movie Twister...we've got cow in the debris.

  Gosh, movies remember those?!  I have barely thought of anything but politics for so long now, it is over the top cool to see cardboard Dolly.

  Had to go way north from mid North Carolina to get back to Tennessee.  Through beautiful farm country.  Fall colors like pheasants and geese refresh the mind which has blue and red map of us all emblazoned on it.  Woke up to hear Trump's acceptance of our voting for him, mostly because where I fell asleep on the sofa, the TV is wall-size.  It was like Trump walked right into the home and said, "Okay!"

  Now we get to it, all of us more spirited for all that red all over the map.  These transitions in the past seem to bring a last phase of survival mode still more necessary as we gain traction...get more pro-business, and, apply all that compassion and caring that is part of patriotism.

  We've got some serious challenges!  But we've demonstrated--we're up for it.

But of course,

  My mom would be beaming proud and would def point out that her generation did it!  Got Reagan in too.  And I would agree that this election it was so important to join forces and put the good America first.  And it's important to live our values.  And hugely important to be an example for young people.

  To set the course and achieve the goals of re-Americanizing ourselves and honing that legacy that makes us different than most places on earth.

Pee and go

   Once I81 dumps you out of TN there's no mappage showing how to get to NC.  And if you're coming from fast food job, you get reprimanded for going into the women's bathroom not looking something enough, I guess.

  Everything is nice and quiet.  But the field of broke down tractors and lawnmowers kind of tells where we're at.  A gas station couple is quietly closing down a Sunday workday.  Kindly give directions.  More bananas from a grocery and the reassurance that there are still mountains to go before the flatland.  It's a thirty year de ja vous with the good people of America just doing the same USA we've been doing since I was a kid.

   It's like when "everybody" started wearing jeans.  We never really got back to "fashion" after that.  Big divides.

  The campaigning brings ideological politics front and center but for the majority of people most things are just routine.  Most people can't ride a ticket to get out of poverty.  A lot of people don't get to wear a suit and tie.  In everyday situation we don't yell RIGHTS, I WANT MY RIGHTS.  Or, Garbage, y'all are garbage and I'm gonna....

  We have a couple people as presidential candidates and we see them everywhere.  And the idea is to pick a side and go in that direction.  There's no "magic pill" that is going to turn the world into all one thing at this point.  Not even war.

  We do have big divide(s) and a lot of it is really about how we approach the same issues.  Finances do dictate most decision-making.  And each political party does offer particular forms of support for ideas and activities.  Some of it is moral support -- you can do it!  And here's why....

  The more self-reliant, street and trickle down, are actually greatly influenced by overall political tone because of that tone's coloring of environment, but environment--not in disaster mode--isn't a dictator in America.

  The current stagnation seems more like a paltry footbridge over chaos and non-participation or apathy about being a citizen.  But not about being American since we, in many ways, let that be even more lax than just wear jeans.  It became an illusory anything goes.  Of course, that sort of lack of commitment, absence of discipline, waffling about ideologically has put a strain on leftover system (much of which stemmed from programs and have long been past their "shelf dates"), and with an optimistic naw we didn't give up, really, at least not totally, we put the rug of politics over the gigantic imperfection of big divide.

  It's kind of important to have some kind of structure to nation.  The rug is not gonna do it.

  Headlines this past week give us rockets, intercontinental ballistic missiles, and drones stalking and killing people in the streets.  And American elections.

  The question that everyone is asking of leader and people really seems to be

  Is America mightily different?

I choose to care anyway

  It's not about gender for me.  I care about men and women and children doing America as America.

  I think to be too specific-cause defeats the purpose of our nation.

  My vote (if I can get to NC) goes to Trump because the stuff that we are up against needs someone that committed, that stubborn, and that willing and able to fight against the gigantic drone of ah, just leave it like it is.  It's been a wretched four years.

Sometimes I wonder

   what Martha Stewart's cats r thinking too.

  When I wonder about serious stuff, I also ask.

  It's a wonder that we have ICBMs and drones stalking people and news is still giving out location information.  Everyone had to stop doing that in like, the Vietnam War.  But back in the early 1990's I was able to put a similar question to some experts.  Interestingly, the censors and military and vague popular were hung up on numbers!  Yeah, because elections require the use of numerical data, we had to put a hold on a critical block on some other information.  Seriously.

  Of course we were freaking out; we were young people.  Especially as creatives we were afraid censorship would be forever.  And there were official lists of words we couldn't use.  It was a challenge to express ourselves with buzzers clamping down on all our ideas.  We had academic arguments with the living censor people.  And, heart-to-hearts with older than us professionals and loved ones.  Advertising had to be part of the phasing in of temporary restraints in communications.  That made for some "funny" ads.

  We talked through jarring issues like having full faith and confidence in our Armed Forces.  And, even, what ifs and how to carry on without the usual conveniences.  It's always intense when we have to ready for maybe swift action.  But we do so as a nation.  And not just one nation, but a nation with allies.  

  And it's always comforting to know that grown ups are always doing their work, so even while we got to do some less serious stuff, the grown ups had been on it.

  No stress.

Scary

   What I feel is close to hatred for disorder and chaos and other issues it would be easy to blame on one party or another, one gender or another.  Think I'll vote for eating lots of candy today.

  They made fun of people for recycling too!  Sometimes guys make no sense.  They made fun of a woman reporter covering a typhoon or tsunami in Japan and it became a harmless guy rally cry, "The recycling!" They'd say in a girly voice.  Totally missed the point-- that even in a disaster SOME PEOPLE CARE, especially about maintaining progress on making life's problems better.  They're so duh sometimes.

  Heck yeah I voted for Nikki Haley in the primary!  Duh wears me out. 

  It's okay, we're going to get Taiwan and U.S. chips going forward.  Better chips.

Getting dark now, watch out for trick or treaters!

Mas mejor chips.  I might even invest in that if the Spanish-speaking people where I'm doing laundry don't put me in their garbage can.  Thanks

  Ah, just candy wrappers and food truck taco empty plates in the garbage can!  I love Knoxville.

  Happy Halloween