I went to see Arrival tonight at the locally-owned theater in Oakland, and as the lights went down, someone in the back shouted, "Not my President!", and half the audience cheered. And then someone else in the back said, "But I came here to escape all that!" and half the audience laughed, and then the movie started.

Good movie, btw: highly recommended if you like thoughtfully-paced intelligent science fiction.

Jesus, I do not want an outsider running the country. Why the hell would anyone want an outsider?

Hell, I was complaining last night that I wish there were job requirements: law degree or equivalent years of public service. . I actually *want* career politicians. It's not a fucking entry level job.

Well, four (or, Gaia help us, 8) years under Trump might make electing people with a political resume look sexy again. It sure wasn't a plus this time around.

Shrift, I would be interested in fannish organizing, if there's a list or something that you could point me towards, please.

I agree about the city/community/local focus mentioned above. That's something that a guy in my other focus (paganism/witchcraft/other assorted woo) keeps bringing up. I've been following Gordon White, of Rune Soup and other pubs, for a few years now, and he called Brexit and Trump's win 6-12 months before they happened. He's been on a decentralizing, crumbling empires kick for a while now--not reveling in it, but saying that that was the way the pendulum of history is swinging and it would be smart to get ones ducks rowed. He also talks about archons, spells, and wars in heaven, so take that as you will, but his calls on the big visible world stuff have been unsettlingly accurate.

The DNC is floating Michelle Obama and Elizabeth Warren, which proves to me that they haven't gotten the message. I would vote for either of those candidates but they are both unelectable. The party needs to be educated that doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result is insane. They may also need suggestions for a viable candidate.

Ugh, seriously.

Jesus, I do not want an outsider running the country. Why the hell would anyone want an outsider?

But also this! Will Democrats vote for this mythical outsider? Maybe if it were Oprah.

ION, I decided to make chicken with 40 cloves of garlic tonight. I'd forgotten what a simple recipe it is, really. Get 3-4 heads of garlic. Peel them. Which is boring and fiddly, but a good time to listen to music or a podcast.

You don't have to peel them! They will cook in their skins and you will wind up with little packets of smooshy roasted garlic goodness that you can squish with a knife and spread on pieces of chicken-jus-soaked bread.

I had a lovely evening with some new friends, including listening to a conference call with HRC I got invited to. I'm not sure why I got invited -- I made literally 10 calls for the campaign, and gave $200! But it was kind of cool regardless. She said do stuff in your own community.

Oh, jealous! I live two towns over from Chappaqua and keep thinking I should go over and shop in their farmer's market just in case I run into her, like that woman from the Mashable post.

It's not a fucking entry level job.

THIS

I have a backlog of TV from last week (Bee, Oliver, Noah), and I think I'm going to have to delete it unwatched. I caught up on Monday's Jane The Virgin last night and the snippets of news promos were enough to turn my stomach all over again.

Timelies all!

I set up a monthly donation to the ACLU yesterday. I already have monthly donations to Planned Parenthood and Doctors without Borders going. It's not much, but it is something.

Reminds me of an observation I made at a science fiction convention about SF concerning political futures, that some of the people writing it not only hadn't held political office or even participated in a village meeting.

I live two towns over from Chappaqua and keep thinking I should go over and shop in their farmer's market just in case I run into her, like that woman from the Mashable post.

I can only imagine how many people are now walking in those woods!

Also it's great spending time in a liberal neighborhood

I'm so fucking lucky to live where I do. We had dinner last night with our BFFs and just raged about the election and didn't have to worry for a second that we were in a crowded restaurant.

And then I think, that's a whole extra layer of privilege I've got going on.

The community thing is solid. State Department has been increasingly convinced that the key unit of government is the city, not the state, and that that will become more and more the case.

That does give me some hope, because my increasingly blue conservative city just elected a good handful of Democrats to local positions, and we passed the important social services levies.