Weekend Plans
Mar. 12th, 2005 09:26 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
qosSaturday morning: get off LJ, do laundry, cook chicken for potluck, record country music for ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
queenofhalves and toesontheground, and put copy of my unfinished novel onto CD for queenofhalves, clear space in office so I can work there, go to Mystery School session with royalbananafish, queenofhalves, and lexicat, potluck and socialize. Depending on how long the socializing goes, maybe/maybe not work on paper some more. Go to bed.
Sunday: attend an unprogrammed (silent) Quaker worship service, work on paper, work on paper, work on paper. Do something low-key and fun with my daughter. Work on paper. (Paper is due Tuesday.)
Last night the daughter and I watched a charming and fun film called St. Ives, based on a Robert Louis Stevenson novel I had never heard of before. The cast includes Anna Friel, Miranda Richardson, Jason Isaacs, Richard E. Grant, Jean-Marc Barr and Michael Gough, who bring more substance to their characters than other actors might have been able to find, given the lightness of the script. If you enjoy a romantic romp, some humor, and all the set pieces of Swashbuckler-Lite, this would be worth renting.
Oh, one more thing for the weekend plans: keep the previous entry in my mind, and do some serious thinking about what I can do about our national situation besides rant occasionally in my LJ. Even a commitment to pray about it every day would be a step forward from what I'm doing now, which is Nothing. It's so easy to feel helpless, but that's exactly what contributes to the downward spiral: people accepting their feelings of disempowerment. I can't bloody well adopt a title like "Queen of Swords" and then mope about my supposed lack of ability to have an impact.
queenofhalves and toesontheground, and put copy of my unfinished novel onto CD for queenofhalves, clear space in office so I can work there, go to Mystery School session with royalbananafish, queenofhalves, and lexicat, potluck and socialize. Depending on how long the socializing goes, maybe/maybe not work on paper some more. Go to bed.Sunday: attend an unprogrammed (silent) Quaker worship service, work on paper, work on paper, work on paper. Do something low-key and fun with my daughter. Work on paper. (Paper is due Tuesday.)
Last night the daughter and I watched a charming and fun film called St. Ives, based on a Robert Louis Stevenson novel I had never heard of before. The cast includes Anna Friel, Miranda Richardson, Jason Isaacs, Richard E. Grant, Jean-Marc Barr and Michael Gough, who bring more substance to their characters than other actors might have been able to find, given the lightness of the script. If you enjoy a romantic romp, some humor, and all the set pieces of Swashbuckler-Lite, this would be worth renting.
Oh, one more thing for the weekend plans: keep the previous entry in my mind, and do some serious thinking about what I can do about our national situation besides rant occasionally in my LJ. Even a commitment to pray about it every day would be a step forward from what I'm doing now, which is Nothing. It's so easy to feel helpless, but that's exactly what contributes to the downward spiral: people accepting their feelings of disempowerment. I can't bloody well adopt a title like "Queen of Swords" and then mope about my supposed lack of ability to have an impact.
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(no subject)
Date: 2005-03-12 07:06 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-03-12 07:18 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-03-12 07:34 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-03-12 07:56 pm (UTC)Well, I'm afraid you're a few months too late. Not you personally of course...all of us. We had our shot, and we muffed it. Better luck next time.
Chambliss will be up for re-election in 2008...you might want to bring him to the attention of The Sister if she's inclined to take an interest.
Because of where you live, among the like-minded (as do most people), there probably isn't a huge amount you can do directly on the national level in the short term. Except I notice that Maria Cantwell (D-WA) will be up for re-election next year. If a serious challenge materializes, you might look into what you can do to help protect her.
I have an ongoing "difference of disposition" with my more activist-type friends. From my point of view, it's all about winning elections. If you can't win elections, you don't count. Period. Rallies, protests, networks, vigils...all of it means exactly zero if you can't produce the votes on election day.
(Example: recently a group of teachers and students rallied in Salem to demand that the Oregon legislature produce more funding for the schools. Now, essentially all of the Republican legislators in the building had defeated candidates supported by the protesters. Why in the world would they consider switching sides? The candidates supported by the teachers lose.)
So...the question boils down to "How can we make elected officials afraid to take these sorts of actions because it will cost them their jobs?
Now I'll go away and think about that some more.
(no subject)
Date: 2005-03-12 08:27 pm (UTC)My sense is that the activists hope that their actions can change minds, or at least mobilize more active participation on election day by like-minded fellow citizens who might otherwise have stayed home.
I wonder if anyone has actually done a serious investigation into the connection between going to the polls on election day and pre-election day exposure to activist activities by others (rallies, vigils, etc.).