I had to un-follow a couple more people on Facebook. Not due to anything specifically political or COVID related, just because their MOA is constant sharing of whiny, complaining, kvetching, patronizing memes. One today was about not correcting people's spelling or grammar because it reinforces hierarchy. WTF. I don't correct people's spelling or grammar because I am nice and don't sweat the small stuff. However I do correct spelling, punctuation, grammar, word choice, faulty logic on student papers because that's my job, I teach and yes I am a better writer and also have more education.

 Today I am 60 years old. Happy birthday to me.

 This week I am uneasy. Two of my "friends" (I always use scare quotes when I am referring to the Facebook variety) have COVID-19. One is from high school. We were not "best" friends, but my hometown is not a big place, and we attended the same elementary school that fed into a larger centralized high school, so I have known this woman since Kindergarten. She has been married for many years, and this summer took a vacation to Florida to celebrate the milestone. She shared many pictures of their trip, then yesterday, she resurfaced after a couple of weeks' silence to report that she has had COVID for over two weeks. When I saw her beach sunset pictures, I thought it was unwise to take a holiday in the coronavirus capital of the nation, but since I don't engage in that sort of dialogue, I un-followed her. I had not done that before, because although I am aware she has views that conflict with mine, she is not in the habit of writing controversial, argumentative, or political posts. But, the post about being very sick generated many comments from others, some of whom are also my "friends." There was a variety of perspectives, and no one got into a fight, but someone asked if she was vaccinated, and another asked how she got it. She said she is not vaccinated, and that she thought she got it from her husband, who got it from the plane ride home. Then she was asked if she wore a mask on the plane, and she said, yes, except when they ate and drank, and also the plane was packed. Someone responded, I guess masks don't work. The original "friend" has always been a lovely person inside and out, and she did not engage, but that commenter, my "friend," and two other mutual "friends," all of whom attended school with me, make up what I call the idiot quartet. They have become quite conservative (and have married extremely right-wing men), have always been physically gorgeous, are mostly nice (some more than others), and they are hard-line true believers in their POV (religious, political, social). So, no vaccine under any circumstances, virus is overblown, conspiracy theorists make valid points, and I suspect if they succumbed they would say it was God's will, they are living true to their beliefs. Last night, bothered by the situation, I wondered if they would change if their child or grandchild was dangerously ill. Going back to getting it on the plane, that is the likely place, although depending on what they did on that celebratory vacation, given that it was in Florida and they were there for 2-3 weeks...but she would not go there. No doubt she & her husband will be first in line to endorse governor cretin should he manage to mount a campaign.

The other "friend" is someone I met more recently. She is a neighbor and acquaintance. I un-followed her a while ago because of political posts. She is as lefty as the idiot quartet is righty, one of those blue no matter who types, which to me is an equally ignorant perspective to the idiot quartet's. She got a breakthrough case, and was not as sick as my other "friend," but it wasn't fun for a few days. She blamed it on the waning effectiveness of the vaccine and her comorbidity (obesity), but then admits she had gotten lax in her behaviors (mask-wearing, distancing, gatherings). If you are wondering how I know either story, to pull off un-follow (not un-friend), one has to occasionally drop in and see what's up. That's what I did yesterday with the anti-vaxxer. The lefty neighbor I heard about through regular gossip, so I checked her page to confirm.

 

 I don't engage in anything controversial on Facebook - aside from sharing an occasional anti-horse racing post. Nothing political otherwise, and I hide 90% of such posts whether I endorse the sentiment or not. I have unfollowed all news sources, and some friends as well. Lately I've had to hide a lot of duplicate posts generated by the Texas abortion law. One of the arguments being shared on various memes is that men have no right to make laws that involve vaginas. I just hid one in my feed that was along these lines, specifically describing menstruation, although using graphic language. I'd love to engage because the logic annoys me, but of course I can't. However, if I could I'd comment that such statements are not convincing, because they are too easy to defeat. If the crude meme is true, then men also shouldn't make pro-choice laws because they involve women. Are women allowed to make pro-life laws? Or is the assumption that men and women are two opposing forces that move in lock-step when it comes to POV? Are we going to break into tribes when it comes to legislation, so you can only have an opinion about specific things having to do with issues that directly involve you based on gender or identity or race or disability or sex or religion or class or age? So, for instance, when I was a village trustee and had to vote on purple heart day and a lymphoma run, I'd have to abstain because I never served in the military and don't have cancer? Where do we draw the line and who decides?

As a member of college faculty -- I am appalled at how my university is handling return to in-person instruction this fall. They are issuing directives, hiding information -- including data, patronizing, threatening and talking down to us. Across the country, in a-hole places like Florida, the ignorant policies are killing people; appalling is too kind a word for the governor of that pathetic state. The Third Wave was published 41 years ago...yet in the 21st Century we can't figure out how to work and learn remotely? Leadership is a disgrace and some people are clueless idiots. Bob has gone back to in-person work 50% this week. If he gets me sick...

Unrelated, kind of: my classes (all remote) are going great!!

So as I already mentioned, Noah is a "spirit cat." The only time I've had one was for several months in 1984 when Bob & I sublet an apartment in NYC from an actress. Part of the deal was fostering her two cats, Showtime and Mehitable. Mehitable was social, Showtime was not. So we turned off the air ionizer and started calling them "Kitty" and "Litty" and Showtime warmed up. Anyway, last Wednesday was a milestone for Noah. He came out of hiding when I sang the "Noah Kitty is so good" song! (Of course it helped that I was filling his bowl with a can of Wellness, LOL.) He's appeared five times since then, and twice I've petted him. Progress!