The end of summer has brought several firsts: the twin grand-girls are in first grade–spending their days in separate classrooms for the first time; although they report that they regularly find each other at recess.
I started a new job, returning to my project management roots as a consultant with the State of Wisconsin. I am very excited about the project–which impacts children and families in the state.
Serena was once again in the US Open Women’s Final, and once again lost to a younger opponent; an opponent who wasn’t even born when Serena won her first US Open. This year, I had high hopes for Serena, as she had absolutely demolished her last two opponents en route to the final, displaying her former dominant form. However, her usually reliable first serve failed her; and she could not prevail over Andrea Andreescu’s aggressive style of play, a style that closely resembles Serena’s own powerful brand of tennis.
The latest news cycle has brought us ‘Sharpie-gate’, providing a ridiculous example of the extreme measures that our Clown-in-Chief will take to avoid admitting fault, by apparently using a Sharpie to alter a weather map in order to support previous (erroneous) tweets in which he stated that Alabama was in the path of Dorian.
It was a ridiculous reminder of a primary tenet of this presidency; which is to establish himself as the one infallible source of ‘truth’, who (like any facist leader) cannot be questioned. Trump routinely dismisses any facts that do not align with his own agenda as ‘fake news’.
On a positive note, the whole SharpieGate fiasco has been a gold mine for comics and cartoonists. The resulting memes have been great–including an altered photo of his inauguration with lots of people ‘sharpied’ into the crowd.
While the memes are funny, the laughter is underscored with weariness. This administration and it’s draconian policies continue to take tremendous human toll. This morning’s paper included an obituary for a woman I did not know, that summarizes it well, saying: “Although pancreatic cancer is the official cause of death, she was truly aggravated to death by the lack of kindness, civility and justice being demonstrated in the leadership of our country.”
Amen Sister, and rest in peace