Americans Want…

Tuesday, November 5, 2024

The American election process will end officially tonight, but that won’t include a final voting outcome unless there’s a clear front runner. That’s unlikely to happen according to months of data from trending maps. Anyway, soon we will turn our aching heads toward whatever confronts us and hopefully, self-adjust and carry on.

I am suffering massive election anxiety. In this election the stakes are very high for all individuals. Aside from the world’s conflicts that demand leadership, America itself is on the edge, about itself.

America’s population has become very mixed, and White Americans are losing their traditional domination; men are worried about how changing women’s roles are challenging the future of masculiniaty; women are demanding freedom, beyond the home, to make life choices, and to work, create, and produce.

We’ll learn what America’s voters want.

Dear Friends: Today, I’m due early at work, and now wishing everybody well. Diana

Social Forces

Monday, November 04, 2024

Like other Americans during this election cycle, I am learning there is a “political sociology.” In our affluent society, it is about the influences of education, gender, race, and citizenship status in predicting national voting trends and this election’s outcomes.

I’ve been fascinated by political sociology, which studies power dynamics, social movements, political institutions, and cultural values. It illuminates how contemporary society shapes an election cycle’s challenges and opportunities. Current social forces impacting our social lives are shaping our political outcomes.

We’re keenly aware of America’s political battling forces. Our current society has efforts to get out the votes targeting potential voters based on factors like education, gender, and ethnicity. This is a new swing that needs understanding.

Following this election cycle’s ups and downs makes us aware of how we have changed both as a nation and socially. We are learning how and why our political and economic institutions are changing and recognizing what makes our population so divided.

Dear Friends: Soon, this election will be over, and we will be wiser. Diana

Changing Times

Saturday, November 02, 2024

Turning back our clocks tonight will make us more vigorously anticipate the upcoming “dark days of winter.” Time changes are mechanical acts that complicate our lives for days ahead. They challenge us, and we mis-assess our routines for a while, confused by changing daylight periods, odd to-bed and getting-up times, and our standard getting-things-done patterns. Remembering how much the time change will affect my daily life is discomforting.

I live on a small acreage and have a few outside animals, equines, chickens, turkeys, and a goat. Their feeding times trigger my understanding of daylight length. In summer, feeding the outside animals can stretch over long hours; in fall, feeding times become condensed; and in dark winter, most feedings occur in a nighttime atmosphere.

Turning back the clocks tonight has me anticipating the different relationship between clock time and natural daylight tomorrow. A key concern is scheduling feedings for my outside animals. Feedings in natural light are the easiest and most safely handled. Starting tomorrow, I must feed them earlier and manage to repeat that, at least once in natural light, and prepare to provide their latest feedings during the dark and cold nighttimes.

Other discomforting thoughts are about a personal transition. From experience, I anticipate that nightly bedtimes will become compelling by 7 p.m. because of the earlier darkness outside. On the opposite side of bedtime, I will worry about having overslept by seeing more light through the bedroom windows.

I’ll be adjusted to this time change by next week. Next spring, I will write about the agonies brought on by anticipating yet another artificial time change.

Dear Friends: I want “To change or not change clock times” on the ballot. Diana

Say, Wot?

Friday, November 01, 2024

RFK Jr., in charge of Women’s Health? Really?

Women must vote exactly as their husbands do? Really?

Are Americans willing to resume living in the Middle Ages or, more realistically, those pre-MAs?

In this election battle, highly visible key Republicans are pulling out all the stops now, hoping to gain more male voting. Until recently, the competition didn’t seem like such a gender feud.

I’ve preferred to consider Americans more politically mature, surely enough to abhor our presidential competition turning into a battle of the sexes. But now, that’s where it’s at, a down-and-dirty fight.

Frankly, even from the very git-go, and way prior to his famous escalator ride, I wouldn’t have voted for DJT for as much as a dog-catcher. I see him as a disgusting person, and worst for his lack of embarrassment about being considered such. His popularity with some Americans has encouraged a rise of more “Take the wins and to hell with everything else!” types.

Americans are accustomed to hard-liners in Congress who have supported Trump. We now see posturing at the Republican forefront increasing wealthy and aggressive types, like Musk, Vance, RFK Jr. (Daddy is roiling in his grave!), and others.

Gender differences were critical for our species’ survival at various points in human evolution. Slowly, those times changed, especially over the last seventy years, when they seemed to be going at warp speed.

Changing times and prosperity continually are affecting our social and health lives. Accordingly, humans must adapt and adjust their perspectives. “Can’t we all get along?”

Individuals in a Democracy who understand and accept changes contribute more effectively to its ongoing upward evolution. Nowadays, living quality equals a Democracy’s quest to boost its productivity and manage its economics.

Dear Friends: Be sure to vote, for much is hinging on election outcomes. Diana

Boo!

Thursday, October 31, 2024

Halloween is dawning here in Central Oregon. The thermometer outside shows 32 degrees. It’s also a damp morning. Altogether, the heralding weather is well-suited for Halloween.

On several mornings, my creative co-worker Lily arrived at work looking ghoulish but always too pretty to frighten anyone.

If the department store isn’t busy, my role in the Jewelry Department becomes boring. I spoke about this to a key manager, who gave me the green light to leave and assist other departments in dull times, but available if Jewelry needs me.

Yesterday, because the Jewelry Department was boring, I shifted away to Intimates and helped clear dressing rooms, straighten and rehang apparel, and ring-up purchases. Staying busy made time pass quickly and improved my working hours. Plus, I found it easier to help customers find apparel than a perfectly fitting jewelry piece.

Today is a day off, and I’ll continue transitioning my little ranch to winter. It’s time to drain hoses and handle the most needed repairs. As for my habitual escapee, he’s now confronted with higher fencing and has returned to digging. Yesterday, he and Mitzvah slipped under the fence while, happily, I was at home to corral both and block Chase’s dig.

Dear Friends: Have an enjoyable Halloween with fun-costumed visitors. Diana

Adornments

Wednesday, October 30, 2024

Yesterday, the department store where I work part-time hosted a traveling jewelry show. The jewels, primarily of gold and diamonds, were beautiful and expensive. Those luxuries in these economically stressful times drew individuals who wished to self-identify uniquely from others; however, it appeared (to me) that actual sales might be falling short of the goals.

I remember reading somewhere that, “First man made tools, and then he made jewelry.” The earliest jewels worn that identified individuals uniquely probably were real seashells and artist-created resemblances.

Watching customers yesterday, I was struck by how long they (mostly women) studied the array and carefully selected pieces, one by one, to try on. Most arrived wearing their favorite jewelry pieces, hoping to match or complement those items. Many found choices they loved and looked fine, tried on, but decided against making a sizable investment.

Sure, “It’s the economy, stupid.” Nonetheless, potential buyers did show up and spent much time looking and playing with offerings. It resembled a sort of practice event, like entering a department store’s dressing room and trying on clothing, self-assessing, and then deciding against purchasing.

If the store’s goals did fall short, it’s likely for not advertising or promoting adequately an upcoming, unique opportunity to discover fine jewelry locally.

I’m often struck by yet another recognition of today’s businesses inadequately providing training and learning opportunities. Maybe I could have helped more with yesterday’s selling effort and improved the bottom line. However, I wasn’t adequately trained before the event.

About inadequate training: Experience has taught me that regardless of how many computer-generated training videos an organization provides, time spent “learning via videos” quickly becomes a brain-deadening sentence. Simply put, teams need regular meetings to gain a common understanding and be on the same page.

Dear Friends: At least I glimpsed “a little inside” of key jewelry showing. Diana

It’s The Times, Stupid!

Tuesday, October 29, 2024

To summarize for ya’all, despite my ongoing efforts to prevent my dog from escaping the fenced “dog area,” he’s still managing to bully out; however, as of today, Chase is still with me.

In a long conversation yesterday, a friend told me about her two twenty-something-year-old daughters and why they are conflicted about attending college. The youngest is a dental assistant who loves her work. Her dentist encourages her to become a dentist, and she wants to very much but fears incurring the enormous debt of attending dental school. She might instead settle on becoming a dental hygienist.

Her older daughter completed some college but couldn’t find local employment and sustainable wages, so she moved to Kentucky a few years ago and found work there with decent pay. She won’t return to higher education as its cost/benefit ratio isn’t in her favor.

To me, a college education is more than learning practice in areas of potential employment, although it does that. A college experience encourages self-awareness and confidence through real-time activities such as thought-exchanging, interactive listening, and identifying and debating specifics. These help individuals evaluate and understand their own positions more clearly.

Those “extras” of education help individuals “round out” and become more adept at finding appropriate work and negotiating for personal needs.

Hindsight tells me that the extras are essential for finding desirable work and navigating associated essentials. But today, perhaps thoughtful individuals in their twenties view the concept of debt as so real and burdensome that they disvalue more possibilities, like becoming more rounded out and capable of negotiating effectively for personal advantages.

If I’m out of step with the times, my life’s experience and observations have recognized the almost unmeasurable value of pursuing and achieving higher education.

Dear Friends: That’s my position; I’ll stick with it and not disregard pushback. Diana

Challenge

Monday, October 28, 2024

I’ve looked repeatedly to see where my dog Chase has repeatedly escaped from the dog area. I wasn’t watching the right spot until yesterday when he went over a seemingly inescapable fence section. I saw Chase climb the six-foot, all-wire fencing, perch atop, balance to position himself, and then leap a gulley to reach a supporting surface.

That’s how he’d been managing. Knowing eased some of my frustrations, but countering his escapes from there was challenging. That section of fence needed heightening, but it’s in a high, rocky area where my footing wasn’t stable.

“One does what one must.” “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.”

So, in the dusky evening, I dragged a leftover roll of fencing fabric from the barn to the needy area. While self-balancing to avoid tripping over rocky jumblings, I unrolled, laid out, and wired a foot of new height onto the original fence. My work wasn’t stable before darkness prevented completing the job.

Nonetheless, after letting the dogs outside again, I watched Chase. He stayed in their area. Later, around midnight, I let the dogs out briefly, and Chase re-entered the house with his buddies.

Today, I’ll finish that section of fence-topping and then do more fixing. I saw partially dug spots where Chase wanted to crawl under the fence. His innate sense of physics makes him a great natural engineer. If Chase learned to read and write, he’d teach much and provide income for me.

Dear Friends: He’s a never-closing chapter that resists containment, needs safety. Diana

Drippy Start

Sunday, October 27, 2024

Earlier, as I began writing, unusual noises began hinting at rain. Suddenly, a hefty squall rushed over Central Oregon, where I live. Its racket lasted just moments, and its wake was eerily silent.

That brief environmental shift urged me to refocus and create a mystery novel instead of writing a blog. However, I’m not quick and clever enough to pursue such a sudden inspiration, but it’s parked in my head for more thinking later.

Now, I see a forecast that rain will occur for much of today. Anticipating mild cold and dampness is starting a push to revive my old, trusty slow cooker and create some kind of stew. The idea is becoming almost aromatic in my mind.

Thus, this True Fall Sunday begins. I am off from my part-time job and will be reading a lot. I want to stay abreast of the terrible wars occurring still among world nations, this country’s political battles, and its overpriced economy.

Dear Friends: Enjoy this pleasant day–staying dry or being in the rain–as you wish. Diana