This is life in 2025.
My weekend in DC was no different. Flew out Saturday for a Sunday gig. Since I didn’t have any plans Sunday during the day, I slept in late and planned to just hang around the hotel room doom scrolling, but instead caught wind of the fact that Cory Booker and Hakeem Jeffries were doing a sit-in on the Capitol steps, inviting people to come join. Well, I threw myself together and hopped in a Lyft to get my butt over there. It was a smallish crowd, but everyone was just sitting on the steps and listening respectfully. It was very church-y - lots of prayers and invocations - but, you know what? I’m down. I don’t have to be a believer to join with these people in a vision of what America could, and SHOULD, be. If elderly black folks, especially women, who have seen the worst of this country, can still believe in this place, what’s my excuse??
I was probably ten feet from the speakers for a couple of hours before I had to hustle back to the hotel to get ready. I know people have all sorts of criticism of these people and “stunts” like these, but hey - they’re putting themselves on the line to show they want to fight for us. As one who has been a leader of a Big Thing for decades and faced tons of unjustified criticism and attacks, I invite anyone who’s never been in politics or in charge of anything to STFU.
The gig itself was great - we hadn’t done this since 2019; it was yet another event that decided to only hire local since the pandemic. They only had us, and only our small band, on closing night, not our orchestra on Saturday as we had done for over a decade. But still, the energy was fantastic, the venue was gorgeous, and it was a great night. I traded fears with a fellow organizer, chatted with folks I hadn’t seen in years, and it felt great. I had one yucky interaction with a bitter bandleader who apparently has some fucking problem with us (long story - mostly involving just jealousy) in which I went up to him and made a big friendly overture and he barely acknowledged me, in a very deliberate “fuck you”. This guy has been roundly canceled, so I shouldn’t have been surprised, but it still enraged me. I just can’t believe how fucking rude he was when we used to have a very friendly, close rapport. Well apparently he’s a right winger so his being a petty, bitter old asshole completely tracks. Hopefully our paths will never cross again.
This week I’m just doing mom stuff, protesting on Thursday, then driving up to SLO for another weekend gig and catching another protest on Sunday on my way down. Theo has an ortho appointment today - they had originally said he’d have a break from braces until later; I sure hope that’s true. Bobby now will start two years of Invisalign in June, to the tune of $250 a month. In light of this news, I canceled my terzepatide prescription. I finally got to do the telehealth meeting to discuss “my case”, and the doctor told me what I already knew, that the pills really have no effect. I should have started with the shots. But I can’t afford it now, so that whole plan has just been shelved. If I’m really that motivated to lose ten pounds, I can just do it naturally. But I’m not. So there’s that.
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