So, it’s come to North America now. I’ve heard about these kinds of tours in Rio de Janeiro and Paris. This is what comes of watching “reality” shows. I’m only half kidding. Apparently, misery sells tickets.

Time for a midwinter’s nap. Good night, stay warm.

Thanks for the welcome. I read LLN regularly, but don’t have much to say usually.

I’m in bed typing on my phone and can’t reply directly to a post. So, Christine, you’re so lucky with the snow. It’s the only thing that makes winter bearable. We spent half a day at the Circle today, enjoying all the free activities. First time I saw the atrium at the CMA. It kind of reminds me of a sterile piazza. Would like it more, if it had solar panels. Does it?

What snow? I love snow. There is just a light dusting in this southwest Cleveland suburb. Maybe we’re not part of Ohio anymore.

Will the Mayor and Council be paid minimum wage, too? Or are they unpaid?

Very, very late to the party, but I have to get this off my mind.

I hitchhiked everywhere in the late 60s and early 70s. That travel made all the difference to me. I had a series of straight job that I hitched to every morning, rain or shine (Southern California, so there wasn’t much rain). I chose jobs that were not affiliated in any way (that I could tell) with the military-industrial complex. I smoked dope, although it was a felony, and was lucky enough to have my case thrown out of court because of entrapment. The cops lie now and the judges allow it, so that wouldn’t happen now.
I hitched through 48 of the 50 states and learned really quickly to judge people and follow my intuition about potential rides. Noise doesn’t affect my rest, after sleeping through the night hidden in the bushes at freeway on ramps and right next to railroad tracks. But I also got to sleep in a cabin in Big Sur one night and in a mini-mansion in San Marino the next. To make love under a desert sky full of more stars than I ever saw in all my years of growing up in Ohio. To dance to a blues band in Louisville with people I would never have met in my white bread neighborhood (or is that white bred?).

Didn’t own a TV, so I was late to the party in learning that my fellow human beings were (supposedly) evil and that I should distrust them. Love is all you need was my motto.

To keep people from traveling, gas prices were raised. To keep people afraid to travel, mental hospitals were emptied. Artificial dips in the economy had my parents begging me to get a real job and save money. Interest on bank accounts became insignificant. Taxes were imposed on so many more things. It was difficult to save, so I didn’t, because I didn’t want to become a wage slave. I loved my freedom., what was left of it, anyway.
I traveled in Europe for 6 months. Blew my savings and it was worth it. Six months in Europe and the experience of meeting people with a different point of reference and point of view was worth every penny. The terrorist attack on New York was just the excuse for making it more difficult for people to leave the U.S.

I miss the interaction with other human beings who are very, very different from me.

If we don’t travel, except on the interstates, bypassing our fellow citizens, we will forget that we are one, that we are precious to each other and that the world needs each one of us. (Well, maybe not the 1%. But they are blind, aren’t they? They’re human and I pity them for their lack of experiences.)

I’ve been an office worker most of my life. About 8 years ago, I noticed that I was a non-person, being over 55. I was unemployable. The jobs I could find were below subsistence level. Temp jobs dried up. I thought it was my fault. No matter how hard I tried, it was difficult to get by, to get ahead, to have enough money to do anything. Everything cost money now, even camping in Federal and State Parks.

I bought a TV. I sold the TV. So many lies. Such ugliness and horror and gore. And that’s just the commercials. I learned how to use the internet.

I’m going to end this stream of consciousness now with a huge Thank You! Thank you to Firedog Lake for being her. Although I almost blend in with the citizenry in this sad city, I was lost and lonely for people who could think, and could argue (in the civilized manner of intelligent people) and were knowledgeable about what’s going on “out there.” I missed being in touch with my inner DFH.

Thanks. (I’m pretty new here and still pretty ignorant after a couple of years of lurking. Reading comments keeps me from falling into despair here in the land of the oblivious.)

Obama’s new BFF is a banker?