Protecting LGBTQ rights?

Earlier this week, the LGBTQ community, (well, mostly teachers who had the day off) showed up at our Statehouse to protest our version of the "Don't Say Gay" law in Florida. Here, they call it, the Slate of Hate bill. The digest of the bill says;

Sexual orientation and gender identity instruction. Provides that a school, an employee or staff member of a school, or a third party vendor used by a school to provide instruction may not provide any instruction to a student in kindergarten through grade 3, including a presentation, in which the goal or purpose of the instruction is to study, explore, or inform students about: gender fluidity; gender roles; gender stereotypes; gender identity; gender expression; sexual orientation. Defines "school" for purposes of this provision.

Honestly, if I had a child in kindergarten, I don't want some teacher with an agenda, talking to my FIVE year old about sex or gender identity. Geesh. 

Some of the comments on Twitter were so stupid.

"if you don't agree with this bill you are normalizing pedophilia!"

 "So what's next? Book burning, start concentration camps for people who are different then you?" "so if my daughter tells her 1st grade teacher that she has 2 mommies, what is that teacher going to say?"

Some people said, during the hearing, that this bill would prevent kids of LGBTQ parents from being able to talk about her family at school. Really? Is that what the bill says??? Come on.

After the initial reading in the House, some amendments were made. Instead of saying sexual orientation or gender identity, they amended it to 'human sexuality.' Another amendment was to require a parent at the beginning of the school year to give written consent if a child is going to use a different name other than their legal name.

What does that mean? Boy, they better be specific because lots of kids have nicknames or short names that don't even look like their legal name. People, people, people.

Why don't they just say, you can't teach sex ed earlier than 4th grade. Isn't that what they really mean? I don't know. There are so many other BIGGER issues in this state. 

...speaking of how much is enough...

MIT says the living wage in 2022 before taxes for a family of 4 in the U.S. is $104,077 a year. That's a livable wage. The lowest is $88,720, in Texas and the highest is $147,248 in San Jose.

In my hometown, the living wage for 2 adults, no children, are as follows;

Food - $7,352

Medical - $6,655

Housing - $9,634

Transportation - $9,634

Civic - $5,878

Other - $8,394

Required income after taxes - $47,678

It's a little curious that transportation and housing are the same. And that seems pretty low for housing. Maybe they aren't including property tax and insurance. Also, I think we spend more than that on food, annually. My fella and I are doing pretty good considering one of us is already retired.

You can go here, https://livingwage.mit.edu/ to find yours.

It's interesting.

Your dead body

What a gruesome thought; what's going to happen to your dead body??

Eaten by wild animals at the bottom of the cliff you fell off of while trying to take the perfect selfie? Nibbled to the bone by the fishes you were forced to sleep with. Blown to bits and pieces in a war torn country. 

Or, if you could choose, will you be buried? Cremated? Well there's a new choice on the horizon!

https://protect2.fireeye.com/v1/url?k=31323334-50bba2bf-31367a34-4544474f5631-aaaeb36ffd4a43ea&q=1&e=42856d72-930f-4ba1-9c64-e9eedad02b90&u=https%3A%2F%2Fcnb.cx%2F3lIpYf7

I don't know how I feel about this. It makes sense but it goes against traditions. Where will the proof be, that you existed? You would just be a story. Oh! This is SO WEIRD! 

How much is enough?

I saw something a couple years ago that said, When you have more than you need, build a longer table not a higher fence. I love that. Even as a country, we can be so giving and so selfish at the same time. On crowdfunding pages alone, like Go Fund Me, over 17 billion was raised last year in North America alone!

My fella and I talk about that often, in regard to corporations, etc. How much money do you need anyway? I mean, I don't begrudge Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk or the Walton family. They worked hard to get where they are. But personally, how much money do you have to have to be happy? As an athlete, why is your skill worth 20 million a year and how much of that do you really need to live a happy life? What drives people to want to have ALL the money? Greed? Fear? And I'm not saying everyone who has a lot of money is like that. 

Also, I'm not talking about the criminal element in immigration or the effects of big government, blah, blah, blah. I'm just asking on a very basic level, but think about how brave a person has to be to leave their home, all of their belongings, their friends and families, to endure unknown hardships to come to this country, for a chance at a better life. It's heartbreaking, the way we're told to think about it. 

DIY yourself

Arts and crats fairs/shows are very different if you're artsy craftsy. If you aren't, everything is pretty cool because none of it is something YOU could do! If you are artsy or craftsy, you look at people's work differently. for instance, I can walk by a booth and think, oh yeah, that's cute - and not have to stop. I already know what it took for them to create their art or craft and that I could do it too, if I wanted. But if they have something that's super cute or really creative, I want to stop and look at it. I want to try and figure out how they did that. I'm interested. Plus, I really appreciate their talent, patience, skill...etc.

I read a delightful little book once called, Steal Like An Artist. The author talks about finding your inspiration. About copying the work of the people you love until you eventually find your own style. He also says, nothing is original. Everything comes from something else. You have to start somewhere! On Instagram, you can find people who create art and things, in just about any category. Sometimes I save a screenshot of something they've done because I like the colors they used or the way they twirled the paper in a leaf.

Some artsy people or small businesses are totally transparent about what they do and/or how they do it. Others are super secretive! When I participated in the art fair a couple years ago, several people asked me if they could take a picture of something I had for sale. I always said, sure! A couple people asked me what kind of paper I used. I told them. It doesn't hurt me to share that knowledge with them. If they want to make it themselves, they should! Anyway, it always kind of surprises me when people keep their process a secret. For instance, I follow a quilling page on Instagram of a woman who makes quilled earrings. She's amazing! I like to see her art. It's not something I'm interested in doing though. Another follower asked her if her earrings were waterproof. She said, yes. And it took her many, many attempts and many, many different products to achieve the waterproof coating that she was satisfied with. Then she said, but don't ask me what it is because I won't share that with you. Do your own research and figure it out yourself. Dang. I thought that was kind of rude. I mean really, what's it going to hurt her to tell someone? Geesh.

Random things

* First up, the Super Bowl. Oh you know, I'm not a sports fan...but I love an event. I used to be a big NBA fan, so I remember how exciting the championship game(s) is. They worked hard to get there. Their fans are excited. So I watched the score on Google. It looked like it was a pretty good game, not one sided. 

Today everyone is talking about the ads though. Which ones were hits and which ones were meh. AOC criticized the Christian ads saying, Jesus would not fund commercials to "make fascism look benign"

Here's one of the ads;

https://youtu.be/QEEq5VTfmic

Webster's says fascism is;

a political philosophy, movement, or regime that exalts nation and often race above the individual and that stands for a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, severe economic and social regimentation, and forcible suppression of opposition

I wish she would shut up.

* Next up, headlights. For many years now, I've been complaining about how bright car headlights are. Honestly, ever since I had cataract surgery they are blinding me at night! Well damn, it turns out that it's not just me!!! Yay!!

https://www.msn.com/en-us/autos/other/american-drivers-have-a-blinding-headlight-problem-it-could-last-for-years/ar-AA17qXoS?cvid=ac493adb7e7446499fe594c82213bc5f

* And what the heck happened to the Westminster Dog Show?!?! I'll tell you...they moved it, permanently, to May 6th. At least I haven't missed it.

* In Vermont, the ice-fishing tournament was canceled after 3 fishermen fell through the ice and died. I don't know - shouldn't someone have known that the ice was too thin before l
they let people compete on it?

* And this doesn't have anything to do with anything but it's so puzzling to us! The lady across the street, who loves to decorate her yard for every holiday? The crazy Halloween one? Currently she has 2 sheds in her back yard and a 2 story playhouse and maybe a small pirate ship. Today she's having another shed built. It must look like a tiny house neighborhood back there! 

We need to figure out our drone so we can spy on our neighbors :-)