Saturday, January 21, 2017

Odds & ends: Inauguration weekend edition

  • Dh & I went to see "Hidden Figures" at the movies last weekend, about black women mathematicians who played critical roles at NASA back in the early 1960s. He's been a NASA/space program geek since he was a kid, and I'm always a sucker for these previously unknown slices of history, particularly when they're focused on women. 
  • We'd just watched President Obama's farewell address a few days earlier -- and the movie features a snippet of one of President Kennedy's speeches about the space program. In both cases, all I could think was, "THAT was a president. THAT was an orator. THAT was inspiring." Which of course made what was about to come all the more painful by contrast. :(
  • (The movie was really good, by the way. Lots of parents there with little girls. Our two thumbs were way up.)
  • Dh usually has the TV on CNN for most of the day -- but I had him turn it off yesterday morning as 12 noon drew near. I just couldn't stomach it, and I didn't want to contribute to the ratings. I noticed my friends were much less active on social media today, too.
  • Happily, yesterday was also the kickoff for the Canadian national figure skating championships. :)  It also happens to be the weekend of the U.S. national figure skating championships. Needless to say, our PVR is getting a workout. ;) 
  • I was all set to attend the women's march at Queen's Park (the provincial legislature) in Toronto today -- a sister march to the big one in Washington. I'm generally not one for rocking the boat, and I've never attended a protest before, but I figured this was as good a place to start as any. ;)  I have a friend attending that I could have met up with, and dh was even willing to drive me to the closest subway station (a half hour away -- transit sucks hereabouts, although there's an extension being built that will improve things dramatically when it opens, supposedly at the end of this year).
  • But wouldn't you know? The subway line I need to take is CLOSED this weekend for maintenance. :(   If I didn't know that these things are generally planned way in advance, I'd think there was some kind of conspiracy at work. :p  ;) 
  • So I will be cheering everyone else on from my living room couch this afternoon. I am already heartened by the photos & videos of plane after plane full of women, heading for Washington!!
  • I have friends, both "real life" and cyber, marching in Washington, Chicago, St. Louis, Toronto, London (England) & Auckland (New Zealand), and probably a few other places I didn't hear about -- some of them sporting pink "pussy" hats. ;)  So proud of you all!!

3 comments:

  1. I am dying to see "Hidden Figures." A friend just asked me to go tomorrow, but I was laid up with a migraine starting this afternoon and need to accomplish tomorrow what I didn't today, so booo. I am also amazed by and so proud of the incredible number of women I know who traveled to DC for the Women's March. An incredible event. I'm sorry the subway closure thwarted your plans to go to the sister march. It's going to be an interesting ride. As a friend put it, I am currently marching with my money, donating regularly to Planned Parenthood and the ACLU, the Nature Conservancy and adding the Southern Poverty Law Center to my list. I want to add making more calls to senators, too -- called Bernie Sanders' office yesterday to express my disapproval of Betsy DeVos for Secretary of Education (he is tallying all the calls and where they come from to present to the committee this next week). If anything, this presidency will inspire to be more active in democracy to make sure it truly works! :)

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  2. I'm looking forward to seeing Hidden Figures, too ... and to being a better informed citizen. It's a lot of work, though. I hope everyone can hang in there and cheer each other through the long haul!

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  3. I can't wait to see Hidden Figures! It's not exactly hub's preferred genre, but I'm going to drag him along anyway.

    I couldn't stomach any of the inauguration coverage. Until this one, I've watched every single inauguration in my life (that I was old enough to know what it was anyway). I suspect I'll break my State of the Union viewing record soon too. :(

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