"Pick of the Litter" on Netflix

Who doesn't like movies about puppies?  This documentary follows five puppies as they journey through the training at Guide Dogs for the Blind.  We see them being born, as puppies, with their foster parents and then back to GDB for training or breeding or "career changing" as it is called when they are adopted out to a family as a non-GDB.

Not only are the puppies cute and happy, but the entire procedure of how GDB introduces the dogs into the world, brings them back for training and then matches them with a blind person is very informative. There are a few scenes that make you think that GDB is a little cold and uncaring about the foster parents and even the dogs, but since the training is so formidable, those running the organization have got to put personal feelings aside and do what's right for the dog.

It's not a long documentary and it's quite moving at times. If you like dogs, you will like this.  If you're a cat person, well.... not so sure.

But the puppies? So much fun

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New Font?

 Is there anyone out there who reads this that might like a larger font? Like this one? Maybe it's just my eyes but everything seems smaller these days, with some exceptions, of course.  (Like my belly, for example, it never seems smaller. Not even a little.)

But since only two or three people actually read this blog on a semi-regular basis, maybe it doesn't matter. If it does, please let me know. I know it would matter to me because anything to make reading easier (other than getting large type books which I hate) would work for me.

So me know if any of the two or three of you have an opinion. I am happy to change it up. When I go to the blog site and look at it, it seems like this size is WAY BETTER than the smaller size. But again, could just be me.

Thanks for your input. If you can't figure out how to comment on the blog site and if you really want to chime in on this, email me at westmarinjulie@gmail.com and give me your opinion there. Or at any other email address you might have because I have lots of them.

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Inauguration Day, January 20, 2021

 If we can have four years of peaceful days in our government like we had today, that would be a gift.  I don't know about anyone reading this but I was on edge all day, even with the military surrounding the entire District of Columbia. Part of me wants to breathe a sigh of great relief that nothing bad happened. The other part will hold my breath for a little while because evil is still skulking around us.

But what a day! Emotional, to put it mildly. I started crying around 9:15 PT and didn't stop until around 3:30 PT, after I listened to Amanda Gorman's recitation of her amazing poem "The Hill We Climb" for the third time. The lack of crowds at the inauguration gave it a sense of intimacy while at the same time a lack of pomp and circumstance. But I will take intimacy any day..... a city surrounded by the military gives one a sense of safety but in no way does it promote pomp. And given the year we have just had, pomp can just go away. We don't need pomp right now, we need safety, kindness and clarity. And expediency. 

President's Biden's speech was like President Biden: clear, down-to-earth and heartfelt. He has a ton of shit  important stuff to take care of right now, not in a week or a month, and he is getting on it right away. We can hope that some of the Republicans will cross that aisle and join with him in getting work done. Not a lot of hope there, but it only takes one or two votes to make legislation pass. 

Bottom line, I am glad the former POTUS (whose name I shall not speak) is gone to Mara-Largo-Lava-Bed or wherever he is and that we now have actual leaders in and for our country. Real people who have ideas and a plan and are not fascists-in-the-making. People who care about everyone in this country, not just white males. Whew, I could go on but I will leave it at that.

It was/is a good day for America. Let's all work to make sure that this day carries on for 4 years. And more. 

"Pretend It's a City" on Netflix

 On Netflix, this new series focuses on the comedy and conversation of Fran Lebowitz, directed by Martin Scorsese.  Lebowitz is my age, 70 years old, and is sarcastic, acerbic and very funny.  The episodes are about 30 minutes each, short and quick. Not only is it focused on her commentary about everything (especially New York), it is also a showcase of what a great city NYC is.  She wanders around town and talks about NYC fifty years ago and how it is today. There are great clips from old movies, old music recordings, bits about art and history of New York.  It's nice to watch something without a plot, something that you watch for simple enjoyment.  Check it out.

Plus, just saying, but part of it is filmed in a New York bar!  I mean a real bar, with small tables, a pool table in the back, bottles of booze above the counter..... like in the Before Days! Made me so want to go t to a bar. With small tables, a pool table in back and bottles of booze above the bar.....  maybe next year.  (Insert sad but hopeful face hear.)

The State of the Union

 There have been several opinion pieces in the past week that should be required reading.  I will give the links to them at the end of this monologue, but they are worth reading because they clarify some of the ideology of certain elected officials. Like many Democrats, and possibly some Republicans, I have wondered for the past four years who would even consider voting for Trump, not just once but more than once. I cannot understand that mentality, but then I am not a white Christian nor am I a white supremacist and I do not have a Republican ideological background. 

I am certain that all Republican voters do not condone or agree with what happened at our nation's Capitol on January 6th.  I am also certain that many elected officials do not condone or agree with what happened at our nation's Capitol on January 6th. The outcry from both sides of the political spectrum has shown that to be true. 

However, there is a large faction of the Republican party that still and will always believe in the far right values of the Trump platform. If the values of that platform were simply far right, that would be one thing. But they are much more than that. Those values hold that unless you believe their way, you are wrong and deserve to be scorned, punished and put away. Those values believe in the subjugation of anyone not of their race. i.e. white. To those people, and there are millions of them, there is only one just, righteous value system. There is no compromise, there is only good and bad as they see it.

I have said it before and will say it again:  we, meaning moderate Republicans and all of us Democrats need to be very, very vigilant in the next few years. Fascism is an insidious ideology, easily disguised as the Major Good, and there are countries where Democracy was tossed out in a matter of days and Fascists took hold and ruled the country. A smooth talker, a young, energetic politician could be the key to really destroying what we have left of a Democracy. It is not an impossibility. Thus the need, the desperate need, to watch what happens in the next two years at mid-term elections and then in 2024. The turn to the middle, the election of two new Democrats in Georgia is a good start but it is small. We all must commit to working for justice, working for the Democratic party in the next two years to push for a more balanced government.  The rise in power of white, Christian bigots has got to stop. The power of white supremacists, fueled by the current President, must be diminished. The fact that a noose was hung by the insurgents in front of the Capitol last week is a clear indication of that.

The links below are to the two NYT articles that I think are pertinent. The first one is stellar, powerful and incredibly important. It's long, but read on.  The second explains the rise of elected officials like Josh Hawley. Very pertinent as well.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/09/magazine/trump-coup.html?searchResultPosition=1

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/11/opinion/josh-hawley-religion-democracy.html?action=click&module=Opinion&pgtype=Homepage 

Kicking 2020 to the curb

 While the new year isn't going to be happy for a while, at least it's a new chapter in this dismal world we currently live in. Maybe by summer things will be on the upswing, maybe not. Most everyone is still holding their collective breaths, waiting for the change in leadership, waiting for a protocol for Covid vaccinations, waiting for anything that will lead to a positive outcome. We wait for the current POTUS to either drop dead (I wish) or step out of the way, wait for the elections in Georgia, wait for resolution of continued benefits for unemployed, wait for so much to happen.

There is no point reliving the terror and depression of 2020. There is little point in even saying "Happy New Year" because it is still far from happy.  I keep thinking of the last lines in "The Great Gatsby:" And so we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.

Not that we are being carried to the past, but we certainly aren't swimming in the future either.  

Patience. It's all we can foster right now, patience and hope.