People. Hello.
This post was published June 18, 2020… so, 6 months into covid, shortly after George Floyd protests began… that’s the vibe here.
It’s been a while.
How are you?
I am… fine?
I guess?
Assuming we now define FINE, as: ever-escalating incredulity, and disbelieving rage.
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I have not been here since before Coronavirus… the past months, panic– my baby brother works in an emergency room, Paul cannot work from home.
I wrote 87,900 pages…
… summed up:
I did NOT expect the apocalypse to have infomercials.
SCIENCE IS STUPID.
LET’S GET THE MY PILLOW GUY.
This, out of all the– THIS IS SIMPLY NOT POSSIBLE YET IT IS HAPPENING ANYWAY… returns to me occasionally and I wonder if I HALLUCINATED that during a pandemic, the American people were addressed by THE MY PILLOW GUY.
Did that actually happen?
OR HAVE I TAKEN PEOYTE AND FORGOTTEN?
Then Armaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, George Floyd.
I’ve been thinking how humanity is still in the middle ages… we think we are evolved, but it has only been 157 years since we ENSLAVED BLACK HUMANS.
That’s basically no time at all.
Black humans, alive today, remember not being allowed to drink out of the same water fountain as white people… we, the United States of America, did not even TRY to end this, until 1964.
1964 was YESTERDAY… 30 seconds ago— the humans who approved of this system, are still alive, they raised children. They voted. They RIOTED when we tried to change their mind.
WANNA TALK ABOUT #RIOTS?
This picture is from Levittown, Pennsylvania in 1957. As many as 600 RIOTOUS protesters gathered to terrorize the first Black family, Bill and Daisy Myers, to move into this all-white development.
White riots ≠ Black protests #BlackLivesMattter pic.twitter.com/LlLKFykPsi
— André Marcel Harris (@andreharris89) June 7, 2020
Now, the POLICE are rioting, as we lecture PEACEFUL protesters about how THEY must be CALM in response to police terrorizing Black humans.
Ummmm… no.
A TIDAL WAVE OF RAGE IS THE CORRECT RESPONSE.
Especially considering how humans will riot at ANYTHING.
Basically, we are all just sitting around waiting.
I am certain of this because when the Eagles football team won the Super Bowl a year and a half ago, Philadelphia’s response was to set the city on fire, flip cars, loot stores, and eat dog poop.
Oh, wait no, that’s fake news… sorry!
I googled it. It was HORSE poop.
AND APPARENTLY the city EXPECTED this— because ahead of time, they greased lamp posts with Crisco so nobody could climb them and HURT themselves.
The headlines were NOT: idiots riot, because idiocy.
The headlines were: celebrations turn rowdy.
So it makes me wonder– should the response to the public execution of a handcuffed man, lying immobile on the ground, be more, or less, rowdy, than when you win a football game?
Fun Fact: The first Pride was literally a riot against, you guessed it, POLICE BRUTALITY! ✨ HAPPY PRIDE MONTH pic.twitter.com/JQmz0t4HLF
— tim hell. (@itsTimHell) June 1, 2020
I’ve been thinking that MAYBE Coronavirus isn’t just a weird timeout in human history… MAYBE it will be the impetus that shifts our collective perspective… MAYBE NOW, a radical transformation of a system that gives safety, only to those born with privilege.
For months now, every day, I think about the people who are existing in a place of enormous stress, financial insecurity, housing, food, SCARCITY… panicked, just surviving.
We force the least-privileged, to scramble, just to endure a HARD existence… we gesture to their bootstraps.
WHERE IS OUR EMPATHY?
It’s literally ALL we need.
My initial response to Coronavirus was to re-read And The Band Played On, and Polio… both survived my decluttering phase— they are excellent.
And The Band Played On, by Randy Shilts is an extraordinary documentation of the Aids epidemic— the first time I read it, I literally COULD NOT BELIEVE how INEPT AND BLIND AND DELIBERATELY STUPID our government was… and even while I KNEW the outcome, my brain STILL could not process such disbelieving horror… like, MAYBE I’m wrong! Maybe this will be FINE because SURELY we would not have been like— the blood supply is killing people? Bummer for THEM!
Polio: An American Story, by David M. Oshinsky, is a less-dementing book; because not only did we get a vaccine, it turns out people are SUPER into their children, so nobody was like— OH WELL SHRUG EMOJI.
I have a lot to catch up on here… Yes. I have a kitchen update.
Figured I would first say hello and confirm that I am alive, and thank you for your messages… I am sorry I could not respond… my catatonia has been REAL, YO.
But I guess I’m adjusting to the dystopian sideshow that is now our existence because we have a sample cabinet door, (Paul is not doing the drawer fronts) and I’m finally finding a stain place… Weirdly, I haven’t felt like emailing around, being like— hi, I know it’s the apocalypse but are you available to stain some drawers?
I am thankful this started in spring— getting the garden in has been a great distraction; and especially at the beginning, helped alleviate my fear that the food supply would be affected… we have a LOT of kale for End Times, and this is very reassuring to me.
Ok. That’s it.
I’ll go write a kitchen post.
ALSO the post about what I bought on Craigslist*… NOT giant, or fancy, just a smallish box… but still!
*driveway pickup, masks
I HOPE YOU ALL ARE WELL AND SAFE.
xo
June 18, 2020 @ 1:54 pm
Thank goodness you are okay and back! I was worried. These are crazy times and we need good folk like you to be okay!
June 18, 2020 @ 9:06 pm
I am tired of every newsletter/blog/business I am tied to sending me political messages – I can get that from other sites. I signed up to your e-news originally for images of sweet foster kitties and progress on your home reno. I need a break from the political crap, please revert to why I signed up with you in the first place. Some of us need a break from the messaging and want something pleasant to focus on instead.
June 19, 2020 @ 12:23 am
Dear Victoria Elizabeth Barnes. I am here for sweet foster kitties and progress on your amazing home and GFTs, and because you are kind, funny, and wise. I appreciate your outrage and your big heart. I found this post both angry and hopeful and I’m glad for it. Thank you.
June 19, 2020 @ 1:18 am
I’m sorry you think human lives is political crap. I’m sorry you think people showing empathy is political crap. May I suggest a bit of a re-education on what is political and what is not. Your lines are blurred. People are collectively horrified at the human suffering going on and you’re outraged at this? You want them to stop and start pandering to what YOU want which is sweet foster kittens and home reno’s. Ok Karen.
June 19, 2020 @ 6:54 am
+1 to Loren
December 4, 2022 @ 6:56 am
+2 to Loren
June 19, 2020 @ 7:54 am
You’re welcome to unsubscribe. VEB is allowed to produce whatever content she wants on a platform where you’re consuming that content for free.
June 19, 2020 @ 9:31 pm
Yes! Thank you!!
June 23, 2020 @ 10:20 am
Amen! We all have our own reactions to the fact that issues we’re all facing in this new, strange world. If you can’t allow someone to express their feelings to on their OWN blog, then feel free to move on. You’re not paying for the pleasure of this site, so you are out nothing. You can disagree, but you can also be polite. Please do consider unsubscribing if you are looking for a fluff piece. I guarantee you won’t be missed.
June 23, 2020 @ 10:24 am
*omit “fact that”. That was auto type.
June 30, 2020 @ 10:05 pm
I am not sure if you were referring to me – I commented that I originally got in VEB’s blog because (up until a year ago) we owned a big Victorian house and I loved seeing what she and her husband were doing. Unfortunately, this time it turned into a political smear piece. Yes, I can and will unsubscribe but not before I say my piece. I find it amazing that there are those people that feel that their opinion on what is going on in this country is the “correct side”. I was flabbergasted at the woman that wrote basically that anyone that didn’t agree with her was on “the wrong side”!! The very height of narcissism! If anything the majority of the glowing responses to VEB’s divisive, hateful comments has proven to me once again that this is why this country is so divided. The comment about “slavery being only a minute ago” is so ridiculous – we fought a civil war, lost many white and black lives to rid the country of the scourge of slavery. I never owned a slave, my ancestors never did – none of us ever would. I am not a racist, I will not apologize for my non existent “white privilege”. I want a future for my kids and grandkids that is safe, happy and free of the nastiness, name calling and “wokeness”, cancel culture and political correctness that is bringing this country down to a level I never thought I would see in my lifetime. Everyone has rights in this country – Including the police and the few bad ones have nothing to do with the great majority of them. It is never a good idea to judge all for the sins of a few.
August 2, 2020 @ 6:25 pm
Yes Linda!
January 12, 2022 @ 12:54 pm
Well said, Linda.
October 15, 2020 @ 10:08 am
I suggest everyone interested in the history of slavery read Thomas Sowell’s piece. It’s factual, researched and dispassionate. Sowell is black and a wonderful writer.
August 6, 2021 @ 6:33 pm
Wow. I must say that I find it terrible, Linda, that you believe that any expression of anger over some Americans with dark skin being constantly treated badly – murdered on the street for having been suspected wrongly of exchanging a counterfeit $20, and being terrified to get into a police car, no less – as being “woke,” or a mere bit of “virtue signalling.”
First, it’s interesting that it’s called “virtue signalling,” and “political correctness,” huh? Implies that maybe VEB’s beliefs are actually… virtuous. That is actually the interesting thing. You’re implying that she’s trying to get people to tell her how awesome she is and that she believes all the right things and should be supported, right? Well, you’re also implying that SHE BELIEVES THE RIGHT THINGS. There’s a reason Fox News doesn’t call it “Nastiness Signalling,” or “Political Wrongness.” They can’t. Because the beliefs we on the left support are, just as the semantics point out, morally correct. What YOU believe? As you imply by saying that you came here for the pretty houses and kitties, you believe in WHAT IS PLEASANT. And let me assure you, Linda, that which is morally correct is rarely pleasant. But Fox News is pleasant because the anchors encourage you to say and do personally pleasant things, and to say and do things with zero thought or virtue behind them. Isn’t it a relief to grouse and complain, and do and say whatever floats your boat, Linda? Even if it creates harm in the world? It feels GOOD for whites to say, “HE HAD A RECORD, GEORGE FLOYD HAD A RECORD!” It makes whites feel that the police are functioning as they should, that the world is knowable and like it was before all these black people started COMPLICATING it, and these brown people started coming here and doing things that are annoying to me.
If that isn’t the definition of privilege – you have your own little news outlet that frames things up so they’re comfy and feel like America from 50 years ago, and let you be outraged that you can’t spend all day reading about old houses and kitty cats, and give you ways to put other people down for trying to point out that our country needs fixing? Wow. I don’t know what IS, Linda.
That’s not a virtuous point of view, Linda. That’s just a comfy point of view. And in case you didn’t understand this, let me tell you: it is not OK for police to decide that someone’s life is worthless or that he should be harmed because he once stole something. You may already know that – I’m sure if your teenager got arrested for shoplifting and then, because s/he had a record, a policeman knelt on his or her neck for slightly over 9 minutes because s/he was DANGEROUS because s/he had a record, that you would be livid and in the streets protesting.
Linda, let’s recap:
– It is not the police’s job to be judges – that is why we have a court system.
– It is not the police’s job to execute people – that is why we have a court system.
– Your point of view is comfortable for you, not moral
– People who “Virtue signal” are – surprise! – virtuous
– “Political correctness” is actually moral correctness
– You are pretty much a shit who likes the comfort of a discriminatory country because it means you don’t have to be morally aware, thoughtful, or kind, or involve yourself in any kind of justice movement because you want to look at old house renos and kitties ALL DAY LONG.
– Fox News and the GOP and the media in general have literally given you words to denigrate moral actors. Niiiiiiice.- Fox News and the GOP and the media in general have literally given you words to denigrate moral actors, and you like using them because GRRR, ANGRY, you didn’t get your kitties and pretty house reno pictures for ONE DAY IN YOUR LIFE. Niiiiiiice.
Linda, please. You privileged little sanctimonious pisspot. Go suck several eggs and then go explain to some Black people that you think it’s TOTES OK for George Floyd to have been killed over a not-counterfeit $20 and a very justifiable fear of going anywhere with police. Because he was a baddie once for a minor offense my kid might do too, but that’s OK because my kid is a GOOD kid with a bright FUTURE ahead, and BOOO, all Black people are just walking around with CHIPS on their shoulders and THEY’RE the privileged ones because GEE, WE CAN’T SAY THE “N” WORD and everyone KNOWS they’re all selling drugs and shooting each other anyway and THEY SAY BAD WORDS IN RAP! Feh to you, little privileged Linda.
June 19, 2020 @ 1:00 pm
Here, here. I also have seen enough deplorable human behavior that stands alone and is very plainly not, “Police rioting.” Is it brand new news to some ppl that Antifa is a menace? For one example. Compounded by meth/strung out wackos, paid “Never Trumpers” and others rampaging in Seattle… this is SO not about bad cops and equality for all. It is about ppl throwing responsibility to the wind. No one is protesting due to the history of enslaved Irish children … because they were white and it doesn’t fit the narrative. Best advice, turn off mainstream media.
June 19, 2020 @ 1:18 pm
Unable to edit original post, I will add “not about bad cops…any more” – of course, people should feel outrage at wrong things. Where would we be if we didn’t? But also two wrongs don’t make a right. Come to think of it, perhaps THIS is where we would be if ppl don’t distinguish between right and wrong. That now the seven plus ppl (who happen to be Black!!) killed by “peaceful protesters” are justified? Turn a blind eye to calling evil evil?
I can’t stand this.
June 29, 2020 @ 5:55 pm
Nina – I can’t stand it either! God help this country! The desperation to appear “woke” and in touch with truth is destroying this country. The rage over a few bad cops leaves little room for the discussion about the criminality in this country. How is it possible to forget about the horrific crimes perpetrated by criminals, the rapes, the kidnapping, the murders and concentrate only on the few bad cops?
April 27, 2022 @ 7:43 pm
👍
June 19, 2020 @ 1:15 pm
Poor, poor Lee. All that money you spent on this blog going to waste! And VEB strapping you to a chair, prying your eyelids open, Clockwork Orange style, and forcing you to read this blog. So unfair.
oh, wait…
That discomfort and anger you’re feeling is called cognitive dissonance. It’s when some tiny, smothered part of you understands that you too should be outraged and compassionate and fighting for justice. But instead, you rant, you deflect, you put your fingers in your ears and yell “la la la I can’t hear you!” all because you’re secretly terrified of the changing world around you.
Stop listening to those that pander-for-profit to your fears and start paying attention to that barely alive voice inside you that knows what’s right and what’s wrong.
July 1, 2020 @ 10:30 am
So very typical – when anyone has a different opinion than you you attack them.
June 20, 2020 @ 4:45 pm
Her blog, her platform. Your blog, your platform for however sunshiny you need things to be.
June 28, 2020 @ 2:11 am
You (person I don’t know in any way) need to be MOAR of what I WANT!! I follow you cuz.. (insert ways it meets my particular needs) and you are currently failing at that, but having opinions and thoughts that don’t parrot my own. You must stop and be only what I WANT you to be.. If course that will be hard, as you don’t really know me in any way..
… Sarcastic rant over… Personal note : you have taught me a lot about what being a Vegan means (and I’ve given up meat, for a year now, and moving into full plant based) what being a compassionate, hysterical, loving, crazy and fun person means. Thank you for standing up and speaking out against these atrocious acts. I highly recommend the read : White Fragility, by Robin Diangelo. I thought I was Woke, but there is SO MUCH I didn’t even realize.
Blessings and health to you and yours. Rock on!
June 29, 2020 @ 5:38 pm
Couldn’t agree more!!!
July 1, 2020 @ 11:16 am
Write your own blog, then, Lee.
This is Victoria’s.
June 20, 2020 @ 8:54 am
Glad to see you are posting.
June 18, 2020 @ 1:55 pm
VEB…so happy to hear from you..
Missed your posts…yes…there are no words.😰 I’m grateful for you!
Love and hugs😍
Teresa Young
A fan of yours
June 18, 2020 @ 2:38 pm
I hunger for distraction. I used to be a news junkie, a political junkie. No more though. My garden is beautiful at least. Be well.
June 18, 2020 @ 1:56 pm
Victoria, I’m so glad to see you posting again! We’re just hunkering down and trying to get through it. I would be embarrassed for you to know how much I want to see your kitchen. Good luck and stay healthy.
July 8, 2020 @ 11:52 am
+1 for Teresa.
June 18, 2020 @ 1:56 pm
You will probably catch sooooo much crap for the activism in this post, but I am personally so happy to see it, and it’s time to not be concerned about the opinions of those on the wrong side of right in this matter.
We are at a moment for change in our society, government, and the world, and we must seize this moment!
Hugs,
Deborah
June 18, 2020 @ 2:58 pm
Well said. Please accept this internet high-five.
June 18, 2020 @ 4:43 pm
thank you for returning – we are all hunkering in strange places. I have been obsessing with the hummingbird nest – beginning with eggs to flying away – but I am convinced the babies and mama are hanging out in back yard – I talk to them as I did while growing and they come visit – this I know for sure. So good to see your wild and crazy mind – said with love.
June 18, 2020 @ 5:22 pm
YES Deborah! Yes.. you can tell by reading through the lines of some of the comments. It must be nice to be able to toon out issues that doesn’t affect you (like the exhaustion of living with racism in every day life) it’s called Privilege
June 19, 2020 @ 4:02 pm
Love your Rage VEB!!! Thank you for your clarity and compassion and for letting us see what you are feeling. I was just thinking about you the other day and wondered where is that woman? out loud! Sending all commiseration- loved what you said about the Eagles thang too- as a Bucks County gal thinking all about that stupid episode is embarassing- how weird are Philly fans and yes, all that you said- totally agree. It is galvanizing to know there are so many of us thinking the same on all this. Casey + 2 to the very smart Loren. Lee, go get some rest and a pile of pot brownies. Be well until we hear from you again and cheers to the garden, kittens and the kitchen. Dying to see how its coming.
June 19, 2020 @ 9:32 pm
Well said!!
June 29, 2020 @ 5:42 pm
I can’t help but wonder how you think YOU are on the the “right side”! I’m 71 years old and for the first time in my life I am terrified of where this country is headed if the left takes over. How sad that this site has turned political – I was interested in your home (having owned a victorian house for 41 years that we loved).
July 7, 2020 @ 10:27 pm
But you’re ok with the vile racist occupying the oval office who is destroying the country?
September 11, 2020 @ 8:07 am
—“I’m 71 years old and **for the first time in my life** I am terrified of where this country is headed”—
That’ll be the “non-existent” white privilege you referred to upthread.
—“political smear piece … divisive, hateful comments”—
God, some Boomers are ignorant, spoilt brats. It’s the INGRATITUDE that gets me. Look at this terrible old toddler, complacently sure that ‘everyone has rights in this country’ despite clearly knowing sweet FA about other people’s experiences and fears. So incredibly pampered that she literally sees *acknowledgement of historical and present facts* as ‘hateful’.
Absolutely obsessed with identity politics while professing to hate them. Absurd.
June 18, 2020 @ 1:58 pm
OMG – I was so worried about you …..
June 18, 2020 @ 1:59 pm
We missed you!! And missed all your Big, Beautiful things, all the craziness in acquiring them, placing them just right in your house, making us so happy to just tag along and enjoy the ride. Please, fill my inbox with wonderfulness. We could use the distraction.
June 18, 2020 @ 2:00 pm
I have never liked you more than right now. This post.
My rage has been sad, and lonely, but together with the rage of the necessary, things can change. Enough is enough.
June 19, 2020 @ 4:05 pm
Kim- you are so so right!!! I am with you on that for sure. The winds of change sometimes blow hard. We can and will do it
June 18, 2020 @ 2:01 pm
I was wondering what happened to you, glad to hear you are well. We could do with a little of your humor.
June 18, 2020 @ 2:02 pm
Can I recommend another book that corrects some of the things that Shilts got wrong? Check out Richard McKay’s book Patient Zero and the Making of the AIDS Epidemic. Glad to hear your well and angry!
June 18, 2020 @ 2:03 pm
I have missed you and your honest and hilarious take on life and lifestyle, but also completely understand the-world-is-ending catatonia. Glad you’re back!
June 18, 2020 @ 2:04 pm
I’m happy to hear your voice once more. Also, happy you and Paul are well. Kitchen and kitty updates would be welcome.
Karen
June 18, 2020 @ 2:05 pm
Thank you for a thoughtful post.
Could you possibly send a playlist of your wonderful music?!!
June 18, 2020 @ 2:05 pm
I liked you before the pandemic. I LOVE YOU now. Your words summed up my feelings exactly. Ellipses and semi-colons hurt my eyes; nevertheless, you’re one of my favorite writers.
June 18, 2020 @ 2:06 pm
Just yesterday I went to this site to see if somehow I missed something. Glad you are back….and… I LOVE YOU! You are saying everything that I am feeling. Thank you for telling it like it is, even while I look forward to your posts about your house and garden.
We simply MUST do better. Donate, support on social media, protest, and speak out. And lastly VOTE. We need people who value everyone in office from your city or town council, to your state legislatures and governors, and at the federal level.
Welcome back.
June 18, 2020 @ 2:06 pm
So very glad to know that you are still among the living, and still writing.
June 18, 2020 @ 2:06 pm
I love so much that you are vocal about your beliefs, it would be too easy to be a blogger without convictions. Please keep doing what you do.. and if you need a further distraction, make and submit a piece of art to our Nasty Women Memphis exhibit, happening this fall.
https://www.nastywomenmemphis.com/submit-work/
June 18, 2020 @ 2:07 pm
I too worried…
Thank you for posting.
June 18, 2020 @ 2:07 pm
You have been missed! Keep writing!
June 18, 2020 @ 2:10 pm
So much rage. When I hear “but riots!” I just think, what do you want? Should they all call you “sir” and come to you hat in hand while they ask not to die at the hands of the people who claim to “serve and protect?”
I’m glad to “see” your posts again. More rational people speaking up is always good.
June 18, 2020 @ 2:10 pm
I was missing your posts, and was actually about to email you. I’m glad you and Paul are ok. Very trying times, for sure. On the brighter side, your strawberries look divine. I think it’s helpful and healing to stay close to nature during times like these. Stay healthy and safe.