frazzled and fried: election overkill

Please God, let this election be over. No matter the outcome, I'm determined that on Tuesday morning, I will go on a strict media diet, restricting the FB and Twitter calories I've been gorging on for months. Just argued with a high-profile friend who emailed her inner circle that we should show how much we care about the climate by voting Green. I wrote back that I could not disagree more, I am begging everyone to vote strategically, because if the Cons get in, it won't matter how much we care about the climate, big oil and many more horrors will be ascendant.

I was afraid I'd offended her but she wrote back, "I LOVE THIS DEBATE!" And then she agreed and wrote, OK, I revise my advice to: When you don't HAVE to vote strategically, vote for a Climate Champion.

Non-stop coverage online and on the CBC; it's madness out there. But at least it's sane madness, whereas the President to the south of us has gone right off the deep end into true murderous lunacy. Beyond horrifying.

Okay, enough. It feels like garbage is being shovelled in and my head is going to explode.

On the other hand, joy on Wednesday - our late Thanksgiving and Sam's birthday meal - turkey and much else, a huge feast for a small group. No homeless waifs this time, just family. Blessing.

Thursday two classes, powerful stories, and an important discussion at U of T about "trigger warnings." This dinosaur is trying to move into the 21st century, despite sometimes thinking that things are going in entirely the wrong direction. Most of today, a chilly but sunny day, the final closing down of the garden and hours on the phone with CNFC business.

Tonight, on the advice of my very involved daughter, I'll watch Steve Paikin's TVO show featuring a pollster who's always right and whose algorhithm will give us the facts. Then two recently-widowed friends are coming over to watch Bill Maher; I'll make this a regular Friday night salon. It's a relief, in a way, to plunge into American politics and forget our own, even though theirs is beyond belief. These are surreal times, my friends. Hang onto your hats and keep your loved ones safe, because it's ugly out there.

Most importantly, there's sadness, great sadness and grief; one of my oldest friends sent a group email to tell us she has been diagnosed with ALS. She is well-supported in her community, and, she wrote, her doctor is experienced in assisted death; she wants to be outside when she decides the time has come. I've never known anyone so serene and accepting of a brutal fate. She's a Buddhist.

So the world is much too much with me. I'm reading a marvellous fantasy YA novel, His Dark Materials, at night, a great escape from all this. I should re-read Harry Potter, that'd take me away. I'm thrilled my local library has just reopened after being closed for months - but on the other hand, the library is embroiled in a scandal about allowing a woman who opposes transgender rights ...

Enough.