Playing it as it Lays

8 minute memoir

Messes

One time I was such an emotional mess I stayed in bed and cried for days on end.  I got up to run my kids to school and back and that was it.  That's all I could do.

One time I was such an emotional mess I would drive through Culvers for dinner almost every night and get a tuna fish sandwich because that was all I could think of to eat.

One time I was such an emotional mess I felt the skin on my arms burning from within.  It felt like wearing my nerves on the outside of my skin.  Anything touching me felt painful.

One time I was such an emotional mess I would wake up from dreams where people put guns to my head and pulled the trigger.   I would wake up when I died.

One time I was such an emotional mess that almost any song on the radio could make me cry.

One time I was such an emotional mess and it felt like it would never get any better.

I would drive and drive all over the city and I felt like Maria Wyeth in Play it As It Lays.  I was staring in my own Joan Didion novel.

“I know what "nothing" means, and keep on playing.” 
― Joan Didion, Play It as It Lays

So I just kept on.

There's a lot of wisdom in a Joan Didion novel.  Sometimes you have to just keep going.

Exactly why I'm with "Her"

Twice in the past couple of months friends of mine who are conservative have asked an honest question about if I am supporting Hillary Clinton and why.  In both cases I didn't really want to get into a long conversation about it because I really don't like to disagree over politics with family and friends.  That may sound surprising to some people because I certainly have been known to have strong feelings about politics and I certainly have at times gotten into a heated discussion about them.

This blog post is an attempt to answer those questions more fully for anyone who might be interested.

First off, I think I have to make it clear that my vote for Hillary is not just a vote against Donald Trump.  Yes, it is also that - I can't imagine having Donald Trump as our President. I don't think I need to go into all of the reasons why.  Donald Trump is a well-documented huckster and prone to saying things a reasonable person can only conclude are sexist, racist and xenophobic.  Enough said about that guy.  That's a whole other discussion.

I am voting for Hillary for the following reasons:

 

Because Meryl Streep likes her and Meryl Streep is my favorite.  

Kidding!  This is not why! 

These are the real reasons why: 

1.  Hillary Clinton is incredibly qualified.  I highly recommend the PBS Frontline Documentary on both candidates if you haven't watched it yet.  It goes into very great detail on her early years and all of her achievements, etc. (it covers Trumps as well).  She was raised in a conservative household.  After she graduated from high school Hillary Clinton attended Wellesley.  While there she was part of the young republicans for time.  I relate to this because I started out in college believing I was a republican but the more I studied politics the more I realized my heart could never reconcile some conservative belief with my more liberal tendencies.  Hillary has said the Vietnam War and Civil Rights Movement changed her political views.   She's always been a hard worker and been involved in politics both as a republican and as a democrat since she was very young.  She attended Yale Law School after graduating from Wellesley with honors.  She took an early interest in child abuse cases and the problems of migrant workers.  She worked for the Children's Defense Fund.  She later became a partner at a law firm and the first lady of Arkansas.  She was a law professor at the University of Arkansas.  She became the first lady of the United States, a senator in New York and then the Secretary of State.  I honestly don't think anyone can top these qualifications.  

2.  She has supported causes I believe are important.  As mentioned above the defense of vulnerable children has always been something she has cared about.  She's been a big supporter of the 9/11 first responders.  She cares about health care and has advocated for reform.  She's credited with launching the Children's Health Care Insurance Program.  She's advocated for human rights across the world and has promoted diplomacy.  She advocated for the Lilly Ledbetter Pay Equality act and helped get it pushed into law.  She's advocated for women.  She's advocated for paternity leave for men. 

3.  Her policy plans are things I mostly agree with.  I believe it's unrealistic to look for a candidate you're going to agree with 100% of the time.  My views line up with hers about 95% of the time and that makes me feel pretty comfortable.  

And now to address familiar concerns raised by others: 

1.  Bengazi.  There have been $7 million dollars spent on Benghazi investigations.  There are 1,982 pages of published reports on Benghazi. There have been 10 hearings.  There has been no evidence of Clinton or her administration doing anything wrong.  There was no "stand down" call.  It has never been found to be true.  The family of Chris Stevens who was killed in the siege on Benghazi have asked people to quit blaming Clinton.

Additionally I have never understood the obsession over this when there were 13 attacks on US embassies under the Bush administration and 60 people were killed. 

2.  The emails.  Again with the emails.  Look.  I think her having the emails on a private server was probably dumb.   BUT the way the government was handling emails on both sides of the aisle was equally dumb.  Colin Powell did something incredibly similar. General David Patraeus, while he was the director of the CIA gave his mistress a series of black books that contained actual classified information.  Patraeus admits this.  And yet at the time the Republicans (like John McCain) said "everyone makes mistakes sometimes".  And they called the scrutiny "silly".  Even though Patraeus first lied about it before coming clean.   With the emails Clinton sent that were suppose to be Classified you need to understand emails may be classified as such at 'inception' but they can retroactively be categorized that way - many of the Clinton emails that were brought up as "classified" were only later to be considered as such.   Please read this article if you really want a good purview of why the scandal really shouldn't be - it explains it a lot better than I'm going to be able to.

There are 16 volumes of information on how administrative functions should occur in regards to Clinton's office as Secretary of State and minutia like how emails should be handled.  Yes, maybe someone should have been charged with making sure everything was being done correctly.  But my reading of the situation is that it was a cluster fugazy to try to figure out what was allowed and what wasn't.  Honestly please, if this issue really bothers you, please go read the article I linked from Newsweek.  By the way - have you read any of the emails?  I have.  They made me like her so much more!  In her emails she comes across as someone caring, who takes time to writes nice notes to people, to tell people congrats, to ask funny questions, she's a tough negotiator, she worries about people.  These are qualities I want in a leader of our country!  She's also inadverntently funny at times in some of those emails which reminded me a little of Selena Meyers on "The Veep".  That also makes me like her.  

3.  Everyone loves to call her a liar.  Look, I think it's pretty unrealistic to believe anyone in politics is able to be 100% honest all the time.  I don't care who we are talking about.  I published this chart on my fb page and some conservatives thought it was a crazy chart.

  

People really questioned this and so let me clarify in case you saw this and wondered how valid it could be.  The data came from an open source - it wasn't manipulated.  Politifact did the fact checking and they are non-partisan.  Donald Trump had a total of 202 statements who Politifact had rated.  These were all statements made during his campaign.  Hillary Clinton had 225 rated - hers were rated beginning 2007 and covers her time as a previous candidate for president and this go-round.  These statements can also been checked by The Washington Post and FactCheck.org which both also check validity of statements made.  Trump loves to call Hillary a liar but this does not actually make her a liar.  Jill Abramson said she has launched multiple investigations into Hillary, her business dealings and her fundraising as well as her foundation.  Abramson has been a bur in the side of the Clinton's at times because she has investigated them so much and yet, she has said "Hillary Clinton is fundamentally honest and trustworthy".   Hillary Clinton has been hated by the right since the time that her husband ran for President.  The idea has been floated that she is a "liar" since before the internet was even really a thing.   It feels like a witch hunt that is never going to end.  It feels incredibly unfair to me.  The more I've investigated myself into old scandals like Whitewater and looked at old articles the more I've come to believe this is an accusation waged against her forever with no actual evidence to back it up that amounts to anything that would sway my vote.

Did you know that Republicans once spent 140 hours investigating the White House Christmas Card List when the Clintons were in the white house?  There has been an exhaustive constant search for "scandals".  

4.  Money and her speeches.  The speeches pretty well got released yesterday.  Did you read through them?  I did.  Nothing to see here folks.  Honestly again, I thought they were mostly well said and balanced views that align pretty well with what is probably a realistic approach to government, politics and the private sector and how they have to dovetail.  But let's talk about the money.  The talking fees.  She has earned about $200,000 or more for a single speech.  That seems crazy to a lot of people.  Okay but that is a well established and long standing way for people in the public eye to make money.  Paris Hilton has been paid $750,000 to show up for a party.  Even lower level celebrities get paid small fees for showing up at events and openings.  Other people who get paid just as much as Hillary?  Guy Fieri (right - the food network guy), "Larry the Cable Guy", and Michael Phelps.  Speaking Engagements as a job is a thing and it has been a thing for a long time.  Many former presidents and first ladies have made a tidy sum in retirement on the speaking circuit.  Jeb Bush has made millions of dollars in paid speeches.  Corporations pay for speakers all the time.  Donald Trump has been paid 1.5 million before for public engagements.  Why is she being held to a different standard that literally anyone else?  

Is Hillary Clinton perfect?  No of course not.  But I believe is by far and by a wide margin the best possible candidate.  Which is why...

Love Notes to myself on my Birthday

8 minute memoir - Birthdays


Birthdays always feel like a complicated affair for me.  It's really nice to have a day that other people acknowledge as a special day you were born and yet somehow that's always a little uncomfortable for me too.  Birthdays have often been this weird let down kind of feeling for me - even when I was much younger, and I've never been able to explain where that comes from really.  I've gotten into fights with friends on my birthday.  I've cried after leaving a birthday celebration.  I really related to Betheny Frankel when she spent her birthday crying in the bathroom at an extravagent party.  It's never been the fault of anyone - but it's always just felt like a very strangely disappointing day. 

This year on my work calendar I noticed on July 27th it said "take off this day if you still work here".  I made that little note on the calendar a year earlier.  I remember that birthday, when I turned 48 was a particularly trying day for me.  It was a day filled with stress, both personal stress and stress at work.  And I remember when I finally got around to going to dinner with 2 of my kids that evening I just felt like that birthday was more stressful than most and hence, the next day I made this nice little mental note and calendar note to take off my birthday next time it came around.

As July approached I didn't delete the note to myself but I also did not plan to take off that day.  It seemed silly and wasteful to use one of my vacation days on a day when actually, I probably didn't have much to do to celebrate anyway.  Besides, who celebrates 49?

But every day in July when I logged into my calendar and scanned my appointments, there that little reminder sat blinking away at me.  It sort of taunted me.  I thought about deleting it, but I couldn't quite make it go away.  It felt like if I deleted it 48 year old me from 2015 was going to be pretty irritated with 2016 me.

Finally, the week before I turned 49 I arranged to have the day off.

It was the best decision of my life.  Okay, that's a little hyberbolic, it was a good decision.  The best decision of my life was deciding to have kids.  My kids have always made my birthdays really great.  I think it's just me that's always overthinking on my birthday.  Having the day off this year helped me to not overthink it.  I went with the flow.  Jordan and I got crêpes.  I did a little shopping.  I got a pedicure.  I went to dinner with my kids and had a delicious burger.

Here's the thing. I actually think I do know the reasons my birthdays are complicated affairs for me.  And it's more than I want to divulge in an 8 minute memoir.  Maybe you have complicated feelings about your birthdays too.  Lots of people do.

What I know for sure is when July 27, 2017 rolls around I will be taking that day off too.  I already made a note.  I'll be floating in my pool, having lunch with someone I love, or eating a Sprinkles cupcake.  Whether I'm alone or with other people the secret is this - just be nice to yourself that day.  I'm the one who has been screwing up my birthdays this whole time.  I'm guessing that's why birthdays feel great when you're 1 - you're too young to get in your own way of having a great time.