Last night I was teaching “my” Latinas about the Constitution, the Rule of Law, the Separation of Powers. I always get all shivery and tear up when I teach this season, especially when I recite the Preamble to the Constitution which I memorized as a little girl.

I don’t think it’s very nice to burn the American flag or block traffic in a peaceful protest or call people you don’t like liars or crooked or stupid; but you can do it!  And a president-elect cannot take away that right. Someone needs to teach that man about the Rule of Law and the separation of powers and “We the People of the United States in order to form a more perfect union, establish Justice . . . do ordain and establish this Constitution . . . “

Helping with a Veterans Day concert at Willamette U. tonight. We are supposed to wear white on top, but I decided to add a bit of color. I think I have all my bases covered here.
Old soldiers, people of every color and every sexual orientation: You are safe with me.

This week are all thinking about things that our next president said that we wish he had not.

First in my mind today was his odd comment that he always wished he had a Purple Heart.  He used all the available deferments he could to avoid military service, including one for a heel spur. You just don’t earn a Purple Heart for that.

Trust me.  No one, especially those who earned them, ever wished for one.

This is Veteran’s Day. This one belonged to my daddy:

This morning we are a country in shock.  Most of us feel like we have experienced something like a miscarriage.

I just made the mistake of  flipping past a bit of “news” on a “major” network.  The topic under “discussion” was “post-election stress disorder.”  (I think that sentence contains a record of quotation marks.)

As for me, I have decided to focus, in this season of Thanksgiving, on counting my blessings. Gratitude is such a joyful thing.

I am remembering twenty years ago when I had just moved here.  In those days, Minto Brown Park was still mostly corn fields with lots of muddy paths.  I rode my bike through them as often as I could.  One day, I got literally stuck in the mud and three farm workers from Central America came to my rescue.

I always take the opportunity to practice my extremely-limited high-school Spanish.  These men were eager to engage in a conversation about the up-coming US presidential election.  Does anyone remember 1996?  It was Bill Clinton vs. Bob Dole.

I tried to ask about the political situation in El Salvador and the workers had questions about the political “customs” here.  I will never forget one comment that was made by a muddy man who respectfully held his hat in his hand as he spoke to me:

“No matter which man is elevated, very few Americans will be killed.”

Wow!

As I count my blessings, way up near the top of the list is living in this country.

In case you happen to live some place where you can’t tell why they call it “fall,” this shot of 1880 today should help clear things up. Luckily, my man John is on the way here to literally clear things up.