Feelings, no matter how you voted

No one gets to tell me how to feel. Not the people who voted for Trump and because of my skin color think I may have voted for him too. Don't tell me to feel excited.

Please if you voted for Trump, Remember that giving someone rights, does not take rights away from you. Remember that often times being politically correct requires nothing more than being polite, and a willingness to learn. If a word or phrase offends you wouldn't you prefer people stop using that word or phrase? Return the favor, pay it forward. Learn what is offensive and be polite.

If you voted for Trump, don't tell me it will not be that bad. That there is no way that the president can take away my freedoms, my friends freedoms, and the freedoms of millions of Americans. The president can put a cabinet into place that with the help of a socially conservative congress can do just that. They may have to fight for it, but it is disheartening to watch, and we are afraid while watching and fighting to retain those freedoms. Remember that fear doesn't make us cowards.

No one gets to tell me how to feel. Not the people who voted for Clinton and because I am a woman assume that I voted for her too. Don't tell me what to be enraged at, don't tell me what to be indignant about. I have friends and co-workers and classmates that fit into every demographic group that has been insulted. I am a demographic that has been insulted. I have bled, I got to be middle aged (remember the insult "Look at that face"), I got fat, and I am not rich. I have been sexually harassed, and groped in public.

I also know that if Clinton had won, it is likely that Trump supporters would today be feeling shock, anger, and fear.

I do recommend you find a cause you feel strongly about, no matter how you voted. Pick that cause and fight to better everyone.

I get to decide what fights I will take on and what fights I will leave to others. Only I can make that choice. You get to decide what fights you will take on.

I won't tell you how to feel, don't tell me how to feel.

wrapping up Learning 2.0

I missed the deadline for the Nebraska Learns 2.0. I did learn about new web applications. I learned more about some that I already used. Some that I never got to I will to go through and learn. Others that I never got to I use quite a bit already. All in all it was a good experience, and if such a program is offered again I will try to participate and keep up so that I get the full benefit of the program.

Learning 2.0

Hi, I'm back after almost a year. I'm also going to muddy the waters even further. I am working on the Learning 2.0 project through the Nebraska Library Commission. If you are interested in this program, you can read about it here. And what the heck, I'm going to work on National Novel Writing Month in November along with Learning 2.0 so I'll blog about it here too.

Gee general overlapping with craft and now switching to Learning. The Learning 2.0 exercises will be a part of work, and I'm going to apply the learning 2.0 specifically to work this time around and how these new skills can be used in the library to help patrons, or co-workers.

Those of you looking at this blog from library land will probably find my personal life floating in and out, but at worst I will be writing out the posts at home and uploading them quickly at work. At best only the learning 2.0 will be on work time and anything personal will be uploaded after work.

Mall Shooting

I was going to write a little about video games today, but then one of life's tragedies happened. The shooting at the Westroads Mall in Omaha Nebraska. This mall is about a mile from where my parents live. When I was a young teen I would walk to and from the mall as there was no bus service that far out. We were not even in the city limits at the time.

I have not seen a list of the victims yet, but I have not received any calls from grieving friends, relatives, or co-workers. For some strange reason, I am one of the first ones people call. I cannot do anything for these people but be there, hold their hand, and sometimes cry with them. Somehow this comforts them, so I do it. I had a counselor describe this grieving I do with others as empathic. He liked to have me around in bad situations as well. Perhaps on some level I am empathic and perhaps I do siphon off part of their pain. I know there is no scientific proof of this. I just know what happens. Since I have not been called to someone's house, or hospital room to just be with them, I trust that all those I know are safe. They are safe but feeling the grief and shock that all of us in Omaha are feeling.

Catching up with requests

In the comment section, I got a request for some crazy quilt links. I don't have a lot yet, but the blog that got me all inspired for crazy quilts was Honey Bee's Bliss. Hers is the only one I currently have linked over at the tatting blog. She has some great links on her site and when I'm looking for information on stitches or quilting, I usually stop by her blog to find the sites she uses. I'm sure as I actually start working on my own projects I will develop my own list of sites and blogs that I find helpful.

Several months ago a co-worker asked for a list of the 100 best books of the century and pictures of my cats. Those many months ago I did get the best books list blogged, but I never posted cat pictures here. So here are a few piccies that are different from those posted on the tatting list. The black cat is Banichi. He is named for a lawyer/assassin from the Foreigner series by C.J. Cherryh. Leo still has the name is rescuer mommy gave him for Leonardo DaVince. He likes to shred things artistically. And Motoko is named for the beautiful yet scary Major Motoko Kusanagi (better known as shousan) from the Ghost in the Shell movies and books, and series. Unfortunately the pictures are all a year or more older. I need to get one of my friends with their digital cameras over to take some updated pictures for me.

Naming confusion?

I realized that I have a naming confusion going on here in my blogs. So I'm taking a moment to sort it out. My blog name is listed as Kelly, my tatting blog says it is Catherine's tatting attempts, the online Tarot community knows me as Catherine, at one job they call me Kelly at the other they call me Catherine, and no I don't have 2 personalities. At least I don't think so. My mom and my aunt both loved the name Kelly for girls. Whoever had the first girl got to name her Kelly. I was the first girl and so that is what my family calls me. My legal birth certificate name is Catherine Marie, after my grandmothers. I use the names almost interchangeably, and you all can too. But please use Catherine and not Cathy. Oh, and dear Peter in Oz, you and you alone are allowed to call me Cate. ;-) The only other person to do so was my Master Sergeant when I was in Junior ROTC in high school.