From enCouraged to enRaged in seven days

From the sublime (Jimmy Carter's life) to the subhuman (DJT on the LA fires)

From enCouraged to enRaged in seven days

My word of the year for 2025 is enCourage. My intention was to keep my head above the daily shitshow of the Trumpian universe, and instead lift my spirits and those of my friends and readers by writing posts that make us all feel more empowered—like we can make a positive difference in this challenging world. Hearing of all the good things Jimmy Carter managed to accomplish during his long life (without fanfare or need for public praise) inspires me to keep plugging away at my teeny-tiny efforts. He was a model enCourager.

Then Los Angeles exploded in flames. Just a few days into the new year, I slipped from enCouraged to enRAGED when the president-elect did not address one fucking word of condolence to the thousands of people who lost their homes and businesses, and neighborhoods that lost their centers. Nor did he offer a word of praise and gratitude for the firefighters who are risking their lives to save what they can, in near-impossible situations.

It has not rained in the LA area in 300 days, so vegetation is tinder dry. Unprecedented hurricane-force winds brought down trees and power lines, the sparks from which blew every which way, igniting the dry vegetation. The winds were so severe that airports shut down, preventing fire-fighting planes and helicopters from flying, nor could fire-fighting teams from elsewhere land safely. Most of the fires were in the hills, where water pressure is always a problem, and with three major fires simultaneously requiring massive amounts of water, the water supply was stretched perilously thin.

My son has lived in LA since college. His neighborhood has so far been spared, but several of his good friends had to evacuate with minutes to spare, and two of them returned to discover theirs was the ONLY house left standing on the whole block, with smoking black rubble on all sides. Which is almost as awful as losing it. This is the fire map of his friend Alex’s neighborhood. The yellow star is Alex’s house.

So what was Trump’s response?

He used the disaster as another opportunity to malign Governor Newsom and spread lies about the cause of the fire. Fox and various GOP congresspeople embellished the lies and took up the blame game and pointed fingers at what happens when you have “DEI hires” like the Black female mayor of LA, the female heads of the LA Fire Department.

[The term “DEI hire” is deeply demeaning. It implies you were given a job for which you’re unqualified, but they had to fulfill a quota of workers of your particular race or gender, so they scraped the bottom of the barrel to hire you. The GOP often called Kamala Harris a “DEI hire” during the election season…]

Californians can be grateful that Biden is still president for a few more days. He has already promised federal disaster relief aid. During the last Trump administration the president balked at giving aid to California and other parts of the country that he believed didn’t vote for him. OMG! Since when do we elect a leader who only concerns himself with the well-being of his own supporters? (And won’t they be surprised when it turns out he actually cares only about himself and his billionaire enablers?)

---

I’ve been so upset that when I called my sister yesterday to wish her a happy birthday, I spent most of the call crying and ranting. If the new administration hasn’t even started and I’m already upset…. I am doing my best to “let the future be the future—on crossing bridges when you come to them,” as Oliver Burkeman writes in Meditations for Mortals [buy this book!] Holly suggested I do more Zentangles, which is her solution to everything. So I did. Here are a few. (I am not an artist!) They do cheer me up.

PUT YOURSELF IN THE WAY OF BEAUTY

Despair is actually one of the best reasons to get out and find something beautiful (or ugly beautiful). This is kind of how I’m feeling, anyway.

And if you want to laugh…my eye fell on this—the whitest “shaggy mane” mushroom I’d ever seen.

Yeah. It’s a fur pompom, like off a kid’s wool cap.

What’s keeping you sane this week? What is enCouraging you these days? Please comment and let me know.