A to Z Dilemma

Hey folks, it's Sunday March 23 and we will be starting the A to Z Challenge in a little over a week. As you know, my theme this year is going to be the A to Z of Democracy as voiced by Hakeem Jeffries, Minority Speaker of the House of Representatives. I have had quite a few positive comments regarding my choice of topics which has been encouraging. However, I did receive a comment from a blogger that I no longer follow since I realized when #47 was #45 that they had a different perspective than mine about the state of affairs in our country. Even though we had some other things in common, I just could not read a blog defending what was going on at that time.

This morning, while starting to prep for the upcoming challenge I took a look at my "comments" section here and on WP to see if there had been any recent ones that inadvertently ended up in the spam or pending file as will sometimes happen. I did find some, including a few of my own replies, which I rescued. However, I did also see one that was in my trash from the blogger mentioned above. 

Turns out they still hold the same devotion to the person currently in the WH and voiced their disapproval of my chosen topic. They proceeded to tell me that they are tired of people bashing their favorite fellow and dividing our country. They informed me that I should probably do better research because my facts were incorrect and "he really cares about" us. 

And herein lies my dilemma. This comment was already in the trash so I automatically emptied it, deleting the comment. And then I thought about it. If my intention is to showcase the differences between democracy and authoritarianism, oligarchy or whatever it is that we are in the middle of, shouldn't I be open to listening to other opinions? I could have responded to this comment by saying something like, "I'm sorry you don't like my topic so maybe you shouldn't follow me this year," or "I disagree with your assessment of what is happening now and maybe you should read my reasons for this during the challenge." Instead, I had a visceral reaction to just get rid of that person's words so I wouldn't have to look at them. It has been my experience with those folks who are devotees of that man that no amount of "facts" will change their opinions. I mean, I haven't even talked to my sister or her family in months because she defended her "beloved Donald." 

So moving forward, I am torn between continuing to just delete those comments that are from people who drank the kool-aid because I know there is no way to bring them out of their delusional state or to leave them there and use one of the phrases above in response. What would you do? 

Happy Sunday Folks

There is a little less than two weeks to go until the big A to Z Blogging Challenge. I am getting my letters together and hopefully I'll finish at least the drafts in time. I found the last few years when I had my draft posts made it was a lot easier for me to keep up. I am going to try to get over to visit a few more people this year too. 

In the meantime, I am SO EXCITED because I get to teach a class at our local RAC (Recreation and Aquatic Center). I have been trying to hold a class for the last several months but sadly not enough people signed up. The RAC requires five people minimum and I've only had one or two so the classes were cancelled. This month I have five thanks to some friends. I'll be showing them how to make card sets like this from Creative Memories.

If you are interested, you can get the sets from my Creative Memories site and make some too or you can get the ones that I already made from my Etsy shop. I also got approved to do some classes during the next season about making vision cards and dreamboards. Crossing fingers there will be some interest in that. 

And along the lines of my A to Z theme, I also mailed out some cards as part of a project through the Card Campaign, a group I found during the election last year. I printed and mailed 40 postcards to old Dumpy in the White House. 

The idea was to have everyone send in their postcards on the same day (yesterday the 15th) so that it floods the White House mail. It may not do any good but I have to say that writing those messages was great for my mental health. The return address is the Superior Court Building so there is no way to trace it back to me, although honestly it is free speech so I'm not worried. I said nothing that wasn't true and nothing that hasn't been said before by millions of people. 

Happy St. Patrick's Day tomorrow. It is not one of the holidays I celebrate much for some reason -- mainly I'm not Irish LOL. See you again soon!

Blogging From A to Z 2025 Theme Reveal

Democracy A to Z is my theme for this year's challenge. I am strongly in favor of keeping the United States a democracy. I do also happen to be a Democrat but if there was a Republican who actually made some sense or had a good idea about something...LOL who am I kidding.

When I was talking to Tamara from Part-Time Working Hockey Mom she asked me if I was going to do the A to Z this year and I told her I wanted to but wasn't sure about a topic yet. She suggested that I discuss elections and Presidents and Presidents who deserved the title. At first I was hesitant to discuss politics and honestly I'm just so upset with the way the last election turned out and the terrible things that are going on in our country that I just wasn't feeling it. Then I remembered Speaker Jeffries' speech and figured I could use that to get my basis for the challenge.

In 2023 Minority Speaker of the House Hakeem Jeffries gave a speech to the new 118th congress. In it he recited the ideals of the Democratic Party using the alphabet. In case you missed it, have a listen:

It gives me chills. I guess you can figure out what my actual letters will be by listening to the speech, but hopefully I can put a bit more context behind each pairing. 

If you are doing the A to Z this year, let me know! I am loving the bright graphics this year.