My fun facts for today include the fact that The Russian Tea Room in NYC has four floors that hold hidden treasures like a giant glass bear that has fish swimming inside it. I know this fun fact because my friends and fellow group therapists Jen and Patty saw that after I left the restaurant early last night because I was tuckered out after a too-full day with too-little sleep.
Fun fact: Stephen Colbert answers questions from the audience before every show taping, which yesterday included a reveal of the many pencils he throws around as a homage to his admired talk show predecessors David Letterman and Johnny Carson.
You’re bound to discover other fun facts if you click on the links I’ve embedded on this post so far. (Fun fact: when I type “fun facts” it often comes out as “fun cats.”)
Do you see fun facts in the images I captured yesterday?
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Here’s the first thing I find when I search for “fun facts” on YouTube:
Thanks to all who help me share fun facts in this daily blog, including YOU!
I have many happy returns to share in today’s post, including the return of my son Aaron from Scotland to Boston.
I was happy to return yesterday to my home work desk, Twitter, Wollaston Beach, the Kindness Rocks Project, Logan Airport, and Facebook; Aaron was happy to return to our home; and Harley was happy to return to our couches (if not happy about Aaron’s return).
I’m happy you’ve returned here today to share in our happiness.
The Daily Bitch is happy to return on this many happy returns day.
Yesterday morning, before the bottom dropped out at the USA Capitol Building in Washington, people in my Coping and Healing group discussed experiences of when the bottom drops out, including how that feels and how to cope. By sharing those experiences of when the bottom drops out and realizing they were not alone, the group members lifted each other up. I suggested that when the bottom drops out again they look down, feel their feet securely on the floor, and realize that the bottom is still there, even if it feels like it has dropped out.
According to an online definition, the bottom drops out “alludes to collapsing deeper than the very lowest point, or bottom.”
Yesterday afternoon, the current inhabitant of the White House collapsed deeper than his previous lowest point/bottom, inciting his followers to violently disrupt the transfer of power in the country I love.
As the whole world watched in horror, the bottom dropped out in the USA yesterday. Those of us who are familiar with malignant narcissists like Trump know that the bottom will drop out even LOWER if he remains in office.
When the bottom drops out, I’m too upset to take many photos, so here are all my recent images from top to bottom:
What do you do when the bottom drops out? When the bottom drops out for me, I reach out for people I love and trust, I anchor myself in the present moment, and I tell myself, “It’s safer than it feels.”
Therefore, I’m going to post, again, the video I shared on this blog yesterday, before the bottom dropped out, of audience members at the Stephen Colbert Show lifting up the late, great U.S. congressman from Georgia, John Lewis, as he crowd-surfed above them.
It makes me cry, here and now, to see how far the bottom has dropped out of my country.
Here is Senator Amy Klobuchar speaking to Stephen Colbert last night about her experience of when the bottom dropped out yesterday:
Here‘s Stephen Colbert showing a lot of feeling in his live monologue last night after the bottom dropped out and before his interview with Senator Klobuchar:
And here‘s his interview with Republican Representative Adam Kinzinger about his experience of when the bottom dropped out.
If you have any thoughts or feelings about when the bottom drops out, please drop a comment, below.
Now that you’ve reached the bottom here, thanks — from the bottom of my heart — to all who help me drop a blog post every day, including you.
Some days, it’s easier to love everyone. For me, today is one of those days.
I also love every one of my photos today.
I love everyone, including the person who responded to my tweet last night of that last photo captioned “Harley is a Democat” with “Someone’s projecting! Harley doesn’t care” and then liked my response of “Harley cares about many things.”
I love everyone in this video:
I love my reader Maureen, who tells me that some people can’t view that video, so here, again, is the late, great U.S. Congressman from Georgia, John Lewis, crowdsurfing at the Stephen Colbert Show, with a bonus track of him dancing to the song “Happy.”
I love everyone who reads this blog, including YOU!
No matter what your opinions are about religion, ‘tis the season when religion is all around.
I have mixed feelings about religion. I grew up in an Orthodox Jewish household and have observed many benefits of religion, including life-organizing traditions, strong family and social connections, important moral codes, explanations for troubling questions, and sustenance and comfort during darkest days. I’ve also observed, throughout my life, how many people have been hurt and divided by religion.
Whatever our religions are, I think we can agree that people have very strong feelings about religion. My son, who grew up with a lapsed Orthodox Jewish mother and a lapsed Roman Catholic father, once upset a librarian in the children’s room of our local library by asking her what her religion was. This was around the time when Aaron was formulating that God might be a giant goose and we had noticed children’s books about religion in the library that day, so I think he was just honestly curious about her experience. He and I were both taken aback by her obvious discomfort and annoyance, so I quietly explained to him that religion could be a sensitive subject for some people.
Yesterday, my son, my ex-husband Leon, my husband Michael, and I were discussing another sensitive subject — politics — trying to make sense of Trump’s appeal to millions of people, wondering if religion played a part in that, also.
Do you see religion in today’s images?
If you had to answer any questions about religion, would you choose to answer the ones included in this blog post?
When I search YouTube for “religion,” this comes up:
Ricky Gervais and Stephen Colbert — despite their differences about religion — share a great gratitude for existence and so do I. Thanks to all who helped me create this post about religion, including YOU!
If you’re like me, you’ve been having trouble finding great things in the news lately.
Together, let’s look for great things in my photos from yesterday.
Did you find great things? What great things did you find?
Did you notice great things here?
Sometimes we have to look close and hard for great things in order to find them. Sometimes those great things seem broken, but we need to keep looking, feeling, thinking, and acting.
The late great Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said many great things, including these:
“When a thoughtless or unkind word is spoken, best tune out. Reacting in anger or annoyance will not advance one’s ability to persuade.” — From Ginsburg’s 2016 book “My Own Words”
“I went to law school when women were less than 3% of lawyers in the country; today, they are 50%. I never had a woman teacher in college or in law school. The changes have been enormous. And they’ve gone much too far (to be) going back.” — From a 2019 NPR interview
“I pray that I may be all that (my mother) would have been had she lived in an age when women could aspire and achieve and daughters are cherished as much as sons.” — From her 1993 Supreme Court acceptance speech, about her mother
“I see my advocacy as part of an effort to make the equality principle everything the founders would have wanted it to be if they weren’t held back by the society in which they lived and particularly the shame of slavery. I don’t think my efforts would have succeeded had it not been for the women’s movement that was reviving in the United States and more or less all over the world at the time.” — From a 2013 WNYC interview
“Women will have achieved true equality when men share with them the responsibility of bringing up the next generation.” — From a 2001 interview with the New York City Bar Association
“One thing that I did feel in law school was that if I flubbed, that I would be bringing down my entire sex. That you weren’t just failing for yourself, but people would say, ‘Well, I did expect it of a woman.’ … I was determined not to leave that impression.” — From a 2020 Slate interview
“Dissents speak to a future age. It’s not simply to say my colleagues are wrong and I would do it this way, but the greatest dissents do become court opinions.” — From a 2002 NPR interview, on her Supreme Court dissents
“The number of women who have come forward as a result of the #MeToo movement has been astonishing. My hope is not just that it is here to stay, but that it is as effective for the woman who works as a maid in a hotel as it is for Hollywood stars.” — From a 2018 interview at the National Constitution Center, on the impact of the #MeToo movement
“If there was one decision I would overrule, it would be Citizens United. I think the notion that we have all the democracy that money can buy strays so far from what our democracy is supposed to be.” — From a 2014 New Republic interview, on Citizens United v. FEC, which ruled that corporations could fund political speech under the First Amendment
“Fight for the things that you care about, but do it in a way that will lead others to join you.” — From a 2015 luncheon at Harvard
Who wants to join me in the fight for the things I care about, like the great legacy of Ruth Bader Ginsburg?
Here‘s a great 2017 interview with Ruth Bader Ginsburg:
Here‘s a great appearance by RBG on the Stephen Colbert show:
Here‘s Stephen Colbert last night about the great loss of Ruth Bader Ginsburg:
I look forward to great things in the comments section, below.
As always, I have great gratitude for all the great things in my life, including YOU.
The Year(s) of Living Non-Judgmentally 