A Wealth of Words: November 15, 2016 Goals

Hey there!

I’m feeling better this week. That doesn’t mean that I’m normalizing the ongoing racist slant of the transition to a Trump presidency.

That I won’t do. I’m not going to revile anyone who chose to vote for him. I’m actually seeking to understand what motivated that choice, so that I feel that I know what it is we’re dealing with, as a nation, and so that I can help be part of healing the obvious rifts.

My initial thought is that Mr. Trump tapped into a common (but often false) dichotomy: the one of winners and losers: 

• If the urban elite are winning, then the working class is losing.
• If minorities and immigrantsare winning, then American-born white folks must be losing.
• If those who follow other religions are winning, then Christians must be losing.
• If women who own our strength and see ourselves as equal to men are winning; those who choose (or aren’t given a choice other than to have) a more subservient role, and the men who are placed above them, must be losing.

Here, in the safe little cocoon of my happy family, we tend to put our energies toward win/win/win/win solutions (there are four of us). Adults and children, males and females – we all get to “win” here.

So I’ve been taken by surprise at the depth of the feelings that someone else is “winning,” and that many white men in this nation – the very people who have had, and still have, the highest level of privilege in our culture – feel that they’re “losing” that privilege.

I know that it’s more complicated than that…but I can only absorb this, and understand it, a little at a time, and, right now, the thought that much of this election cycle has been framed as a “win/lose” situation is something I’m pondering.

 

I’m likely to have more to say about all this, as time goes on…but, for now, I’ve got an update to do, another two posts to prepare, hometending waiting, and words to write, so on we go…

Note: Only those goals I interacted with during this session are listed. For complete goals lists, follow the links below.

• November 2016 goals

• Round Four goals (updating later today)

• 2016 goals (updating Sunday)

Writing:

• NaNoWriMo: Complete draft of Tsunamis (KIC#6); 24 Scenes, ~65,000 words. Primary goal. Scene 20/24 in progress; 53,212/~65,000 words). A NaNo win; but still 10K or so left to write…

Social Media:

• Interaction: Visit website, blog, ROW80, Albany NNWM, and Yakon Village FB pages; ff.net; Twitter; Instagram; and Pinterest at least weekly, each site. Secondary goal. Not my best week, so far, but better than last week.

Hometending:

• Complete resets/reorganizations: study, family room, and porch. Use the 27 Thing Fling for structure/4 each per week. Add in 22 cycles a week for random indoor/outdoor tidying/hometending. Primary goal. Random inside: 14/22.

• Personal Administration: Clean, organize, and back up all OneDrive Homeschool, Blogging, and Beta Reading files. Maintain email below 99 messages. Tertiary goal. Count has been hovering around 500; down from last week’s high, which topped 700. Wednesday/Saturday focus.

Lifetending:

• My beloveds: One on one time with each, doing something of value to us both, each week. Continue planning/ attending outings (personal and family) as desired. Primary goal. Conversation; flirting.

• NNWM local group: Interact regularly online and in person. Secondary goal. Visited FB page/ potluck write-in and two regular ones between Saturday and today.

• Paying it Forward: Offer promotional posts for other writers. Tertiary goal. Offered a short blurb for a friend’s advocacy project.

Selftending:

• Journal six times each week. Gradually increase meditation to ten minutes six mornings, and four minutes three evenings. Primary goal. 1/6 journaliing/morning meditation.

• Fitness: Get a cumulative total of at least 75 minutes moderate physical activity 5 days weekly, 90 minutes thrice weekly. Secondary goal.

Kait Nolan’s ROW80 –

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