20200824 WRITING - DAY 18

(I did not write/"report for work" at all yesterday - Sunday) 

Here's my list of subjects:

1. 👌RIGHT WRITE (rather, WRITE RIGHT) (or, WRITING RIGHT)
2. 👌Why didn't I ever have a dream?
3. 👌Dr. Pruitt
4. 👌Travels with Ancel
5. 👌Why are there ants on my arms and legs, and in my bed???????
6. 👌How I became a Democrat
7. 👌When did I give up my identity?

I might add more later.  But I'm thinking about just vomiting out words about each one of these, one a day, for a week.  At least it'll give me some sense of whether they're are viable subjects for me.

8.  Die Barbara

9.  Life is a series of mysteries - large and small.  

**********

How I became a Democrat

True to my "wishy-washy nature,"  .............

(I don't think I remained "wishy-washy" throughout my life.  But the tendency to be unsure of exactly how I feel about some things has stayed with me.  I fight it; it fights back.)

                  ......................    I began quite young switching sides in politics, and I suspect that in my early life, I simply wanted to be on the same side as my family, or merely on the winning side.

When I was 9 years old (1959), I lived in Maryland.  I remember someone in my family asking my father which party he belonged to.  He said he'd always vote for the man, not the party.  Funny how almost all the candidates he liked were Republicans.  My mother always followed my father's political choices.

But in those days, it was considered a secret, and not always revealed who you voted for.  My mother and her best friend (Adeline Stubbs) went to vote together every election day.  They never told each other for whom they'd voted.  After a couple decades of voting, they decided to tell.  And they laughed and said how they could have stayed home:  they'd cancelled each others' votes every time!

So, I generally followed him/them too.  My siblings all seemed to be Republican, or so I thought.

But our neighbors (the Zierdt family) were Democrats.  And I think the other side neighbors (the Veenstra family) were, too.  Richard Zierdt, my pal (although he was 2 years younger) was definitely "voting" for Kennedy in the 1960 election, and he had a button to prove it; he even gave me one.  But I didn't wear it just "like that;"  I knew better than to wear it around my house.  One of my siblings mocked Kennedy because he had such a huge smile with teeth for days.  Hmmmm.  At school, posters of Nixon and Kennedy were put up at the back of the classroom (Mrs. Carter's 5th grade).  A boy named Bill McKay and I were looking at the two pictures.  I volunteered to him that I thought Kennedy looked something negative (I don't recall what), with his "huge teeth."  Maybe I said just "bad" or even "stupid."  Well, I did not know that Bill McKay was "voting" for Kennedy, and when he heard what I said, he replied, "If you say that, you better just shut up."  Wow!  I didn't not know much about politics, or the power of them at my tender age of 9.  But I realized that people my age had opinions.

Well.  To be more accepted by my friends and peers at school, I decided to "vote" for Kennedy, and I put the button on.

Later, my mother saw it, and asked me about why I was for Kennedy.  She said Nixon had more experience.  But I said I liked Kennedy more.  And she very clearly taught me a lesson:  she said, "Well, then, you should stick by your man."

So my sister Kathy, and our neighbor's girl (Carolyn Zierdt) were all excited about Election Eve.  I don't think I stayed up to get the results, but I do know that my friends were very happy when Kennedy won.

Years later, when I was eligible to vote for real, I decided to follow my father's example, and simply vote for "the man," and not the party; I confided, for the first time in my life, in Teresa when we both went to vote in the 1980 election, that I was for, and voted for Reagan.  I think she was, too.

But years after that, I was among Gamofites (gay Mormon fathers), and it was when Clinton was being impeached for having sex in his office with an intern.  I never did like Clinton; I thought he was sleazy.  But I was susrprised when many of my Gamofite friends DID like him.  When I was asked, I said, "I voted for Reagan because he was so presidential, and he brought back leadership to the White House," etc.  I conceded that Clinton was good in one way:  He left the economy alone, and the people fixed it.  I was met in general with stony silence.

A bit later, during the Gore v Bush election (____), most of them were "campaigning" in our group for Gore.

By then, I was done with Bush, and I voted for Gore - I think he was the first Democrat who got my vote.

From then on, I voted Democrat, although I've never registered as a Democrat.

Today, in Biden v trump, I am sick to my stomach that I even have to entertain the idea that trump is in the White House, and that he might win a 2nd term.

GOD, how I am a DEMOCRAT!!!!!!!!!!!

Ridin' with Biden - 100%