Aaaaaaaand We're Back!

So what did I miss over the past week?

*checks news*

Syria, Russia, Tillerson, Putin, United Airlines, "the most beautiful piece of chocolate cake that you've ever seen," Carter Page, Sean Spicer, Trump's trademark, China currency manipulation, Planned Parenthood, Paul Manafort, Steve Bannon, Jared Kushner, "Why I won't date hot women anymore," Sheila Abdus-Salaam, Jonathan Martinez, MOAB, North Korea, Andrew Sullivan, White House visitor logs, Mar-a-Lago, Bonnie Currie, Steve Stephens, Mike Pence...

Oh goddddddd. I need a vacation.

* * *

I was, of course, keeping up on the news during my staycation, because Trump's chaotic administration means I can't ever really look away and hope to catch up after the fact.

But it was a very different experience to be checking in occasionally, rather than being immersed in it all day.

One day midweek, I was at a mall, largely empty because it was a weekday afternoon, getting my eyes checked as I desperately need new glasses. I walked out of the appointment and checked the news. We had just dropped the MOAB in Afghanistan. Iain was checking his phone, too. We looked at each other, and we expressed our horror.

All around us, people just shuffled quietly by. The mall music played quietly over speakers. It was surreal, being in that anodyne space, detached from reality in the way malls are, reading about this massive bomb being deployed.

So vastly a different experience for me than getting news at my desk, with my mind completely consumed by politics, connected to this community and the other contributors and my social media network, populated by people who are greeting the news with the same urgency that I am.

I felt unmoored.

Being tethered to the news often feels oppressive, especially during this shitshow of an administration. But being tethered to community who share similar thoughts about that news saves me.

I was glad for a break, and I am glad to be back.