we all as anonymous readers, pod listeners to all of you at Bulwark - thanks for all the info that we can sparse, learn a bit more and get to also read in text form & write comments on your site too.
[ Not all on line sites are as generous and willing to be open to strangers, heretics, dissenters, cynics, & observing intuitives, et alllll ... give us this permission] ....
& whether anyone else besides us, responders, read what we too contribute or not.
There must be many more dedicated political news addicts & rote-memorizers who know the misc many politico names you describe or criticize or want removed from Our Govt....
I for 1 will not spend much time searching further.
..
for all the people who want to be involved, famous, richer, 10-up to 'the rest of us ' – that you write at length about… unknown names that may not remain visible in politics a little later…
we are the TAP - The American People - of some of 'us/ them' are- voters, observers, thinking beyond ordinary schemas and platitudes or promos too.
So this is a Thank you all there - to those behind the screens, lites, or pod castings and those more visible representing all the others too.
There is every day some new bit of what many of us viewing your outputs are then feeling less 'out of it' or over-under-whelmed by all that is happening... by so many unrecognized ambitious people.
when 99% of The majority of us out here ...have NO CONTROLS or influences over all that IS happening , in govt, in media …nor in externals outside our safer habitats.... not in screens or ‘newses’….
but we still mostly remain observant, curious, fascinated vs. being scared or feeling coerced nor influenced by all that media -even ya all -assumes we must 'agree, believe, accept ...etc. etc.
glad you are there and we are [here]…. safely boundaried, distanced, yet still in-volved - but not emotionally ... we are curious & interested in all that also affects each of us too…inherently tho.
thank you .... at this time of giving thanks for all this IS - anyhow
- as is... like it all HAPPENING as it does, is, how ever... or not
I am inspired by my other daughter's laughter. Last weekend I got married to the man I was meant to find in midlife. We both have children from our previous marriages. In addition to English, we both were raised speaking Tamil; in Tamil the word for niece is other daughter. I told her that's what she was to me since I could never replace the mother she lost as a young child and I wanted to welcome her more closely than step daughter implies. She smiled the sweet smile of a scared 22 year old unsure of her place. We spent the whole week together with friends and wellwishers and family members weaving in and out of an elaborate dance to knit two families together, enjoying Hindu story discussions, Hannukah Rock Shabbat at Temple Emanu-El, a peaceful visit to the Taung Pulu Kaba Aye Buddhist Monastary, a chicken biryani cooking lesson from our Muslim house guest, and unexpected gifts under the tree on Christmas morning. My new husband calls me a universalist. My new other daughter doesn't know what to call me yet. But yesterday she laughed out loud with me to my jokes, movie jokes, and her first joke to me. That precious laughter from a young person who has seen difficult and depressing times will carry me for months into the future. We are past the longest night of the year. Here comes the sun.
I have never called my husband’s children “step”. I decided early on, when my first marriage ended, that I would never hold my new partner’s children at arm’s length. They are my daughter and my son. What they call me has always been up to them. In their late 20’s and early 30’s, they gave me 3 beautiful granddaughters, and now everyone calls me GiGi.
Congratulations! It sounds like your newly blended family is off to a strong and loving start.
I am also someone who finds inspiration in many spiritual traditions, and Advent and the solstice both felt meaningful to me this year. Waiting in the dark, hopeful for the coming light.
So much to be thankful for… And so much to keep fighting against! One thing that motivated me was hearing from so many of my friends at holiday gatherings how their new insurance rates have priced them out of coverage for 2026, and though I am grateful that I’m on Medicare, I realize how much work there is to be done to make sure everybody has reliable, affordable health insurance. And that’s just one of the long, long of disasters this administration has wrought. Happy new year to you and the entire Bulwark family! Onward!
we all as anonymous readers, pod listeners to all of you at Bulwark - thanks for all the info that we can sparse, learn a bit more and get to also read in text form & write comments on your site too.
[ Not all on line sites are as generous and willing to be open to strangers, heretics, dissenters, cynics, & observing intuitives, et alllll ... give us this permission] ....
& whether anyone else besides us, responders, read what we too contribute or not.
There must be many more dedicated political news addicts & rote-memorizers who know the misc many politico names you describe or criticize or want removed from Our Govt....
I for 1 will not spend much time searching further.
..
for all the people who want to be involved, famous, richer, 10-up to 'the rest of us ' – that you write at length about… unknown names that may not remain visible in politics a little later…
we are the TAP - The American People - of some of 'us/ them' are- voters, observers, thinking beyond ordinary schemas and platitudes or promos too.
So this is a Thank you all there - to those behind the screens, lites, or pod castings and those more visible representing all the others too.
There is every day some new bit of what many of us viewing your outputs are then feeling less 'out of it' or over-under-whelmed by all that is happening... by so many unrecognized ambitious people.
when 99% of The majority of us out here ...have NO CONTROLS or influences over all that IS happening , in govt, in media …nor in externals outside our safer habitats.... not in screens or ‘newses’….
but we still mostly remain observant, curious, fascinated vs. being scared or feeling coerced nor influenced by all that media -even ya all -assumes we must 'agree, believe, accept ...etc. etc.
glad you are there and we are [here]…. safely boundaried, distanced, yet still in-volved - but not emotionally ... we are curious & interested in all that also affects each of us too…inherently tho.
thank you .... at this time of giving thanks for all this IS - anyhow
- as is... like it all HAPPENING as it does, is, how ever... or not
I am inspired by my other daughter's laughter. Last weekend I got married to the man I was meant to find in midlife. We both have children from our previous marriages. In addition to English, we both were raised speaking Tamil; in Tamil the word for niece is other daughter. I told her that's what she was to me since I could never replace the mother she lost as a young child and I wanted to welcome her more closely than step daughter implies. She smiled the sweet smile of a scared 22 year old unsure of her place. We spent the whole week together with friends and wellwishers and family members weaving in and out of an elaborate dance to knit two families together, enjoying Hindu story discussions, Hannukah Rock Shabbat at Temple Emanu-El, a peaceful visit to the Taung Pulu Kaba Aye Buddhist Monastary, a chicken biryani cooking lesson from our Muslim house guest, and unexpected gifts under the tree on Christmas morning. My new husband calls me a universalist. My new other daughter doesn't know what to call me yet. But yesterday she laughed out loud with me to my jokes, movie jokes, and her first joke to me. That precious laughter from a young person who has seen difficult and depressing times will carry me for months into the future. We are past the longest night of the year. Here comes the sun.
I have never called my husband’s children “step”. I decided early on, when my first marriage ended, that I would never hold my new partner’s children at arm’s length. They are my daughter and my son. What they call me has always been up to them. In their late 20’s and early 30’s, they gave me 3 beautiful granddaughters, and now everyone calls me GiGi.
Congratulations! It sounds like your newly blended family is off to a strong and loving start.
I am also someone who finds inspiration in many spiritual traditions, and Advent and the solstice both felt meaningful to me this year. Waiting in the dark, hopeful for the coming light.
Inspired by Roy Cooper, who shocked this mammal by running to (almost surely) become my US Senator.
So much to be thankful for… And so much to keep fighting against! One thing that motivated me was hearing from so many of my friends at holiday gatherings how their new insurance rates have priced them out of coverage for 2026, and though I am grateful that I’m on Medicare, I realize how much work there is to be done to make sure everybody has reliable, affordable health insurance. And that’s just one of the long, long of disasters this administration has wrought. Happy new year to you and the entire Bulwark family! Onward!
Where are you? What state?
Thanks for the roundup!