For a Long Time.

january 1st, 2017

i pretend to think about other things, or sometimes successfully distract myself. But most days for most of the day i'm thinking about what i'm going to do to oppose the incoming administration. And for the same reason, i'm wary of posting political content on the internet.

This time that we're in right now is the time before the reckoning. i know in my bones that blood sacrifice is coming. Whose blood? That, my bones don't know.

my hope for 2017: that he never becomes President.

my prediction for 2017: that the machinery that gave him power will be the same machinery that dismantles him.

i'll be using my art and my humor first and foremost as opposition. Humor will be very important in the coming years. It is our patriotic duty to make fun of him and thus exploit his most obvious and vulnerable weakness: vanity.

His ego is a thumbscrew. So stick your thumb in, and screw him.

i'm also looking at practical democratic strategies. The first openly gay Senator, Tammy Baldwin, is up for re'election in Wisconsin in 2018, so i'll probably take the train to Kenosha and do some stumping for her. i want to be an election monitor in Wisconsin or Michigan in 2018 and 2020. If you know how to do that, get in touch!

And my favorite strategy: agitating local representatives. my brother was wary as i described how excited i am to be That Lady at town hall meetings:

[tap the mic] “Is this on? Hi Jan. It's me. erica.”

[Jan's staff sighing, oh g0d, it's her]

“Listen it's very adorable that you're keeping us safe from IKEA shelves but i *literally* Do Not Care even one bit about that. The Only thing i want to hear from you is: what are you doing to oppose the administration. Not what you're going to do, or what other people should do. What you're doing. Any comment? That's my question.”

and out of habit, 2016 recap
Vlad and i took our honeymoon to Los Angeles, Japan, Rome, Romania, and Vienna. We also visited Baltimore, British Columbia, Portland (Oregon), and Vermont. i took a rare solo trip to NYC for the Del Close Improv Marathon, a fun experience but optimal for young people with excellent physical and emotional stamina.

i competed on Jeopardy.
i lead-developed 6 websites.
i posted 8 blog posts to Tacky Harper's Cryptic Clues.
i posted 23 blog posts here.
i wrote 16 new poems.
i put 5 new videos on YouTube.
i performed a lot: headlining poet at The Green Mill again, improv at Second City, reader at The Paper Machete, The Marrow, The Skewer, and Essay Fiesta.
i took another improv class in the spring.
i proposed a Live Anti-Fascist Op-Ed Voicemail segment and signed on as co-producer of The Skewer.

i continued volunteer tutoring at Family Matters in Rogers Park. i love those girls!
i learned the Romanian National anthem.
i learned to like climbing! That was a big one.
i exercised 198 times.
i maintained sobriety and celebrated four years in October.

for reference if you want it   2016 resolutions