#I’m so tired of seeing this repeat every single election cycle

[mobliterated]

I implore you all to not get all of your political news from this website and other social media only

[kmalexander]

2020 in Ten Significant Photos

Today is December 19th, also known as March 294th, around our house. 2020, man. 2020. I think we can all agree it’s been a terrible year. If not personally, then nationally and globally. And we still have twelve days left. Feels like it’s been forever and yet, somehow, no time at all.

The tradition around here dictates I need to assemble a post wherein I share ten photos from the year representing the most significant moments of my personal past 365-ish days. Normally, I look forward to this, but 2020 was tougher than most. This time around, I wasn’t so eager to ponder how the year went. I didn’t want to dwell on the events that have unfolded. But I did. And below is the culmination of that effort, for better or worse.

The rules are simple but firm, pick ten photos from your past year that are the most significant to you: positive or negative—significance can be found in either. But it can’t be more, it can’t be less. Some moments will have to fall by the wayside—and that’s intentional—culling is essential. It’ll help create a more realistic picture of your year. Some years will be harder than others, and sometimes you’ll need to discover significance in the smaller, quieter moments. The ten are irascible, and they’re relentless. It is the way.

So, enough talk! Let’s take a look at my 2020 distilled into ten significant photos.

The Multnomah Whiskey Library in Portland

We began our 2020 by going on a trip to celebrate Kari-Lise’s birthday. Ah, those carefree halcyon days. Feels like a lifetime ago. This time we took an extensive food-focused trip to Portland and Hood River, Oregon. It was easily one of the best trips we’ve taken together and a wonderful way to celebrate Kari-Lise’s birthday. We ate and drank and tasted so many incredible things. I had planned to put together one of my standard travel posts a few months after we returned, but 2020 had other plans. It’s odd to looking back. It feels like a different era.

Amberlynn being cozy. (Photo by my brother, Nick Alexander.)

Not long after our return from Portland, my brother Nick and my sister-in-law Hallie welcomed their second child, Amberlynn, into the world in February. With Liesel and Blakely arriving last year and Amberlynn this year, I now have three nieces that have all shown up in a very short time. Can’t wait to watch them grow up and spoil them rotten. I’ve yet to meet Amberlynn. (Details why in the next photo. You can probably guess.) But, I’m looking forward to the day I do.

Pandemic hair. Pandemic mask. Pandemic isolation.

So, the obvious one—the COVID-19 pandemic. I could wax poetic about everything that’s happened in the last ten months, but we’ve all been dealing with this. What can I say that hasn’t been said already by a thousand other folks? I am tired of staying at home. I miss my family and friends. At the same time, I know it’s the right thing to do, and I’m blessed that I have a job that allows me to do it. Please do what you can to stay safe and healthy. Be kind. Wear a mask. Social distance. Avoid groups. Get your vaccine when you can. All that stuff.

Not where you want to find yourself at 3AM

2020 was the gift that keeps on giving. Early in the pandemic Tyrant, one of our two old dogs (he’s fifteen!) started having breathing issues one Saturday morning, and we had to take him to an emergency vet. That turned into early morning calls and early morning trips to the pharmacy. The same weekend our other old dog, Suge (she’s fourteen!), had a cyst that burst on her back leg, so she ended up in the doggie hospital for minor surgery. Two dogs. Two hospitals. Many vets. All in the middle of a pandemic. It was an exhaustive and stress-filled four days. Thankfully, both dogs are doing well. Suge is back to her rambunctious self. Tyrant is still sleepy and lazy and gets to take doggy pills three times a day.

Welcome to the CHAZ

Black Lives Matter. I don’t know why that’s a difficult concept for some people to grasp. This summer was similar to summers in other parts of the country. Protests. Marches. Police action. Bits of violence. For a brief moment, Seattle had the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone and offshoot of the protests, which drew most of the country’s attention. The outgoing President might have declared Seattle an “Anarchist Jurisdiction” (whatever that means,) but the tales of chaos were greatly exaggerated and largely overblown. Ignore your weird uncle on Facebook. The CHAZ only lasted for a few weeks. Demonstrations there have largely faded away. But the BLM movement rightfully continues, and I don’t think it’ll stop until we see systematic change.

Kari-Lise in front of the titular Night Garden

Kari-Lise revealed Night Garden, her latest solo show at Roq La Rue, and it was wildly successful! It’s strange to have a gallery show in the middle of a pandemic. There was no official opening. No opening night crowds. No afterparty. But the show premiered online and ended up selling out. I feel like I broken record repeating the same thing I do every show, but I think this series was her best work ever. I’m incredibly proud to see how she continues to evolve as an artist. Can’t wait to see what she does next.

Pork chop sandwiches! (Technically pork butt, but references.)

So, I’ve always liked cooking, and this year was no different. If anything, this year I cooked even more, since I had more time at home. I feel like I dialed in my meat-smoking game and got a little better at baking (like everyone else, but I’m still not great.) This little BBQ sandwich was 100% made from scratch. Smoke pork butt. Steamed/Fried sourdough half-way buns. Homemade dill pickles. Homemade pickled onions. Stone ground mustard. Yes, it was delicious. Yes, I made it more than once.

Sunset on the Colvos Passage

In October, we briefly escaped one house to retreat to another. We rented an incredible cabin on Vashon Island, only a ferry ride away from Seattle. We spent a week on the island. We hiked, explored, cooked, relaxed, read a ton, soaked in a huge bathtub, took showers in an outdoor shower. I also took the time to revamp this website. And we were able to do it with proper social distancing! It was a chill and relaxing week away from the world and unplugged from a stressful news cycle. We loved it so much we are planning a return visit in January. So don’t be shocked if a similar photo appears in next year’s list.

I voted! You voted! A lot of us voted!

One of the wildest and most important elections in my lifetime happened, and what an election it was. Records were smashed. Norms were abandoned. Lawsuits were filed and quickly tossed out when no evidence could be presented except for wishes, hopes, and dreams. (Turns out wanting something to be true won’t make it true.) It was great to see so many Americans actively involved in the civic process. King County, Washington (where I live) had an 85% turnout, which I never thought I’d see in my lifetime. It made me really proud of my city, county, state, and country. Nice work, America. Let’s keep this trend of civic involvement going.

New floors and a fantastic built in room divider bookcase built by my pal Steve.

It’s hard to encapsulate this in a single image. Like much of the world, 2020 became the “Year of the House” for the Alexanders. This had been the plan for us before the pandemic set in, and we had been saving toward it for a while. We bought this place in 2010, which means we’ve been living in our house for a decade, and it was past time to put a little love back into the place. That means, among other things, new paint, new roof, new floors in several rooms, lots of love pour into the garden, new countertops, that fantastic bookcase in the picture above, and we’re in the middle of a bathroom remodel. It’s been awkward, stressful, and a bit odd at times juggling all this work with the pandemic, but we think it’ll be worth it.

In Conclusion

Looking back at everything that happened in 2020, I was surprised to find how much significance happened even while I spent most of my time here at home. The ten photos above don’t begin to cover everything that happened. My sister-in-law’s father, Tom, passed away, a dear man, and we could only send condolences from afar. Friends and family got sick, and not just from COVID. Pets passed away. People lost jobs. There were the forest fires and the awful weeks of smoke that blanketed much of the PNW. MURDER HORNETS.

But it wasn’t all awful events. New hobbies were found. New skills explored. Moth & Myth continued its wild growth and is leaping into a new phase of business. Friends published books. Friends made art. Friends had shows. Friends wrote new books and game systems. We all learned how to video conference (for better or worse.) There was good to be found even among the muck. I’m not going to miss 2020. It might have been an awful year, but it’s probably been one of the most notable years of my life.

So, how about you? What did you experience in 2020? What are your ten? Assemble them and leave a comment with a link! Let us all know about the significant events in your year.

Want to revisit my photos of past years? The experiences then seem almost charming now. Just click on any of the links below and check out my pictures from that specific year. I find it fascinating to watch subtle changes year over year.

2014 • 2015 • 2016 • 2017 • 2018 • 2019

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My Life’s Video Clip

      “Life is a process of becoming. A combination of states we have to go through. Where people fail is that they wish to elect a state and remain in it. This is a kind of death.” ~Anais Nin

     My biggest fear in life is the thought of losing one of my parents. It's something no one can ever be ready for and something no one can imagine actually happening. But there are times that we really couldn’t do anything but to accept that losing one of them is part of the cycle of life and we cannot change that fact.

     Considering that it is probably one of the most difficult things to cope with in our life because knowing that the person whom you love and care with is no longer there physically with you. It is very hard to accept especially when that loved one was taken so suddenly and you didn’t even have the chance to say goodbye.

     The grief and the pain are inexplicable even if you cry a river. But everyone copes with grief differently, and some of us never do. Some people go through many stages of grief and react to death differently.

     One of the most disheartening moments in my life was the day that I had to watch my father lay in the hospital and die. It was November 1, 2005 when this tragedy happened to our family, I was only five years old back then.

    My father was diagnosed with a kidney disease where he experienced fatigue, loss of appetite, and leg cramps which are caused by the waste products that built up in his blood, a condition known as uraemia.

     My mother used to tell me that whenever the doctor had to inject some fluids and medicines into my father’s system, everyday seems very hard for him specially  because of his dialysis sessions where the machine removes the waste products and excess fluid from his body.

    It is necessary for my father to undergo into this kind of session because his kidneys are not able to filter the blood adequately in his body.

     It was very hard for me and my mother to witness my father’s sufferings and for how many days, we were just beside him, holding his hand.

     Everyday, my father would always tell me and my mother how lucky he was for us,  his family, for his friends, and his life. He always reminds us how much he loves us even when he barely had any words left to him, he would still repeat the phrase. 

      We had been making daily trips to the hospital for weeks. Waiting, watching, remembering,  lunches at the hospital café, stories, laughter, sadness, and silence. 

       The last ten days became the hardest part in my father’s journey in the hospital , He looks entirely different. His breathing changed, he became more ragged. The tips of his fingers turned blue. His skin smelled different. His breath gradually became rough, then a rattle. It sounded awful.

       I went beside him, I spoke to him as I always did, kissed his cheek and asked the usual things that I ask him whenever I get to visit him at the hospital.

      “How are you feeling, pa?”. I asked him.

      Then he would just raise his thumb, reassuring us that he’s fine, doing okay. But I couldn’t see any signs of improvement; I couldn’t see any trace of that in his face. But rather, all I see is pain, sadness and tears in his eyes. It is obvious that he isn’t feeling okay, that he is in great pain and suffering, but he doesn’t want to admit that. He doesn’t want to see us worry.

      One day, before his dialysis session, he was holding my mother’s hands while he’s looking at me, and out of curiosity, I asked her whether my he was feeling alright because I could sense that he wasn’t feeling okay , but my mother wouldn’t answer me, instead, she was just crying, she was sobbing. I couldn’t understand what’s happening so I also just cried.

     He was shaking his head out of disagreement while he was just pressing my mother’s hands, telling us to stop crying because I’m sure that he doesn’t want to see us cry for him.

     On my father’s last few days, we consulted the doctor, he said that he could give him something that would make him at least feel better, but it would really be more for us than for my father.

     “My job,” the doctor said, “is about prolonging people’s lives. Anything I give to your husband now would simply be just delaying his death.”  The doctor said to my mother.

     So we waited. When it finally came, his death was quite sudden, and absolutely inevitable.

     During my dad’s funeral I was literally in shock. All I heard were screams and cries of sorrow. At one point in time I looked around the church, and  realized that there were over hundreds of people who had similar feelings because my father is one of the most gentle & serene individual I know.

     My dad is brave because the only thing he fears is God himself. He is a man of integrity, diligence, humour and most importantly, he's a man filled with love, but I couldn’t still accept the fact that he’s gone

     I closed my eyes and opened them back up slowly because I wanted someone to tell me that this was all a bad dream, but it was reality. I probably seemed fine externally, but internally I felt like I was dying.

      When the casket closed, I cried so hard I thought I was going to vomit. At that point I knew that he was gone forever. And once everyone got to the burial site, I watched the casket get buried into the ground. When the dirt started to be put on top of the casket, my mother burst into tears. I felt bad for her, I couldn’t do anything but to be there beside her.

     In this whole tragedy, I learned that it’s not at all bad because it’s only difficult until we learn to adapt to our new situation. After that, it’s no longer a devastating topic; it’s just reality. Losing my father at a very young age has shown me that being a parent is the most important job that I will ever have, but  the important thing is we experience, we grow and we adapt. 

      There are so many milestones that I won’t get to share with my father – jobs, relationships, adventures – but deep down I will always be carrying him  in my heart and in my mind.

     I thought about how difficult it must have been for my mother to find herself without the love of her life. I recalled how she spent the following years after my father’s death and  doing her best to keep the pieces of our family together.

     This whole tragedy taught me about her resiliency as a mother. I was amazed at how she handled things by herself; I have never seen her give up on life, and she was so strong. And for me, she is indeed the embodiment of love and care. She always stands for our family by sacrificing her needs and desires.

     Even when she experienced the bitter reality of life, she still welcomes them as happiness with smile on her face. She has always taught me to face the challenges of life with courage and to always have trust in God, no matter what happened. I have witnessed and been with her going through the various ups and downs of life but she was never been affected by them

     Even in the stormiest weather, she always tells me that everything’s going to be okay. I constantly admire her because that and of her passion for life; she doesn’t waste a moment and does her best for everything. She makes sure that my family is always loved. She is a good listener, the reason why she is my best friend. She is so easy to talk to, despite the age gap, it didn’t became an issue for us that we can talk for hours without getting tired.

     We didn’t come from a very wealthy family and in fact, the money that my father provides us when he was still alive was just enough for us to have three meals a day. I was not complaining but I could say that I was still very lucky because my parents still does everything just to make me and my little brother happy.  Now that my father is gone, the only person that is left to us is my mother, but despite the fact that she is alone, she never failed her duties and responsibilities as a mother to me and my little brother. She never failed to show her love and affection to her children.

     Without a second thought, she will always be the person that I will look up to and admire the most. She has not done anything extraordinary like finding the cure for cancer or winning the noble prize but to me, every little thing that she does for us and her family every single day is amazing.

    I value my mother the most. Especially, now that she is the only one that is left with me and my brother. She is the most important person in my life because no matter what I do, what mistakes I make, what I say, or how much I upset her, her love for me will never subside. Even though how many times we argue, no matter how big the fight or disagreement, I can always count on her to resolve the issue.

    Even when the world turns their back on me, she’ll be standing there beside me with open arms. She is my person. Nothing is as valuable as her presence. She always makes me feel that I am the best gift that she ever received from God.  And If I would be given a chance to be born again, I would have still chosen her as my mother.

 Justine Abella

[go-redgirl]

Candace Owens to Congress: White Supremacy Not A Major Threat Facing Black America

Candace Owens testifies that a House Oversight Joint Subcommittee hearing on 'Confronting White Supremacy' is part of a "farce" repeated "every four years ahead of an election cycle" by Democrats to get black votes. Owens argued Friday that Democratic policies are what have hurt black Americans, not white supremacy. "II also found it quite hilarious that when asked for actual numbers, nobody here could actually provide them, because [white nationalism] is not actually a problem in America or a major problem or a threat that's facing Black America. This is, again, just election rhetoric," Owens said.

After the hearing Owens took to Twitter to criticize the social media network for misinterpreting her remarks that white nationalism is not a threat to the black community.

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Why is @Twitter running declaring that I said “white nationalism is not a problem” for black America— when they know that I said it is not the biggest problem facing black America? I typically let their propaganda slide but this seems to me to be an example of actual malice...

Owens' full remarks:

REP. JIM JORDAN (R-OH): But I did walk in a few minutes ago and Mr. [Mark] Meadows and I were visiting in the backroom and noticed that Ms. Owens, you hadn't spoken for a while. So if there's something you'd like to add to the discussion over the last few minutes, I'd be happy to yield my four minutes to you and let you comment. But thank you, again, for your outstanding testimony, for being here as our witness today. CANDACE OWENS (HOST, THE CANDACE OWENS SHOW): 

Thank you for that, I appreciate that. I was just commenting backstage, I mean, back behind the chambers that it is quite ironic that I'm the only Black American that's sitting here and yet the people that called this hearing haven't asked me a single question about my experience.

 I think that probably points to what I say the larger issue is, is that Democrats come up with the problems, they come up with the solutions, and Black Americans are basically used as props for them to get out their narrative and to ultimately control our vote using fear tactics. 

I also found it quite hilarious that when asked for actual numbers, nobody here could actually provide them, because [white nationalism] is not actually a problem in America or a major problem or a threat that's facing Black America. This is, again, just election rhetoric. 

This is, again, just an attempt to assault an administration that is doing all that they can to help Black America in every single regard, whether it's criminal justice reform, whether it's talking about real issues like school choice, which should be implemented to conquer some of these illiteracy rates that is actually harming the Black community. 

And I think it's unfortunate that we have this many hearings on something that is so small in America and we aren't having real hearings. I actually don't think the Democrats have completed a single day of real work since Donald J. Trump went into office. 

This has just been about attacking his administration day in and day out with things that do not matter. I am hopeful that we will come to a point where we will actually have hearings about things that matter in America, things that are a threat to America, like illegal immigration, which is a threat to Black America, like socialism, which is a threat to every single American, and I hope that we see that day. 

It's definitely not going to be today. Fortunately we have Republicans that are fighting every single day, day in and day out. 

And I will wrap this up by saying what I said at the beginning of my testimony, which is that for all of the Democrat colleagues that are hoping that this is going to work and that we're going to have a fearful Black America at the polls, if you're paying attention to this stuff that I'm paying attention to, the conversation is cracking, people are getting tired of this rhetoric, we're being tired to -- that we are being told by you guys to hate people based on the color of their skin or to be fearful. We want results. 

We want policies. We're tired of rhetoric, and the numbers show that white supremacy and white nationalism is not a problem that is harming Black America. Let's start talking about putting fathers back in the home. Let's start talking about God and religion and shrinking government, because government has destroyed Black American homes, and every single one of you know that. 

And I think many people should feel ashamed for what we have done and what Congress has turned into. It's Days of Our Lives in here, and it's embarrassing.

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OPINION:  Ms. Candace Owens is a very highly intelligent young woman  in her own rights.  Its great that she is a true ‘patriot’ and will not allow anyone to discourage her or take her ‘freedom of speech’ away under any circumstances!  🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸