Make It Stop…or Start

Absolutely nothing of note has happened in the last month. I hit this wall with presidential campaign coverage, like being at a train wreck: you can't look away and you can't do anything about it, but it fascinates with its shock and horror.

I haven't heard anything from Ryan or the Pump House folks since I "helped out" with the performance there in September. He said he was going to send me a list of upcoming shows I might be interested in running, but it never showed. I thought about e-mailing him, but then I realized I don't want to be involved in a group that seems to flaky.

Same thing is happening with the Center. I dropped a line in early October, saying we should get together to plan out the fall newsletter and find someone to edit it. The reply was, "Let me think on that," and I haven't heard anything since, except the mass e-mailing telling everyone the Halloween Gala (a significant fundraiser) had been canceled because of lack of ticket sales.

Once again, I had the urge to head into the fray and save the newsletter, taking over the editing, writing and planning on top of the layout, but I backed off. If producing the newsletter is a burden on the organization at this moment, then we drop the newsletter. I have found, in the past, that taking on whole projects for a non-profit on a solo basis is not a good idea.

This ad caught my eye.

So I'm at a loss: I've tried working with the community theater, the Pump House theater, the LGBTQ Center and none of those places were welcoming or really of interest to me. I keep thinking that, if I were about 20 years younger, things would have turned out different. I'm seeing, over and over, that my age is a real barrier as far as other people are concerned.

The job front is also vacuous. Nothing of consequence has come along in any graphics field. I'm still in fine shape financially, so it's not a vital thing to be employed, but it would be nice to have something to create routine in my life right now (one of the reasons I was really hoping to land the job at the Pump House earlier this year).

So I have devolved into watching the cable news channels, obsessing on something new each day. And I just can't believe anyone could think Trump was capable of being president. And I just don't understand how people can so vehemently hate Clinton. And I don't think either candidate has mentioned anything of substance since the last debate (and sparse little then).

All the down-ticket campaigns, at least here in Wisconsin, have taken a page from the Trump nasty book, and we see all sorts of vicious, stilted, unsubstantiated attacks and innuendo. One ad from a Republican PAC against the democratic candidate for Senate (Feingold) ends with an atomic blast (this is what will happen if you vote for him). It has even trickled down to the local state races with tiny ad budgets.

But tomorrow this will all culminate. I will stroll over to my polling place, only a block and a half away, and do my duty. Hopefully, tomorrow night (and perhaps Wednesday) will be the last time I have to focus on this. I just hope to God that things work out for the best.