November 2024

I was 19 years old (just shy of age 20) when I started working for Digital Equipment Corporation, today commonly known as DEC. At the time it was the second largest computer company in the world (IBM was the leader). It’s a job I fell into through a brief Manpower temp contract. I was new to the Boston area and in many respects of my life I had no idea what I was doing. I was hired because of how quickly I could navigate computer systems, fix issues, and do both technical writing and coding. I had completed the week long Manpower “Digital basics” program before lunch that first Monday. 

Every once in a while I’ll dream about working at Digital again. The dreams usually take place in the present day but with many aspects of 1988 hanging around; things like using the technology from that era to solve problems for today. As with most of my dreams, the technology is never quite “right” and then the frustration aspect of the dream starts. I suppose this is much like college graduates dreaming years later that they’re late for psychology class or something.

This dreamed kicked in some pre-sunrise ponderings about the kindness of the people I worked with, and how these folks, much older than me, did many things to make sure that as a very young adult figuring out life, I was taken care of. There were times I didn’t have enough money to buy lunch, and Dawn would loan me $5 so I could buy a salad. Or when I was waiting for a dentist appointment because one of my wisdom teeth was going nuts, and Anne booked me with her dentist to take care of it right away. Or when the team’s HR representative, Cheryl, figured out we lived in the same apartment building and because I was a neighbor, she let me take her car out at lunch time to run errands when my car was not running. And then there was Donna, who was my best friend at work. She once heard me making distressing noises on a phone call when a man I was dating at the time was yelling at me. He was listing my personality faults and telling me why I was a horrible gay man, an outcast, etc. As I started to explain and apologize for being who I am, Donna came over, took the phone away from me mid sentence, hung up the phone and said to me, “Don’t ever talk to him again.”

I didn’t. 

I learned a lot about the kindness of people during my days at Digital. I like to think that somewhere there is a 19 year old just getting their start in their professional life, with little sense of where they’re going, but surrounded with people pushing them and guiding them.

Sometimes the brain fires off a dream that kicks off a pondering moment. And this dream, though it was lending itself to frustration, kicked off some good memories and made me realize, there are good people in the world and I need to continue being one of them.

Sometimes we all need a little nudge.

From “The Beautiful Mess” by John Pavlovitz.

“You shouldn’t let politics get in the way of your relationships.”

You’ve been hearing that for the past few months and seeing the sentiment pop up on social media in the wake of the election: the idea that family members and friends are too important to lose over a political position or a ballot choice.

I just wanted to offer a slightly dissenting opinion: bullshit.

That made philosophical sense in the past, prior to 2016, when we had parties and candidates who genuinely desired the common good, when we were just debating methodology or financial approach to problems that we all agreed were problems. It made sense when we imagined that our fathers, cousins, neighbors, and lifelong friends cared about diversity and justice and personal freedoms and helping people as much as we did.

We are way past that, dear friends.

Throughout this campaign, Donald Trump and his surrogates offered an openly nihilistic, misogynistic, hate-poisoned vision of an intentionally-divided nation without empathy for the poor or the sick; a naked declaration of white supremacy and intolerant nationalism; a movement completely devoid of policy and erected solely on those it would exclude and punish and banish.

And that is what so many of the people we once shared this life with have chosen, many for the third time now. That doesn’t just point to political fissure or ideological misalignment, but a complete moral incompatibility.

I’ve made a change to my approach around social media. I know, I go on about social media more than I should. But hear me out:

1. I’m avoiding algorithmically based timelines as much as possible. Obviously I’m avoiding Twitter, as it’s owned by Sissy Space X and basically just contains the dregs of the planet and the journalists that support them. But this also means leaning away from Threads, Facebook, and Instagram. Facebook continues to be the hardest to ignore, because too many friends and family use that as their only means of communication.
2. I’m giving Bluesky another whirl, and you can find my profile here. Since the online folks I have followed for years have scattered, a Bluesky profile let’s me keep in touch with some of them.
3. I’m still on Mastodon and it’s still my preferred social media platform. You can find me here.
4. My YouTube account will continue to grow, as I am enjoying the creative outlet of video making. I have confined my consumption of YouTube to my subscriptions list courtesy of a bunch of browser extensions and the like that hide the cruft along the sides of the pages.

In addition, I continue to approach my technology with a “pick your battles” approach. This involves a mix of Apple and Linux in my computing platforms of choice. I’m keeping a VERY close eye on Apple these days; Tim Cook’s exuberance the day after the elections was very concerning for me. Apple has pledged to keep user data private. Let’s see if they live up to that.

I’m writing further ideas down around cost savings and my technological habits. I’m letting them sit on a list of pondering notes for a few days before I take action.

It’s good to take a breath before taking action.

My husband took this photo last night.

I went hiking up in the Santa Catalina Mountains near Mount Lemmon yesterday. It was a cool day; there’s still snow on the ground in a few spots above 7000 feet.

I felt the need to be near trees. I wanted to hike around trees. So sturdy, so steady, so resilient.

I’ve had some people reach out with concern about my mental well being. I will be fine. And soon enough I will move beyond being fine and once again be awesome.

I’ve had my rants. I’ve ridden out the emotions. I’ve cried. I’ve been angry.

I’m done expending any more emotion on the subject. The people wanted a Trump world. Hysterics will not contribute to navigating it. Rational thought is what we need.

My focus is now on being rational.

Human beings, and Americans in particular, when given an opportunity to advance will almost always choose to trample.

Someone mentioned on a Zoom call today, “J.P., you’ve been wearing a lot of black”.

Um, yeah. Have you seen the news? The recommendation to wear black as a coping mechanism for the Trump Regime came from my 76-year old mother. She is one of two people in assisted living care amongst a sea of MAGAts that are sticking up for Kamala.

Back when I was a kid I asked, “why did he put a pie in Anita Bryant’s face?”

Mom: “Because she’s not a nice person”.

My mother has always rocked.