Mary Sisney's Blog - Posts Tagged "2015"
The Best of Times, The Worst of Times: 2014 In Review
Several times I've described race relations in America since the election of Obama as representing both the best of times and the worst of times. Having a half-black President and his blacker family in the White House has been the best of times. When he visits Los Angeles, my mother and I love watching him run up the steps to the airplane and take off for the White House. But the increased racism resulting from the backlash to his election has been the worst of times, especially for us pre-Civil Rights era blacks who are sick and tired of dealing with racism.
That Dickens phrase, which I did not realize Obama had also used (in a 2009 interview) to describe race relations in America, perfectly captures my attitude toward 2014. Politically, it was the best of times and the worst of times. In November California stayed deep blue, and the very competent, intellectual, almost-as-cool-as-Obama Governor Jerry Brown won his fourth term without spending any money. But nationally it was the worst of times as Republicans won races they should have lost while the weak Democrats ran away from this very successful, half-black President.
Economically, it was the best of times for me but not because gas prices went down, wages went up slightly, and more people were employed. I'm retired and drive fewer than 3,000 miles per year; however, I turned 65 last year, so I started collecting Social Security while also qualifying for Medicare. I was in the money for a few months, moving on up like the Jeffersons, but then right after I used some of my new money to landscape my yard, my air conditioner broke, and I spent $5,000 buying a new air conditioner and heater. Oh, well, I can't take it with me.
My life as a caretaker also followed this best/worst pattern. After she stopped taking the diuretic-laced blood pressure pills, my mother no longer fainted, so there were fewer medical emergencies in 2014. But she is still a year older, so she has more trouble walking and even more trouble thinking. Her cluelessness is sometimes funny but often disturbing and even horrifying.
Although our neighbors are younger, cuter, and more full of life as we welcomed a pretty new neighbor named Cora in September, some of the old folks (younger than my mother but older than Cora) in the hood are getting on my nerves. I discovered last year that one neighbor in her seventies has been running our lives and spending our money since she moved into her house several years ago and that the rest of us have been sheep, letting her get away with it, buying expensive new fencing years before we needed it, driving over unnecessary and unwanted by many speed bumps in our streets, paid for with our association dues. Now I have to be the lion or I guess the sheep dog, watching the board and her so that she won't continue to rule us. I prefer reading a book or writing a blog and letting other people worry about what the board and my neighbors are doing, but clearly I am the only person in this neighborhood who will do more than just whine when I see bad behavior or injustice. I'M THE ONLY ONE WHO WILL TRY TO STOP THE MADNESS!
I don't know what 2015 will bring. Certainly if we live, we will all be a year older this year, and just as certainly, somebody somewhere, probably someone not only in the neighborhood but in this house, will get on my last nerve. The good news is there won't be an election this year; the bad news is the Presidential candidates for 2016 will start announcing their candidacy, and the debates will begin. Whatever happens in 2015, it can't be much better or worst than what happened in 2014.
That Dickens phrase, which I did not realize Obama had also used (in a 2009 interview) to describe race relations in America, perfectly captures my attitude toward 2014. Politically, it was the best of times and the worst of times. In November California stayed deep blue, and the very competent, intellectual, almost-as-cool-as-Obama Governor Jerry Brown won his fourth term without spending any money. But nationally it was the worst of times as Republicans won races they should have lost while the weak Democrats ran away from this very successful, half-black President.
Economically, it was the best of times for me but not because gas prices went down, wages went up slightly, and more people were employed. I'm retired and drive fewer than 3,000 miles per year; however, I turned 65 last year, so I started collecting Social Security while also qualifying for Medicare. I was in the money for a few months, moving on up like the Jeffersons, but then right after I used some of my new money to landscape my yard, my air conditioner broke, and I spent $5,000 buying a new air conditioner and heater. Oh, well, I can't take it with me.
My life as a caretaker also followed this best/worst pattern. After she stopped taking the diuretic-laced blood pressure pills, my mother no longer fainted, so there were fewer medical emergencies in 2014. But she is still a year older, so she has more trouble walking and even more trouble thinking. Her cluelessness is sometimes funny but often disturbing and even horrifying.
Although our neighbors are younger, cuter, and more full of life as we welcomed a pretty new neighbor named Cora in September, some of the old folks (younger than my mother but older than Cora) in the hood are getting on my nerves. I discovered last year that one neighbor in her seventies has been running our lives and spending our money since she moved into her house several years ago and that the rest of us have been sheep, letting her get away with it, buying expensive new fencing years before we needed it, driving over unnecessary and unwanted by many speed bumps in our streets, paid for with our association dues. Now I have to be the lion or I guess the sheep dog, watching the board and her so that she won't continue to rule us. I prefer reading a book or writing a blog and letting other people worry about what the board and my neighbors are doing, but clearly I am the only person in this neighborhood who will do more than just whine when I see bad behavior or injustice. I'M THE ONLY ONE WHO WILL TRY TO STOP THE MADNESS!
I don't know what 2015 will bring. Certainly if we live, we will all be a year older this year, and just as certainly, somebody somewhere, probably someone not only in the neighborhood but in this house, will get on my last nerve. The good news is there won't be an election this year; the bad news is the Presidential candidates for 2016 will start announcing their candidacy, and the debates will begin. Whatever happens in 2015, it can't be much better or worst than what happened in 2014.
