Fri. March 28, 2025: Steady Busy

image couortesy of Free Photos via pixabay.com

Friday, March 28, 2025

Dark Moon

Venus & Mercury Retrograde

Sunny and chilly

It’s Friday! We had a dusting of snow overnight.

I received a completely unexpected and deeply appreciated gift from the Boiler House Poets Collective, and I am so grateful.

Yesterday was a good, steady busy. Meditation in the morning, which delighted Charlotte. I finished the final round of handouts, saved the slides as PDFs, and sent them off to the students. I signed out of the hosting account for the writers’ organization for the last time, to make room for the next instructor. I sent an email to the administrator to see if they need anything else from me.

I did the blog rounds and the rounds of elected officials and a whole bunch of admin. I got the March newsletter finished, proofed, and out the door, and started the document for the June newsletter.

My noon meeting was with #FreelanceFriends on Bluesky, which used to be #FreelanceChat. I keep typing #Freelance FIENDS instead, but hey. It was a good conversation built around the subject of AI.

After the meeting, I turned my attention to the ghostwriting. It’s going much more slowly than it should. I have to pick up the pace over the weekend, or I will be in trouble next week. However, if I don’t build a solid foundation in the early portion, the rest will tumble like a house of cards. I got some good work done; just not enough and not fast enough.

In the evening, I had a training session adjacent to the library cohort work. It was very good, and there’s information I can take and use beyond the library environment, which is important in this day and age with all the intentional chaos generated.

I’m proud of my city’s city council, who passed a resolution making North Adams a sanctuary city for the LGBTQIA+ community. The vote was 6-3. I made note of the three councilors who voted against it. They weren’t individuals for whom I voted in the last election, and I certainly won’t support them in the next. Pittsfield City Council passes a similar resolution unanimously. Last weekend, ICE was lurking and intimidating people in Pittsfield, and some unidentified secret police abducted a Tufts University student on the other side of the state for writing an op-ed and took her down to Louisiana, against judge’s order. This must stop. There is so much in this administration that must be stopped. Schumer needs to stop sitting back, smirking and trying to fundraise and actually lead, or he needs to step aside.

I was also happy to hear that the Council approved a plan for MASS MoCA to purchase the former Sullivan Street School and turn it into a housing, arts, and community space.

In the evening I read for pleasure, although I went to bed fairly early, because my brain was tired. Had a series of disturbing dreams, which is not at all surprising, considering what’s going on.

Up close to the regular time. Feed the cats, morning meditation, first writing session, etc. I have some admin to deal with this morning, and the rounds of library-grocery store-errands. In the afternoon, I have to turn around a small script coverage and dig into the ghostwriting. I will be working on that most of the weekend. I also need to work on contest entries. I’d like to wind up the first category early next week.

I will take a break from the ghostwriting tomorrow evening, to see the performance piece in which 4 of my cohort members are involved. I was invited to something Sunday afternoon, but I can’t find enough information on it, and I’m not sure I’ll have enough done on the ghostwriting in order to take off a bunch of hours in the afternoon.

I also have housework to do this weekend, two books to read and review, and I’d like to get some rest in there somewhere. But it’s the good kind of busy, and I’m grateful.

Tomorrow is both a new moon and a partial solar eclipse. Talk about exhausting!

I’m hoping that NEXT weekend, once I turn in the ghostwriting assignment, I can get some genuine rest.

Have a great weekend, and we’ll catch up in a few days.