Kimberly O'Connor

Hello,

Everything super sucks right now is a phrase that I have thought, said aloud, and texted to other people multiples times today so far, and I’ve been awake for just 3.5 hours. It’s insanely cold where I am, I’m attempting to raise a teenager (results TBD), and listening to or watching the news is like a spin-the-wheel of terribleness. (OMG avian flu. OMG the CCD.)

But! Also: I’m healthy, I’m warm in my office, I have a cool job, and tonight I will likely make chicken soup while my sweet husband builds a fire.

When I’m not using terribleness as a mantra, I also remember this poem by Jack Gilbert, A Brief for the Defense. There’s something very reassuring about its first lines, how it somehow sweeps the world’s horrors out of the way by naming them so directly. If I was going to get the lines of a poem tattooed on my body, they would be

We must have the stubbornness to accept our gladness in the ruthless furnace of this world.

So, I’m going to try to repeat that line for the rest of the day and look for pleasure.

In the meantime, check out the ALCU. Now is a great time to support them by donating if you can. Here are a few things they are offering right now:

• free Know Your Rights cards for immigrants in several languages
• a podcast about civil rights
• a volunteer sign up that will connect you with events and opportunities in your area
• and tomorrow, a virtual event with New York Attorney General Letitia James, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, and Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes.

All right–I’m off to the ruthless furnace, where I’m lucky enough to hang out with my wonderful engineering students, many of them awake and eager to learn!

XO.