Sunday, March 12, 2017

Back (Way Back) In the Day


I suppose a lot of people (well, some people) have been wondering what Woodstock Churchlady thinks about the last election. I know I have. I did my best to keep up; I watched The Daily Show and Saturday Night Live religiously, although I did not make it a sacred ritual or duty.

But mostly, I was reminded of the campaigns I had worked on: that of a friend who was running for Congress (She lost.), or my first campaign, of another friend who ran for the State Legislature. (He's still there.) And then there was another state legislator who had done so much for the District that they named the new community center after him, but he was indicted for using State computers for his campaign. (He was found guilty, but a lot of people had voted for him anyway.  They changed the name of the community center, though.)

I knocked on doors, handed out leaflets, wore the buttons and tee shirts. I ate the chicken and blocks of chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry ice cream at the political dinners, with the free pastel mints on the tables and the cash bars.

I really got emotionally involved when Walter Mondale ran for president with Geraldine Ferraro as vice president. I woke up on Election Day feeling like it was Christmas Eve and spent the day working on the campaign of my legislator friend, going door to door to remind people to vote (most of them weren't home) and sitting around listening to war stories of past campaigns and eating hoagies and potato chips provided by the candidate.

He won, but everyone else my friends and I supported lost. We were devastated and for awhile, nothing seemed “right”, as if “the times were out of joint.” But The Holidays arrived, and who had time to be upset? And then the next election season came around.

A lot of people may think the reminiscing about old battles is a waste of time when there is so much to be done. Others may say that they are getting too old for that stuff.

Whatever.























Thursday, March 9, 2017

Offer it up! Lenten Annoyances



Your friends are enjoying their religious identity, talking about what they've given up for Lent and debating whether Long John Silver's or Popeye's fish is better, and you tell them that it's not necessary to give up anything for Lent or not eat meat "because there are more meaningful and useful things we can do."

YOU JUST MIGHT BE AN ANNOYING CHRISTIAN!