After the March Was Over....

Fiorella woke up yesterday morning still glowing from the success of her NEVER AGAIN march, spent way too much time on FB, but had enough glow left that she did a fair amount of work on a difficult scene in her WIP. In the afternoon, she  and met up with friend Patricia in the cafe adjoining la biblioteca and her glow returned as she recounted the progress of the march.  Patricia asked how her Spanish was coming along, and Fio told her in sorrow that she hadn't made much progress because she needed a telenovela that she could play over and over again to drive el espanol into her brain, but didn't know how to locate  one.

"Why not borrow one from the library?" friend asked. To make a long, thrilling story short, Fiorella checked out two telenovela DVDs and will try them out on Monday.

But wait--there's still more! To top it off, when Fio got home, she started working on la historia de nuevo and pretty much finished off the rest of that problem scene.

Fiorella is a happy camper.

Fiorella's March

Fiorella is exhausted. Trying to make the world a better place is taxing, especially with the administration we now have and what happened in Parkland. Fio wasn't surprised that Trump, whose brain is made of swiss cheese, did and said stupid things, but learning how utterly vile the current NRA is has knocked her for a loop. She would have understood if the organization's president had said how shocked they all were that one of their members had done such a heinous thing and that NRA would double down on responsiblity training from now on, but to malign the survivers? The students whose friends and classmates were alive one moment and dead the next?

And that is why Fiorella is trying to get a march going in Georgetown, the most conservative little town in central Texas.

Fiorella's On The Warpath

Fio won't go on Facebook till later because she needs to catch up with her book, and she also needs a rest from dealing with heartless people. Yesterday, she was all over FB, making cleverly devastating remarks, throwing Russian at trolls, predicting the downfall of the orange man, and being mad as hell. Can you believe that Trump went from a brief hospital visit, which was mostly a photo op, to a disco party? That the Florida legislature won't even consider tightening-up gun laws and has dismissed the concerns of the survivors as teen-age nonsense? Can you believe that even the hardest heart is not moved by the horror? The tragedy? The tears? Can you believe the crack-pated ideas that have been floated around, like every teacher being armed--can't you just see a couple of your old un-favorites arranging a duel at dawn? Or taking out a student who's asking too many questions? Or accidentally shooting a hole through the roof as he/she wrestles a pull-down map, a yardstick, and a stack of papers all at the same time?

But never fear. Fiorella's absence from FB will only last till the afternoon, when she'll hurl herself into action again. Till then, sleep well with the knowledge that Fio has sent an email to the editor of Georgetown's bi-weekly newspaper calling for a local march on March 24 in support of the massacre survivors and their fallen classmates.

How Fiorella Lives Her Life

Fiorella had a wonderfully social day yesterday lunching with friend Jane Perrine, then driving into Austin to visit with friend Deborah Radel. Politics was the topic of the day and both of her friends were so clever that Fio laughed herself silly. Jane fights the good fight by contacting her representatives and contributing to various liberal causes, while Deborah is looking forward to the next one. Empowerment is addictive.
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Fio has started exploring the unknown territories of the five-acre wooded tract that she and Husband live on. Yesterday she discovered a charming dell off the side of the north driveway that Fernando, her yardman, who also likes discovering things, had obviously mowed. She also found the north branch of the dry creek that edges three sides of the property. but she didn't go too far because that area is unfenced and she didn't want to get lost. Again.
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The last day for El Color de la Pasion is Monday, March 6, and all its plot threads are rapidly being resolved. Rebeca is homeless, Amador is in jail, the guy who raped Tene is in jail, Nora has committed suicide, Nazario was visited by the spirit of his late wife who tells him to marry Norita (Fio thinks),Rafaela is back with a chastened Milagros, Lucia and Marcelo are engaged (again), and Lucia will be sole owner of the art tile factory, Your Fio plans to buy the whole series and watch it again. It's a great way to learn Spanish, she picks up drama pointers from it that she can use in her books, and watching it before she goes to bed ensures a good night's sleep.

FORWARD!

Fiorella spent the afternoon on Facebook, watching live feeds of the Washington march and catching up with the other marches through post after ecstatic post, many of them from women who were friends of Fio's. Then, in the evening, a close friend of almost forty years called on the phone, still high as a kite from the march. And Fio is too, but there is more that must come, The marches galvanized the country to action, but we cannot let the fire die.

FIGHT THE GOOD FIGHT!