Trump, Trump, Trump

The United States is being invaded by Russia at the highest level, and all that Donald Trump talks about is the Mexicans who are sneaking across the border to clean our houses, mow our lawns, and produce children who make straight A's in school.
*
According to recent outbursts from Trump Tower, the infamous wall will not be paid for by Mexico after all, at least not for a while. In the meantime, Trump proposes that our tax dollars fund it--because, of course, we're all running around with a couple of million rattling around in our pockets that we don't have any other use for.
*
Hasn't anyone caught onto Trump's delaying tactic? He's wiggled out of several lawsuits by wearing litigants out by delays; he kept saying he'd release his tax forms, then put it off till everyone forgot about it; and now he's put off telling us what his "secret" information about the Russian hacking is. How long will he keep getting away with this?

Computers in Command

In this electronic era, when the computer commands everyone's life, Fiorella feels the need to connect with tangible reality, to pick up rocks in her hands, to construct her own holiday decorations with scissors and ribbons, to start a fire in the fireplace with rotten wood.

And she wonders. Are we getting too far ahead of ourselves? Do we have too many apps on our phones? Are we are too dependent on our gadgets? Are the electronics are controlling us rather than us controlling them?

Think about it.

After the Holiday

Fiorella is running around with a pen (boligrafo) behind an ear (ojo) and glasses (lentes) on her nose (nariz). All she needs to complete the picture (imagen) is a sharp dirk clutched between her teeth (dientes).

The point is that she needs to rev up and throw herself into her projects again. No more Christmas jigsaw puzzles. Today she ran off all her blogs for the past year. Now she needs to be putting finishing touches on her novel and learning Spanish. At the same time, she needs to be harvesting rocks and placing them along the driveway, working her way through various family problems, trying to figure out how to use BlueTooth and FitBit, and saving the world from Donald Trump.

No time to waste in FiorellaLand. See you tomorrow

A STAR IS BORN!

Fio is ecstatic!  In second heaven! She received a cast call yesterday afternoon, and she's going to be a S-T-A-R!

Well, maybe--Serena, who represents an advertising agency, asked Fio if she would be willing to participate in an ad for Roger Beasley Mazda, which has serviced Fio's car for the past ten years, and what could Fio say but YES, YES, YES!  The Mazda people have taken good care of her as well as her baby car, and she wants to tell everyone how wonderful they are, but she also looks forward to being in the spotlight again.

Not that it's set, of course--the ad may fall through or Fio may not give a good performance. But for the time being, she can dream.  First Mazda, then Hollywood, then People Magazine, then the Oscar.

And to think. An hour before Serena called, Fio didn't have anything to tell you about today.

Respect UNCLE TOM'S CABIN

Black people, do not sneer at Uncle Tom or his creator, Harriet Beecher Stowe.

The 1800s were an era of intense abolitionist fervor in the United States. Half the nation had read about the horrors of slavery, but it took one final spark to light the tinder of the Civil War, and that spark was a book called Uncle Tom's Cabin, published in 1851.  Uncle Tom, as portrayed by Stowe, was not a rebel, but a saint, a Christ figure, an obedient, God-fearing, forgiving man who tried to serve all of his masters well, no matter how cruel they were. Fiorella, who read Uncle Tom's Cabin in her youth, cried when he died at the end of the book and vowed to speak up against racism whenever she encountered it, and so did many readers in the 1800s. As Abraham Lincoln said when he finally met Stowe. "So you are the little woman who wrote the book that started this great war!"

So Fio repeats--black people of today, do not sneer at Uncle Tom or his creator. They provided the impetus that set you free.

Left at the Station

Fiorella, who is electronically challenged, has accidentally done something to her blog that has made her message squeeze up into top of the screen on her draft, which means she'll have to make a quick trip to Click Computer Repair this morning. Maybe after that, she can find someone who can help her get her new Blue Tooth and FitBit up and running. Yes, faithful readers, Fiorella is an artist, a writer, a linguist, and a lover of rocks, but she is not an electronicist.

Fiorella vs. Contact Sports

Fio is opposed to all professional--and college--contact sports. She thinks all games should be amateur, played for the sake of fellowship and running off energy rather than winning. When winning becomes the goal, emotions of players and fans run too high, opening  the door to enmities, grudges, and riots, not to mention betting, bribery, and cheating.

That's where Fiorella stands, and she's standing firm.