I’ve put my blog in the backseat for the past few weeks because I’m just exhausted. I’m tired of juggling everything, and really, I needed a break. Now we’re in the homestretch, the election is so close, and I am trying to stay positive, but damn, is it hard.
This month I have been revising my novel, really trying to tighten it up and bring it to life. I think I’ll have one of my best drafts completed by October 1st, and I’m excited.
Poetry? I’m trying to write more, but I have less energy to work on poems lately. Between revising my novel full-time and my new remote job, I don’t have a lot of energy left to work on poetry, but hopefully, that will change next month.
I’m focusing on reading these two books right now:
I’m looking for a contemporary poetry book or collection. If anyone has any recommendations, I’d be very interested to know what they are.
When it comes to world events, or I guess, in the U.S. The decision for the Breonna Taylor case is devastating and a complete disappointment. Another soul-crushing failure, and I can’t believe the response the Louisville police had, arresting protestors before the curfew on the day they announced the outcome of the case. Just total bullshit. Another blow.
I am so tired.
Stay positive, my friends, and reach out if you’d like to talk about books, writing, or anything else on your mind. I am here and happy to chat.
Yesterday, I finally decided that I was going to read Mary L. Trump’s book Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World’s Most Dangerous Man. For the last month, I had been reading numerous articles anticipating the release of Mary’s book. Curious about what she had to say, I finally bought the kindle version yesterday. Of course, I’m not surprised that Trump tried to stop her from publishing this book in the final countdown before the election.
What to expect?
Well, I am going to read and review Mary’s book. I plan to have my review done by the end of this month or sooner. I am going to pick the book apart like I would any other piece of written content. Concept/theme, structure, and clarity. I’m curious about Mary’s angle and how the book’s subject matter will be plotted out. I am also eager to go over her references and sources.
Trying to balance out life, staying-at-home, and how much time I spend on social media. Being home all the time has its side effects. My beer gut is growing. I have unlimited access to the news and social media if left unchecked. And without a routine, I will surely spiral into chaos. But I’ve stuck to my routine and continue to read and write all the time.
I allow myself about one to two hours a day of ingesting news. I read The New York Times and The Salt Lake Tribune. Tapering down on social media has also helped bring my stress levels down.
How long is this going to last?
We’re heading into the FIFTH MONTH of COVID-19. In the U.S. there is still chaos, misinformation, and poor leadership. But I have hope, and with the Black Lives Matter movement still going strong, my fingers are crossed that this year’s election is not a repeat of 2016.
Peaceful Protests Escalated by Cottonwood Heights PD
In Salt Lake City, local news continues to smear peaceful protesters, casting them as rioters causing trouble. This weekend a peaceful protest in Cottonwood Heights was escalated when police showed up outnumbering protesters. They herded protesters, had their cars towed, and then assaulted and pepper-sprayed them. I watched so many live videos on Instagram from protesters that showed the police attacking and brutalizing them. Horrible.
It’s like the police just don’t get it. Their actions are why peaceful protesters are on the streets. The Salt Lake Tribune published an article that, in my opinion, aimed to cheer for the Cottonwood Heights Police Department while smearing the peaceful protesters. Yesterday there was another protestwhere Trump and Blue Lives Matter supporters showed up but more concerning is that Utah Citizens’ Alarm group was there and armed with guns, a “deterrent to violence,” said Casey Roberston, founder of the group in the Salt Lake Tribune’s article.
The Utah Citizens’ Alarm showing up with guns is not to deter violence. It’s to intimidate protesters, visually threatening them by carrying guns, implying that they will shoot them if protesters become “violent”. Of course, the police do nothing about this group, and I’ve read articles that many in this group know the police. They are working in tandem with them. The group says on their Facebook page that they support peaceful protests. There is something unsettling about the way they talk about themselves and their mission.
Black Lives Matter Utah works in cooperation with CAG, The Coalition for Police Reform, The United Front Civil Rights Organization, Brown Berets, Cop Watch Salt Lake City, SURJ, United Front White Allies, Utah Against Police Brutality, and many other activist groups. We encourage you to join every group and support them all. We are in no competition with any other group. All active civil rights groups which fight against oppression should be supported.
This group is what you make of it. If you have an idea then suggest it and run with it. Lead. Do not be afraid to lead and to help the movement.
385-743-0298
They provide a phone number and a list of other organizations they work with.
This is their about page. To me it is concerning. Look at the parts I’ve bolded. It’s like they’re spinning that they support peaceful protests, solidarity, but the wording is vague and general. I don’t trust this group and it concerns me that this group has 18.3k members. If they have nothing to hide and they are working with law enforcement why is the group set to PRIVATE?
About This Group
MISSION STATEMENT
Utah Citizens’ Alarm works to maintain peace in the state of Utah by educating its communities in areas of preparedness and self-defense; fostering unity between citizens of all backgrounds and races as a show of solidarity in times of disaster and civil unrest; and building strong relationships with law enforcement through cooperative community efforts.
VISION STATEMENT
Utah Citizens’ Alarm creates an environment of safety, preparedness, and peace in communities and neighborhoods across our state through strong, organized citizen alliances.
OUR START
In June of 2020, concerned Utah citizen Casey Robertson made a life-changing decision to invite friends to take a stand against violence that had been accompanying protests over issues of racial inequality and police brutality. The result of his simple call to action on social media was a flood of local patriots ready and willing to join and support his cause of supporting peaceful protest while denouncing and deterring violence. The group grew quickly – by the thousands in a matter of days – and immediately became known as Utah Citizens’ Alarm.
It was Casey’s love for his country and his home town that prompted him to stand against violence after a Provo protest turned ugly, ending in the shooting of a driver trying to make his way through the crowd blocking an intersection. Now, along with inviting Utah residents to stand against violence at protests, Casey also aims to help people form alliances in their own small communities that will create neighborhoods that are safe, protected, and prepared for all situations.
So Casey is helping small communities set up alliances, groups, of armed citizens to defend themselves? To protect peaceful protesters? To protect their neighborhoods from “violence”?
There is a difference between peaceful protesters gathering and ARMED CIVILIANS showing up to protests to “deter violence”.
I will be looking for more information about this group to prove my point wrong that Utah Citizens’ Alarm is not just a gun-toting group that shows up to intimidate protesters.
How obvious does it have to be? Do people not see what is happening here?
For months now, this specific group of protesters gathered every Sunday and danced in the streets. Dancing in the street is punishable by being pepper-sprayed, beaten, and threatened with felony charges?
I’m deeply disappointed in Utah. The response here to the protests is unacceptable and continues to sour. Watching Live Videos from KSL news on Facebook covering the protests is difficult; people comment that unemployed kids have nothing better to do than protest for criminals.
I see more and more “Trump 2020!” and “BlueLivesMatter” on Facebook and other social media platforms. Disgusting. I have been coming across comments that say the Black Lives Matter movement has been hijacked, used as an excuse to protest just about anything. Amazing, the ignorance is incredible.
How do these people supporting cops, not see the injustice, the brutality? Even when it happens right in front of them when police assault peaceful protesters? Is it possible that many of the same people that cheer “Trump 2020!” are also the ones spouting “Blue Lives Matter”? Hmmm.
I could go on and on but I’m going to wrap up my little opinion-rant.
It’s disturbing how normal this is all starting to feel. Staying home, my routine, knowing what to expect at almost every hour of the day. It is becoming tiresome so I am trying to invigorate my days by switching my schedule around.
Normally, I get up read, write a little, have breakfast and then start my 3-4 hours of job searching and applying. I’ve changed this the last few days because I realized applying to jobs, checking my email, and getting no response or just responses that say “we are moving onto other candidates” or “this position is no longer open” was stressing me out. So now I spend my mornings reading as much as I can and then I start looking and applying to jobs around four or five in the afternoon.
Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar
Trade gift from a friend for a Poem
I finished The Bell Jar yesterday and it was amazing. I can’t believe I’m almost 27 (next month) and I haven’t read this. It was brutal, depressing, heart wrenching and woven with poetic language, I loved it. I couldn’t get enough of it. Now I am reading Plath’s The Collected Poems now; It was included with The Bell Jar copy I have. This was a trade gift for a poem that I wrote for one of my friends a couple of weeks ago and I completely love it!
Original Poem by Alina Happy Hansen (a Poem for $)
POETRY
My Poetry Workshop is coming to an end. I just finished submitting the last assignment on Sunday and now I am working on revising 3 poems and putting together my final portfolio for submission. This is hard, considering the 3 poems I have chosen to revise need A LOT of work and it will take up the rest of this week to even try to get these poems near “finished”.
I am sad that the Poetry Workshop is coming to an end and I have scrambled to find other classes. I ended up enrolling in four free courses through Harvard’s Free Online Courses.
I’ve enrolled in, Intro to Music Theory (I was going to take this class at SLCC but it would’ve costed me around $500), Ancient Masterpieces of World Literature, The Icelandic Sagas, and Writing for Social Media (starts on April 25th). Besides Writing for Social Media, the other courses are self-paced which will help me complete them all.
There is the option for all four to be “verified” so you can receive a certificate for completing the course but you have to pay. I don’t think it’s worth the money for three out of four of those but I am debating on getting a certificate for Writing for Social Media to put on my Linkedin profile, I don’t think hiring managers are going to care about a certificate when they want experience but I am still debating on it.
ART
I’ve been trying to sketch, paint, anything really to take my mind off of things. A couple things I’ve done or that I’m working on:
two works in progress, blue haired gal has been a work in progress for years now but I actually worked on her a couple days ago
STAYING SANE
April 20th, 2020 visit to the Salt Lake City Cemetery (practicing social distancing works great here so I can enjoy the weather and fantastic view)
Yesterday I ended up going to one of my favorite places, the Salt Lake City Cemetery in the Avenues. It has been a place I go to for over a decade now to get some peace and quiet so I can relax.
I think cemetery’s are beautiful and the memories, the tombstones, the act of remembering and respecting the dead is a wonderfully unique human habit that shows compassion and love for those that have come before us and reminds us to respect life and not waste it.
MY NOVEL
This is a first in a long time. I don’t think I’ve posted any updates about My First Novel in months. Finally because of COVID-19, being stuck at home has made me pull out my manuscript and start the final editing process which I should’ve-could’ve started back in January. One of my friends, who is a Grant Writer, actually read my entire manuscript and made notes, edited it for grammar and punctuation. I’m using her notes finally to work on it.
Yesterday I completed about five chapters. I have realized that my book jolts and jumps gears frequently after I completed another read through last week. So right now I am rewriting, rephrasing, mixing around the sentences for each chapter so it flows better. I know this means I will need to have it proofed again and most likely by a couple different people to get a more accurate estimate as to what needs to be fixed but this is just a necessary step in making my novel better, more coherent, and readable.
This is exciting for me and I finally feel like I’m making progress so this has relieved a little bit of stress and tension that I’ve been feeling lately.
Thank you for reading and being a part of my journey!
How has your Stay-at-Home time been for you? Are you reading or writing or doing both? Do you have any recommendations for keeping life interesting during these strange times? If so, please comment below!
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