Without Kids at Home it is Still Halloween!
Category: everyday life
This is MY America, and we DO NOT WANT Trump!
The Confrontation
Igor wrote an article about last week’s rally, which was finally published a couple of days ago. When being at the rally, he took a lot of pictures, of which I wanted to show these two.
Can’t stress enough – it’s scary when there are fifteen of you against the five hundred. Marching with thousands feels good. Standing against the big crowd requires courage.
Open House Chicago – Part 1
Open House Chicago was taking place last weekend, and once again, no matter how busy I was, I wanted to go. And since the counter-protest took a big portion of my Saturday, we (Igor and I) decided to go on Sunday.
This year Igor planned for us to see the South Side locations. These days, people often think about the South Side as a dangerous place, which they would try to avoid by all costs. Meanwhile, historically, the center of Chicago was way more to the south than it is today, and the South Side has a very fashionable place (with no blacks allowed, of cause).
Unfortunately, I have no time to write in detail about all the places we’ve seen, but I am going to mention some highlights.
That was my first time visiting the Southshore Cultural Center, and for those who ever been there, it would be understandable that I was stunned.
Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin – a Book Review
One more from my summer reading: Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin by Timothy Snyder.
I could give this book six stars if this rating were available. Extremely informative, great explanations of all “whats” and “whys.” I know the history of this period better than many, but still, there was something new to me.
Also, there were two historical facts, which I only knew from my grandaunt tellings, but never saw them in writing. Being from a family of the “enemies of the nation,” I learned about large portions of the country’s history from the stories my grandaunt told me. At that time, I was sure that they would never become parts of the official account. But after 1985, and especially after 1991, a significant portion of this history became public. There were several facts, however, which I never heard mentioned officially, so I was not even sure whether I remembered them correctly.
To mu surprise, I found the mentioning of these events in the “Bloodlands.” The first is the mentioning of the nationality-based “cases” in the 1930s. My grandaunt told me than my grandfather was prosecuted”as a part of the Polish Case,” but since it was never mentioned otherwise, I thought I might have imagined it. That was the first time I saw it in print.
The second fact was the description of Polish Jews sent back from the Soviet Union to Poland after the war. My grandaunt was a professor at the Leningrad State University at that time, and she was telling me about one of her students who were afraid to do back.
My grandaunt told her: why? It’s now free Poland without Hitler. There will be o antisemitism or anything alike. She remembered how this student shook her head and said hesitantly: I am not so sure… My grandaunt said, she could never forgive herself that she sent her away. Once again, that’s the first time in my life, I saw these facts in writing.
I gave this book to Igor for his 34th birthday:)
The Age Of Surveillance Capitalism – a Book Review
Since I switched to this blog from my previous one, I almost stopped publishing my book reviews. Meanwhile I’ve read several incredible books in the past months., and now I am going to publish several blog posts about my “summer reading.” For those who are new to this blog and to my life in general – for 99% of the time I listen to the audiobooks rather than read books in any format. This is due to bot my multiple vision issues and my packed lifestyle. When I am listening to the audiobook, it is easier to squeeze minutes here and there.
Now – the the actual book review.
This is the first book I am going to write about is The Age of Surveillance Capitalism by Shoshana Zuboff
I liked this book a lot, and in contrast to the “Uninhabitable Earth,” there are lots of supporting facts. Probably, part of my liking this book is that “I was there,” and I am aware of most of the facts. The difference is that I am not particularly alarmed with the perspective.
I was always thinking, as long as I can remember thinking about it, that in the hypothetical future, it will be an established fact that anybody can locate anybody in the world, and I do not consider it wrong. Yes, any technology can be used for good and for evil, but this applies to ANY technology.
Same with influencing people’s decisions. Hitler didn’t have the Internet. He didn’t even have television. Yet, he was able to influence millions, and they honestly believed it was their own decision, their personal choice. It has been happening through the course of history all the time. That’s what debates were for. That’s what political speeches were for. You are trying to influence people, and if you are skilled enough, you can.
… After I read this book, I wanted to buy a Google Home device for the first time in my life 🙂
Recap on Volunteering
And one more thing about volunteering. In just two days, several people told me something to the effect of “now I am retired, and I can volunteer.” And one person, whom I met at the volunteering-related event, responded to my question with “I do not volunteer, I work!” I know that in the latter case, I should skip any reaction entirely, but I almost automatically reply: I work, too!
I guess I do not know why people need any excuses for not volunteering. It’s just … up to you, no justification required. Maybe, it’s just a social situation. Or maybe peer pressure…
Advertising My Friend’s App
Several year ago I’ve already advertised an app, created by my friend in Finland. This app is called EasyMenu and has lots of different functionalities, including planning your meals ahead and creating the shopping lists.
That’s what the app’s authors say:
EasyMenu is an application which stores your recipes, plans menus for any number of days or weeks, as well as generates shopping lists. The menu planner allows to plan your menu manually, or generate a random balanced menu, or anything in between!
This saves a lot of time, money and effort. It is also environmentally friendly, because it reduces the amount of food thrown away.
Main features of EasyMenu 3.0
- Cookbook with advanced search by name, ingredients or tags
- Menu planner is available on both computers and mobile devices (iPhone, iPad or Android)
- New recipes are easy to add and edit
- Add your own ingredients
- Add new or…
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A Very Short Post…
I wish people would realize that it is incredibly rude to use the phrase “Where are you from?” as an ice breaker when they talk to a person with an accent. It’s completely fine when you already know a person, to ask, but to react on an accent is the same as to react on the skin color!
The Counter Rally Against Pro-Life Activists
The first political protest I ‘ve organized happened on January 2017, and that was a very successful one. But back that everybody was freshly angry with Trump, and in three days it grew from four people going to come to seven hundred people who came. But again, it was back then. And a reason for the protest was an elected official who didn’t want to meet with his constituents.
That time was different. Only 15 people had shown up. And a protest itself was different.
***
Igor forwarded to me this facebook event more than two months ago. The pro-life people were planning a big rally in my hometown. My first reaction was: I can’t stay silent. I thought that if I don’t speak, any woman in Palatine who faces abortion will feel like committing a horrible sin. My second reaction was: that’s my hometown. A small one. Everybody knows everybody. I knew the rally was going to be huge. I felt scared to stand against my neighbors.
And then, this email was sitting in my inbox for quite a while. And after quite a while, I forwarded it to one of the escort leaders. She replied – thank you! We will send somebody. And then again, nothing happened. Then I’ve sent it to the leader of the women section of the local OFA.
Things finally started to get in motion, and I saw that the counter-rally began to appear on the calendars of many progressive groups. At some moment, I was still not sure whether anybody would come. As I’ve said, there were only 15 of us, and when the pro-life people came, they blocked our signs, and we had to move to the opposite side of the intersection. Their rally was massive. We learned later that many of the rally participants came from other places, but it felt like the whole town is against us.
