Hettie’s Reflections – Blog Posts

About Politics And Violence

I didn’t want to write anything about Charlie Kirk, but several people asked for my opinion, and I thought I should write a blog post.

On Friday morning, during my escorting shift, other escorts seemed to be overjoyed and almost celebrated the assassination. I would never do that. Yes, there is a cruel irony in the fact that Charlie Kirk mentioned at least in one of his speeches that the right to bear arms can’t be taken away from the American people, even if that means some lives will be lost. It happened to be his life, but honestly, I do not want to build anything on that.

I still maintain that nobody has a right to take other person’s life away. I was always against the death penalty, and I always will be (this does not include the time of war).

Another theme which was circulating during the first couple of days after the assassination was a conspiracy theory (like Trump had organized it all). I understand why people want to believe in this conspiracy, but I find no ground in it’s support. I do not think it’s right that the Minnesota political assassinations went pretty much unnoticed and uncommented by the White House, and at the same time, the flags ran half-staff for the Kirk’s assassination. I do not think it’s right that the killing of Villegas-Gonzalez didn’t make headlines except for the Chicago local news.

And I hope that these events won’t become an excuse for any political opression. We’ll keep watching.

A Very Long Sunday

I intend to use every summer-y day that is left to the fullest. On Sunday, I went for a long bike ride, then I had breakfast on my balcony, went to the Glenwood Market to buy flowers, and then went to the beach. It was so lovely there that I lost track of time, and forgot for a moment that I had several things which I had to do (and as a result, I have a long list of what I was supposed to do but I didn’t).

And then, there was something new and special. I went to the concert at the new venue – they just opened on Saturday!

The venue is called The Checkout (so, if you forgot the website name, it’s close to impossible to Google it!) It is located in the old 7-Eleven building which was rehubed by Access Contemporary Music (and you can read all about their initiatives on their website).

The venue is naturally very small, and no wonder the event was sold out:

I didn’t know anything about Arvo Part, but Boris told me that he was super-avantguard, and the Soviet Estonia officials left him alone, because nobody could understand his music. I confess that I was very close to that “non-sophisticated listener,” and although the musiciants explained quite a bit about his music, I think I should do what they suggested: go to his website and see the graphical representation of his works :).

The future programming is very diverse in all senses of this work, and they do not publish a lot of details about what to expect, but I am definitely open to experiments! I like that this venue is close to my home (less than 40 minutes door-to-door, with all waits). I like that they have no amplifiers at all, and the audience is exposed to the live sound of the instruments and vocal.

On the way back, I saw one of the vocalists on the Red Line platform, and I thanked him for the music (he was the best!) and we talked about life and music all the way until I got off.

Chicago Is Staying Strong!

It’s old news now, but I still want to celebrate Chicago’s victory last week. I know it sounds surreal that the city had to defend itself against the president, but that’s not the first and not the last surreal thing happening these days. However, it proves that it is possible to resist this administration, even without lengthy court battles (although the governor clearly indicated that he was ready to go to court), and also proves that when the city and the elected official are united to achieve their goals, they win.

On a more sober note, the Friday killing of Silverio Villegas-Gonzalez by an ICE officer. Still, I do not think this tragedy annuls what Chicago did last week.

One More Museum Day

This summer, I had more museum days than ever, and I loved it! We had very limited time when I could take M. around, and I was glad that the conference folks did half of my job and organized several groups to do activities which I considered a must in Chicago.

A half-day at the beach was non-negotiable, but we also had a half-day on Saturday, and it was hard to choose. When M. learned that there is an Aquarium in Chicago , she immediately prioritized and, and I was happy to oblige, because I love Aquarium, and not everyone would prioritize it. There were some adventures in tha morning (a heavy thunderstorm, plus I mixed up her hotel, waisted even more time, and we ended up taking Uber, even though I taught her to ride CTA a day before and she was very enthusiastic to utilize her newly aquired skill).

At the end, everything worked out, and we were in the first group of people entering Aquarium. I am unsure who enjoyed it more: M. exploring the exhibits or me, watching hee excitement.

We saw the most interesting exhibits, and since I left all the options open, and she decided to relocate to the Field Museum, where we ate lunch, and I left her with the 3D movie ticket and the member ticket to all exhibits.

When already have a long list of places to visit and things to see when M. will be in Chicago next time!

It’s Beach Time!

The warm weather finally returned, but two stretches of cold days definitely brought the water temperature down, although it was still warmer than in June. Still, I was surprised when my Kenyan friend M. expressed enthusiasm for going to the beach; I thought she would find the Michigan water unacceptably cold. Still, she put the beach high in her list of priorities, and I didn’t mind at all! In fact, even if she won’t be visiting, I would take Friday afternoon off, because it was perfect beach weather!

I cant even describe how much we both enjoyed this outing!

And my old swimsuit found a new home. 😀

DjangoCon US

I think it was the first time in my life that I attended a non-academic, professional, and non-Postgres conference, and it was surprisingly interesting.

I am posting about this conference here rather than on my professional blog, because it’s more about the atmosphere than what exactly the talks were about.

First note: this community did not succumb to whatever the current “official” position is, and fosters diversity for real. Just one nice touch: when you register, they give you your name tag, and then you can add as many ribbons as you like:

I loved the idea of speakers’ ribbons! I will do it for PG DATA
Keanya Phelps made opening remarks. Later, I had a very in-depth conversation with her about how we can work together.
We share the goals and values, and that’s amazing.
The talk about community governance – I talked with the presenters later.

Django’s 20th birthday and DEFNA’s 10th birthday!

Although I am not a “programmer” or an application developer, many talks were really interesting to me because they were about building communities, supporting Open Source, fostering diversity, and working towards the common good.

And we spent a lot of time together with my friend M.

Another thing I loved about this community was how the conference participants organized to experience the best of Chicago, including multiple tours, museums, bike rides, and even an early morning lake plunge. Somehow, when I attend Postgres conferences, most of the attendees are only interested in places to have dinner. It was really refreshing :). I felt being among “my tribe.”

And More Chicago!

While Lena stayed with me over the weekend, I was constantly checking my phone for two reasons: to check what Trump was up to and to follow the moves of my friend from Kenya, who was arriving in Chicago to attend the same conference I was going to attend the next week.

I wanted to be the first person to show her the city, so after Lena left, I immediately headed to the conference venue where my friend was volunteering with the conference setup.

She didn’t even had a chance to check-in to the hotel yet, so we had only two hours, but the Wolf Point Plaza was a great starting point!

And she brought me a dress from Kenya – an amazing dress with gigantic pockets!

We did a lot of things together in Chicago this week – more to follow!

COVID Vaccines Update

For those who are in Illinois and want to follow my example, please hurry up- things might change! See the Sun Times article below.

As doctors anticipate word from the federal government, many expect Illinois will promote vaccination for those left out under new restrictions, Elvia Malagón and Kaitlin Washburn report for the Chicago Sun-Times.

That could mean authorizing pharmacists to administer vaccines off-label, as they do in other states. Doctors already are authorized to give vaccines off-label.

The Food and Drug Administration approved the latest version of the vaccine but only for those 65 and older or people with a high-risk medical condition. The agency did not specify which medical conditions were eligible, but pharmacies offering the vaccine are relying on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s definition of high-risk groups. That includes people who have asthma, are neurodivergent, live with disabilities or certain mental health conditions, smoke or are physically inactive.

It’s unclear, however, whether insurers will cover the costs over the long run for people who fall outside the FDA’s guidelines. For now, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois, one of the state’s largest private insurance companies, hasn’t changed its coverage policy.

The Illinois Department of Public Health plans to issue its own guidance by the end of the month after reviewing recommendations from medical societies, experts and its own immunization advisory committee, according to Dr. Sameer Vohra, the agency’s director. [Chicago Sun-Times]

Weekend With Lena

Lena finally made it to Chicago – in September instead of July, and it turned sharply cold, and we could not go to the beach. Still, our interests are so much aligned that we made it an absolutely perfect weekend.

Lena arrived on Friday evening and met with her Chicago-based coworkers. We chatted for a bit before and drafted the plan of activities.

Saturday was chilly, and since Lena uses each of her Chicago visits as an occasion to dress nicely, and I am happy to join her, we ended up being dressed not precisely to the weather, and were moderately cold most of the time :).

We started the day in the Field Museum, and I was able to properly see all the exhibits (and the recent updates to the “Evolving Planet,” which Lena didn’t see yet).

Continue reading “Weekend With Lena” →

New Field Museum Exhibit, And How I Took My Mom There

Last week, a new exhibit,  “After the Age of Dinosaurs,” opened in the Field Museum. There was a members-only access event on Tuesday evening, and after a long break, I decided to give it a try and take my mom there. I was encouraged by the suggestion of her caregiver that she could travel with her to the museum, and I can come there after work and meet them right there. That way, her caregiver would also have a chance to see the exhibit.

We planned everything seemingly perfectly, but since my mom walks slowly, and they had to switch from the Red line train to the bus, this trip took them a very long time. And my mom felt it even longer.

Then she had to eat something (I planned on that, because I knew that would be the time for her to eat), and it also took a very long time, and she could not choose what to eat, and then she asked how much did it cost, and complained that everything is expensive (even though she didn’t have to pay anything).

When we entered the exhibit, she started to ask how “they” (who put up the exhibit) knew what things looked like 66 million years ago, and then said that they just made things up since there was no way to know. I tried to remind her that she learned about different geological periods of the history of the Earth at school, citing the archeological discoveries and radiocarbon dating, but it didn’t look like she remembered.

The same went for the fossilized plants. The exhibit showcased some prehistoric plants that were distant predecessors of the plants we use widely today, such as chocolate trees or apple trees. She asked skeptically, “How did the scientists know these were the prehistoric apples?” and ultimately concluded that “they made it all up.”

Possibly, this is something trending on the Russian internet these days; I know that the theories of “everything is made up” emerge from time to time.

After that exhibit, we briefly saw the Reptiles exhibit, and I just walked her directly to the actual live reptiles, bypassing all the displays with scientific information.

I got Uber home, and on the way back, she was saying that “she does not understand why there were so many people there, why they were interested, why there were so many children, and why parents explained something to them and they seemed to listen.”

I don’t know what to make of this experience, except that it should be Uber both ways. I am afraid that if I were to stop taking her anywhere, she will mentally decline even more rapidly than now. However, if she is unable to process any new information, I am unsure what good it would do. So still figuring this out.