Today reminds US to share food with people so we thrive

I still believe in all of my beautiful warm-hearted friends who have saved my soul with their expressions of empathy, my heroically smiling students who have reminded me that you can live in a country with a shameful leader and still enjoy your life and help others enjoy theirs, and all the Americans who once again helped the right candidate win the popular vote, although the confusing constraints of our history, both literal and figurative, brought us something else.  

A year and a half ago I was in class and a student asked me what I thought about the following year's presidential election, even though nobody had declared a candidacy for president yet.  I responded by saying, "You can just give it to Hillary Clinton, as far as I'm concerned.  She's probably more experienced than anyone else, the Republicans rarely have ideas lately, let alone good ideas, and it's about time we've had a woman.  I think that will have positive reverberations for generations.  Besides, we're doing pretty good with Obama now, and she'll probably just keep most of his policies going, so yeah, I hope we can avoid another drawn out election season because it gets earlier and earlier every year!"

Well, as you know, I didn't get that latter wish about a simple breezy election.  Oh no, it has been anything but that.  Ever since one of my least favorite people announced his candidacy (a designation he earned the day and way he announced his candidacy), I've spent much of the past year and a half explaining to students just how our country works, how our history has come together, and why so many people could be accepting of someone who doesn't even have any public service experience somehow running for president.  It's not like you'd ever ask a dentist to perform open heart surgery.  They're different areas of expertise.

Even though we've heard plenty about all of the candidates in this past year and a half, and we got a nice taste of what's possible from a man who recently bought a summer home on North Hero island on my favorite lake in the world, I look back and fully support my original position.  I would be enthusiastic about having Hillary Clinton as the President of the United States.  After all, North Hero is right next to Clinton County, where my mother and my grandfather were born and raised, and where my grandmother taught her students to strengthen their empathy, to fight against racism, sexism, and inequality, and to make the world a great place to live.  I hope to honor her memory this day

I traveled to a new place on a mission to experience artistic treasure, and I was rewarded with a magic performance, so I'm very blessed to be in a place where I can move so freely with people getting together in large happy groups to celebrate beauty

I am happy to be alive, free, healthy, writing, focusing on dreams, and with so many fun people to make smile and create smiles in me