These emotional times

I am an emotional person. I think I inherited this trait from my mother, who sees a front page picture of basically any disaster and gets tears in her eyes. It has been an especially emotional last couple of weeks--not only for me, but for the country.

June 17, 2015: The Charleston, SC church shooting. I actually saw this news when I was taking a 10-minute break from my reading class. I literally looked at the headline on my phone, started to tear up, and then realized that the break was over and I had to start teaching again. It took me another minute to get ahold of myself. This shooting really upset me because it seemed like proof of a combination of issues that so many Americans are unwilling to face: there is still so much racism in our country, and there is still way too little gun control. How do I, as an individual, do something about fixing those two problems? The video of Obama singing Amazing Grace at Pinckney's memorial recently broke my heart again.

June 25, 2015: The Supreme Court upheld the Affordable Care Act. I will admit, I didn't actually cry about this news. But in the days preceding the decision I was very nervous about the outcome, partly because I am enrolled in "Obamacare" myself, and partly because it just about damn time that we made insurance a little more accessible to middle class and poorer people. I am so relieved that I don't have to worry anymore about politically-motivated hindrances to the ACA.

June 26, 2015: There were several periods of tears today. First, on the subway when I checked the news on my phone on the way back from teaching my morning class. Then, when I saw everyone's joyous responses on Facebook and Instagram. So much support, from both straight and gay friends. I woke up this morning thinking how happy I was to be able to take part in this moment in American history, and looking foward to telling my children what a big deal this decision was for our generation. Hopefully, my children will view gay marriage the way that we now view interracial marriage -- as as right that is so obviously basic that it shouldn't have been an question in the first place.

So, it has been a couple weeks of emotional highs and lows. Most recently highs, thankfully, but as Buddhist philosophy holds, the only permanent thing is change. So I'll just keep on shedding my tears of sadness and joy as those changes come.

Unique New York

The last few weeks have been filled with paper writing (bilingual education and two-way immersion--ask me about it sometime! On second thought, don't), presentations (more bilingual education, Cherry Trees of Washington D.C.!), making cookies, making birthday cakes, and not least of all, traveling to NEW YORK CITY for the first time over Memorial Day weekend.

I loved New York. I want to live there. Does anyone want to move there with me? There's just SO MUCH to do and see, and the people are cool (we didn't meet anyone mean in our extensive 3-day visit), the style is funky, the atmosphere is edgy, the vibe is marvelous. OK, I don't really know what that last sentence means.

But I did have a marvelous time on our speed-racer tour of the city; we saw the Statue of Liberty, Brooklyn Bridge, SoHo, Greenwich Village, Wallstreet, Central Park...you name it, I saw it. I also got to see Liev Schreiber in the thought-provoking Broadway play Talk Radio, and afterwards I talked with him and got his autograph!! And, as all fans say about whatever celebrity they love, he was really nice! I was a bit starstruck. Then I met two women from Jersey who joined me in analyzing all the possible interpretations of the play.

Also took a whirlwind tour of the Metropolitan Museum of Art (yeah, I actually only saw two full exhibits, both of 19th century paintings, which is pretty cool anyway), and the MOMA.

All my pics are on Facebook, should you wish to see some visuals!

And so, my weeks in D.C. are rapidly drawing to a close. The final research paper is due next Monday, followed by five days to soak up the culture in D.C., and then we all fly home on June 9th! And then I graduate.