95 Comments
Oct 15, 2021Liked by E. Jean Carroll

Bill Maher? I’m not sure if I love to hate him or hate to love him. But I’m pretty sure he’s correct here. Like Judy, I am a woman of a certain age who is running out of road. As a freelance writer/actor/general troublemaker, I don’t have a lot of appealing options. So before I catapult off the cliff like that stupid coyote, I need to figure out a strategy. Who wants to join me on my Femme Farm?

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Oct 15, 2021Liked by E. Jean Carroll

Fear is not necessarily bad thing. There's this virus going around, for instance, which we all SHOULD treat with a proper amount of fear. Having NO fear of it leads to idiotic no-mask, no-distancing, no-vaccine behaviour that could kill you. Meanwhile, a healthy amount of fear -- not a paralyzing amount of fear, but a *healthy* amount of fear -- will lead you to take sensible precautions that will help you to minimize your risk (and the risks of those around you.)

Fear, in fact, can be an excellent alarm system, warning you of potential danger. Don't dismiss it -- *use* it. As long as you don't let it immobilize you, fear can alert you to potentially bad outcomes, and get you thinking about what actions you can take (alone, or with others), to avoid those outcomes.

Of course, sometimes if the rhino is charging directly at you, you need to think about those actions FAST. This is where a reaction of, say, amused insouciance or jaded ennui really won't help you much. Fortunately, there's fear -- which can *really* help focus the mind....

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Oct 15, 2021Liked by E. Jean Carroll

Nothing beats planning. Hope for the best and plan for the worst. Bill Maher may be right, but I hope like hell not. In any case, we are updating our passports and have “run money” socked away.

I just don’t want to believe that there are not enough upstanding people of either party who defend the Constitution and the electoral system as it was originally constructed….but I can only quelch my fears by being ready for whatever may come.

A good start would be for the DOJ to jail anyone who refuses to answer a subpoena, and the removal of anyone in Congress who helped the Stop The Steal movement, because they are in violation of the 14th Amendment, and thus should lose their seat

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Oct 15, 2021Liked by E. Jean Carroll

Apropos of your friend considering a move to Portugal, we looked and passed. We are buying a house in Newfoundland. Puffins, weathered men in cable knit sweaters, the odd iceberg and a generous and creative community. The perfect place to sit out the decline of American democracy and the march of global warming.

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Oct 16, 2021Liked by E. Jean Carroll

I’m praying for the unexpected. I really believe he has dementia and maybe long covid difficulties. His word salad sentence structure and attraction to inspiring rage, his limited talking points were all hallmarks of my dad’s behavior when he had Alzheimer’s. His eating habits, etcetera etcetera

We’re all gonna die some time. Maybe he’ll do us a favor and put us out of the misery of him.

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Oct 16, 2021Liked by E. Jean Carroll

All I can say is: I recently bought a property in Portugal and my "Golden Visa" application was accepted today. That's my escape valve, even if I only live there intermittently for the time being. My parents were in Europe when Hitler invaded and, as a result, I was raised to always keep my passport with me. May be a bit dramatic, but Portugal is an amazing, peaceful, and safe country where 98% of those 12+ are vaccinated. I rest my case.

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Oct 15, 2021Liked by E. Jean Carroll

Portugal sounds good.

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Oct 16, 2021Liked by E. Jean Carroll

Costa Rica is beautiful and has nationalized health care. But since we can't afford to move right now, it is nice to come here and find comfort in the reassurance of kindred spirits. Hang in there, everybody xo

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I am a bit in awe of all your dreams and plans fabulous Conflabbers. Portugal? Newfoundland? Costa Rica? Canada? I confess I have never had the ways and means to plan where to live, and have uprooted and transplanted myself as life showed me the next step on my journey lay elsewhere. So far I’ve been uprooted from where I grew up in Southern CA and replanted in Japan, Hawaii, CO, and now North Carolina. Though by no means idyllic, each of these places allowed me to retrieve another piece of myself, so I am grateful.

Looking back, I realize that this life has been all about cleaning house - clearing out old ways of seeing and being in the world, healing old wounds, and doggedly honoring my creative process. I am simply not living life the way I was told I “should” live it - much to my parents’ disappointment. From where I sit, this is neither good nor bad, though having funds for the basics - especially now that I’ve hit 65 - would be nice.

But I have no time for worry or fear. It does me no good to compare myself to others - to wonder why someone Kyrsten Sinema is given ridiculous sums of money to vote against the people she has sworn to help, while someone like my dear friend - a brilliant writer and jewelry maker who would and has given her last penny to help someone who is hungry - is homeless. Clearly money is not a measure of anyone’s worth, just an outward manifestation of a lesson we’re trying to learn.

Each day I sit with myself and check in to be sure a) I am doing the best that I can (mentally, physically, spiritually) in a world that is clearly out of wack; b) am being honest and diligent about tackling my lessons; and c) am coming from a place of integrity, kindness, and love for myself, the planet and other critters. If I can answer yes to all of these, then I must assume that my life is unfolding as it should.

I know that doesn’t directly answer your question Auntie E., but I find I am unwilling to spend any time with Mr. Damp Palms. We have a saying in A.A. that has served me well, “One day at a time.” I often edit that saying to read, “one breath at time.” This serves to remind me that the only thing I can control is the present. Everything else is either looking back or projecting forward.

Hugs!

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I already put myself cozily to sleep beginning last week with the comfortable knowledge that Our Lady of Ballbusting Magnifence herself, E. Jean Carroll, as well as her representative, the ferocious and similarly magnificent Law Master, Robbie Kaplan, along with their ingenious and brilliant Trump vaccine, Mary Trump, are willing to do what of our hired governmental peeps apparently lack the will to do: go bare-fisted into the cage with the infernal and eternally soiled-diaper-bedecked king of the toddlers himself. And they’re going to win. And we do in truth deserve this marvelous end. (I know I can’t make requests, Wondrous EJC, but if I could, I’d twist a curl round my finger and grin my most winning dimpled grin and implore you for his head on a pike. Ha! Just kidding. The dimples are all wrong. Finely sharpened teeth are far more plausible.)

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I think Bill Maher’s scenario is frighteningly plausible.

Oh, and since my husband died, I really am afraid of dying alone with my cat.

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Oct 15, 2021Liked by E. Jean Carroll

My biggest fear is that Bill Maher is 100% correct.

My second biggest fear is that living in a state without extended Medicaid and not meeting the minimum earnings requirement for ACA healthcare, I'll need medical care before I qualify for Medicare and if the orange shit gibbon is back in office by then, it will be a moot point anyway.

My third biggest fear is that as a woman of a certain age who has pursued a dubious career path, I won't be able to keep afloat much longer.

How do I deal with it? Romance novels and tequila.

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Oct 16, 2021Liked by E. Jean Carroll

I agree with Bill Maher most of the time. That latest video is dead right. Our political system operates on greed. It's full of crazy/greedy Republicans and Democrats that are either the corporate type (so might as well be Republicans) or the dithering, woke, back biting type who refuse to get the basics handled so people can relax and live decent lives.

I keep thinking that it's going to take women, organizing, to turn things around and then I remember that waaaaay too many women voted for that bloated pile of human garbage trump.

I'm 63 and feel that my life is fairly irrelevant. I don't know what to do to make a difference. How do we start a grass roots movement to save our democracy?

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Oct 18, 2021Liked by E. Jean Carroll

E. Jean, May I please call you “Auntie E?” All my aunts suck and you are rather smashing!

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deletedOct 15, 2021Liked by E. Jean Carroll
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