I have wanted to read Madelaine L'Engle's "Two-Part Invention: a story of a marriage," Forever. The title reminded me of my marriage with Mike. I started reading it before I fell asleep. It is as lovely as I thought it would be. As I read, Elsa cuddled up against me. This was a first. I have no idea why the change.
Dorothy was busy this morning wrestling with her new computer. I called Jean, my hanai sister. She answered the phone with, "Are you all right?" That was a signal that she was busy and couldn't talk. I immediately said," Bye," and called Jean, my friend. She reported that Covid is rampant in her neck of the woods. Also, there was an increase in theft and violence. Oh boy. We talked briefly about Trump. We also spoke about the threat of Communism.
Like so many people, Jean associated Communism with a totalitarian regime. Communism is an economic policy; totalitarianism is a political one. Some countries have democratic socialism. Here's an article that lists the countries that are both democratic and socialist- or shall we say more socialist than the USA.
https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/democratic-socialist-countries
We already have some socialist policies- Social Security. We have universal education; we have a standing army; we have the police force; we have municipal water and sewage. Actually, we don't have municipal sewage here in Kona; we don't even have municipal garbage pick-up. Each property has to have its own cesspool or septic tank. We have two cesspools on our property. If one fails, we will have to replace it with a septic tank. As far as trash goes, we used to take it down to the transfer station ourselves. Now, we pay a private trash pick-up company. Socialism is any system that serves all the people regardless of what they contribute. That's socialism. When Social Security was introduced, some people saw this as the beginning of the end. We are required by law to pay into the Social Security system. It is a socialist policy. There are degrees of socialism.
A totalitarian regime is a political institution. Hitler was a dictator. He was not a socialist. Not only that, he secured his position by promoting fear of Communism and offering his leadership as protection against it. He killed people who didn't support his point of view. When you have a political leader who demands loyalty and punishes those who aren't, you have a dictator. I don't mean punishing them by merely firing them; I mean punishing them by demonizing and encouraging others to attack, imprison, and kill. When you see someone acting that way, you're looking at a dictator looking for a platform to exercise his/her leadership. An absolute dictator has a very low tolerance for divergent points of view. Most dictators are men; they have been men who feel free to create their own reality and demand that others recognize it as real. A robust socialist economy is no threat in this country because there isn't enough support. A totalitarian regime is a threat in this country because many want what they want when they want it and don't believe they should have to suffer the democratic process, where they may not get it. They want someone in power who will guarantee they get what they want.
For me, democracy is the prime value. When Trump was elected, I was curious about where it would take us as a country. The job of a party is to pull in one direction or the other. How that pull manifests in our lives is unexpected. It may be good; it may be bad. I have seen Republicans manifest something that was a Democratic objective. Circumstances dictate their priorities. I see a group of people who feel a particular value, a belief, is primary, much more important than our democracy. They want a rule that conforms exclusively to their values. That is the premise of any dictatorship. Is that what the United States will become?
I did some gardening, cutting back more heliconia, and spraying weeds with vinegar.
I had two tutoring sessions today. The first was with J. I continued working on modeling the phonemic breakdown. I took a sentence from the Stevens and Habermas book, "Ten Theories of Human Nature." The purpose of this exercise is not comprehension. The goal is cultivating auditory processing. I asked him if he wanted to participate or just have me model the process. He said he just wanted me to model. He also said his understanding of others was better, including his mother, who only speaks Spanish.
After one sentence of phonemic breakdown, we switched to reading comprehension. He brought up the piece we'd been working on. The vocabulary and the sentence structures in this piece are really complex. He did so much better today; it was breathtaking. I don't think he can do the work on his own at the level we do it together yet. He is saying he is doing better on his own.
I only did half an hour with J. today because I had an appointment with H at 2:15. I was nervous about working with him. He's autistic. I'm not sure what I'm doing.
He came to the session with a book. He wanted me to go on a website to read the book with him. He directed me to a website, spelling each letter. He spoke quickly and mumbled. It was hard for me to follow. I had to tell him to slow down and speak clearly. As far as I'm concerned, this is all part of the work. The objective is to get him to respond to others.
I managed to convince him to write a story with me. He was a little reluctant at first. He started telling a familiar story about three Billy goats. Then he took off and did his own thing. He jumped around a lot, but that is typical for a second-grader. Again, he went way too fast for me to keep up. I asked him to be nice to me. At one point, I started screaming and flapping my arms, which he would do. He said, "You're funny." It was me who ended the session after half an hour. His mom came to help end the class. I told her some of what went on. She said she heard part of it. She was amazed that I held his attention for the entire half-hour. She said it was brilliant. That's a British term for excellent.
I needed a nap after the two sessions. When I got up, I looked up 'finding an editor 'on the Internet. I did find another editor on Craig's List, but he hasn't responded. There are no other editors on the Hawaiian Craig's List. I thought I was stuck until I got the bright idea to see what I could find on the Internet in general. Bingo! There are sites where editors can post their backgrounds and what they offer. I want someone who will check to see if what I wrote makes sense and is well organized as well as check the grammatical details. But the biggy is that I want to do co-editing. I think that is a fantastic process.
Today was a big day for connecting with friends and family. I had extended conversations with six different people today. I also wrestled with Amazon and the credit card company. After the scam several weeks ago, I canceled my credit card and ordered a new one. I immediately entered it as my new Amazon go-to card when I got it. I got a notification of a problem. When I went back to the site, I couldn't find the card. I reentered it—still problems. Now, Amazon has blocked me.
When I called Amazon, they said I had to speak to a special department of Amazon. They would contact me within 24 hours. It's 8:30 pm, and still no call. I am anticipating Hearing from them at 3:30 am. We'll see.
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