Yes, I’ve been away from WordPress for quite some time. I’ve lost track of how long it’s been since I’ve been on here, reading posts and such. It’s at the point where going back and catching up on all the missed posts from you all is probably a lost cause, because it’s been soooooo long. Apologies to you all.
The good news is that I at least have a place to live and managed to get my belongings safely into a storage unit. I won’t say too much about the place I found, but it’s at least a roof over my head. Well, most importantly, a roof over my cats’ furry little heads.
In short, things were even more stressful and unstable than usual. I’m riding it out here in southern Illinois until December, and am revisiting the idea to move to Virginia, but I am more likely looking at Michigan. Canada is still a ways off due to costs, but I’ll be taking bitty steps as I can towards that emigration goal.
The theme of things right now for me is just “getting through”. Admittedly, like so many others out there, I’ve been horrified, disgusted, appalled, furious, and depressed over the actions of the current Trump administration. While not religious, I’ve also been having a severe crisis of faith about the example Trump and his cronies are displaying…because here are these corrupt, callous, greedy, deplorable people that get handed everything they want–money, power, influence–while so many that are good people and doing good, compassionate, ethical work are trapped at the bottom of this social and political system here in the United States and are lucky to even have the funds to buy food–and forget about healthcare, retirement, or even an adequate and safe place to live.
So this leads me to my idea to record and post people’s stories about the impact Trump and his administration is having on them, either directly or indirectly. If you’d like to participate, or know someone who would, please check out the post on my other blog, here:
https://kirstenleebarger.com/2025/07/13/stories-from-within/
Good to have you back but very sorry about the hardships you’ve endured.
Gwen.
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Ah, on the grand scale of “hardships” it was meant to be somewhat positive. I have a roof over my head and managed to get my stuff safely in a storage unit. But thank you.
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Sorry I missed all your great posts!
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Glad to hear you’ve found a home, with all the caveats. 🙂 …as for the rest, we little folk do what we can when we can, eh?
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Java Bean: “Ayyy, it is good to see you and to hear that you and your furry friends have a roof over your heads! Also, I have seen Mama and Dada looking at web sites about Costa Rica and places like that, I wonder why …”
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Costa Rica sounds nice!
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You should totally go for it!
I left a longer comment on your personal site 🙂
J
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Really? Not sure if I saw it…?
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I just wrote it an hour ago so maybe it hasn’t popped up yet. Or it could have failed to transmit after WP asked for my login yet again
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Sigh. Yeah, WordPress and its redundant, long-standing “glitches”.
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Yeah it’s kind of ridiculous – does everyone experience this problem now? Virtually anytime now I visit a blog on my laptop browser it asks me to log in even though I’m already logged into my own website.
Probably fixable with my browser settings or cookies or something…?
Just weird that I heard a few other people report it but WP hasn’t done anything
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It did for a while, and I just ignored it, and it finally went away.
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Wish I could do that, lol. But it’s required for commenting. Maybe almost everyone is using their phones these days..?
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Yeah, I just didn’t comment when it popped up.
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Trying to remember what else I did. I think I refreshed, and then I was able to comment without “signing in”.
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I think I got in the habit of copying my comments before I hit the “send” button if they were longer than just a few lines… ROFL!
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Reporting to WordPress, I’ve learned, is as “futile” as resisting a Borg (couldn’t resist the little Star Trek joke) LOL!
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Well here’s the gist of my comment anyway (the one that was lost in space on your other site)…
I think your interview idea is a good one and in fact I was thinking of doing something similar myself. So if you need any support while doing it let me know! I know quite a few people who are distressed because there’s now a divide in their extended family or friends on this topic. So I’m wondering about trying to record the conversations between people who are connected as family or friends but divided over the politics
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Yeah, I haven’t had anyone that wants to share their story, so…
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I commented on your other post about your project. But what I didn’t say there was that I know some people who have green cards that are being affected. I don’t know if they’d want to do an interview, even anonymously because they fear being targeted so much. They’ve seen other documented people like themselves being hauled in. The mental wear and tear from it all is taking a toll on them for sure. But I will ask.
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Yeah, all good points. I didn’t think it would really take off, but I figured I would at least put it out there in the void. 🙂
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I think it would take off. Between Substack and paired with Bluesky, I really think you’ll find your audience and participants. But time right? You just need a little of that!
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Thanks!
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That explains why I have not seen you for a while. I agree with most of the things you say. I wonder too how we can accept this. Welcome back.
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Thanks!
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