Saturday morning, I raked the leaves in my mom’s front yard and then we gathered them up into leaf bags. Then we just sat outside in her patio swing, talking and laughing at the cats that like to hang out in Mom’s yard. Two of them belong to my sister next door. One is a stray that comes up to Mom’s front door and just stares in. Mom will talk to him through the door. “I’m not going to feed you.” she tells him. Ten minutes later, she’s grabbing the cat food and pouring it out on a paper plate for him. Mom’s cat, Button, who is strictly an indoor only cat, sits in front of the door and chatters at all three of the hooligan cats. The little black cat is still very much a kitten and we laughed as we watched him instigate some tussles.

We sat out there until almost noon and when I came inside to check my phone, it was full of confetti and champagne messages. I took the win silently. Quietly. Oklahoma was a weird place to be this weekend. There were times I was a little scared that someone would somehow see the democrat in me. For once, I was glad that my car didn’t have any obvious stickers. I’ve put them all on the Vespa. I was uncomfortable any time we went out in public. I saw more people without masks than with masks and social distancing was just not a thing. I stopped in Joplin on my way into Tulsa and when I walked into the gas station, no one had on a mask. There wasn’t even a plexiglass shield up for the cashiers. I didn’t realize that stop was a foreshadowing of what was to come. The suburbs of Tulsa were the same way. Outings left me twitchy.

I met my brother and sister-in-law for lunch after I got the news that Biden had won the election. We drove around for a bit looking for a place to go and then we drove by a restaurant with a lovely outdoor seating area. We could see all the waitstaff wearing masks and all three of us sort of sighed with relief and relaxed a little. Lunch was perfect. At one point, I noticed a couple come in. They were seated at a table six feet away and had champagne delivered to their table when they sat down. The man was wearing a Biden 2020 pin. When the three of us got ready to leave, I stood up and made eye contact. I said “Hey! Air high five!” and lifted my hand. The man grinned and stood up, raised his hand and said “BOOM!” That was it. We didn’t say anything about it. My celebration was an air high five with a stranger in a restaurant in the reddest of the red states.

But good Lord, there’s a lot of work to be done.

I had a conversation with my brother that made me realize that most people have no idea what is happening on a weekly basis in our government. They don’t know about the bills being presented or the executive orders being signed. The current administration has been brutal for science. It has defunded government scientific institutions. It has disregarded pear reviewed research. His immigration policies has made it nearly impossible for some of our very talented graduate students and post docs to renew their visas so that they can continue their education. We have scientists who have dual citizenship with other countries, considering moving their research (that means their employees and their funding) out of this country. This administration has made it very hard to be a scientist and be taken seriously. He has removed reasoning while at the same time fueling hatefulness.

I am thinking about doing a monthly entry here about what’s happening in the White House; a break down of bills and amendments and what those bills and amendments mean for the rest of us. This would be my way of staying informed and helping others stay informed. I want to bring back reasoning.