Merry Christmas to everyone who reads these words.
This has been a difficult year for people all over the world.
The end is in sight, as vaccines become available to more and more people. You can help to curb the pandemic by following expert advice: Wear a mask, avoid crowds, maintain social distance, wash your hands frequently.
Whether you celebrate Christmas or Chanukah or Kwanzaa, or whether you don’t mark any religious season, I wish you health and happiness for you, your family, and your friends.
Here is my blogging plan until January 1.
You will not see the usual four posts (or more) a day for the next several days. I will post whenever I see something that interests me and that I think will interest you. Expect probably one or two or three posts a day as I keep seeing interesting things that I want to share with you.
Let’s see what 2021 brings. We can hope that Donald Trump goes to Mar-a-Lago (even though his neighbors say they don’t want him back), that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are inaugurated on January 20, and that we have a new government in office that is not beholden to the free-market libertarians or the billionaire faux-Democrats who have been trying for years to disrupt public education and privatize everything to lower their taxes. We can hope that this horrible pandemic ends and that our government acts forcefully to help people who are struggling to survive.
Merry Christmas!
We can all hope Trump goes to Mars-A-Lago.
MERRY CHRISTMAS
Love it!
Mars-a-Lago.
One way ticket.
LOL! We’ve heard this before, Diane! Always excited to read whatever you’re up to giving us! May you and your family have a blessed holiday season, and may 2021 be a great year for all!
Merry Christmas Diane, Mary, Mitzy, And to all the amazing people who show up on this blog. Much love to you and yours this holiday!
Happy celebrations of all kinds! Thank you, Diane, for your blog. Thanks to all for your many perspicacious comments. May 2021 bring us all peace and joy.
Amen.
Thanks, Diane, for all that you do, this blog and your advocacy for the REAL public schools and their teachers. Happy Holidays to you and all the folks who frequent the Diane Ravitch Blog!
A trump Christmas morning: Mormon Tabernacle choir on PBS, intentional bombing in Nashville on CNN. Like I said.
Thank you, Diane. Happy Holidays, to you and yours and only blessings and good wishes.
To your readers, thank you for your insights and good comments and Happy Holidays.
Like Diane, I learn so much from each of you.
So grateful.
Diane, happy holidays! Thank you for your wonderful, informative blog and all the work you do on behalf of our public schools.
Merry Christmas..Jerry
On Fri, Dec 25, 2020 at 11:01 AM Diane Ravitch’s blog wrote:
> dianeravitch posted: ” Merry Christmas to everyone who reads these words. > This has been a difficult year for people all over the world. The end is in > sight, as vaccines become available to more and more people. You can help > to curb the pandemic by following expert advice” >
Have a great one, all. I’m going out right now to cut more firewood for my New Year’s Eve bonfire. The calendars will be tossed in as well as a sign that says “2020”. Then, I plan on dancing around the flames.
Take care.
Dance like you are dancing for all of us.
I just hope it’s not raining that night. I was looking at the long range forecast. Snow I can do…cold rain is another story. See you.
Yeah, rain might put a “damper” on a bonfire, and it is not the season for dancing in the rain. As I get older, though, the days can blend one into another, so if you miss by a day or two will anyone really notice? I think the new year needs whatever help it can get.
John,
I watched “It’s a Wonderful Life” today. The E channel was playing it all day long. What a great film! It is impossible to have a dry eye at the end of it. The local public television station has a program about the film and says the true model was Seneca Falls. I was there a few years ago to see the Women’s History Museum. I would have looked a lot more at the town had I known it was the original “Bedford Falls” of “It’s a Wonderful Life.” Do you live near there?
A few nights ago I saw another Xmas film on TCM called “It Happened on Fifth Avenue.” Someone told me it was a “socialist” film because it points out the vast disparity between the poor and the very rich. In that sense, I guess “It’s a Wonderful Life” is also a “socialist” film because the bad guy is Mr. Potter, the richest man in town, who wants to control everything and everyone. George Bailey is a good man who uses his life and his resources to help others and they all come through for him when he is in trouble. It seems these days that anything that is decent and kind means “socialist.” How did we fall for this rightwing propaganda?
Diane,
My Aunt lives 10 minutes from Seneca Falls. It’s a cute little town. The Elizabeth Cady Stanton house is right near the Women’s Rights National Historical Park. It’s a beautiful area. The Finger Lakes Wine Trails are close by and they are beautiful. I’m not a big wine drinker, but I love going to some of the bigger wineries for lunch and for the fantastic views of the lakes. I do sample the wines sometimes, too! It’s a lovely area for a vacation. Autumn there is beautiful.
I was there in May 2013, awaiting the birth of my youngest grandson. His birth mother lived in Watkins Glen, not too far away.
Your youngest what?!
sorry about that. My youngest grandson was born in Watkins Glen, NY, in 2013.
Diane,
Seneca Falls is up in the Finger Lakes region, another beautiful part of New York State. We’re in the Western Catskills.
Funny thing about “It’s a Wonderful Life” is that the alternate, dystopian nightmare which shows George what the world would be like without him has reminded me in a way of Trumpland 2020. We’re living in Pottersville.
Of course, I’m far from the first person to make this comparison.
And, I just found an author who came to the defense of George’s nightmare world, in a piece entitled “All hail Pottersville!” -apparently written almost 20 years ago and referencing none other than the pre-45 Donald. (I’ll try to link it below.)
I don’t know…maybe Trump has conjured up the worst of all possible worlds….the worst of Pottersville and Bedford Falls. -combined! Shifty casino moguls rubbing elbows with phony, pious Bible thumpers..a weirdo, stinking stew that mixes together the nastiest aspects of capitalism and socialism. And, it’s been gobbled up by millions of people who can’t seem to sort out the differences amidst this COVID-ridden year.
Well, yeah….I just like the movie, too.
Another great one is “My Man Godfrey” (1936) which also skewers the rich in a screwball sort of way. It’d be accused of being socialist for sure these days I showed it to my classes when I taught U.S. history, sneaky, card carrying socialist that I am, ha, ha.
Have a great Saturday.
https://www.salon.com/2001/12/22/pottersville/
Oh, John, that’s a mean essay. I was just drying my tears after seeing Bedford Falls and how good triumphs over evil. But now we live in Trumplandia.
Diane, I share your hopes. Best wishes to you, your family, and all contributors to this lively blog.
Should auld acquaintance be forgot
And never brought to mind?
Should 2020 be forgot for auld lang syne,
I’m done with this election year
With one more, Georgia
On My Mind
Just an old, sweet song
With moonlight through the pines,
I’ve got Georgia On My Mind.
(Sorry, Ray Charles.)
Ha! What a funny medley!!!
Wishing all a wonderful, safe holiday and a much better New Year!
Diane. Thank you for being a truth teller. Stay safe and be kind d to yourself.
Yeah, 2021 will completely balance out 2020. Even about Trump, by September we will recall only that he appeared in Home alone 2.
Trump also appeared in a cameo role in an updated version of “The Little Rascals.” It is a wonderful movie that I have shared with my grandchildren many times. Trump plays the father of a spoiled rich brat.
Not far from the truth, perhaps…
To Darrell up there:
It’s like Simon & Garfunkle’s rendition of Silent Night & the Six o’Clock News.