Done and Dusted
Did my last haunted house Saturday night. We ended up having a cast party at Richie the Stage Manager's family home and I stayed pretty late. I am older than all the other performers by at least 14 years (one of the performers is a theater friend of mine who just turned 40 and he was shocked that we weren't as close in age as he thought although I wouldn't tell him how old I really am) but despite that, we got along well and had fun together. I think I'm picking up the GenZ slang as the words slay, fire, and extra seem to be seeping into my vocabulary. My favorite new expression is "Honk on the bobo."
Speaking of which, I know weed is legal in NY now, but being in this haunted house felt like culture shock. It was no big deal for someone to light up a joint and pass it around before we started. Everyone was out in the open, police officers patrolled the sidewalk in front of the building while we were out back. One night we had no tickets sold for the first hour and the stage manager said he had a while before we had to take our places and said, "Some 'em if you got 'em," knowing that's what the actors would be doing while they waited. That is such a new concept to me. I grew up in a world where you sneaked around and did this sort of thing surreptitiously and not casually as if you were having a cup of coffee. I had to suppress the old person in me and not say, "Can't you kids just do your job without getting stoned first?" I just had to hope the effects would wear off before they had to drive home. There was one night we were standing around talking before the show and one of the guys said something funny and I just cracked up. When I stopped laughing I asked, "Was it that funny or am I on a contact high?" Better a contact high than getting sick. Pot smoke makes me cough uncontrollably sometimes and even nauseates me if I smell it long enough.
The election is tomorrow. It's so scary. The pundits keep saying it could go either way. If he loses, will there be violence? If he wins, then what? He's clearly not competent to the do the job. He barely did the job the first time around. That means the monied power behind the throne will be pushing through their agenda. Elon Musk will have Trump. Peter Thiel will have Vance and Vance will be the de facto President. We will have an oligarchy in place before the next election - if there is an election.
I'm sure there will be violence if he loses, but I can't imagine there will be any sort of successful coup. Biden can call in the National Guard (and do so in time) to stop people from trying to kill Congress and stop certifying elections. The new Congress won't be in place to pass laws giving the president unlimited power yet. Besides, a coup has to be well-organized and well planned. This plan would have to defeat the massive US military, or at the very least infiltrate and convert a huge percentage of them. I also hope the Congressional elections go the right way. We need to get Mike Johnson out of there. He's such a Trump lackey and he wants to push his own personal religious agenda on the country.
I don't get it really. What do people like Johnson and other Religious Right folks think they will accomplish if they push their agenda through? I mean they can ban books and make it illegal to be gay and force whatever religious laws they want, but to what end? It might satisfy their sense of superiority and make them feel powerful, but it won't win hearts and minds. You can legislate people into behavior, but you can't legislate their brains. They will hate you. They will hate your religion. They will hate your laws. They will be nothing but a bunch of people you forced to obey you, instead of a country of people living their lives and grudgingly paying their taxes and stopping at red lights because it's the right thing to do.
I still worry about my own safety Trump's violent language could make any Republican turn on fellow citizens if they feel they are the enemy. My Republican friends won't harm me. They are reasonable people, but is everyone is their circles reasonable? Are their siblings and husbands and friends reasonable? I could post something on Facebook and a Republican friend tells his or her friends or relatives what a horrible, stupid, thing I posted and it pushes that friend or relative over the edge. I end up on someone's hit list.