Laura's blog

The situation at Standing Rock -- the site of month-long protests of the Dakota Access Pipeline -- has gotten dire.  Police are now blasting protesters with water cannons despite the freezing temperatures.  Extreme hypothermia and death under such conditions is a real threat. The conduct of our government -- from local law enforcement on the scene to a President who refuses to speak out against the the DAPL or the treatment of the protesters -- has been appalling.  But that's not what this post is about.  A few weeks ago, a hoax went around Facebook claiming that by using Facebook to "check in" to Standing Rock, people could show solidarity and confuse local police who were using social media to track down and persecute the people who were attending. This didn't make sense for a number of reasons which Snopes is better equipped to explain than I am. However, the Sacred Stone Camp did thank everyone who had participated for showing solidarity and creating enou...

It's the month of NaNoWriMo. It's also the month that Donald Trump became President-elect, despite losing the popular vote to Hillary Clinton.  A few days ago, I was ahead on my writing goals. Now, I can't bring myself to open the word doc.  My hands are cold and shaky. The blood has gone to my heart and my stomach in a warm wave in preparation for a fight or flight response. I think that, even though my mind has accepted the outcome, my body is undergoing some kind of prolonged shock response.  Sometimes, escaping into the creation of a fictional world is helpful. It's a distraction. Right now, I'm not sure I can create that distraction for myself. The effort, vulnerability, creativity, and stamina needed to create a thing seem beyond my reach at the moment. The emotional wherewithal to stave off the inevitable self-hatred that comes with first-drafting is something that I don't know I can muster. A bunch of people across the country just sa...

The last time I voted in a Presidential election, it was 2012 and I was in a college undergraduate production of Chicago at my all-women's university. Rehearsal doesn't stop for election day (although I seem to remember several of the company making half-hearted pleas for the night off). It was a tense election cycle. Benghazi had happened on September 11 of that year. People hadn't moved on to being nostalgic for Obama yet; many resented him and felt he'd fallen short of the promise of his first campaign. It's difficult to countenance now, but in 2012, there was a real fear that he would not be elected to a second term.  I want to talk about that election night tonight because I've wanted to for a very long time. I've held back before, because it's not a feel-good story, but let's be real, nobody in America feels good right now.  We were in costume: black and red lingerie, 20's dress, the works. Every time we left the stage, we rushed back...