NRU -- mish mash and happy new year (RANTING)

I should be posting this somewhere useful (and/or sending it to the people I think need to read this), but instead, I will memorialize it here. Save money for your child's college education (NOW, not later), stop imagining they will live in a world where they will NOT need post secondary education, stop buying toys, SAVE MONEY NOW!  Tuition will not be going down anytime soon or in the foreseeable future.

Okay, stepping down from that particular soapbox, and not making any promises for that which will follow.

I binge-watched the new netflix series, Making a Murderer, and it was truly disturbing, horrifying even.  I could not look away and I had nightmares.  We cherish our justice system without regard to its many, many failings.  When it is used for revenge, which it frequently is, we shrug our shoulders because we imagine those who are accused are guilty, and, therefore, somehow less deserving of the *justice* we think our system allows for the *not* guilty.  However, as I have written before, our system for meting out justice is far from perfect.  Flawed does not begin to cover what is wrong with it ... and race is not our only problem, though it is a glaring pimple on the wart on the tumor that is the underlying bias/power problem inherent in the system.  This piece is the one that finally brought me to write about this (again) even though I have been having nightmares about the series.  Ms. Cummins' description of the troubles and the context give another insight into the issues.  [I wish her family as much peace as possible as they await the twists and turns in their case. Clearly the victims and their families are some of the greatest losers in this system, but that is for another rant.] Lest there be any misunderstanding, the subtext to the netflix series is "white people are not immune to the perils of our justice system."  There, I said it!

And for something not lighter, but different ... this is a series about Latinos converting to Islam.  I am not a fan of finding yourself through religion, but I gotta say that I respect the tenacity with which these folks embrace their faith.  If you are going to base your life on religious teachings, it seems the least you could do is learn about them from the source, as in reading the books... and then practice the teachings.  What a world we would have if all the religious folks, of all stripes, spent more time in their good books and trying to live as their prophets/gods/gurus told them...

There are other ways to improve oneself ... a friend sent me this to help me keep perspective as I navigate the life changes.

Perhaps I should reread Emma in an attempt to find patience with my parents and their aging.  For now, I have chosen to move away, not too far, but far enough that I am not *responsible* for keeping their heads above water.  For the time being, it is the right thing, but I fear this is a temporary respite in what could well be a long ordeal ... so, as I said, perhaps Emma and other Austen novels are in my future.  I did read Emma once, but I haven't read any of the others, perhaps there was a reason I never indulged before.