Did He or Didn't He?

This picture hanging in our guest bedroom was made by Matthew at the Grange Home School in Edinburgh when he was about five. It was the subject of many discussions amongst the siblings. Matt insisted he did the whole thing himself. Dana and Tim were sure that he had a lot of help from the teacher. I have stayed studiously out of it to this day, saying only that I really like it, whoever did it.  It happens to fit into the decor in the guest room very nicely.

Still very much in the experimental stage of the Klee inspired quilt, but as I started cutting and piecing today I was listening to a podcast in which one of the hosts, a gay man was commenting that he felt he had been 'hanging on by a thread' ever since the despicable man with the weird hair and fake tan entered the political scene. I have to say that this really resonated with me. He has been a constant presence lurking in the background, spewing racism, misogyny, lies and hate, and gender phobia while demanding absolute fealty from his followers. Somehow he has managed to damage the psyche and the emotional well being of almost everyone. I'm mixing my metaphors here, but he is like a giant spider looming over our daily lives and, if we allow ourselves to think about him, threatening our well being by his mere presence. Now he has chosen a running mate in J.D. Vance who is a mini-me. While T is consumed by narcissism, Vance, like many inT's orbit, is consumed by naked ambition. 

Combined with the lingering effects of the Covid crisis, I think T is an enormous threat to the national psyche. He has convinced half the people in the country that their well being is completely linked with political ambitions, while the other half lives in constant dread of the damage he is doing. The backdrop of dread; the feeling of what could possibly be next, the existential horror of it is impossible to ignore....

I still don't know how we got here, and I honestly don't even think I'm being overly dramatic about it, but I devoutly hope that we can get ourselves out of it.