January 21, 24 degrees
Saturday, Jan. 21, 2017 - 17:25

The puppy got a bath this past week but I think some dog peed on his head yesterday because he kind of smells like that. Maybe it wasn't a malicious act, maybe he was just sniffing dog parts at an inopportune time, but it sure smells like pee. He doesn't seem to mind.

I decided not to march today, and I'm okay with that, but it has been quite heartening to see pictures from small towns and big cities all over the U.S. and all over the WORLD - people in Africa and Scotland and Texas and Iowa and Mexico City and everywhere in between, hundreds and hundreds of thousands of people. Some people (on the internet) are asking why it matters. Why does it matter. It matters because it does. If this doesn't matter, nothing does. (And there's an argument for that, sure.) If millions of people around the world don't matter, nothing does.

You can bloviate loudly and forcefully but if no one believes you, no one believes you, even if you really want it to look like everyone believes you. Does that matter? Does truth matter? Does it matter if you're a bully or if you're a decent person? We humans have to believe it does. Bullies will get their comeuppance, maybe not right now but eventually they will.

It's easy to get pessimistic and think that humans are dumb and everything is awful, but it's also easy to be optimistic. Humans are smart*, and things will be okay. We know insecurity when we see it, we know lies when we hear them. We make mistakes, we have complicated motivations, some of us drive terribly, but in general we're smart animals.

I made browned butter vanilla bean rice krispie treats tonight. HOLY SHIT. Much to my surprise, cutting open a vanilla bean is pretty much exactly like dissecting a worm in biology.

*This was the best part about teaching. Yes I was teaching tough upper-division classes to undergrads as well as grad students, so they weren't necessarily representative of the entire student population - but, regardless, DANG my students were smart and motivated and aware of things and I was so impressed with them.