hello from Edinburgh.... I've been following US news mainly through the writings of folk like you, Jess, courageous and committed defenders of democracy. I wonder often what I would do if MAGA or something like it gains power in the UK (Scotland has many devolved powers, and a very centre-left govt presently, but still basically part of UK). The way exhaustion and despair are used as weapons is both crystal clear and yet another sign that authoritarian populists really have nothing to offer. I hope you can recharge a bit over the holidays. And please know that I'm sure many people on this side of the pond are with you in all your battles.
We appreciate YOU, Jess. I hope you get to the Cotswolds some day.
If you do, I highly recommend doing it as a walking trip as I did back in the '80s. We had a small group - a dozen people IIRC- and we walked from inn to inn. There was a walk leader and walk manager. The walk manager picked up our luggage and moved it to the next inn, then met us mid-morning so we could pre-order our pub lunch, again at lunch time and mid afternoon with a snack. It was a blissful week walking the public footpaths and rarely seeing a soul except in the village pub.
thank you for this: '' The way exhaustion and despair are used as weapons is both crystal clear and yet another sign that authoritarian populists really have nothing to offer."
I had the pleasure of visiting Scotland a few years ago in either 2028 or 2019 - I remember it was during Trump 1.0 and shortly after his official state visit with Queen Elizabeth. I distinctly remember being embarrassed by his boorish behavior.
I really enjoyed the visit and was in awe of the Highlands. It was a Road Scholar program focusing on history so we visited the Culloden site and a bunch of castles and ruins of other castles. I loved the trip!
Jess, I live in Baltimore and I am so grateful for your dispatches from the middle of the country AND for the amazing work you do! This post reminds me of an essay by Barbara Kingsolver that has stayed with me for a very long time. She writes about protesting during the Gulf war and how one guy drove past and said, “Hey, bitch, love it or leave it!” And she does for a while, but she ends with “A country can be flawed as a marriage or a family or a person is flawed, but ‘Love it or leave it’ is a coward’s slogan. There’s more honor in ‘Love it and get it right.’ Love it, love it. Love it and never shut up.”
That was the common call from the hard right when I was in high school during the Vietnam war. Our response was always "Change It or Lose It". After high school & never drafted, I enlisted in the Marine Corps. Go figure.
I was gobsmacked by this post. Thank you so much, Heather. I will think of that every time some guy says that to me. And I will smile back at him (or her).
I stay, because so many have no choice. And I love this country and believe we can do better. But I don't know how to cope with the stupid and cruel behavior we see. This is not what I want 😒
I stay because this is my home country with 3 daughters and 9 grandkids. Putting one blue step forward against many red backs blocking the way. If I’ve gotten one red back to turn and give me some thought, I’ve made a difference. — speaking from red Nebraska. March on, March on!!!
Dad was born in Omaha and lived/lived in San Fran and Oregon. So many cool, calmer and smarter Nebraskans out here. Made calls for your Senate campaign, for a moderate Indy farmer. The crazy red lady won, but...next?
JB, almost worse for me is not just the stupid and cruel behavior we see, but how my former work cohort* not just believe the garbage, but broadcast it, and argue with me, telling me I just have "Trump Derangement Syndrome". My standard comeback (and I am now seeing other people using it is that: a. it is NOT a formal diagnosis, that is a lie you've swallowed whole and that the only "TDS" I see is believing that what is happening is good and positive for our country.
*I am a retired deputy sheriff from Oregon in a county the size of Connecticut with an unincorporated urban population of about 75K. This "cohort" include people I have faced incredible risk and danger with, who have dealt with a large school shooting, lost members of our department to suicide and a brother from another agency to a line of duty murder. They once were brothers; they are no longer my friends.
Watching Escape to the Country is how I relax and tune out (for a bit). It's healthy. It's beautiful. It's a magical experience. I too desire to live in the UK, where my ancestors come from. It's my emotional home that calls me from across the pond. Yet, I stay because I am an American and I am surrounded by millions of people who are determined to get past this time in our history. The light is getting brighter, Jess. We are illuminating the dark. We see it so we can now overcome it. I'm with you, doing my part to be the light.
Jess, don't want to break your heart - but Aldi in the UK have a Christmas offer:
"Shoppers are guaranteed a tree-mendous Christmas feast with a selection of Aldi’s fresh and delicious British-sourced veggies including White Potatoes (8p, 2kg), Carrots (8p, 1kg), Parsnips (8p, 500g), Red and White Cabbages (8p each), Brussels Sprouts (8p, 500g) and Swede (8p each)."
For our American friends, "8p" is 11c, and a "swede" is a rutabaga.. 500g is a pound.
Christmas isn't cheap, ever, but we are certainly having an easier time of it here in the Cotswolds than you seem to be having in the US . . .
Let us know if you DO decide to visit - I'm sure there will be plenty of people happy to have an American "refugee" to stay for a week or two. I've actually gone one coming in January. She tells me she can't wait to get away from the chaos. She says I'll spot her at the airport - she'll be the one with a cardboard label tied round her neck that says "Please look after this Yank. . ."
My partner goes to England every year to spend time with his daughter, who lives here. I joined him this past October for 3 weeks of his 6 weeks' trip.
One way he helps finance his stay is through pet sitting service. In exchange for having a free place to stay, he takes care of people's pets while they travel. He looks for sitting jobs in places he'd like to explore
Not only a good idea - but also a great way to meet the locals. I don't think I've ever taken a dog out for a walk without someone stopping and say something. Have been "besties" with a couple I met out dog walking for 16 years now.
Has your partner thought of keeping a journal of the places, people and dogs he meets? Could be a best selling book - travel AND dogs!
The whole reason we trained from Worcester to Cornwall -- for a weekend (!) -- was to visit a motley crew he met in Par last year who've stayed in touch with him. Showing how silly Americans are about traveling distances, we had a long day of travel afterwards to York ;-)
He's remained friends with a couple he dogsat for two years ago, and the wife met us in Worcester for a lovely afternoon visit. If I lived there, she'd be one of my besties.
I haven't gotten around to writing my own travelogue yet, but I did post one missive on one of my favorite topics when I travel: signs. I have loads more to draw from when I get around to writing my final summary: https://barbaradidrichsen.substack.com/p/whimsy
I find I love the ideals upon which this country was founded. Those ideals are worth fighting for. I have no loyalty to a country without those ideals, but these hopes and dreams are still beating in the hearts of so many here, so I stay. That sounds good, but really, mostly, I think, I stay because my family is here, and I couldn’t take everyone with me. Where would I go?
How I identify with the sentiment expressed: to love the place that hurts you is a hard thing. It is even more difficult when people closest to you dive into insane ideas. It may be hard to change the body politic, but it pales by comparison to the difficulty involved in convincing a passionate follower of MAGA that that vision is morally bankrupt. So many of these people would give you the shirt off their back, but hate people like you they never met.
From DC... You are a very good writer. Your articles (and others) are what I use to tell my colleagues and friends that there's momentum even if it doesn't feel like it. While based in DC, my work sends me to rural America a lot. I've met some great people who are fighting hard for their communities in various ways. I don't know what happens and how it happens but we'll come out on "the other side" whatever that may look like. I hope we are all doing our part. You most definitely are! Thanks for your hard work. Without you, I wouldn't really know how things were in Missouri!
We can and are changing the narrative bit by bit, sentence by sentence, protest by protest. We are resisting, protesting, persisting, and repeating. Thanks for all your work, and reports.
Thank you! I dream about it from time to time. And then the buts come in- my father a WW 2 vet who fought in France and was a prisoner of the Germans. My uncles who fought too, my husband a submariner, my mom who suffered under Franco's rule. They loved this country and how they would fight if they were still here.
I cry sometimes their tears and mine. Then I gather myself and be kind to someone. Offer them what I have and pray a lot for peace.
Thanks for writing, even us up here in central NY, and nothing to do with city. My friends and I, mostly clergy, doctor and PoliSci prof, are reading "Giving Up Is Unforgivable" by Joyce Vance (no relation to v.p.). No face slapping, just a reminder to stay the course and keep hope, and of course, not give up. I recommend it to you in the hope that it will shore you up, as we say.
I’ve said this before, but thank you for all that you’re doing. I moved to the U.K. a little over 20 years ago when the US wouldn’t recognise my marriage to a British woman for me to sponsor her for immigration and she had no way to immigrate legally on her own. We longed for years to move to the US after Obergefell, but not now. What the US has become is appalling. I’m glad to hear it’s changing, but it won’t happen quickly and widespread enough for me to be able to move back. And that makes me incredibly sad. So thank you for putting in the effort to make the change. I wish you well!
hello from Edinburgh.... I've been following US news mainly through the writings of folk like you, Jess, courageous and committed defenders of democracy. I wonder often what I would do if MAGA or something like it gains power in the UK (Scotland has many devolved powers, and a very centre-left govt presently, but still basically part of UK). The way exhaustion and despair are used as weapons is both crystal clear and yet another sign that authoritarian populists really have nothing to offer. I hope you can recharge a bit over the holidays. And please know that I'm sure many people on this side of the pond are with you in all your battles.
I so appreciate you, friend
We appreciate YOU, Jess. I hope you get to the Cotswolds some day.
If you do, I highly recommend doing it as a walking trip as I did back in the '80s. We had a small group - a dozen people IIRC- and we walked from inn to inn. There was a walk leader and walk manager. The walk manager picked up our luggage and moved it to the next inn, then met us mid-morning so we could pre-order our pub lunch, again at lunch time and mid afternoon with a snack. It was a blissful week walking the public footpaths and rarely seeing a soul except in the village pub.
Thanks my Scotts friend, from an Upstate NY Bluie, with Scotts ancestors. We fight the good fight and get into Good Trouble.
Hi, from another Upstate NY bluie. Jess, please give yourself a little breather! What you do is very important but very toxic! 🤗
thank you for this: '' The way exhaustion and despair are used as weapons is both crystal clear and yet another sign that authoritarian populists really have nothing to offer."
I had the pleasure of visiting Scotland a few years ago in either 2028 or 2019 - I remember it was during Trump 1.0 and shortly after his official state visit with Queen Elizabeth. I distinctly remember being embarrassed by his boorish behavior.
I really enjoyed the visit and was in awe of the Highlands. It was a Road Scholar program focusing on history so we visited the Culloden site and a bunch of castles and ruins of other castles. I loved the trip!
Jess, I live in Baltimore and I am so grateful for your dispatches from the middle of the country AND for the amazing work you do! This post reminds me of an essay by Barbara Kingsolver that has stayed with me for a very long time. She writes about protesting during the Gulf war and how one guy drove past and said, “Hey, bitch, love it or leave it!” And she does for a while, but she ends with “A country can be flawed as a marriage or a family or a person is flawed, but ‘Love it or leave it’ is a coward’s slogan. There’s more honor in ‘Love it and get it right.’ Love it, love it. Love it and never shut up.”
❤️❤️❤️
That was the common call from the hard right when I was in high school during the Vietnam war. Our response was always "Change It or Lose It". After high school & never drafted, I enlisted in the Marine Corps. Go figure.
I was gobsmacked by this post. Thank you so much, Heather. I will think of that every time some guy says that to me. And I will smile back at him (or her).
The essay is called “Jabberwocky” and it’s included in her collection of essay called “High Tide in Tucson.” I love her essays as much as her novels!
Funny how the people saying love or leave seem to hate it 😕
I stay, because so many have no choice. And I love this country and believe we can do better. But I don't know how to cope with the stupid and cruel behavior we see. This is not what I want 😒
I feel that
I stay because this is my home country with 3 daughters and 9 grandkids. Putting one blue step forward against many red backs blocking the way. If I’ve gotten one red back to turn and give me some thought, I’ve made a difference. — speaking from red Nebraska. March on, March on!!!
Dad was born in Omaha and lived/lived in San Fran and Oregon. So many cool, calmer and smarter Nebraskans out here. Made calls for your Senate campaign, for a moderate Indy farmer. The crazy red lady won, but...next?
JB, almost worse for me is not just the stupid and cruel behavior we see, but how my former work cohort* not just believe the garbage, but broadcast it, and argue with me, telling me I just have "Trump Derangement Syndrome". My standard comeback (and I am now seeing other people using it is that: a. it is NOT a formal diagnosis, that is a lie you've swallowed whole and that the only "TDS" I see is believing that what is happening is good and positive for our country.
*I am a retired deputy sheriff from Oregon in a county the size of Connecticut with an unincorporated urban population of about 75K. This "cohort" include people I have faced incredible risk and danger with, who have dealt with a large school shooting, lost members of our department to suicide and a brother from another agency to a line of duty murder. They once were brothers; they are no longer my friends.
Do you follow The Rural Badge? A writer friend of mine is behind this long running blog and Facebook group. https://theruralbadge.com/. She also write a column under Police 1 (https://www.police1.com/Kathleen-Dias/).
No, but I'll take a look. Thanks for the suggestion!
Watching Escape to the Country is how I relax and tune out (for a bit). It's healthy. It's beautiful. It's a magical experience. I too desire to live in the UK, where my ancestors come from. It's my emotional home that calls me from across the pond. Yet, I stay because I am an American and I am surrounded by millions of people who are determined to get past this time in our history. The light is getting brighter, Jess. We are illuminating the dark. We see it so we can now overcome it. I'm with you, doing my part to be the light.
❤️❤️❤️
Jess, don't want to break your heart - but Aldi in the UK have a Christmas offer:
"Shoppers are guaranteed a tree-mendous Christmas feast with a selection of Aldi’s fresh and delicious British-sourced veggies including White Potatoes (8p, 2kg), Carrots (8p, 1kg), Parsnips (8p, 500g), Red and White Cabbages (8p each), Brussels Sprouts (8p, 500g) and Swede (8p each)."
For our American friends, "8p" is 11c, and a "swede" is a rutabaga.. 500g is a pound.
Christmas isn't cheap, ever, but we are certainly having an easier time of it here in the Cotswolds than you seem to be having in the US . . .
Let us know if you DO decide to visit - I'm sure there will be plenty of people happy to have an American "refugee" to stay for a week or two. I've actually gone one coming in January. She tells me she can't wait to get away from the chaos. She says I'll spot her at the airport - she'll be the one with a cardboard label tied round her neck that says "Please look after this Yank. . ."
Oh, I’m so glad to hear from you. ❤️
My partner goes to England every year to spend time with his daughter, who lives here. I joined him this past October for 3 weeks of his 6 weeks' trip.
One way he helps finance his stay is through pet sitting service. In exchange for having a free place to stay, he takes care of people's pets while they travel. He looks for sitting jobs in places he'd like to explore
Not only a good idea - but also a great way to meet the locals. I don't think I've ever taken a dog out for a walk without someone stopping and say something. Have been "besties" with a couple I met out dog walking for 16 years now.
Has your partner thought of keeping a journal of the places, people and dogs he meets? Could be a best selling book - travel AND dogs!
He's actually a writer (retired journalist). This ghost story he wrote loosely follows our itinerary as we traveled together: https://sites.google.com/view/ahauntedpicaresque
The whole reason we trained from Worcester to Cornwall -- for a weekend (!) -- was to visit a motley crew he met in Par last year who've stayed in touch with him. Showing how silly Americans are about traveling distances, we had a long day of travel afterwards to York ;-)
He's remained friends with a couple he dogsat for two years ago, and the wife met us in Worcester for a lovely afternoon visit. If I lived there, she'd be one of my besties.
I haven't gotten around to writing my own travelogue yet, but I did post one missive on one of my favorite topics when I travel: signs. I have loads more to draw from when I get around to writing my final summary: https://barbaradidrichsen.substack.com/p/whimsy
That's great! Look forward to reading the GS when I settle down with cocoa (NOT "drinking chocolate"!) this afternoon. . .
I find I love the ideals upon which this country was founded. Those ideals are worth fighting for. I have no loyalty to a country without those ideals, but these hopes and dreams are still beating in the hearts of so many here, so I stay. That sounds good, but really, mostly, I think, I stay because my family is here, and I couldn’t take everyone with me. Where would I go?
Exactly
So well said.
SO glad you’re here and staying, and I thank you for all the good work you’re doing. I’m with you!
Thank you for all the good work that you’re doing. Have a Merry Christmas. Let’s all hope for a better new year.
How I identify with the sentiment expressed: to love the place that hurts you is a hard thing. It is even more difficult when people closest to you dive into insane ideas. It may be hard to change the body politic, but it pales by comparison to the difficulty involved in convincing a passionate follower of MAGA that that vision is morally bankrupt. So many of these people would give you the shirt off their back, but hate people like you they never met.
From DC... You are a very good writer. Your articles (and others) are what I use to tell my colleagues and friends that there's momentum even if it doesn't feel like it. While based in DC, my work sends me to rural America a lot. I've met some great people who are fighting hard for their communities in various ways. I don't know what happens and how it happens but we'll come out on "the other side" whatever that may look like. I hope we are all doing our part. You most definitely are! Thanks for your hard work. Without you, I wouldn't really know how things were in Missouri!
Thank you. And thank you for sharing my writing with others.
We can and are changing the narrative bit by bit, sentence by sentence, protest by protest. We are resisting, protesting, persisting, and repeating. Thanks for all your work, and reports.
Here’s to our efforts and successes.
I can’t leave because I can’t take my brown grandchildren, my lesbian daughter, and my trans daughter-in-law with me, and I will not abandon them.
I feel you. I have too many kids and grandkids as well. I can’t take them all. So I stay.
I’m also in Missouri and I appreciate you.
Thank you! I dream about it from time to time. And then the buts come in- my father a WW 2 vet who fought in France and was a prisoner of the Germans. My uncles who fought too, my husband a submariner, my mom who suffered under Franco's rule. They loved this country and how they would fight if they were still here.
I cry sometimes their tears and mine. Then I gather myself and be kind to someone. Offer them what I have and pray a lot for peace.
Thank you for all you do from rural Michigan.
I stay because White privilege is a scourge except when spent to fight White supremacy.
Well put!!
Exactly!
Thanks for writing, even us up here in central NY, and nothing to do with city. My friends and I, mostly clergy, doctor and PoliSci prof, are reading "Giving Up Is Unforgivable" by Joyce Vance (no relation to v.p.). No face slapping, just a reminder to stay the course and keep hope, and of course, not give up. I recommend it to you in the hope that it will shore you up, as we say.
I have read it and I love it. Thank you, friend.
On my book list to read!
I’m reading that also.
I’ve said this before, but thank you for all that you’re doing. I moved to the U.K. a little over 20 years ago when the US wouldn’t recognise my marriage to a British woman for me to sponsor her for immigration and she had no way to immigrate legally on her own. We longed for years to move to the US after Obergefell, but not now. What the US has become is appalling. I’m glad to hear it’s changing, but it won’t happen quickly and widespread enough for me to be able to move back. And that makes me incredibly sad. So thank you for putting in the effort to make the change. I wish you well!
I think you made the right decision