First, the blog: today I noticed that all internal links are broken. If you try to go from one post to the next, you get nothing but an error. If you try to search by clicking on a calendar date, there’s that error again. All the automatically inserted links in the blog are busted, and I don’t know what to do. The site is essentially useless and inaccessible. So why am I bothering to write this at all? I don’t know. Does anyone know anyone who can help me?
Next, unemployment. A week ago Tuesday I resigned from my job after my boss was fired. My last day is in three days, and I can hardly wait. Now I’m back to the old job hunt, which is difficult, scary and demoralizing. I’ve been doing a tiny bit of freelance editing and have earned over $100 so far, for many hours of work.
Finally, death. Bill Bricker died last week. The coward. He just didn’t want to stand trial. The Chicago Tribune posted one final story about it, for which they interviewed me. I was terribly eloquent, and anonymous.[Editor’s note: I’ve had a request from Eleni to post a link to the article. This is it.]**
I wonder if I can think of something good to say. Anna and her friends have an annual “artists’ trading card” event for which everyone makes a fistful of 4″ x 6″ creations to swap with one another. She invited me to this year’s, which will be held in March. Ever anxious about my limited supply of creativity, I started working on mine right away and have finished all five. They’re supposed to be a surprise, so if you’re Anna or Nancy, don’t read this next part. Here’s what I made:
Ember has never been particularly interested in the arts, at least not until last week when we started playing with the white board. She did a series of portraits of people in her family. This is hers of me:
She’s also quite into cooking. Here she is making brownies:
Meanwhile, Jesse is very good at kicking and waving his arms around, and is rapidly outgrowing everything I knitted for him.
** Editor’s note, January 11, 2020: The link to the Chicago Tribune article, above, is still live, but just in case they take it down, here’s my part:
Though some people questioned why Bricker could not have been extradited sooner, before he became so ill, Cooney said, “Mr. Bricker was treated with dignity and respect throughout the proceedings.
“His right to due process was copiously adhered to,” he added. “I know it was frustrating to some of these victims that this process took so long. Unfortunately, there will never be a resolution for this case.”
Among those disappointed was a 60-year-old woman who became the third alleged victim named in the Wyoming complaint after she learned about the case and called Spence in November to recount her own story.
She was 14 and attending Teton County camp for the second time, when she was molested by Bricker during an overnight backpacking trip in 1968, she said during a phone interview. She said she froze as he kissed her and fondled her breasts in her sleeping bag.
“It does affect you forever on so many levels. … That shattered trust, the abuse of power,” said the woman, whom the Tribune agreed not to name at her request. “It crawls in the recesses of your mind.”
You are sooooo funny…..deadline looms three months hence, and you scramble to make it in time….I busted out laughing when I espied the modification to the edifice….you are just too much! And I adore your piggies. They are so very charming….I’d like to have tea with that well-attired dude sometime!
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