The past two to three weeks have really done a number on me. I am frustrated, enraged, sad, and frequently beside myself where I have to stop wherever I am and say out loud "what the fuck are we doing??" The denigration of public service, the undermining of our institutions, the cruelty for cruelty sake is really painful. And no one seems to care. I don't know how to deal other than to retreat into myself, which is the opposite of what I know to work. "Lean into community", but the way I experience this feels deeply personal and vulnerable and my community of public servants and educators are all feeling this in some kind of uncommon or new way. The discomfort is a new level of discomfort. I think it's a combination of things. I have never in my life been this compassionate and empathetic an individual, due possibly to my relationships (my family with Jody and Linds, and others), my age, my gradual growing realization of what matters to me and that which is...