HEADS UP!  It is my considered advice that you do NOT post your email address here.  Please email it to me.  You will get a ton of junk mail if you post your email in public.  Email it to me at susan@brazosriver.com I have removed email addresses from any comments so far.  Also, if you have ever commented at any time, please go on and send your email to share with the regulars.

They say that all good things must end.  Juanita Jean’s, The World’s Most Dangerous Beauty Salon, will be closing around January 23rd.

This has been a hard decision.  I will miss all of you but mostly I fret that the regulars will miss each other.  If you will email me your username at Juanita’s, your first name, and your email address, I will compile the regular users into a list and email it out to everyone who sends theirs.  My email is Susan@brazosriver.com If you don’t comment at least once a month or so, don’t even try to get on the list.

I’ve had fun here for 15 years and that’s about as long as any hobby lasts. Recovering from Don‘s death has been hard.  I was 25 years old when I married him and 50 years later, I lost him. I witnessed his life and that was an amazing gift.

And then there’s politics.

The night of the last election, my baby son sent me a text message that said …

I know there’s a part of you that was hoping to end your days on earth knowing this weird authoritarian threat had been put to bed and now it must feel like that won’t happen. But remember that the struggle you lived and taught me was important has been nurtured and carried on by fellow travelers long before you were born and will continue long after you’re gone. And you know that you’ve personally done far more than most to caretake that flame. And that flame will inevitably melt the candle.

I know he was talking about you, too.

I will miss all of you, but the door shuts on January 23rd or thereabouts because it’s just gotten too expensive and time consuming to keep the doors open.

However, I do have something else I want to share with you.

If you feel disgusted about politics, you are not alone.

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Somewhere in those numbers is my name.  I turned off the teevee news the day after election and have not turned it back on. It has improved my life significantly.  I will admit that I have been tempted this week to go look at the hair pulling and spitting going on between Steve Bannon and Elon Musk.  I just find it funny that Trump predicted a civil war after the election and sure ‘nuff, he’s playing the role of Robert E Lee among his own troops.

I could be wrong. I have been wrong before and it didn’t kill me, so here goes.  I think we need to be listening to young people.  I think we shouldn’t even give a big bear’s butt about who is the new leader of the DNC because screw ‘em, they are not viable any longer.  They spent 1.5 Billion dollars and lost.  They lost to Trump twice. I guess they’re waiting for three’s the charm but, frankly, I don’t have that kind of time.

I’m making an effort to pay attention to young people about politics.  For example, I listen to David Pakman https://davidpakman.com/ because he’s young, progressive, and while he takes his reporting very seriously, he doesn’t take himself too seriously.  I also subscribed to You Tube to hear what the young progressives are thinking.

I’m going to try some fancy stuff to keep this post on top so everyone can see it, but El Jefe, Half Empty, and Fenway Fran will keep posting underneath this one until we slide off in the sunset.

I love you all.