600th Post and New Year's Eve 2023 Spectacular!

 

I was planning to write a post "Holiday Horor 2023, Part 2," which would also feature some New Year's horror, but then I noticed that not only is it New Year's Eve, this will be 600th post on this blog! So here is my 600th Post and New Year's Eve 2023 Spectacular!

I also have a lot of memes I've been meaning to share, so enjoy those along with -- or in spite of -- my ramblings here.

I could say more about how 2023 was for me. I had a sabbatical in the spring, which was just the reset I needed in terms of teaching, research, and life after the last few pandemic years. I traveled a bit. I got to teach a Dune and Philosophy class! I published a few things, and I currently have a few more things in progress (including, hopefully, another book). I read a bunch (you can see my Goodreads challenge here).

It was a pretty good year for labor, with big wins in Detroit and Hollywood. I'm still with United Campus Workers here, and hopefully there will be a union vote at the Volkswagen plant here in Chattanooga soon. 

But it has been a terrible year for many others. Aside from all the various private ills that assail everyone at one time or another, there are numerous armed conflicts ongoing, not just the well-covered ones in Gaza and Ukraine, but also Myanmar, Yemen, Syria, Somalia, and elsewhere. I hope those and all regions will see peace in 2024. I hope this despite the fact that I'm not confident it will happen. Such is the nature of hope, I suppose, although stranger things than peace have happened.

We here in the US have another Presidential election coming up in 2024, which I'm dreading to be honest, not just because of my intense dislike of Trump and the chance he could win again (although I do think Biden will win -- maybe more out of hope than data at this point), but something about a Presidential election has felt like it brings out the worst in my fellow Americans, at least since the whole debacle of 2016. With climate change, fascism at home and abroad, the threat of another pandemic even as the previous one is not over yet, and widespread violence worldwide, it's hard to get too excited about the future. But I feel the need to hope that we might at least mitigate some of this. I hope.

I suppose I should reflect on 600 blog posts! I don't get much traffic these days, nor do I post as much as I used to. I can't promise 600 more posts, but I think I'll keep this blog going for now, at least until I can celebrate its 10th anniversary in December 2024!

But above all, I want to thank you, esteemed reader, for being here with me in cyberspace. Life is filled with suffering for sentient beings such as we, but this doesn't stop me from wishing each and every one of you peace and love and rest and fun in 2024. Happy New Year!