26 October 2025

Last night I watched Rachel Maddow’s extended coverage of last weekend’s No Kings rallies, seven million Americans protesting across all 50 states in multiple venues, cities large and small. The Weeks Crossing rally in Dover, New Hampshire (my 6^th protest of the Felon-in-Chief) was the largest of the those I’ve attended, coupled with the least number of middle finger salutes from passersby.  Progress!  As Maddow opined:  think how many more would have protested had the Mango Man not waited till after the demonstrations to desecrate and demolish the East Wing of the White House, the in-your-face epitome of his contempt for the People’s House, Democracy, and the Constitution.  “I can do what I want,” he crows, which includes broadcasting his puerile, scatological AI-generated video of King Don dumping excrement on the peacefully protesting citizens he swore, hand on bible, to serve.  Is disgust with the Notorious P.I.G. gaining momentum?  I think so.  As Martha Stewart would say, that’s a good thing.

Clearly, however, the Mango Mussolini believes in literal enshittification—the term Cory Doctorow coined to describe the decline of technological products and services over time.  That’s bad news in both senses of the term.  I had my latest encounter with tech enshittification last week, trying to announce my on-time arrival for a flu shot appointment at the local Walgreens, a simple check-in made nearly impossible by the “time-saving” QR code we were to scan, which (slowly, because of bad wi-fi) took me to a multitude of screens with questions I’d already answered online, but had to answer again lest my presence not be announced.  So, I scrolled and scrolled, giving new meaning to doom scrolling because this took about six minutes until my phone screen froze, my having arrived still not on anyone’s radar.  The pharmacist then had to come find me and ask me all the same questions a third time, this time in person.  Administering the shot then took all of 6 seconds. 

Deciding to counter this frustration with a humble treat, I then went to McDonald’s to console myself with a “big breakfast”—something I would occasionally do in grad school days (when it did not cost over $11!).  I’d not been in a McDonald’s for about a decade, and so was unprepared for the unmanned order counter, now replaced by large screens where customers are supposed to figure out how to place their own orders.  An associate finally saw my distress and came out to help me, confessing that when she tried to take her granddaughter out for lunch the previous week, she only succeeded in ordering 3 Cokes.  She took my order, but when I went to acknowledge that I was willing to “round up” my tab for charity, the credit card screen would not acknowledge my touch—nor that of the associate helping me, nor that of the manager, who repeatedly banged on the screen until the charge went through—without rounding up.  A nice metaphor for what handing our lives over to tech is doing to us.  More bad news.

Meanwhile, the drought in NH continues:  glorious weather, but for all those depending on wells for their water supply, the low buzz of anxiety about another thing we can’t control is ongoing.

But, it IS beautiful out.  And the New York Times recipe for cheesy pumpkin pasta with kale turned out well.

And yesterday’s regional meeting of the New Hampshire Library Trustees Association in the lovely, new, light-filled Barrington Public Library once again affirmed that there are lots of smart, committed people quietly, successfully keeping truth free and accessible to all.

And best of all, young Eric Lu, 27-year-old classical pianist from Massachusetts whom I had the pleasure to hear play back in 2016 at UNH when he wowed the audience in the Johnson theatre and kindly autographed my copy of his 2-cd recording of Chopin’s 24 Preludes, on Monday, 20 October, beat out over 180 competitors from all over the world to win the Olympics of the piano world, the International Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw.

He had placed fourth in the competition at age 17 in 2015, and returned ten years later to take home the gold and 60,000 euros.  Dear Reader, watch his performance in the final round of the competition on YouTube if you are in need of some uplifting good news.

May the good prevail.