Ang's Journal

Well, we haven't even gotten a full work week into our glorious new Administration & here are three ways that I, a pinko Commie liberal, have personally experienced getting owned:

• Earlier this month, I was invited to join the Board of a local environmental non-profit, the Uncompahgre Watershed Partnership. I attended a really great briefing on their big watershed restoration project for 2025 - a plan to protect & restore a type of habitat called iron fens. Iron fens trap carbon, increase water retention, & sequester heavy metals, improving water quality & water flow stability while providing a minor buffer against climate change. But, one of President Trump's first acts on Monday was to suspend spending under the Inflation Reduction Act, which was the funding source for this project. Therefore, this project is now in limbo.
  
• My boss & I had a frantic phone call this morning regarding concerns from one of our Native American employees: Navajo folks are getting caught up in ICE sweeps & the Trump Administration is questioning the birthright citizenship of Native Americans. (You really have to stop & admire the irony of that for a moment.) We are debating what to do to keep our three Native American employees safe while they go about their personal & professional business in the land that their ancestors have occupied for tens of thousands of years.
  
• One of my friends, who identifies as non-binary, reached out to me in the midst of a panic attack on Wednesday when, as part of their company being acquired, they were sent an HR form asking them to self-identify their gender identity so the acquiring company can use the information for "federal and state Equal Employment Opportunity record keeping". They finally decided to be honest & identify as non-binary, but what a world where someone has to weigh their honesty, self image, & mental health vs. a sense of safety & financial stability.

We are making America GREAT! /s