My 2024 calendar is already filled with personal schedules and presidential showdowns: Leslie Kouba
CLEVELAND, Ohio – Even though digital forecasts predicted the extinction of printed books, they’re still everywhere. They fill public and private shelves – except some are missing in some places because they’ve been banned. Other paper products, like calendars and maps, are still used, in spite of their computerized cousins and if you’re like me, you can’t have just one.
Our 2024 wall calendar, keeper of most commitments, is hanging between the china cabinet and the stove in our little kitchen. Always at my side, whether on table or in tote bag, is my journal calendar with its mindfulness reminders and all my scribbled goals, lists and doings. For ease of scheduling, we use an online calendar to hold meetings and appointments, and it conveniently connects to our email. Bonus! It absorbed all the Browns and Cavaliers games into its time slots via the teams’ websites. Too convenient.
I’ve kept a calendar since I was 10, when I used one of those purse-sized plastic-coated monthly ones with a cute cover that must have cost about two bits. It’s fair to say I’m addicted to calendars. They give framework to my mind and efforts and give me a sense of forward movement, amid the chaos of reality. They’re the closest I’ll ever get to journaling, and I accept that.
Of course, like the American cereal aisle in grocery stores, there’s no shortage of choices when it comes to calendars. It all depends on what interests you or what pertains to your life. I like the ones about area events and the schedules put out by the county and city library systems. Recently, I discovered a couple calendars I didn’t know existed.
First, there’s the 2024 Presidential Election Year calendar on 270towin.com. Its timeline of caucuses, primaries and debates enforced the fact that none of us can escape the grueling election year we face. The show starts in Iowa on Jan. 15, and on March 5, 17 states, including Maine, Colorado, California and Texas, will vote on what we call Super Tuesday. Hopefully, it won’t be Stupor Tuesday.
Ohioans determine their primary winners for local, state and federal offices on March 19 and by the end of that month, events determining more than 50% of presidential delegates will have already occurred. The 270toWin calendar will be important for only a short time, but the results of its events will impact us for years. The seriousness of it all weighs heavy, doesn’t it?
Then there’s the calendar tracking the campaign demands and court hearings of a certain candidate for the highest level job in the country. No matter your feelings about the whole ordeal, that calendar is crazytown. How can one person be in all those places, day after day, and be able to bring what’s needed to the table? I predict stress-related ill health if not mental breakdown.
Wait. Did that already occur? Maybe. The evidence appears to be conclusive, but so far, no one has declared it to be so.
The court case schedule starts soon. On Feb. 8, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments regarding Colorado Supreme Court’s decision declaring Trump ineligible as a presidential primary candidate, based on his actions after he lost the 2020 election as defined in the 14th Amendment, Section 3. Whatever SCOTUS decides will hold true for Maine and the other 48 states, so this is big. I mean, REALLY big.
Maine’s Secretary of State, Shena Bellows, after following the due process required of her and her determination that Trump was ineligible for Maine’s primary ballot based on the 14th amendment, has received threats of violence and needed police protection at her home. I am embarrassed and enraged by the actions of those who think violence is the answer to anything they don’t like.
The majority opinion of the Colorado Supreme Court makes clear those justices were very aware of the seriousness of the questions they faced and their duty to apply the law “without fear or favor, and without being swayed by public reaction to the decisions that the law mandates we reach.” I am encouraged and enthused by the actions of those who are responsible for upholding the laws that govern our country.
Now, let’s see if SCOTUS has the courage and decency to be consistent. The court determined each state has the right to determine the legality of abortion, which was once constitutionally protected by the 14th amendment (and others). Certainly the justices must see that a state has the right to determine if a person has earned the right to be on that state’s ballots – or if they’ve ruined their chances through illegal behavior. The court’s own precedent demands it.
I wish for it to be that simple. Time will tell. I’ll be tracking it on all of my calendars.
Leslie Kouba, a lifetime resident of Northeast Ohio and mother of four completely grown humans, enjoys writing, laughing and living in Cleveland with her wife, three cats and a fat-tailed gecko named Zennis. You can reach her at [email protected].
