At least I'm not a lesbian Islamic journalist, then I'd really be in trouble...

By Kay Ebeling 

She was very thin which emphasized how pointed was her chin and nose. Yet she sat in front of me, the first real Contact I’d made since moving here, someone who seemed to be recruiting me to do journalism for her organization, when all I really wanted to do was feed the homeless once a month. So I tried to switch to professional interview mode, joked that I don't even have a resume, it's been so long since I had to look for a job. She was humorless, seemed to be just a few inches off target for any of my quips. Then as the interview ended, I knew from her reaction to a few things I’d said that, not only was I not going to do journalism for her, but I was not even hired as a volunteer once a month.
The last words she said to me have rung in my head as I spent another month with no friends, no connections, not even holding many conversations except arguing with my neighbors it seemed.
She represents a different sensitivity of the locals than I'd seen. My neighbors are the drunk broke locals, she is the propertied yacht club local.
As we started to take leave, she said to me, “I think journalists are the most reprehensible people on earth.”
I was taken aback. I thought at that point that we still might have a future, so attempted to keep the conversation civil saying, Well when I was in college they taught Ethics of Journalism, I'm not sure today’s reporters are being trained that way- but she interrupted me.
Got right in my face and looked me straight in the eye: “No, I'm saying, I think journalists are the most reprehensible people on earth.”
Then, as I've shared here before, she threw out my application.
She is, undoubtedly, one of the people in my town who voted for Trump. In the weeks after the interview, I thought a lot about those Trump rallies where he’d say, throw the journalists in jail, get rid of First Amendment protections.
God knows what Trump’s people are going to do to journalists once he's in office and lets them loose. 

Wow. just saw state election returns and this place I moved to 1.5 years ago is Totally Red... no wonder I can't get along with anyone here, and that will only get worse. Glad I made this decision to leave as I Know that won't be true in ----- where I am going to live next. Note to friends, don't make assumptions about California. There's urban and rural, it makes a Big Difference in the country today


Kay Ebeling

more to come