November: That Happened

Are there words to sum up November? I want to praise and cuss the Lord in the same sentence.

I keep coming back to the phrase “That happened.” The internet defines the saying as “a sarcastic expression used in online discussions to call out overly exaggerated claims or tall tales that are often passed around as true stories on social media, most notably the ones in which the storyteller allegedly confronts and tells off another individual in the name of social justice.”

I use the phrase a little differently. I use it to sum up stories and happenings that are true and yet hold an element of unbelievability to them. Like one of those epic stories from college that no one believes but the people that were there, because, well, they were there.

So in my category of “That Happened” from the month of November . . .

Cattle Found The Bottom?

For a short breath of time the feeder cattle sales in the area seemed to have enjoyed a short rally the last part of October heading into November. We all watched wide-eyed and then the air got let out.  But prices haven’t free falled significantly since and that leads everyone to speculate on whether or not we have hit the bottom of this cycle. Unfortunately, I don’t believe we have.

Rural America Shows Up To Vote

You know what got me stirred up more than Hillary and Trumps antics this election? The outright bias and idiocracy of my fellow journalists in mainstream media. And the fact that everyone was shocked that rural America showed up to vote and the “Uneducated White Woman” seemed to have been some unforeseen secret weapon.  Yes, that happened.

First of all, do pollsters really need to break us down by education and color? Everyone talks about how America needs to accept everyone and then on election night all you saw highlighted was the divisions we had between us and what wall was holding us in our assumed places – i.e. white, black, man, woman, educated, uneducated, rural, urban.

I went to bed that night not knowing who had won the election because frankly, I was tired of how the media (all networks, because our household believes in the sport of channel flipping) was handling this shocker of an election.

When I awoke, Trump had been declared president and my Facebook and Twitter feeds were blowing up with white, highly educated, opinionated and mad women steaming about being called “uneducated rural white women.”

The press really did themselves no favors this election season and there will have to be a realigning of journalistic values in mainstream media to get themselves pulled together and valued during an election ever again.

Dakota Access Pipeline

Tensions are high in North Dakota. Safety for livestock, grasslands and human life have given many ranchers there new worry lines on their faces. Cattle are dead, a woman is missing her hand, water cannons have been employed and star chefs are cooking in make shift kitchens. You can’t make this stuff up. (For the record, I wish it all was a tall tale.)

The Army Corps of Engineers issued an announcement on Friday, Nov. 25 saying it was giving the protestors of the Dakota Access Pipeline until Dec. 5 to vacate the area or be subject to arrest. Hopefully that will cease the fear these ranchers have.

In the meantime, won’t you all please say a prayer for those who are being impacted.

–C0di Vallery-Mills