Don’t be stupid, be a Smarty, don’t you join the alt-right party — The loss on Saturday still smarts, and so does the sting of some other things in my life, so it’s time to immerse myself (and anyone else who cares to join me) in the UCLA Spirit Squad, who has the beauty, grace and SMARTS to make the pain stop smarting
As you know, this has been a really tough month for me (for “heart-breaking” personal reasons), and for so many others (for “heart-stopping” political reasons). The pain lingers for me, and getting killed by sc doesn’t help. Now we are being bombarded by Breitbart-related news, and constant reminders and warnings about Neo-Nazis and White Supremacists on the rise, even within the incoming administration. I don’t care about current events nearly as much as many other people, but I really, really do hate Nazis.
I have said here repeatedly that I don’t want to offend any of my readers. I know I have some Conservative Bruin fans reading what I write, and I have no problem with that. But if any of them support the Nazi Party or believe in White Power, I don’t need to retain them as readers. Maybe they wouldn’t be here, since the Spirit Squad embraces diversity, and includes more than a half-dozen members who don’t click the “White” box on job applications. Hopefully, that fact weeds out the extreme racists. I do have several friends who are happy about the election results, and I am ok with that… unless they are applauding the alt-right rise to power as well. Let’s just hope that the panic is overblown, and that the extremists making noise will not really have any policy power. The President-Elect IS backpedaling on several campaign promises already, so why not hope that the racist rhetoric is also not part of the actual plan?
Anyway, despite my (our?) severe depression, this is no time to wallow in self-pity. Is it EVER time to wallow in self-pity? Of course not. So let’s just try to raise our spirits, by enjoying these 45 new photos of the UCLA Spirit Squad — ALL action shots from the sidelines of the first half of the game. I am editing a hundred at a time. These are all from the 300’s. I will get to the 400’s, 500’s, and 600’s as soon as I can, fighting off the tryptophan to bring you something to be thankful for. And by the way, one thing I am thankful for is that last Saturday, before the game, I got a chance to converse with a few members of the Spirit Squad, at the poster signing booth. This afforded me the opportunity to attain further evidence confirming that these girls are SHARP, intelligent, poised, personable, well-educated, and well-mannered. We talked about the Rivalry, and THEY GET IT. They are aware of some of the questionable behavior exhibited by the other side, including by some of their counterparts in the rivalry. Just from interacting with these True Bruin girls for a few minutes, I swelled with pride, so happy that these ambassadors for my alma mater are so smart, and so respectable — awesome representatives of our beloved University of California at Los Angeles.
I GIVE THANKS for UCLA, and for the UCLA Spirit Squad. I wish certain others in my life had a fraction of the class and integrity. :-/
