Lauren B. Lentini

I started this iteration of my blog in December 2018, and I think this is the longest I’ve kept up a blog since college (my nearly three-month hiatus notwithstanding). I was never really sold on the name, though, and the more I look at the design, the the black headers don’t really suit me. I’m a Light Mode person, always have been. If I wasn’t so impatient, I would wait for my blog’s anniversary to launch my redesign, but there’s no time like the present.

Introducing…Lists & Lore!

It’s new and improved, with its own domain name (www.listsandlore.com), a new logo, and a much friendlier theme. You’ll find all the content you love (I hope!) here, so don’t forget to update your subscriptions and bookmarks. 😁

Why Lists & Lore? I’m so glad you asked! “Lists” represents my love of all things organizational and linear, from bullet journaling to information architecture to my recent obsession with Getting Organized with The Home Edit. And “Lore” stands for anything to do with fiction and/or storytelling, whether it’s the stories that I’m telling you about my life, or my latest binge-watch (Schitt’s Creek) and Kindle read (Altered Carbon). And I love a good ampersand.

A big part of the name, you may have noticed, is that it fits in with my LL branding. That was intentional, and quite difficult, so there were several contenders that didn’t make the cut. Here’s a ,,,list:

• Left-handed Letters
• Loquaciously Laconic
• Letters and Lullabies
• Labels and Lace
• aLLiterative

Did I choose the right one? Which would you have gone with?

---

When I first brought up my renaming project, Jerald told me he thought the name was “Dispatches from Dystopia.” I certainly have used it enough. DfromD is only temporary, though. It will end when: a) I go back to my office, b) Jordan goes back to daycare, or c) Joe Biden becomes president, whichever comes first or feels the most significant at the time.

A and B are likely to be simultaneous, of course. If C doesn’t happen, I can’t even think about the future. I tried to write a political post a while back, but I never finished it. I wasn’t anticipating the other side’s arguments well enough, my editor told me, and that’s because I have such a hard time understanding them.

I believe there is value in both conservative and liberal politics, as well as having a healthy debate over the best approaches to governing and helping other people. Republicans in power, however, have perverted conservatism so much — in favor of corporate interests and culture wars — that they’re actively hurting people. Women. Minorities. LGBTQ people. Immigrants and refugees. Middle-class people. Anyone vulnerable to COVID. Etc. I can’t imagine how someone who cares about other people (and I believe that you, dear reader, care about people) can continue to vote for them.

I’m an unabashed liberal, but I believe the conservatives in this country deserve to have a voice in government that represents their interests, not one that says what people want to hear in order to get elected and then steps on them to pursue their own monetary and political gain. I believe Biden is a moderate politician who will actually represent the interests of conservative Americans better than a so-called Republican would. He wasn’t my first choice in the primary, but he will be a good president. Maybe not the greatest president, but certainly not the worst. In my adult life, we’ve had one of the best Democratic presidents and two of the worst Republican ones, and I’m ready for a boring president. Someone who goes down in history like Millard Fillmore, about whom I know nothing except that he has a funny name.

Tomorrow, we get the chance to rebrand the country and forge a path toward a better future. For everyone, not just the privileged and power-hungry. If you haven’t already submitted your early ballot, mask up and vote!

I’m cautiously optimistic about the future, so I’m starting the next chapter now. I can’t think of a more important message to begin this version of my blog with. So, once more for good measure, VOTE!