Two memes were circulating, late in the evening, on the night when 46 took office.
The first was the image of Bernie Sanders at the inauguration. He appears in his infamous grey jacket and knitted mittens, sitting with his arms folded. To me, he looks something adjacent to dejected and sad. Which is somewhat heartbreaking, actually.
Many have pointed out that he appears to be wearing the same grey jacket he wears in that one other meme. You know the one. With the snow??
Anyway. Bernie’s image has been gleefully photoshopped into a variety of other photographs, from other times and places, to the general benefit of everybody.
Bernie is everywhere.* Archeologists from the future are going to have an interesting time with that one.
*except in the Whitehouse, which is horrible.**
**tentative Jungian shrink analysis – the entire collective unconscious is feeling the loss of an alternative parallel universe outcome in which Bernie Sanders took that oath of office. And we’re creating memes because we’re using humor to cope with the fucking grief.
I adore you, Bernie Sanders. I appreciate your vision for this nation and her people, I am so grateful for the way you have fought and continue to fight for our well being, and I wish you had been our 46th president. I’m so glad you exist.
Also, I love those mittens, and I want to know where they came from and who made them.
…okay I looked it up because I had to know…
According to the internet, they were a handmade gift from a teacher named Jen Ellis, from Essex Junction, Vermont, who has since been inundated with requests from people who are trying to buy them. They are made from repurposed wool sweaters and lined with fleece made from recycled plastic bottles. Ellis gifted them to Sanders 2+ years ago and was surprised when he started wearing them on his campaign trail.
So glad you wore them to the inauguration because now they are famous. As they should be. They are great.
The second circulating meme is the collective realization that John Mullaney’s figurative horse has, officially, left the hospital.
Hank Green went on the record and said that, yeah, if a horse left a hospital after four years of causing havoc in there, it would absolutely make sense to take a minute to celebrate.
But after the celebrations were done, it’d be time to clean up the place and get on with the business of helping people. Because it’s a fucking hospital, and that’s what hospitals are meant to do.
This analysis hits differently in the middle of a pandemic.
It’s honestly time to clean up the place get on with the business of helping people, my loves.
I hope you woke up feeling like a weight had been lifted. I hope you read that list of the 17 executive orders that Biden signed last night. I hope you let out a breath you’ve been holding for four excruciatingly long years.
I love you.