You may have seen this WestJet Christmas Miracle video. Santa asks boarding passengers “What do you want for Christmas this year?” A kid says he wants a train set. His dad laughs and says he wants a big TV. Their Christmas requests are secretly being transmitted to corporate headquarters, and as the plane takes off, dozens of WestJet employees scamper off with checklists and credit cards to make these holiday wishes come true. Two hours later, when the passengers land, what should appear at baggage claim but every item every passenger had requested?

About 35 million people have watched the video. Most people found it “heartwarming,” “brilliant,” or “awesome.” One commenter opined, “FANTASTIC! LIKE LIKE LIKE UNTIL DEATH :)))”

I found it totally depressing, how conditioned we are to articulate our desires in terms of stuff.

At 3:44, a woman unwraps a Samsung Galaxy. At 3:57, a dude gets the socks and underwear he asked for. He’s undoubtedly kicking himself for not asking for an Android Tablet, which a grinning kid walks away with at 4:03.

Then the camera pulls back, the music swells, there’s a dramatic pause, and out of the luggage carousel comes…wait for it…the climax of the video… Read more…

It’s a little chilly today, and may be windy tonight at 6:15 when we get together for Tuesday queerfit (directions to today’s Skate Park location at bottom of this post). Meanwhile, up in Elizabeth, New Jersey, it’s 33 degrees and sleeting. And this is happening, right now: a group of New Jersey residents, some of them undocumented, have locked themselves together and are blocking the Elizabeth Detention Center to protest the arbitrary deportation of family members.

From the Not1More website:

“We can’t let more families to be separated. We can’t wait for Congress. After what I saw my family go through I want to help other families that are in the same situation,” explains Rosa Santana, who migrated to the US after Hurricane Mitch hit her home country of Honduras and who’s aunt and uncle were deported.

The Toyi-Toyi, the energetic, awesomely powerful protest march/dance that brought down apartheid.

Tracy Chapman in 1988, singing Talking About a Revolution at a concert celebrating Nelson Mandela’s 70th birthday, three years before he was released from prison.

See you tomorrow morning at 10:00.