President* Trump,

All morning and well into the afternoon the weather here was gray and spitty, which is pretty classic for Seattle this time of year. It was actually rather comforting since lately we’ve been having lots of sustained downpours that are almost certainly global warming driven and are definitely unsettling.

In addition to being calming in its ordinariness, the mistiness resulted in trillions of little sparkles on the grasses, leaves, and spider webs around here that lasted for hours and hours. It was all beautiful, spectacular even, but the most special thing was the spider web on the outside of our kitchen window – it was absolutely bejeweled and it looked for all the world like a lace collar that RBG would have enjoyed wearing. Laura said it looked like a stadium seating chart since it was made by an orb spider and their deal is that they have fairly closely strung concentric threads arranged a couple of inches deep from the edge of the web while the center is basically empty of everything but the spokes. I see what she means, but on this first morning of Coney-Barrett’s confirmation hearing, I prefer to think that RBG was sending a signal to hang in.

I don’t have much more for you today except that I do want to congratulate both you and Mitch McConnell for having launched ACB’s confirmation hearing on Columbus Day – nice, shitty symbolism there, I’d say. I’m not equating the destruction that adding ACB to the Supreme Court will have to what Columbus wrought, but the potential for long-term damage of an uber-conservatively skewed SCOTUS would (will?) carry on the Columbus legacy extremely well. I haven’t seen anyone calling this out, but I’m sure there were some very happy (unmasked) Federalists clinking champagne glasses tonight and chuckling over the serendipitous timing.

Gag me.

May we be safe from brazen nihilists.
May we see this desperate power grab for what it is.
May we have the strength to hold onto the bits of hope in RBG-reminders.
May we accept that this is a struggle for the ages. Literally.

Sincerely,
Tracy Simpson