Dear President Trump, Today is August 18th and it is our brother-in-law’s (BIL) 66th birthday. We are all happy for some strange, not very clear reason that he didn’t die one or two days shy of his birthday. Also, we are all happy for very clear reasons that he was moved out of the ICU … Continue reading August 18th
Community
The universal human condition writ small
Dear President Trump, I am going to catch a 7am flight to Atlanta tomorrow morning. Laura went on ahead this afternoon to be with her brother and our brother-in-law (BIL) as BIL is failing rapidly. She was at the hospital and we just spoke briefly. She said tomorrow they will start removing the supports that … Continue reading The universal human condition writ small
“Dear Racism”
Dear President Trump, I told you yesterday that I took a class over the weekend on allyship and shared an initial take on my manifesto for wholeness based on one of the writing exercises we did. Another of the exercises involved writing a letter to an ‘ism or ‘ism-like construct; sexism, racism, classism, ageism, able-ism, … Continue reading “Dear Racism”
Make it so
Dear President Trump, Yesterday I went to a writing class for people who want to become better allies both through their writing and in real time encounters. I left quite humbled and feeling as though I have a lot of remedial work to do. One of the exercises involved writing a manifesto framed by the … Continue reading Make it so
Cruel and usual
Dear President Trump, I’ve decided writing to you and sending us all loving-kindness meditations has become too important to me to let go of yet. Besides, it’s highly likely I would become impossible to be around if I didn’t have these letters as an outlet for my frustration, dismay, and anxiety over what’s going on … Continue reading Cruel and usual
“What keeps you awake at night?”
Dear President Trump, This morning I went by the Christian Cavalry Church near us. They have a huge sign at the edge of their parking lot; it’s black with bold pastel rainbow letters that say “Sweet Dreams” and smaller white letters that ask “What keeps you awake at night?” I immediately started generating my list; … Continue reading “What keeps you awake at night?”
Crowd fillers
Dear President Trump, Remember how last February after the MSD mass shooting there were claims that the survivors who were speaking out about gun violence were crisis actors, that they weren’t really students who witnessed the murder of 17 people from their school community? Do you remember when those claims started burbling up to discredit … Continue reading Crowd fillers
Systemic consequences
Dear President Trump, Just giving you a head’s up; this is going to be a longer than usual letter. I found out from Laura yesterday that our brother-in-law’s oncologist told him that people with his type of cancer (i.e., bone metastases from an organ tumor) have a median life expectancy of 20 months. This is … Continue reading Systemic consequences
What have we done?
Dear President Trump, I’m not sure at what point I started crying. I think it was during the video of President Obama’s highlights in office the HP put together for his birthday today. Seeing him smiling and engaged, signing the marriage equality act into law, flipping burgers for people on the White House lawn, talking … Continue reading What have we done?
It’s so tempting to dehumanize dehumanizers
Dear President Trump, Laura flew to Atlanta last night to be with her brother and our brother-in-law (BIL) for several days. We now know that the bone cancer came from a tumor in one of BIL’s kidneys, but we don’t know yet whether it’s spread elsewhere. He started palliative radiation treatment yesterday for pain and … Continue reading It’s so tempting to dehumanize dehumanizers