Dear President Trump, Today is Laura’s birthday. Last night after work I purchased a lovely bouquet of flowers for her that I hid until this morning. She was so sleepy first thing that she missed seeing them on the dining room table, but her smile when she did see them was wonderful. It’s not easy … Continue reading A boatload of racist crap
Critical Thinking
Clogged filters
Dear President Trump, I’ve probably told you before about my favorite introvert workday lunch routine, but in case I haven’t or it was a long time ago, I’ll tell you really quickly that it involves eating a lunch I brought from home while studiously ignoring email and reading NPR for about 20 minutes. This is … Continue reading Clogged filters
Place names matter
Dear President Trump, Another hot sunny Sunday means that once again we took our dog stroll at the University of Washington. It’s one of the few places with mid-day shade where our little dog won’t pick up too many burrs or too much pitch in his hairy feet. These factors and the free parking after … Continue reading Place names matter
Ping pong and real reality TV
Dear President Trump, Did you ever play ping pong as a kid? One of the quirky things about my family is that after our house fire and the rebuild, my parents thought it would be fun to have a pool table with a ping pong cover in the dining room. They didn’t really appreciate what … Continue reading Ping pong and real reality TV
Our increasingly fraught relationship with reality
Dear President Trump, I found it! The badge button I was telling you about yesterday was in my pocket the whole time and I found it this morning when I put on that jacket again to take the dogs out. My hands were cold standing there waiting for them and so they (my hands) went … Continue reading Our increasingly fraught relationship with reality
Memorial Day, surrender, and “The Flag We Should Know”
Dear President Trump, Yesterday I saw the following below-the-fold-headline in the WP: “The contested Confederate roots of Memorial Day” and although I didn’t make time to read the article then, the title lodged in my brain and wiggled loose the memory of another Confederate story of a very different sort. That story appeared this past … Continue reading Memorial Day, surrender, and “The Flag We Should Know”
Frighteningly unhinged POTUS
Dear President Trump, Before I get to the business end of today’s letter, I want to let you know that your contact page and the universe conspired in a pretty funny way. Yesterday’s letter was all about raising an alarm regarding the number of copyediting errors I’ve seen in the WP lately and at the … Continue reading Frighteningly unhinged POTUS
Canaries in the free press coalmine
Dear President Trump, Over the past week there’s been at least one copyediting error in about a fifth of the articles I read in the WP. If I thought you perused your now-hometown paper with any regularity, I’d ask if you’ve noticed them too, but since you allegedly don’t read (let alone peruse), and there’s … Continue reading Canaries in the free press coalmine
The beast is out of control and it’s going to get worse
Dear President Trump, Did you catch the picture of the little tiny African American girl, Auriah “Lovie” Duncan, reaching up to put her hand on the outstretched hand of Harriet Tubman depicted in the Maryland mural? The little girl is dwarfed by the wall-size image of Tubman, but she looks ready to go wherever Tubman … Continue reading The beast is out of control and it’s going to get worse
Apparently, “achomlishments” R US
Dear President Trump, You sir, doth protest too much, methinks. Your act is so over the top that if someone from another planet with a universal translator had managed to slip into the press scrum for your “impromptu” press conference after your “impromptu” exit from the infrastructure meeting this morning, they would have picked up … Continue reading Apparently, “achomlishments” R US