Dear President Trump, Last night Laura and I were stopped at the light right by our house, waiting to turn left and we noticed a modest sized poster in the window of a house that reads “Dream Big / Fight Hard.” Neither of us knew who or what it was referencing, but we both liked … Continue reading Fighting for big dreams
Positives
Beginner’s mind
Dear President Trump, The big news flashes from my neck of the former woods is that today is my mom’s birthday and this morning Laura left for Atlanta to visit her brother over the holiday weekend. Our daughter will be housesitting over the weekend so it’s going to be an odd few days for the … Continue reading Beginner’s mind
Piling more suffering on suffering people is bad karma
Dear President Trump, Sometimes I know the night before what I want to write to you about in the morning, but last night was not one of those nights. I’ve been topically untethered for some 10 hours and I don’t like it. What’s worse is that this morning all I’ve been able to think about … Continue reading Piling more suffering on suffering people is bad karma
We need a down to earth star
Dear President Trump, At about 8:45 last night when I let our old dog out to pee for what I hoped would be the last time until morning (it was) I saw a single star in the sky to the West and realized it had been months and months since I thought to look for … Continue reading We need a down to earth star
Gushy-eyed First Ladies and Zombies
Dear President Trump, It was a long time ago now, but I remember writing to you about photographs and the framing of them, about how shifting the camera slightly to one side or the other will often reveal an entirely different image or convey an entirely different feel than whatever was ultimately selected as the … Continue reading Gushy-eyed First Ladies and Zombies
Birds, trees, babies, and screeds
Dear President Trump, Last night Laura and a dear friend of ours were talking with me about my letters to you and they let me know (again) that the letters have been feeling long and didactic-y for a while now. They stopped short of calling them pedantic, which was nice of them, but that word … Continue reading Birds, trees, babies, and screeds
Pinky swears
Dear President Trump, Of course Elizabeth Warren knew when she knelt down to talk with the little white girl at the Iowa State Fair the cameras would be flashing and the pictures would make their way out into the wider world. I doubt, though, that she knew ahead of time she would be doing a … Continue reading Pinky swears
The second ring propping up racism: Gate-keeping
Dear President Trump, After sending you that long, heavy list illustrating impacts of internalized racial inferiority yesterday, I feel the need to remind you of some of the things that the people of color at the Undoing Racism workshop said they like about being part of their respective groups. Every one of the four lists … Continue reading The second ring propping up racism: Gate-keeping
Vantage points
Dear President Trump, This morning Laura and I took the dogs down to Magnuson Park. I’ve told you about this place before since it’s one of our favorite go-to spots. Just to refresh your non-memory though, it was a Naval Air Station during WWII that was decommissioned for years and now has been transformed back … Continue reading Vantage points
Mental health projects
Dear President Trump, A few days ago a very large, very heavy box was delivered to our door containing the makings of an 8-drawer wooden bureau that will hold my messiest art materials – the hundreds of dried leaves, flowers, crumpled paper, and random bits of cardboard that I use for printing. All this messy … Continue reading Mental health projects
Daily Trump Letters 