Dear President Trump, Happy Celtic New Year – it’s a new day dawning, isn’t it? A new day with oodles of new challenges ahead as you try to come up with new shade to throw now that we are into the open hearing era of this impeachment process. I’m sure you’ll be trying out new … Continue reading The impeachment avoidance plan
Racism
Visual environments that erase us
Dear President Trump, Since I wasn’t officially on the work clock Friday, having taken a sick day, I was relatively free to do more or less what I wanted, even if it did have to do with work. One of the work-y things I did that was repeatedly hard to get to during regular workdays … Continue reading Visual environments that erase us
Language that erases us
Dear President Trump, There was one fly in the ointment for me with Elijah Cummings’ funeral yesterday. It didn’t have to do with Cummings at all so I didn’t bring it up in yesterday’s letter; I didn’t want to detract from him or his sending. But this bit is still bugging me today so I’m … Continue reading Language that erases us
Frailties, possibilities, and getting down to work
Dear President Trump, I’m not sure whether I’m really fighting a cold or am just tired, but yesterday morning I felt pretty awful and decided to take today as a sick day preemptively. It wasn’t really necessary since I seemed to have bounced back, but it was nice to be able to sleep in and … Continue reading Frailties, possibilities, and getting down to work
A light-shiner, a true beacon
Dear President Trump, We’ve been in it for what feels like nearly an eternity at this point, but I still remember times when it was possible to focus on just one or two big current events at a time or on a small handful of political issues that were at the forefront. Do you remember … Continue reading A light-shiner, a true beacon
Storms, natural and man-made
Dear President Trump, I told you yesterday that I sort of wished I were staying in New Orleans longer so that I could finish out the conference I was attending. When I said it, I had no idea you were heading to Louisiana today to rally against their Democratic Governor, John Edwards (nothing like getting … Continue reading Storms, natural and man-made
When are microaggressions really macro-aggressions?
Dear President Trump, Maybe it was just a coincidence, but I thought it was kind of funny that in a recent picture of you with three other men, one of whom was Sondland, all of you were wearing solid color ties but only yours was red. Sondland’s was kind of pinky-orange and the other two … Continue reading When are microaggressions really macro-aggressions?
Redistributing the onus for apologies and forgiveness
Dear President Trump, There are two small things from recent letters I want to apologize for: 1) The other day I said the gun control sign in our window says “NO! To Gun Violence”. Well, that was incorrect. Although that is the sentiment and it is consistent with my desire for there to be an … Continue reading Redistributing the onus for apologies and forgiveness
Fear and courage, courage and fear
Dear President Trump, Recently at a social gathering I learned that someone I don’t know all that well has been reading my letters to you on my blog every day for the last two years. She said it’s one of her main ways of coping with what’s happening to our country. I was (and am) … Continue reading Fear and courage, courage and fear
Shifting the baseline towards love
Dear President Trump, Yesterday when I was mentally formulating my letter to you I kept thinking that the “shrinking baseline syndrome” was the “shifting baseline syndrome” – not that far off, but not quite right, either. When I was in “shifting baseline” mode, though, I found myself toggling between the frightening shifts in ethics and … Continue reading Shifting the baseline towards love