President* Trump, Yesterday morning when I set out on my walk I didn’t have anything specific in mind to write to you about. I figured something would occur to me in my perusal of the news or in reaction to the day’s poem (which, by the way was incredible and can be read here: https://poets.org/poem/five-horses-doctor-ramon-emeterio-betances?mc_cid=2d4fec3e74&mc_eid=03fcdf422b). … Continue reading The ends and the means
Uncategorized
.csv files are not my favs
President* Trump, I’m in sort of a mood this evening. I spent quite a lot of the day working on a project that involved sorting survey responses into categories in excel only to discover that when I saved the file, the file type only saves the last worksheet that was open. I was getting ready … Continue reading .csv files are not my favs
Apologies and amends
Dear President Trump, As you know, I’ve been thinking a lot lately about historical corrections and it occurs to me that I should clarify that there are at least two different types of historical corrections: 1) corrections to the historical record itself (e.g., telling the story more completely and accurately by bringing in points of … Continue reading Apologies and amends
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
Addiction to racism
Dear President Trump, Even though I can’t find explicit reference to it in my notes from the People’s Institute’s Undoing Racism workshop*, I’m 99% certain that at some point during those two days the idea that America is addicted to racism was introduced. I do see in my notes reference to the high degree of … Continue reading Addiction to racism
A long letter about “undoing” rather than “dismantling” racism
Dear President Trump, I was so wrong – we aren’t catching a break at all. Even while on vacation you are quite capable of keeping the horror reels coming. I know your destructive little minions have been working long and hard on both the new rules about the types of social services immigrants will be … Continue reading A long letter about “undoing” rather than “dismantling” racism
An object lesson
Dear President Trump, It’s been a rough few days and I’ve been especially out of sorts today. My cold is some better, but I’m still exhausted, coughing a fair bit, and not sleeping well. The main thing, though, is that Friday is the day the entire mental health service moves into our new building and … Continue reading An object lesson
Radical empathy (Part 1)
Dear President Trump, I suppose it doesn’t matter too, too much where I start, no matter what angle one approaches it from, it’s sad, infuriating, and overwhelming. But it does feel important to get the story straight and to tell it reasonably well since it’s one that so many of us white people have a … Continue reading Radical empathy (Part 1)
Cowardly abuses of power
Dear President Trump, You will no doubt dismiss the new WP-ABC poll numbers as so much fake news, but I’m sure you are studying them carefully to figure out how to best calibrate the next round of divisive fear mongering. As usual, people of color are the canaries in the coalmine in that over 80% … Continue reading Cowardly abuses of power
Sprinklers are not too much to ask
Dear President Trump, I just checked to see if you have Tweeted about the man who died in the fire in Trump Tower yesterday, but I couldn’t find anything beyond your insistence that it is well built. I did see that you got out of installing sprinklers in TT even though high-rise residential buildings were … Continue reading Sprinklers are not too much to ask
Daily Trump Letters 