“President” Trump, I want to come back to Sister Dang Nghiem and what I’ve learned from her so far. I finished her dharma talk on how to grieve last night and over and over I was astounded by her incredible equanimity and restraint. You see, throughout the entire hour and 23 minutes of her lesson, … Continue reading Raising up the gnat
Perception
“President” Trump, This morning I went to visit the “new 21st Street Buddha” – the one that lives on the porch on the west side of 21st between 73rd and 75th Avenues NE. This Buddha is super cute; it’s one of the little ones that looks like a bald toddler. It stands upright and wears … Continue reading Perception
Assuming the tyrannical mantle of “leader” and “guide”……to hell
“President” Trump, I just looked up how dictators prefer to be addressed and Wikipedia indicates that it’s a mix of variations on “leader” and “guide,” like “Supreme Leader,” “Great Leader,” “Dear Leader” or “Brotherly Leader and Guide of the Revolution." I took German in high school (and one miserable year of it in college), but … Continue reading Assuming the tyrannical mantle of “leader” and “guide”……to hell
Overwhelmed and (sort of) nattering on
“President” Trump, Well, by the time I got your letter sent last night, our “end systemic racism now” sign had come completely unstuck from the window. Turns out that the fancy little “leave no trace” poster stick-ems don’t stay stuck to glass. This setback happened late enough last night that we decided to wait to … Continue reading Overwhelmed and (sort of) nattering on
Righteous eventualities
“President” Trump, It’s been just over 1.2k days of writing to you and I’m finally done with the polite “Dear President Trump” salutation – you never deserved it, but for the longest time (a seriously very long time) I couldn’t bring myself to address these letters to you in any other way. I’m over it … Continue reading Righteous eventualities
May we accept that real change is scary and hard
Dear President Trump, The overriding emotions for me today have been shame and fear, which may explain why I’ve been so irritable and sour. I don’t know about you, but often when I’ve got strong primary feelings on board, niggly secondary ones pile on and poke at me, trying to grab my attention. Well, I … Continue reading May we accept that real change is scary and hard
A “depraved heart” if there ever was one
Dear President Trump, It was another one of those mornings when I just didn’t have it and all I could get down was the date and the salutation. I don’t know – maybe it was the effort needed to stay polite in the aforementioned salutation or maybe it was just plain weariness from all the … Continue reading A “depraved heart” if there ever was one
Strong medicine
Dear President Trump, The graphic accompanying the WP’s lead story this morning announcing that the official US number of covid-19 deaths passed 100,000 yesterday isn’t the gut punch that the NYT’s Sunday cover was, but it’s still quite moving. The idea that each person’s death is marked by a point of light on the map … Continue reading Strong medicine
“REST / RANT / LIVE” (repeat)
Dear President Trump, In the interest of keeping it real and not so much about you, I’m going to give you a micro-slice from my day. Last night I mentally mapped out this morning’s walk and made a plan to go visit the legions of little clay creature/people about a mile south of us across … Continue reading “REST / RANT / LIVE” (repeat)
A possible remedy for the problem of large, round numbers
Dear President Trump, Right this minute at 7:18am the Worldometer says that 99,883 people in the US have died from covid-19. I’m going to try to not check the website compulsively throughout the day as we close in on 100,000, but I’m not making any promises. Why do you think it is that big round … Continue reading A possible remedy for the problem of large, round numbers
Daily Trump Letters 