Dear President Trump, I took today off to have a breather between the Christmas holiday week and starting back to work tomorrow and it was definitely a good call. We got some computer stuff figured out this morning (really, Laura got it figured out – I just lent a bit of moral support), we got … Continue reading Symbols
Activism
“defiance of something”
Dear President Trump, Before I settle down and tell you about my biggest learn of the morning I’m going to throw some popcorn thoughts at you. Here goes: I so, so wish that the WP (and other outlets) would stop saying what you “believe” as though they know what you believe. In this morning’s long … Continue reading “defiance of something”
History lessons
Dear President Trump, In the midst of all my imagining of a democratic society that finally fully embraces empowerment for all of America’s diverse peoples, it occurred to me that I needed a better historical handle on what motivated White men to enfranchise Black men and then eventually men to enfranchise women. All I knew … Continue reading History lessons
Revolutionary evolution
Dear President Trump, The Poem-a-Day this morning is by Todd Fredson and is entitled [Erratum: Found Ecology Piece], the brackets being part of the title (you can read it here if you want: https://poets.org/poem-a-day/ for today’s date). It’s a short poem and seems simple enough, but it’s had me thinking hard all day. It’s nominally … Continue reading Revolutionary evolution
Revolt until we get it right
Dear President Trump, Remember how the other day I offered a modest re-write of the first sentence of the Declaration of Independence, swapping in ‘people’ for ‘men’ and ‘we are endowed by Creation’ for ‘ they are endowed by their Creator’? Well, I’d like to move us on to the next major sentence fragment. It … Continue reading Revolt until we get it right
Compare and contrast: “She did what she could” and “Because he could”
Dear President Trump, It feels like folly to start a letter this morning on anything other than the first day of open hearings in your (very own) impeachment inquiry, but I’m betting there will be plenty of opportunity later in the week, or even today, to send you missives on that topic. What I want … Continue reading Compare and contrast: “She did what she could” and “Because he could”
Out of the mouths of babes….. and grandmas
Dear President Trump, Sounds like you got an earful during your remarks at the NYC Veteran’s Day parade today. I’m sure some people there think you hung the moon, but there were probably more who’d prefer your view of the moon was from behind bars judging by the copious “lock him up” and “traitor” chants … Continue reading Out of the mouths of babes….. and grandmas
What did you do? What will you do?
Dear President Trump, Well, today marks the 1,000th consecutive day that your inbox has received a letter from me. Next Saturday will mark the 1,000th consecutive day that I kept copies of the letters, but I think today is the real anniversary. Would I have taken on this daily correspondence to you if I’d known … Continue reading What did you do? What will you do?
Language matters ~ a lot
Dear President Trump, The other day Laura played me a song from Brittany Howard’s new album Jaime. The song is “13th Century Metal” (see Genius Lyrics). It’s Howard’s riff on what we need to do to come out of our own 21st century Dark Age. She promises to think before she speaks and to be … Continue reading Language matters ~ a lot
Doing the work with eyes wide open
Dear President Trump, A couple of weeks ago the WP ran a long piece about Ibram X. Kendi and his latest book “How to Be an Antiracist.” I’ve kept the tab to the article open on my computer this whole time, returning to the final paragraph every other day or so as something of a … Continue reading Doing the work with eyes wide open
Daily Trump Letters 