Donald, I toyed with starting this letter with just “XXXX” and dispensing with your name or any clever, mocking labels but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. I actually wrote it out and started to say something about the choice, but I decided it would be too similar to what you’ve done to so … Continue reading The unity panacea won’t cut it this time
Bigotry
The MAGA-merica fever dream is breaking
To: The Disgraced Leader of US Well, of course the jury will be out for quite some time on whether the bones of this place, this pseudo democracy (messed up as it is by mega-money and abuses of power) are good and strong enough to bother rehabilitating around. The answer to that overwhelming question almost … Continue reading The MAGA-merica fever dream is breaking
Maybe the bones aren’t so good after all
To: The Wrecking Ball This morning our good friend sent me of Maggie Smith’s wonderful, hard, sobering poem “Good Bones” in response to yesterday’s letter. Here’s a link to the poem on her blog: http://waxwingmag.org/items/Issue9/28_Smith-Good-Bones.php. I’m 99% sure I’ve told you about this poem before, but it was a long time ago so I’ll remind … Continue reading Maybe the bones aren’t so good after all
A picture may be worth a thousand words, but it still doesn’t lead to just indictments of killer cops
To: The Race Baiter I’m still reading Jill Lepore’s tome “These Truths: A History of The United States.” I’m all of 24% through it and have about 31 hours left to go. It’s fascinating and devastating, in equal measure. I keep coming across quotes and circumstances from 150 or 200 years ago that feel like … Continue reading A picture may be worth a thousand words, but it still doesn’t lead to just indictments of killer cops
Federal executions
To: The Executioner Ok, so the Electoral voters have spoken – you are out, Biden is in. You are out. Biden is in. It’s tempting to just repeat those two huge little sentences over and over for the entire letter – I bet it would look kind of cool from a graphic standpoint. Unfortunately, though, … Continue reading Federal executions
The power of apology
To: Jacinda Ardern’s Opposite The last couple of weeks I’ve been noticing an uptick in typos in the WP. I noted the issue about a year ago when there was a flurry of them and then they went away (at least in the articles I read), but they’re back. Here’s this morning’s example: “Ardern acknowledged … Continue reading The power of apology
May we not squander our moral courage this time
To: He Whose Moral Compass is Kaput Yesterday the Twitter-verse had a scare because Dionne Warwick was trending so people thought she must have died. She very much has not died and the reason she was trending was that she reached out to Chance The Rapper and teased him about including “The Rapper” in his … Continue reading May we not squander our moral courage this time
Identity politics revisited
President* Trump, Thinking about the young queer person my friend described yesterday, my brother, my Black women friends, Laura, myself, the people sleeping in tents down the street from us in the context of this colossal mess we’ve made has me trying to piece together the puzzle of identity politics. This is also driven by … Continue reading Identity politics revisited
May we refuse to be broken
President* Trump, I know you don’t care at all, but there are lots of us out here who’re struggling if not out right suffering. This morning a friend texted and said that today’s her husband’s birthday but between ACB getting to join the newly cemented Supremacist (this is me) Court, the election, COVID, and everything … Continue reading May we refuse to be broken
Tubman $20’s
President* Trump, Yesterday Laura came back from her walk with the biggest apple I’ve ever seen. It looks like a Honeycrisp on steroids – I think it’s about 50% bigger than a big one of those apples. She found it on the ground and somehow it isn’t bruised and there aren’t any worm holes or … Continue reading Tubman $20’s
Daily Trump Letters 