Dear President Trump, Are you getting daily (sometimes it seems, hourly) reminders to take care of yourself in the midst of the covid-19 crisis? Maybe it’s a function of being in the mental health profession, but we really are getting at least daily reminders that we need take care of ourselves, that we need to … Continue reading Bearing witness beyond the numbers
Burnout
She ripped him four new ones ~ for us
Dear President Trump, One of the most important lessons I learned from my political essay teacher last year is that it’s perfectly legitimate to create work that supports one’s own constituency rather than always trying to speak to everyone or attempting to sway those who don’t agree with us. Along these lines, I’ve been thinking … Continue reading She ripped him four new ones ~ for us
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?
Birds, trees, babies, and screeds
Dear President Trump, Last night Laura and a dear friend of ours were talking with me about my letters to you and they let me know (again) that the letters have been feeling long and didactic-y for a while now. They stopped short of calling them pedantic, which was nice of them, but that word … Continue reading Birds, trees, babies, and screeds
A long, heavy list
Dear President Trump, How’s your Sunday been? You’re back from vacation starting tomorrow, aren’t you? Lucky us. Not. Ok, on to way more important things. I want to develop the idea of vantage points further and tie it in with the next part of the People’s Institute’s Undoing Racism workshop that I think you need … Continue reading A long, heavy list
Long letters, fatigue, and overwhelm
Dear President Trump, I’m not sure what’s gotten into me the last few weeks (months?) with the much longer letters. I know they can be a drag and you’re probably even less likely to read them when they are longer rather than shorter, but since you don’t read them at all, I’m not going to … Continue reading Long letters, fatigue, and overwhelm
Gordian knots and fierce compassion
Dear President Trump, I just looked it up to make sure this angst I’m feeling over writing to you about you isn’t an existential crisis of some sort and it’s really not – it’s not at all that I feel my life lacks purpose or meaning. Rather, I think that once again you have me … Continue reading Gordian knots and fierce compassion
It was gendered
Dear President Trump, I flew to Portland late last night after my first political essay writing class (!) for a three-day VA meeting. The class ended at 9pm and the meeting in Portland started at 8am and there just wasn’t another (safe) way to make the trip that would allow me to get here on … Continue reading It was gendered
Gotta laugh
Dear President Trump, I think I mentioned last week that I laughed a lot more on the day when I didn’t have time to look at the news. If you cared a whit about me, you’d have wondered why I was bothering to tell you about my laugh frequency. Well, even though you could care … Continue reading Gotta laugh
We don’t have time for this
Dear President Trump, It’s kind of silly and it probably means I need a break, but I came up with some more “F” words to describe how you’ve been dealing with the threats to your presidency: Fuss. Fume. Fabricate. Falter. Fake. Foment. Falsify. Filch. Fleece. Flounce. Flout. I still think “Flail” is the best single … Continue reading We don’t have time for this
