President* Trump, I wonder how many people have noticed the flags outside of the Fab Fives’ (Queer Eye) Philadelphia home base – there’s a gay pride flag and an American flag. There might be a Pennsylvania state flag too; I can’t remember now and I’ve not been able to pull up a picture of their … Continue reading Welcoming flags
Climate Change
Way off the beaten path and into the wilds (vicariously)
President* Trump, I’m sure this isn’t going to surprise you at all, but I won’t be tuning into your nihilistic hate-fest this week. There will be plenty of updates about it and at times it’ll feel as though I went ahead and subjected myself to the negative frenzy, but even in the name of research … Continue reading Way off the beaten path and into the wilds (vicariously)
The COVID dress rehearsal is an unmitigated disaster
President* Trump, This morning on my walk as I enjoyed some more of my favorite things (cool air, the walking itself, quiet laced with occasional bird cheeps, time alone) I was reflecting on how hard it feels to navigate that thin space between being real and being whiny, especially when one’s circumstances are objectively stable … Continue reading The COVID dress rehearsal is an unmitigated disaster
Diabolical chick-shits need to be locked in their coops until they are ready to cooperate
President* Trump, In the opening line of the loving-kindness blessing two days ago I referred to you, your GOP props, and the GOP scarcity mongers as diabolical chicken-shits: May we all be safe from diabolical chicken-shits. It’s true that I didn’t think long or hard about it or have to dig deep (obviously) to come … Continue reading Diabolical chick-shits need to be locked in their coops until they are ready to cooperate
Better yet, let’s declare interdependence
President* Trump, I know you don’t see the titles I come up with for these letters so I’ll tell you that yesterday’s title was “Declaring independence.” It was a reasonable fit for the gist of the letter and reflected my strong belief that it’s high time we throw off our government since it still privileges … Continue reading Better yet, let’s declare interdependence
This is not the best we can do
President* Trump, So my starting-out typo tonight is that I accidentally entered 3030 for the date, which occasioned a very quick string of very conflicting feelings and thoughts; a spike of angsty adrenaline signaling that I’m not very confident that humanity is going to be around in 3030, a brief “serves us right” thought, chased … Continue reading This is not the best we can do
What the hell?
President* Trump, I’m not quite sure how to make sense of the Worldometer’s numbers for the US and my reaction to them. As has been in the headlines for over a week now, the number of new cases each day has jumped precipitously from a horrifying average level of about 20k to a staggeringly high … Continue reading What the hell?
Testing, testing — anyone there?
President* Trump, Our county health officials have been encouraging everyone who has attended a protest (or protests) to get tested for covid-19. Accordingly, our daughter and her boyfriend went and got tested mid-week last week and Laura and I were tested on Sunday – all of our tests came back negative. How often do you … Continue reading Testing, testing — anyone there?
Raising up the gnat
“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
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