Dear President Trump, There’ve now been a handful of rat-sightings around our next-door neighbor’s house, which probably means they are scurrying around ours too. My favorite sighting was the other morning first thing when I let the dogs out in the front yard. It was still dark but with all the street lights it’s never … Continue reading Showboaty rats
Courage
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”
Women’s anger is still being weaponized
Dear President Trump, All afternoon I’ve been thinking about anger and how it continues to be weaponized against women who express it. As I was trying to come up with a way into this vast, touchy topic, it occurred to me that it might be instructive to list reasons why men get angry. So what … Continue reading Women’s anger is still being weaponized
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
Chain of command
Dear President Trump, I had another letter almost completely written this morning but the day’s events are too important to put on hold until tomorrow so the original letter will have to wait. I just read the opening statement that Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman will be reading when he testifies before the House Committees that … Continue reading Chain of command
Language that erases us
Dear President Trump, There was one fly in the ointment for me with Elijah Cummings’ funeral yesterday. It didn’t have to do with Cummings at all so I didn’t bring it up in yesterday’s letter; I didn’t want to detract from him or his sending. But this bit is still bugging me today so I’m … Continue reading Language that erases us
Frailties, possibilities, and getting down to work
Dear President Trump, I’m not sure whether I’m really fighting a cold or am just tired, but yesterday morning I felt pretty awful and decided to take today as a sick day preemptively. It wasn’t really necessary since I seemed to have bounced back, but it was nice to be able to sleep in and … Continue reading Frailties, possibilities, and getting down to work
What if it were really true that no one would ever be left behind?
Dear President Trump, I figured the chances of the Sport Clips people seeing yesterday’s letter to you on my blog were nil so I wrote to them directly. I’m snail-mailing the letter to the Shoreline franchise owner and cc’ing the corporate office in Texas because they don’t have a way to contact them online if … Continue reading What if it were really true that no one would ever be left behind?