Dear President Trump, Yesterday when I was mentally formulating my letter to you I kept thinking that the “shrinking baseline syndrome” was the “shifting baseline syndrome” – not that far off, but not quite right, either. When I was in “shifting baseline” mode, though, I found myself toggling between the frightening shifts in ethics and … Continue reading Shifting the baseline towards love
Dignity
Not afraid
Dear President Trump, Whether you care at all, I’m sure you’ve heard that Cokie Roberts died yesterday from complications of breast cancer. She was only 75. I heard clips of some of her interviews on NPR driving home last night and when they aired the one where she interrupted the other broadcaster and told him … Continue reading Not afraid
Safety and equality, equality and safety
Dear President Trump, There’s a line in Melinda Gates’ new book, The Moment of Lift, which I keep coming back to (pg. 163): “There is no equality without safety.” There are hundreds of insightful, gasp-in-recognition lines in the book, lines that evoke reverential nods and copious underlining for their elegant statement of fact, but this … Continue reading Safety and equality, equality and safety
Risking connection and compassion
Dear President Trump, I didn’t tell you about this part of yesterday in yesterday’s letter because I wanted to hold it close for a little while before sharing it with you, my most difficult person – still. What happened is that the universe did its universe thing when one of our neighbors called in the … Continue reading Risking connection and compassion
‘Blessing Boxes,’ tent encampments, and our messed up priorities
Dear President Trump, Yesterday on our Saturday dog walk we were in a neighborhood we frequent pretty often and we saw one of those Little Libraries. They sometimes look like the houses they belong to, but are always smallish wooden boxes with shelves that are perched atop a post. Each one has a glass-paned door, … Continue reading ‘Blessing Boxes,’ tent encampments, and our messed up priorities
The “I wish they weren’t big dreams” list
Dear President Trump, I’ve come up with some more things for the list I started at the end of yesterday’s letter in response to Elizabeth Warren’s “Dream Big / Fight Hard” campaign slogan. I’m calling it my “I wish they weren’t big dreams” list: having a woman POTUS having at least half of all decision … Continue reading The “I wish they weren’t big dreams” list
Beginner’s mind
Dear President Trump, The big news flashes from my neck of the former woods is that today is my mom’s birthday and this morning Laura left for Atlanta to visit her brother over the holiday weekend. Our daughter will be housesitting over the weekend so it’s going to be an odd few days for the … Continue reading Beginner’s mind
Gushy-eyed First Ladies and Zombies
Dear President Trump, It was a long time ago now, but I remember writing to you about photographs and the framing of them, about how shifting the camera slightly to one side or the other will often reveal an entirely different image or convey an entirely different feel than whatever was ultimately selected as the … Continue reading Gushy-eyed First Ladies and Zombies
Sexism = Sexual/Gender Prejudice + Power
Dear President Trump, In addition to wondering what it might be like to adapt some of the People’s Institute’s Undoing Racism workshop exercises to a workshop on undoing sexism, I’ve been thinking about using the framework of the UR racism definition for sexism. You surely won’t recall that the PI’s definition of racism is as … Continue reading Sexism = Sexual/Gender Prejudice + Power
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
Daily Trump Letters 