President* Trump, I think Lifesaver and mint sales will spike in the Northwest this weekend as people try and mask the nasty metallic taste of the ash particulate we’re all inhaling all the time. It’s really eerie here – it’s 9:30 in the morning and lots of the street lights are still on, hardly anyone … Continue reading Smoke, lies, and a couple of bright spots
Disaffection
Small, safe thinking will doom us
President* Trump, Most people I know like to figure out solutions to problems and then get down and fix things – it feels good to get clear what an issue is, come up with something constructive to do about it, and then enact the fix. It’s easy to conjure the image of someone standing up … Continue reading Small, safe thinking will doom us
Heartbroken and resolute
Dear President Trump, So it appears that the US white male patriarchy has a reprieve for (at least) another four years as far as the presidency goes. I know there hasn’t been any real doubt about this for the last month or so, and really, it was probably just a relatively small handful of us … Continue reading Heartbroken and resolute
Associative learning and Joe Biden
Dear President Trump, This morning Laura and I took a not-rainy walk (finally!) with the dogs in the part of town we call “Swale-land.” It’s on the way to the grocery store and it feels kind of exotic because every other street is lined with richly planted swales instead of the usual plain grass nature … Continue reading Associative learning and Joe Biden
Crying babies, anger, and hate
Dear President Trump, I don’t know how involved you were when your kids were tiny, but I’m guessing you probably don’t know that babies rarely cry for no reason. It’s often not readily apparent what the reasons are but they generally include the following: their diapers are wet or their tummies hurt or they are … Continue reading Crying babies, anger, and hate
The political is personal
Dear President Trump, Rumor grapevines almost always need to be taken with more than a few grains of salt and the one that’s been bugging me lately is no exception. Knowing this, I’ve tried not to get into too much of a twist over it, but honestly I’ve not been very successful – it’s definitely … Continue reading The political is personal
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
“Rump devotees” and more plausible deniability
Dear President Trump, I’m going to try to remember to use this great little phrase coined by David Greenberg (WP editorial “When Should Republicans Jump Ship?”) in the future, but want to share it with you now just for the heck of it – “rump devotees.” He was referencing GOP toadies who maintained allegiance to … Continue reading “Rump devotees” and more plausible deniability
