Dear President Trump, I’ve started this letter over four times now. It hardly ever happens to me that I can’t get a toehold with a letter, but today I’m really struggling. I’m quite certain it’s because I keep thinking about how white Northeast Seattle is and the fact that I live here and am not … Continue reading Forging a path between all and nothing
empathy
White by design
Dear President Trump, It’s only 1pm and already it’s been another banner bird day. We took the dogs to the Union Bay Natural Area this morning and saw or heard the following birds: redwing blackbirds, seagulls, mallards, song sparrows, wrens, two osprey (plus noisy chicks), and a heron. We also saw turtles sunning themselves on … Continue reading White by design
Enlightening bolts and Mx.
Dear President Trump, I can always tell when you and your administration are stressed because your contact page “autoreplies” are delayed such that notes back to me come in odd clumps days later rather than arriving within a few minutes of submission. This latest round has been going on since the Mueller report was finalized. … Continue reading Enlightening bolts and Mx.
Getting a grip and letting go
Dear President Trump, Laura has really cut back her Twitter time since too much isn’t good for her equilibrium, but she still finds good stuff. The best bit she sent me today was a clip that a parent taped of their kid who’s maybe 15 months old. The child is sitting facing backwards in their … Continue reading Getting a grip and letting go
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
#100
Dear President Trump, The universe is a funny, funny place sometimes. It’s also a downright crappy place sometimes, but every now and then there’s a pretty great absurd irony to call out. A couple of days ago I hit the 600-page mark for the word document where I compose and edit my letters to you … Continue reading #100
Radical empathy (Part 6)
Dear President Trump, You know Mr. President, there are a lot of people out there who toil away at thankless tasks day in and day out, year in and year out. The variety of such tasks is vast; some get undone almost as fast as they are done and some would be squelched if the … Continue reading Radical empathy (Part 6)
Three positives
Dear President Trump, When I woke up this morning I decided today’s letter needs to warrant a “positive” tag when it gets posted in my blog. It can have other, less upbeat, tags too, but “positive” needs to be in the mix. The first positive is how when my colleague gave me a pep talk … Continue reading Three positives
Radical empathy ~ it takes a village (Part 5)
Dear President Trump, Did you see the piece in the WP this morning about the teens from Newport Beach, CA, who threw a Nazi-themed party over the weekend? They arranged their red plastic drinking cups in the shape of a swastika and took selfies in front of it. Understandably there’s a lot of anger and … Continue reading Radical empathy ~ it takes a village (Part 5)
Unpacking radical empathy (Part 4)
Dear President Trump, For some reason I didn’t include the phrase “radical empathy” in my letter to you the other day when I told you about Susan Lanzoni’s WP piece about how white people’s failure of empathy significantly contributes to racial bias and racism. I did use it to title several of the letters in … Continue reading Unpacking radical empathy (Part 4)
