Dear President Trump, A few days ago a very large, very heavy box was delivered to our door containing the makings of an 8-drawer wooden bureau that will hold my messiest art materials – the hundreds of dried leaves, flowers, crumpled paper, and random bits of cardboard that I use for printing. All this messy … Continue reading Mental health projects
Empowerment
This American context
Dear President Trump, How about those lists I sent you yesterday? You might have noticed that the lists of things people of color like about being part of their groups had lots of references to food, language, and culture, both generally and with regards to some specifics. Did you catch that the white people’s list … Continue reading This American context
The silver lining of long wait-lists for anti-racism workshops
Dear President Trump, I didn’t put it quite this way, but yesterday I argued that we need to keep our eyes and ears trained on the robust strands of truth reported by Mueller and his team that all point to high crimes and misdemeanors well worthy of impeachment. I also reminded myself that we need … Continue reading The silver lining of long wait-lists for anti-racism workshops
“Welcome home Ilhan!”
Dear President Trump, There is a minute or so clip that circulated on Twitter and in the mainstream media of Ilhan Omar’s recent arrival at the airport in Minneapolis. The images are blurry and the filming is pretty amateur with lots of herky-jerky movements, as though the person filming is being jostled the entire time, … Continue reading “Welcome home Ilhan!”
More signs
Dear President Trump, Recently a favorite restaurant of ours closed its doors. It was one of a small handful of “special night out” spots we liked to go to when we felt like venturing away from our part of town and spending a little more money than usual. We could count on there being a … Continue reading More signs
Strong women are being targeted even more blatantly than usual
Dear President Trump, Judging from the headlines, it’s a tough time to be an outspoken woman, isn’t it? In the WP alone there’s coverage of three disturbing stories that look to me like bald warnings to women to shut the f*ck up. The most chilling and sad is the murder of 75-year-old Sadie Roberts-Joseph, a … Continue reading Strong women are being targeted even more blatantly than usual
Ice floes and ‘climate despair’
Dear President Trump, Every day when I finish writing my letter to you and I’ve posted it on my blog, I open a new tab to pull up your contact page. It’s usually the first time in the day when I “get” links to whatever Google (I guess) thinks I might want to see. The … Continue reading Ice floes and ‘climate despair’
Blessing choice
Dear President Trump, Some days I know exactly what I want to write to you about because something’s been nagging at me or I think I have an especially good angle on an issue that I’ve not seen expressed. Those letters are usually the easiest to write even though the personal stakes tend to be … Continue reading Blessing choice
A good news break
Dear President Trump, As I left work today I was mentally fishing around for a topic for today’s letter and decided to look out for acts of kindness on my way home to tell you about. Usually there are at least a few instances where someone is clearly patient and/or generous with another driver so … Continue reading A good news break
Hungry for inspiration
Dear President Trump, Yesterday I told you about the conversation we had with the tiny girl running around like a jackrabbit in rain boots and how her “it’s only girls” comment about her new soccer team left me feeling deflated after the US team’s World Cup win. I see the exchange as a bit of … Continue reading Hungry for inspiration