President* Trump, Last night as I was trying to fall asleep, I realized that I closed out yesterday’s letter to you in a highly problematic way, one that betrays my implicit racial biases that, unfortunately, run parallel to the WP editors I called out earlier in the week. Here is the offending text: “This tree … Continue reading Words matter, a lot
Loss
A possible remedy for the problem of large, round numbers
Dear President Trump, Right this minute at 7:18am the Worldometer says that 99,883 people in the US have died from covid-19. I’m going to try to not check the website compulsively throughout the day as we close in on 100,000, but I’m not making any promises. Why do you think it is that big round … Continue reading A possible remedy for the problem of large, round numbers
Covid charades and “The Betrayals”
Dear President Trump, I know you have (and take) plenty of opportunity to look in the mirror, whether directly at yourself or at one of your surrogates, but I thought we’d start the day with yet another (from the WP’s coronavirus updates): “Although the rate of infection shows no sign of slowing, Vice President Pence … Continue reading Covid charades and “The Betrayals”
An especially long, hard letter
Dear President Trump, I read the following three WP articles today in this order (and please note, I’m almost certain that earlier today the first one actually had the word “Government” in place of “Draft” in the headline). “Draft Report Predicts Covid-19 Cases Will Reach 200,000 A Day By June 1” “The Coronavirus Pandemic is … Continue reading An especially long, hard letter
Mayday, mayday!
Dear President Trump, Happy May Day. Happy International Workers’ Day. Happy (I guess….. not) First Day of the Fourth Month of Life As We Knew It No Longer Existing. And here we are. The stooped woman wearing the same brown corduroy pants and turquoise coat she wears every day is walking her (very) elderly chocolate … Continue reading Mayday, mayday!
Bearing witness beyond the numbers
Dear President Trump, Are you getting daily (sometimes it seems, hourly) reminders to take care of yourself in the midst of the covid-19 crisis? Maybe it’s a function of being in the mental health profession, but we really are getting at least daily reminders that we need take care of ourselves, that we need to … Continue reading Bearing witness beyond the numbers
April Fool’s Day and willful ignorance; a serendipitous pairing (of sorts)
Dear President Trump, When I woke up this morning I had no idea that it would make sense to address the topic of your willful ignorance on April Fool’s Day, but the universe is apparently doing it’s universe thing and here we are. Jennifer Rubin used the term “willful ignorance” in her WP editorial this … Continue reading April Fool’s Day and willful ignorance; a serendipitous pairing (of sorts)
Give me liberty and give me and you and you and you death
Dear President Trump, The beginning of Lent (February 26th) slipped right by me this year and I don’t think I can blame it on covid-19 since I wasn’t yet fully aware that it was coming our way. I just checked our gmail history to see when our wonderful King County Council member, Jeanne Kohl-Welles, started … Continue reading Give me liberty and give me and you and you and you death
Breathing out and breathing in
Dear President Trump, I’m afraid I don’t have much for you tonight, but I’ll give you what I’ve got. It’s raining again (we’re at 131% of normal thus far for 2020) and the forecast is for more and more and more rain this week. Lately it’s been sounding like there’s a creek under our house … Continue reading Breathing out and breathing in
