President* Trump, Remember I told you I was overwhelmed yesterday morning by having read a whole bunch of news articles and editorials about you? Well, the one bright spot was a WP article by Marlene Cimons about the idea that Darwin’s “survival of the fittest” natural selection theory wasn’t referring to an alpha male, might … Continue reading The fitness of friendliness
Love
The Queer Eye lottery and reparations
President* Trump, I seriously doubt it, but it’s possible you’re a closet Queer Eye fan. If you are, then you’ve probably seen Season 5, Episode 2 featuring Rahanna Gray, a dear 27-year old African American Philadelphian who owns a dog grooming business. Just so you know, I’m pretty much going to explain how the show … Continue reading The Queer Eye lottery and reparations
It’s our leaders who have to do better
President* Trump, This morning on our way to the grocery store (where I would eventually sit in the car with the dogs, waiting for Laura to do the shopping because it still isn’t safe for me to pick out my own vegetables), we stopped in the neighborhood we call “Swale-land” to take a walk. It … Continue reading It’s our leaders who have to do better
Stories can change the course of history
President* Trump, As I was not falling asleep last night, I realized that part of why I felt so dang tired at the end of the day yesterday was because I didn’t have work to distract me or to help me feel like I was doing something instrumental that was tilting things in a positive … Continue reading Stories can change the course of history
Better yet, let’s declare interdependence
President* Trump, I know you don’t see the titles I come up with for these letters so I’ll tell you that yesterday’s title was “Declaring independence.” It was a reasonable fit for the gist of the letter and reflected my strong belief that it’s high time we throw off our government since it still privileges … Continue reading Better yet, let’s declare interdependence
What the hell?
President* Trump, I’m not quite sure how to make sense of the Worldometer’s numbers for the US and my reaction to them. As has been in the headlines for over a week now, the number of new cases each day has jumped precipitously from a horrifying average level of about 20k to a staggeringly high … Continue reading What the hell?
Words matter, a lot
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
Good hard conversations
President* Trump, Have you seen pictures of the gorgeous BLM street mural that’s on East Pine in Capitol Hill here in Seattle? It’s in the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone (the CHAZ) and stretches an entire city block. The one in your almost-front yard is really striking – I like the bold yellow and the fact … Continue reading Good hard conversations
Changing the whole recipe
President* Trump, Racism, along with all the other oppressive biases we hold about one another and ourselves, isn’t like a vegetable stew where you can just pick out the offending bits of celery or rutabagas and call it good – problem solved. It’s more like fruitcake where we can extract the weird green bits of … Continue reading Changing the whole recipe
“REST / RANT / LIVE” (repeat)
Dear President Trump, In the interest of keeping it real and not so much about you, I’m going to give you a micro-slice from my day. Last night I mentally mapped out this morning’s walk and made a plan to go visit the legions of little clay creature/people about a mile south of us across … Continue reading “REST / RANT / LIVE” (repeat)