President* Trump, Two mornings ago I came across a unicorn sign, as in a very cool one-of-a-kind sign (at least to me). It looks like a purchased or manufactured sign as it’s professionally done and has the same basic structure as all the BLM and “In This House We Believe…” yard signs, but it doesn’t … Continue reading Signs and perspective taking
Obliviousness
Grains of salt and seeds to water
President* Trump, I was talking with a Black friend today about her dismay over so many white people coming out of the woodwork wanting to hop on the antiracism bandwagon now when the exact same life and death issues were happening for Black and brown people four months ago, four years ago, etc. Her “Where … Continue reading Grains of salt and seeds to water
Aspiring to “always make new mistakes”
President* Trump, I don’t know whether what I’m going to try and articulate today will end up being coherent enough to send you (which, really is sort of silly given how low the bar is to match your coherence when you’re at your absolute best, but I do have standards for myself and I’m not … Continue reading Aspiring to “always make new mistakes”
Taxes, death, and bad karma
President* Trump, Paying taxes has always been fraught given how much of our national budget goes to support the military, the pittance that goes to support the real, practical needs of our people and our planet, and the paltry share that’s provided by corporations and wealthy people. Most years I’m able to focus on the … Continue reading Taxes, death, and bad karma
History keeps repeating itself; will we finally act this time?
President* Trump, I finished all of the material in the 10-minutes-a-day section recommended by the Justice in June website (https://justiceinjune.org/#10-minutes) and moved on to the first podcast recommended in the 25-minute section yesterday, “A Decade of Watching Black People Die” (https://www.npr.org/2020/05/29/865261916/a-decade-of-watching-black-people-die). Ironically, I got interrupted about 10 minutes into it and didn’t come back to … Continue reading History keeps repeating itself; will we finally act this time?
Let’s stop helping maintain the status quo
President* Trump, I don’t think it’s that I’m especially sensitized to it, though I can’t completely rule out the possibility, but I think I’ve been hearing even more of the following lately: “Hey guys, let’s go ahead and get started.” “Thanks guys, this is great.” “What do you guys think?” “Hi guys, how’s it going?” … Continue reading Let’s stop helping maintain the status quo
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
Why now?
President* Trump, I’m 95% certain I’ve told you about this tree before – it’s the ancient chestnut tree a few houses North of the original 21st Buddha and I’ve walked past it at least once a week for about 10-ish years now. Because it’s sited at the end of the block its massive canopy shades … Continue reading Why now?
Daily Trump Letters 