Dear President Trump, One of the most important lessons I learned from my political essay teacher last year is that it’s perfectly legitimate to create work that supports one’s own constituency rather than always trying to speak to everyone or attempting to sway those who don’t agree with us. Along these lines, I’ve been thinking … Continue reading She ripped him four new ones ~ for us
Removal
What will make a difference?
Dear President Trump, I wasn’t able to find the image Seung Min Kim referenced in her WP article this morning (“He also tweeted a clip featuring a mock magazine cover with signs showing him staying in office far beyond the two terms permitted by the Constitution”), but I tried everything short of joining Twitter. I’ve … Continue reading What will make a difference?
Such a redundantly tangled mess
Dear President Trump, Oh, where to start? Who the hell knows? I don’t. The original question implies there’s a single right answer and it also implies that it’s important to choose the starting point correctly. And yes, sometimes it is critical to start somewhere specific, like the beginning or maybe another strategic juncture that helps … Continue reading Such a redundantly tangled mess
Yucky bookends to the day
Dear President Trump, Today looks to be a day that will be bookended by rather spectacularly shitty stuff between the debacle in Iowa and your State of the (dis)Union speech tonight. Then you get to top it all off with the acquittal cherry tomorrow – feels like it might be a good time for a … Continue reading Yucky bookends to the day
Sunshine and shadow, shadow and sunshine
Dear President Trump, Just a few minutes ago out the back window to the East, the light on the huge fir trees (and one birch) in the distance was doing this incredible glow/shadow thing where some of the faces of the trees were bathed in golden light and other faces were charcoal-looking, like they couldn’t … Continue reading Sunshine and shadow, shadow and sunshine
Time to whistle in the dark
Dear President Trump, Can you whistle? Probably not, but surely you can hum. I bet people within earshot of you are hearing an off-key hummed version of “Oh Happy Day” or something like that now that you’ve locked down the impeachment trial and avoided the disaster of involving witnesses and document discovery. You are getting … Continue reading Time to whistle in the dark
Hitting the limits of magnanimity
Dear President Trump, As you know by now, I’ve worked very, very hard not to let hate settle into my psyche. I don’t want it to take hold or to be a motivating force. It’s poison, and ingesting and holding poison in one’s system is a bad idea for all sorts of reasons. I tried … Continue reading Hitting the limits of magnanimity
Bolton ~ sleaze or target?
Dear President Trump, I may well have missed it – I don’t spend THAT much time reading the news and it does turn over quickly enough that if one isn’t constantly scanning sources it would be fairly easily for things to slip under an individual’s radar. But this thing that I might have missed seems … Continue reading Bolton ~ sleaze or target?
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
Professed beliefs are perhaps not real beliefs
Dear President Trump, Recent events have me going back to Barbara Kruger’s installation at the Hirshorn Museum. I told you about it when I visited there in 2017 and since I’m sure you don’t remember, I’ll remind you that it involves the entire central open space of the museum’s bottom floor as well as the … Continue reading Professed beliefs are perhaps not real beliefs