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
Visibility
Voluntary and involuntary social distancing
Dear President Trump, I’m hanging out upstairs semi out of earshot of Laura as she conducts her review session via Zoom with her class ahead of their online final tomorrow. I don’t know how many of her 83 students have joined, but when I was still downstairs I heard quite a few of them exclaiming … Continue reading Voluntary and involuntary social distancing
Layers of existential threat
Dear President Trump, This morning as I headed home near the end of my walk I saw a coyote loping down the street. I’m pretty sure I’ve told you about previous coyotes sightings so the fact of coyotes roaming the streets around here isn’t brand new news. What is new is that this one was … Continue reading Layers of existential threat
Spelling lessons
Dear President Trump, You know, if I were still posting these letters only to your contact page and not adding them to my blog I’d almost certainly give myself a pass and not say a thing about having misspelled “Barack” yesterday. You would never know and your threat detection program (or person) wouldn’t have cared. … Continue reading Spelling lessons
Women’s anger is still being weaponized
Dear President Trump, All afternoon I’ve been thinking about anger and how it continues to be weaponized against women who express it. As I was trying to come up with a way into this vast, touchy topic, it occurred to me that it might be instructive to list reasons why men get angry. So what … Continue reading Women’s anger is still being weaponized
Language matters ~ a lot
Dear President Trump, The other day Laura played me a song from Brittany Howard’s new album Jaime. The song is “13th Century Metal” (see Genius Lyrics). It’s Howard’s riff on what we need to do to come out of our own 21st century Dark Age. She promises to think before she speaks and to be … Continue reading Language matters ~ a lot
Visual environments that erase us
Dear President Trump, Since I wasn’t officially on the work clock Friday, having taken a sick day, I was relatively free to do more or less what I wanted, even if it did have to do with work. One of the work-y things I did that was repeatedly hard to get to during regular workdays … Continue reading Visual environments that erase us
Cockroaches scattering in the light
Dear President Trump, What does this WP headline conjure for you? “Growing number of Republicans struggle to defend Trump on G-7 choice, Ukraine and Syria” Frustration? Rage? Abject terror? Disdain? Confusion? Hurt? All of the above? Do you even know this is the message the American public is getting now, or have your still-loyal minions … Continue reading Cockroaches scattering in the light
Elijah Cummings ~ one of our truest lights
Dear President Trump, One of our steadiest, truest little lights, one that never, ever hid under a bushel, went out last night when Elijah Cummings passed away. I wanted to yell “NO” when I saw the headline this morning, and I definitely did in my head. And if my heart could talk, it would have … Continue reading Elijah Cummings ~ one of our truest lights
How about we go with “y’all”?
Dear President Trump, It’s often hard to pivot away from the in-our-faces news of the day and turn to something that doesn’t feel so immediate or urgent, but a lot of the time the things that get neglected because of the urgent in-our-faces news are the very things that if left uncorrected will give rise … Continue reading How about we go with “y’all”?
