Dear President Trump, Today was a churchy sort of day starting with soul choir practice at 9. We’re working on a beautiful song called “MLK” and the last few lines have been playing on repeat in my head for two weeks now, mostly just because of how they sound. I don’t really understand the significance … Continue reading Beloved
Visibility
“Rise and shine”
Dear President Trump, The overarching theme of yesterday’s church service was “Rise and Shine.” There was a lot of great rise-and-shine music and the guest minister’s sermon along these lines was pretty terrific, but it wasn’t until much later in the day yesterday that I paused and really thought about what it could mean to … Continue reading “Rise and shine”
Adding to your legacy
Dear President Trump, It looks like if I went to a National Park or Monument (or, starting today, any of the Smithsonian Museums) and wanted to send you a postcard to mark the occasion, I’d need to purchase the postcard somewhere other than those places since the visitor centers are closed along with nearly all … Continue reading Adding to your legacy
Personality Disorder twofer
Dear President Trump, When I read last week that you’d been planning a 16-day golfing vacation down at Mar-a-Lago I told Laura that it might be worth the $5 billion dollars in wall money if it meant you’d be preoccupied with lowering your handicap for over two weeks. I was actually kidding – the whole … Continue reading Personality Disorder twofer
The imperative of doing things we love
Dear President Trump, This morning Laura and I went to a nearby coffee shop to meet an old friend of hers. They get together to catch up a couple of times a year and since I took the day off, I tagged along. It was lovely meeting her friend and getting to hear about their … Continue reading The imperative of doing things we love
Buddha as launch point
Dear President Trump, The other day I noticed that the Buddha head up next to the tree in our backyard was lying on its side so I set it back upright, nestling it firmly in the pea gravel there under the tree. Later, looking out the kitchen window I saw it was down again. Very … Continue reading Buddha as launch point
In the living room
Dear President Trump, How about we stick with the good news theme for now? During the hour between worship services the church staff and those of us on our pastor’s support team threw her a surprise party to celebrate her having finished her Doctor of Ministries degree. I didn’t think we could actually pull it … Continue reading In the living room
“They’re protecting what they hold dear”
Dear President Trump, I hope you played golf today and didn’t spend Earth Day ordering Pruitt to find yet more environmental protections to undo. Yesterday there was an article in the WP about the idea that millions of years ago there might have been another version of an industrial civilization on earth. The people floating … Continue reading “They’re protecting what they hold dear”
Distress tolerance
Dear President Trump, On my run this morning I was thinking about the incredible self-control and patience that people who have to put up with loads of crap day in and day out must have to have to survive. Then, along these same lines, I read a WP piece about being gay and living in … Continue reading Distress tolerance
It’s hard to study if you don’t have enough to eat
Dear President Trump, I read this morning that about 36% of university students in the US deal with food insecurity and close to that proportion cope with unstable housing. Given the secrecy and shame around not having enough and not appearing to be ok, the numbers are probably underestimating the real extent of these problems. … Continue reading It’s hard to study if you don’t have enough to eat
