My firstborn is off to high school

I am so enormously proud of my Jack. Bravo, honey. You are a marvelous human, and we love and are so proud of you. Happy 8th grade graduation!

1 June 2020: A vigil

Just before lunch today, some neighbors and I met in a traffic circle median in our neighborhood. Masked and distant, we sat in disbelief, worry, anger, and heartbreak, and then we planned.

Tonight, just before 8, T, J, O, and I, plus my dearest K, joined so very many others streaming into our neighborhood park. Candles and flashlights in hand, masks donned, hearts heavy, we gathered. The news today has been so terribly chilling. After a brief introduction, we knelt in silence for nine minutes in memory of George Floyd and in solidarity with Black Lives Matter. I felt some hope in this communion of neighbors, friends, and strangers.

We are deeply thankful to all who came. And I thank you, my dear Jack, for helping distribute flyers today.

31 May 2020: The country burns

I am in my backyard getting spectacularly drunk. I have worked my ass off today, largely to process the burning, quaking fire I feel inside every time I look at the news. America is burning, and our “president” and his people are useless, loathsome, abhorrent, vile, deplorable specks of toxic mold gleefully, ignorantly throwing fuel on the pyre of our country.

I am so thankful to all the people marching for justice, despite enormous threats to their own safety. The NY and Minneapolis police departments are OUT OF CONTROL. Protect and serve, my ass. If you haven’t watched footage from MN and NY from the weekend, gird yourselves, sit down, and tune in.

I implore you to listen. LISTEN. Don’t make it about you. Don’t make equivalencies. Just listen. And then figure out how you can do something to make change.

If you need a lighter moment, I offer you this two-legged cat who is a despair antidote.