with love and thanks to Hillary Rodham Clinton

Image from Time.com

Dear Hillary,

You deserve better than this …

You haven’t been treated fairly.

I want to thank you though for standing up and having courage.


You understand how politics works. You know that as a woman the scrutiny is that much more intense, that all you do and say is amplified and distorted. You have worked tirelessly to achieve your political ends, ends that a review of the history tells me that I largely support, and to do that you’ve had to negotiate the landmines of a public media dominated by the likes of Roger Ailes and a public that demands to be fed drama at every turn. It’s a public that won’t do the work of a real comparative study between politicians to get at the reality of who you are. It’s a public largely incapable of a nuanced conversation about issues or policies, unwilling to do the homework that you’ve so selflessly done for us.

It’s not fair – so unfair - but thank you. You are my candidate. I have had your experiences on the micro-scale of my life and I, a middle-aged woman, am INSPIRED BY YOU. Your courage and your dignity, your steely commitment to the course – thank you. I watched you in those debates and we of the oh-so-not-cool demographic of middle-aged/older womanhood have benefited from your example. I’m sorry so many others couldn’t see how radical you really are – the audacity of being a grownup.

I hope that after you take some time that you’ll stay with us a bit longer and continue to work and speak out for the things that matter. Please don’t walk away from leadership just because so many weren’t ready.

If I were you – well I couldn’t be you – but if I were in your place my pain would be so deep I couldn’t move but I want you to know – that despite what the loudest voices in the room might scream, there are those of us who are so grateful for your work and feel great love for you.

Thank you for having more courage than I could ever imagine.

Why I'm a liberal ...

I’m a liberal because of my spiritual beliefs.

I don’t usually talk about this. Like my father before me, I want to be careful that I don’t become a hypocrite by presenting myself as something I’m not. I belong to many communities where I’m not sure the nuances of my beliefs will always be apparent and I fear being classified. I am, to the point, very uncomfortable expressing these things. At this moment, however, in the hopes of furthering understanding, it seems appropriate to share.

I believe very deeply in the divine. I believe that the natural and the “supernatural” are one and the same. I believe that life is the presence of the divine. I believe that to look into the face of others is to see the face of God.

I have studied the teachings of many religious leaders. I am from Alabama and I was raised as a Christian and my dad and I spent many long nights talking about the bible. The teachings of Jesus were held up to me as the truth. Jesus was, in my mind, a philosopher and a social activist. From the turning over of the tables of the money changers to the “giving unto Caesar” or the eye of the needle or the loaves and the fishes or the giving of coats and cloaks and even unto his death, - love your enemies - Jesus, as the bible describes him, was about asking us to see, to feel, our common humanity.

These ideas of love and mutual care are ideas that at every turn of my spiritual quest I have found reaffirmed as the truth. While I fall short (so short) – these are ideals to which I aspire.

Jimmy Carter is a hero of mine. I have many, but in terms of politicians, he’s stayed true to his principles. Unfortunately, I don’t think we were ready to follow where he was trying to lead us.

I hope that as a nation we will reject nastiness. I hope we will lift up all of our citizens. I hope we will open our hearts and see the grief of others. I hope that we will work to ease the suffering of this world and to truly embrace and value all of humanity. I hope that as a people we come to understand the fleeting nature of life and that we become more generous with one another.

Political Monsters

Donald Trump is awful, just awful.

He “speaks his mind” and gives voice to the repressed hate and fear too many of us contain.

He uses disdain for political correctness as an excuse for a lack of empathy and straight up cruelty.

Name-calling, ridicule, saying what suits his purpose rather than what may be true: his ultimate interest is not in the welfare of our nation but for his own ego. He lashes out to satisfy this ego without concern for the collateral damage (and I don’t give a shit what you think his “true” motives are).

He’s on us.

He is a product of a political system that we the people have allowed to become entertainment.

He is what we asked for, what we demanded. We stitched him together out of the putrid remains of our ideals. He is our Frankenstein’s monster.

We talk endlessly of the failures of our politicians but very rarely of our own.

They pander and we consume. Our political system is rife with a cynicism that produces politicians who say what they must in order to placate – and we punish them if they don’t. The misrepresentations that garnered public support for the Iraq war are exactly a result of this. The Neo-cons who envisioned that war saw it as the path to establishing democracy in the Middle-East, growing our own Western-style government in the region and ensuring a long-term ally for ourselves… But of course they knew that the American people couldn’t digest such a nuanced argument. Our anti-intellectual culture has made a real public discourse impossible. So the war was never vetted on its actual goals and the American people followed where the sound bites led – and we’re still following.

Trump should have been dismissed even before he called John McCain a Loser. The Republican establishment enabled him out of fear. No principled ideology gave them the courage to stand up and resist. Instead they busied themselves with turning Hillary Clinton into a super villain (rather than the very real human that she is). The possibility of a debate based on policies and leadership is well beyond of reach. (The Democrats are little better by the way.)

Whatever happens with this election – we the people need to take a hard look at our duty as citizens and the principles we say we believe in. They can’t just be sound bites and we can’t just be passive viewers of the reality show that is politics. At the minimum we must take up the burden of critical thinking and through our votes demand that our leaders do likewise. We must turn our attentions to the ideas of the candidate as opposed to the entertainment value they possess (and whether or not we like them). We must be more critical, yet more forgiving. We must elect people rather than personalities. The alternative is an ever more surreal future populated by an increasing number of demagogues the likes of Trump.

Patriotism means that we are willing to do the work of being a citizen.

Trump and his ilk will not go away just because they lose. We the people are the only ones who can change the future course of our nation.

Our Sacred Duty ...

Image Source - America's Library - Original Draft of Declaration of Independence

As citizens – as patriots – we have the obligation to be educated and informed: to come to our civic responsibilities with seriousness, with our homework done and in a thoughtful manner. We’ve allowed our political process to take on the most despicable aspects of a sporting rivalry. Too often we don’t think, we just scream our team’s name and talk trash about the “other side.” The problem with this is that it’s the kind of thing that leads to the horrors of history. If we vilify and dehumanize one another then we run the risk of repeating those histories. We create an environment where people feel justified in participating in the Kristallnacht, the 16th Street Baptist Church Bombing or the attacks in Dallas or Orlando.

Bear with me –

We’re responsible. We allow and propagate shaming and hate baiting.

If we don’t want body shaming or people derided because of how they look, then we can’t participate in that. If we say we believe in religious freedom then that means for everyone. If we want our candidate or our ideas considered on their merits – then we have to do the work.
If we ridicule Trump for his appearance we perpetuate this practice.

If we accuse Obama of being a secret Muslim, …

If we deride someone through memes or ugly pictures – we perpetuate that practice. I’ve seen terrible pictures of Melania, Michelle, Hillary and Donald.


If we demonize, if we vilify, if we use foul terms to refer to one another, if we engage in name calling and lose sight of our mutual humanity, we perpetuate, cultivate this kind of culture. When we lose sight of our individual humanity, when we demonize groups and refuse to engage in the harder work of taking us each on the content of our characters (King) – then we lose our empathy. Empathy is what holds us back from violence. Empathy knits us together and cultivates caring. Let us try to imagine into one another and understand where we are coming from.

I beg you to take a pledge to not participate in hate baiting – to be a bit more forgiving, a bit more kind …

Do the thinking. Discuss what bothers you, your fears, your hopes, how we can together achieve a better world. Do comparative research. Do the work of having real exchanges. Let us privilege a conversation of ideas and policies. Let us take seriously the future of our nation. Let us cultivate the “angels of our better nature.”

From many - One.

The difficulty in talking about racism is that racism is predicated on gross generalizations, sweeping statements and a dehumanizing set of biases. It’s difficult to talk about racism – particularly as a white southerner - because one runs the risk of becoming an apologist or a naïve denialist or even worse, slipping into gross generalizations that, even when well-intentioned, turn to an “us vs. them” point of view.

The public space where this conversation should happen, our political sphere, has become a shit show.

The rhetoric of hate, the politics of exclusion and fear mongering have dominated our public discourse.

Money, and we are obsessed with money, Money is speech. Every conversation we have of the public good is underwritten, undercut, by money. As a people we seem so fearful that someone might take something away from us.

Many of us claim to be people of faith. Many of us say we are Christians, Muslims, religious Jews or any number of other religions, and many more say we are committed to the ideals set forth by our founders, and yet, many of us practice an intellectual laziness that undermines everything we say we believe in. Many of us do not question whether or not the positions we take are in keeping with the principles we say we hold. For many of us our biases are so deeply rooted that we cannot muster compassion for our fellow human beings.

What is our responsibility as guardians of the principles we hold? – There is so much cynicism around the things we “say” we believe in. Too often it’s enough to say it or use it as a position from which to condemn others – but to actually practice what we say we believe … This is the hard work that we’re called to do – to put aside our selfish concerns, to look past fear, to hold our nation to the highest examples of those principles.

I get so frustrated when people who claim to hold to these ideals, who claim for instance to be Christian, can justify in their own minds the selfish and meanness that produces the very atmosphere of fear and hate that contributes to the violence we’re seeing now. The great leaders of history were philosophers, they thought deeply about ethics, about how the world should be and if we are to follow any one of them we must do the same.

How to we comfort one another? How to we take care for one another? How do we fulfill our responsibility to the ideals of our nation: life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness? that we are all created equal? How do we ensure that we are worthy of our inheritance, of those that we say we come after? Love one another - and part of that work is to dwell on what loving means.

The Rules for (Political) Discourse ...

I believe the world would be better if we could argue and debate without it turning into mutual loathing. I truly believe that if we could step back and allow ourselves to be moved sometimes –

Well toward this end these are the rules I’ve laid out for myself – and of course I won’t be perfect but I am going to try.

1. Do not betray your ethics. You know it may sound sappy but I believe in all of the love one another stuff. I’m trying. Evaluate what you say and do against that ethic. Try to be a decent human being.
2. Try not to bait people and try not to take the bait.
3. Try to stick to issues – try to lay out positions cleanly, without getting personal.
4. Let people you don’t agree with have room to speak. (I won’t defriend you for differing views but I will for hate speech.)
5. Don’t call people, known or unknown, what my mother would have called “ugly names”.
6. Try to find the overlaps. Seriously – TRY TO FIND THE OVERLAPS.
7. I don’t have to have the last word.
8. Let go of anger – it only closes us off from one another.
9. Work in the garden, read a book, run, walk, watch the sunset – make art – dwell on what you love - see things for what they are.
10. Life – the world – is an aggregate – do your best to make your part of it kind.

Thank you LeBron #Believeland #AllIn

Way to shift the conversation! Props!

Image from NBA - see link below

With poetry – on the field of play, against expectations – triumphant.
#ALLIN not just for now – All In – a rallying cry – a political philosophy – a future.

LeBron you really are beautiful – you made a believer out of me – you stayed the course – you fucking owned it – and all the while a class act.

We can feel the love you have for this place, it’s infectious. Your faith, your love, your tremendous will from since you were a teenager – in this moment, we get it, we understand it’s all possible, not just today but - everyday.

LeBron – a young man from Akron – a passion of a dream – There are other dreams, beautiful dreams, of fulfilling other destinies, in each of us, each of us to our gifts. #Believeland #Cleveland #AllIn

New York Times LeBron James 2016 NBA Finals

Image source: www.nba.com - Cavaliers

a starting place - (the reboot)

Marina Ginesta Spanish Civil War

Dean James Ryan - Havard Education

I spend a lot of time thinking about: who “we” say “we” are and are we really who “we” say we are? I think about how we listen to or how we hear such inspirational speeches as the one posted above. How well do we carry their messages? I wonder, as individuals, what is the slippage between who we present ourselves as and who we really, consistently, are?

How did we get here?
What are and what should be our goals?
How does our reality compare to the things we say we strive for?
What is the nature of justice?
How do we actually address gulfs between us?
How do we cultivate the will to do these things?

A few words for Trayvon Martin and the world we live in …

Statue of Liberty from National Geographic




It is not possible to directly feel the incredible grief this young man’s family, his mother his father and his friends must feel. I can only come to it by remembering my own grief from my own losses. I cannot imagine the rage they must feel at the senselessness of this loss. It doesn't matter what you or I believe the circumstances of his death were. His death is tragic.

What does the loss of Trayvon, and our nation’s reaction to it, give us? Have we gained anything from it? Is there something we can do better?

I think a great deal about bias and prejudice. I think it is hard-wired into us. Some would say it is “natural”. Some would argue that “nature” is right. It is the “right” way to be. I have heard this argument often. My answer to this is: “are we not human?” Are we not by definition at once a part of nature and outside it? Is it not our ability to operate outside our animal natures, or should I say natural condition, that makes us human? Is it not our obligation as human beings to know ourselves and resist those “natural” impulses that would cause us to repress or harm one another?

Am I not my “brothers’ (sisters’)” keeper?

Let us be honest with ourselves.

Ariel Castro’s treatment of three young women, his ability to see them as objects that he had the right to bend to his pleasure, is an amplified symptom of a lingering social understanding of women. The fact that society as a whole has a bias against women is borne out by simple statistics of leadership, pay and frankly perceptions of how women should act, should speak, should be. – Bias pervades our country, no doubt the world, few escape its presumptions, but the consequences for the individual vary widely.

Trayvon’s death is no less a symptom. The jury found that George Zimmerman had reasonable fear for his life – but they were not tasked with considering the assumptions that put him in that situation and that ultimately lead to an innocent young man’s death.

Meanwhile Marrissa Alexander is sentenced to 20 years for trying to protect herself.

Bias – prejudice – makes assumptions about groups of people rather than seeing an individual. It produces templates of identity that are then projected onto “the other.” A prevalence of bias assures that individuals must work to overcome, sometimes without success, these imaginings of who they are. These templates impede their success and by extension the progress of the whole of humanity.

The main systems we have for promoting opportunity and protecting civil rights – leadership, education and the judicial system – depend on your access to wealth and influence in order to access them.

Current statistics paint a clear picture of the patterns of privilege. It is undeniable and why in a country where we elect or reject leaders based on their religious affiliation don’t we have the political will to do something about it?

… And what is that we can do? What is that we should do? What is our responsibility to one another?At least let us begin with compassion and concern. If we see social ills, if we see struggle or lack – then less us take seriously how we can affect for good the lives of those afflicted.

We must at some point move away from assumptions, anger, mistrust and move toward conversation, dialogue and exchange. At some point we must take seriously what it means to “love one another.”

The New York Times: Reports Find Racial Gap in Drug Arrests

ABC News experiment having to do with profiling

The Wage Gap, by Gender and Race

Slate: Gender Inequality by State and County

American Bar Association: Domestic Violence Statistics –

When will we live up to our stories? When will we believe the things we say we believe?

Do we believe the things we say we believe?

Dear Johnny,

I hope this role you're playing is worthy of your history.

Sandy Hook Elementary, Newtown, CT

I think the Sandy Hook Elementary School building should be turned into a living memorial that houses a center dedicated to the study and prevention of violence particularly against children and women. As an Institute it could be the home site of an educational center, think tank and political action group working to promote a more peaceful, child-friendly world.

We need an organization that works aggressively at the national and international level to prevent these kinds of crimes by working for policies having to do with everything from mental health issues to culture change.


LA Times - Timeline of Deadliest US Mass Shootings

Newtown, CT

"My grief, I find, is not desolation or rebellion at universal law or deity. I find grief to be much simpler and sadder... All the things he loved tear at my heart because he is no longer here on earth to enjoy them. All the things he loved!"
- John Gunther, Death Be Not Proud

I am personally completely un-ironic. I fail at cynicism. I frankly detest it.

That is not to say that we should not be skeptical but it is to say that if you don’t chose to believe in something, and it is a choice, something beautiful and strong, you will fall into despair. It is to say that the point and meaning of life is to love and love well and try to live a world that privileges this. I do believe that “God is love.” The presence of any kind of goodness is the presence of this joy for an-other and the allowing of the joy of others – this is in fact the definition of God.

I cannot grasp what happened in Newtown. Who can? I know that there was somehow a failure – something failed. I think maybe the failure had to do with a failure to inspire to love. I know only one thing that might help and that is to embrace love … love as it really is.

Focus on the love people, focus on the love.

Let us be more joyful, more kind, more compassionate – let us love one another and follow the logic of what that means.

overturning the tables of the money changers - Why I'm Voting for Barack Obama.

I am voting for Barack Obama because I believe he believes in equal civil rights for all people. I believe he believes that women own their own bodies and should receive equal pay for equal work. I believe that he believes that it is wrong to judge people, to impinge their civil rights because of their race, gender or sexual orientation. I believe that he believes in equal access to education – both in quality and availability. I believe that I and the people that I love will and have fared better under Barack Obama.

I cannot vote for a man who would callously dismiss 47% of the population when he is behind closed doors and he thinks it’s safe to speak the truth.

I cannot vote for a man who has to be told that there are qualified, smart, able women.

I cannot vote for a man who would pass laws that would curtail the rights of people because his personal religious views tell him to …

I am voting for Barack Obama because I remember George W. Bush and the condition his policies and practices left the U.S. in. I remember the economic spiral down, the financial meltdown that followed in the wake of two terms of financial policies meant to support “the job creators”. I remember the deregulation that lead to Wall Street and the need for bailouts. I shudder that Mr. Romney and so many others have forgotten what those policies did to this country.

So much of the vitriol is dressed up as Christianity. Jesus said “My kingdom is not of this world.” He really didn’t seem interested in what the government was doing … He didn’t speak of it except to say “render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s” … but I wonder if people who would legislate Christianity’s directives wouldn’t be serving their faith better if they focused on the love and generosity part.

Give to every man that asks of you; and of him that takes away your goods ask them not again. – Luke 6:30

"A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. – John 13:34

Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law. – Romans 13:8

Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in your brother's way. – Romans 14:13


I find these tenets more in keeping with Obama’s policies than with Romney’s.

reconstruction in a time of war

“But who prays for Satan? Who, in eighteen centuries, has had the common humanity to pray for the one sinner that needed it most?” - Mark Twain

The uncivil discourse, the stalemate and partisan rhetoric that dominates our political landscape exists because we allow it to exist. We participate in it. We dehumanize and villainize our countrymen as if we were at war with them. We perpetuate horrific visions of the opposing sides’ standard barriers and we insist that they are the embodiment of evil. Our leaders act as they do because we provide them with the paradigm of their methods. Who are we that we espouse values of love and fellowship, charity and kindness … compassion … and yet we willingly eviscerate those who are not like us. We take satisfaction in their woes … we celebrate their failures. What we cannot see is that in hating our opponents, we hate ourselves. In seeking their failure, we race after our own. What Lincoln knew … the lesson we have yet to learn … the same divisions that tore us apart still reside.

the gender gap

I've been in arguments over whether or not Feminism has a legitimate role today. Reading the news daily, both international and domesticate, I'm struck by the hate speech and the hate crimes that are directed toward women. Even in instances of domesticate violence, what gives someone the mental permission to harm a woman? Do we have a culture that, while appalled in regard toward violence against women, never-the-less sees it as inevitable, understandable? Is there a relationship between the male/female wage disparity and crimes against women? What is it that gives permission to cause harm to women? Mickey Shunick Gina DeJesus, Amanda Berry and Ashley Summers Amina and Sarah Said Drew Peterson Honor Killings in U.S. Cold Cases -- note the number of women on this list. afterthought: Huffington Post College women and Pay

living and courage

In my small life, where courage has to do with smaller things, I wonder what the world would look like if folks like Martin Luther King jr had, when they were beginning, been diverted by practical concerns.

We all hope for the good, for a place and a community that values us and the things we love. For all of us … we long for fairness and consideration. We hope for conditions that will move us to “a better place.” My better place, my ideal, is one that privileges creative excellence, the exchange of ideas, mutual trust and respect.

As one of my most esteemed colleagues has said, hope is passive. These things require actions to be made real. It is a failure of imagination and courage which keeps us from achieving our ends.

Daily, in incidental places and ways, we are challenged to perform our ethical position - to make words and deeds match. In the face of these challenges there is always a temptation to give into what would seem “practical.” It seems futile, foolish, to pursue the ideal. The path toward the ideal is easily abandoned. The constant voice of “they” admonishes us to be “reasonable.”

To walk away from our ethical imperative harms us – diminishes what we would call our soul. It makes us less than we could be. It takes a knife to our ambitions. It assures our bitterness.

In the large and the small, we must build the world we want to live in. We must adhere to, and not defer, our ethical position. We must match words to deeds.

We must demand of our leadership that, rather then divining the path, that they envision it. We must demand that they persuade us, and others, to the value of their course. We must demand that they lead us through the courage of their convictions, that they must risk failure in order to achieve real success. We must demand that they make war on mediocrity and complacency. We must demand that they inspire us through their example.

I believe that the place and the time I live in can come to fruition. I believe that we sit at the brink of a remarkable moment. I believe that the challenges that we face are merely opportunities. I believe that what is required of us … what will achieve our goals, is the courage to pursue the course of our ideals … and leadership, real leadership.

Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial

Courage … Courage.

What else would be an appropriate memorial?

Where are our leaders? Who will speak to the angels of our better natures? Who will demand that we do what is right, what is necessary?

Martin Luther King jr. was a human being of great courage. He had to know the danger he faced and yet he held to what was right. He stood for what he believed in. How many sleepless nights did he face? How many times did his heart race with fear? Even now there are those who diminish the accomplishments of his life … who would turn his life into a myth rather than the disciplined commitment of flesh and bones.

We require leaders who will not simply exploit the lowest desires of the people. We require leaders who do not pander for the sake of holding to a position. We require leaders who do lead because they wish for power but because they are committed to some deep sense of what is for the good of the people … what will move us to a better world?

I am continually impressed by the rush to proclaim a religious position by our politicians in order to establish a worthiness to lead and yet to often no deeper sense exudes from this position that relates to kindness and compassion.

Where are our leaders? Who leads? What will we as a people expect and demand of our leaders?

the revolution ...

How do we rebel against those who have turned their hearts off?

a better world ...

Yesterday I went to the studio I’m using in Newark, but on my way there and back I got to see a very happy New York. For about two days now gay couples have become very visible and yesterday Penn station was filled with folks coming into town for the Gay Pride Parade. (I am not one for massive crowds so I decided to forego and just admire from a distance.)

It's fascinating to see so many gay couples on the streets -- male and female representing a such range of attractiveness and attire. What was touching were the number of older couples holding hands, particularly women, with gigantic smiles on their faces. You know they have been waiting years for this moment – all their lives for this moment.

One day we won't remember that there was a time before this - not really. It will be like the vote for women or black people. It seems so natural it's hard to remember there was an archaic time when society thought it natural to withhold these rights. This time of forgetting will be a good time.

These are the things that move us incrementally ever forward to a destination we can never reach. It must be an ethic which drives this movement, a conscious sentry on our hearts. We know quite well from the lessons of Hitler’s Germany, Rwanda, and Serbia … how easily thinking can betray us and allow us to believe in some conception of good which makes us blind to the suffering of others.

For the people, one ethic only, of hospitality – true politesse – if this guides and it is the criteria against which we measure our thinking and doing then we will move infinitely closer to that place we want.

links to two new blogs

yes ... I needed more categories to write under:

a blog on art a prioriars, this is hopefully going to be collaborative with essays from others on art, painting, etc.

a blog for oneiric poetry somnibus (thank's to RLP for the cool title)