Dear President Biden, I didn’t tell you (why, I don’t know), but I took the latter part of this past week off from work and it was lovely. Laura, dog-Buddy, and I went on around-town-excursions every morning for three whole days, two of which were to Discovery Park. I’m pretty sure I’ve told you about …
This shit is real
Dear President Biden, I’m not sure what exactly tipped my brain over into that space where it’s acting like a tongue that can’t leave a rough tooth alone, but just now the phrase “existential dread” landed like a lead balloon and won’t leave me alone. Actually, I doubt it was any one thing having just …
May we accept that we are tiny and brief
Dear President Biden, I’ve been pretty numb lately, but today the picture of the base of the giant sequoia, General Sherman, wrapped in aluminum got me going. Have you seen the sequoias? For real, in person? If so then you’ve surely seen General Sherman. I hope so. I hope you’ve had the awesome opportunity to …
The Dems need to swear off the fantasy of bipartisan tea parties and get real ~ fast
Dear President Biden, A couple of days ago I cut and pasted the following sentence from Perry Bacon Jrs’ WP editorial: “Moving forward, the Democratic Party should commit to actually fighting back aggressively against the Republicans.” This morning’s headline about how the Democratic party, emboldened by Newsom surviving the recall vote, is beginning to adopt …
Chasing the pain
Dear President Biden, Laura had surgery on her right shoulder Friday. When the surgeon called me after the procedure to update me he said that when he got in there he could see why she’d been in so much pain. Laura opted for a nerve block (in addition to the general anesthesia, of course), which …
Here we are
Dear President Biden, I’m not sure I can muster even a decent haiku under the current circumstances, but here goes: Inside my cocoonI feel safe. And powerless.But out is scary. Indeed. The sky is blue, the wind is calm, the traffic is quiet this morning but we are a world of mounting, creeping, lurching, hurtling …
Buddha and the cat
Dear President Biden, I feel somewhat guilty not writing to you about current events today given what’s going on in Kabul, Polk County, Minnesota, and Florida but I’m feeling wrung out and as though the only energy I can muster is for sending you a direct observation story, so here you go…. Yesterday toward the …
Money, ethics, elephants, and home
Dear President Biden, Sort of similar to my way-too-recent decision to read most all of the articles about global warming that I come across, I’ve been making myself read most all of the articles about Afghanistan that I come across. It’s been a lot. Obviously it’s nothing at all like being there or having some …
Worth doing
Dear President Biden, It had been coming on for a bit, but I finally hit a pretty low point yesterday evening as I considered the enormity of what we’re facing and how, even at the micro-relational level, people can’t seem to get along. All day I’d been hearing stories about people yelling at those they’re …
May we not run out of AMOC
Dear President Biden, Had you heard of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) system before last week? Or, to be fair to the rest of us mere mortals who aren’t oceanographers or presidents – how about before you elected to be elected to serve as America’s Safeguarder-In-Chief? Well, before I made myself read the WP …
