Loving kindness meditation for a new era
Dear President Biden, You know that song about how the toe bone is connected to the foot bone? It’s variously called “Dem Bones,” “The Skeleton Song,” or “Dry Bones”. Well, back when we lived in Albuquerque and had our most wonderful dog, Barbara the Doberwoman :), Laura used to sing that song to her with …
Continue reading "The vaccine bone’s connected to the carbon bone…"
Dear President Biden, Last night my brother texted and then called to tell me that Wednesday night when he was walking his roommate’s dog a police car rolled up alongside him. He said the officer was friendly but that he conveyed the message that someone had called the police reporting that a Black man was …
Dear President Biden, The center panel of the above-the-fold section of the online WP this morning holds three stories about Black men who were killed or brutalized by police. From top to bottom they include: 1) the story of Anton Wright, a 19-year old mentally ill young man who died under the weight of three …
Dear President Biden, One aspect of the endless construction on the street in front of our house is that there are lots of big orange-on-one-side-silvery-on-the-other-side signs for directing traffic, including some that aren’t in use and are just leaning up against the chain link fence just outside the park across the street. The other morning …
Dear President Biden, Our pastor, the Dr. Reverend Kelle Brown, gave one of the best sermon’s she’s ever given this morning. If you want to check it out, you can find it on our YouTube channel (go to about minute 49). Her sermon title this morning was Alive! and it inspired the following Easter haiku: …
Dear President Biden, This morning our Senior Minister, the Reverend Dr. Kelle Brown, preached on “Entrances and Exits” for Palm Sunday, juxtaposing Jesus’s triumphal entrance into Jerusalem with his horrifying exit from this life via crucifixion. In unpacking her understanding of what happened to Jesus at this crucial juncture she lifted up the idea that …
Dear President Biden, Lately I’ve been hanging out at work (via Zoom-like platforms) with way more young people than old people. I’m humbled and grateful to say that they’ve become my teachers. So many of them are living out loud and questioning what is and why is it is that what is is the way …
Dear President Biden, A couple of weeks ago I read something where someone was taking diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts to task. He was focused on the inclusion aspect and concluded that it’s beyond a bad idea to just invest in including more BIPOC and other varieties of under-represented people in the same old oppressive …
Continue reading "Transformational Inclusivity, Diversity, and Equity ~ TIDE"
Dear President Biden, I have a grant due on Tuesday and have been pouring pretty much everything into it so I’m sending along a quick haiku to say hello. They say empathyis your main superpowerand I am grateful. May we be safe while we work on the important work.May we be happy to have a …
Dear President Biden, I told you the other week about my now favorite podcast Hear to Slay by Roxane Gay and Tressie McMillan Cottom. Well, this past week R&T talked with a young Black activist named Amber J. Phillips and at the end of the conversation when they asked her how they and their listeners …
Continue reading "The revolutionary gift of seeing and naming"
The Biden Letters 