Loving kindness meditation for a new era
Dear President Biden, I didn’t think the Chauvin verdict would come so quickly and rather than pivot now, I’m going to go with what I drafted this morning before work. But please know, I am relieved and grateful for Chauvin’s conviction on all three counts. At the same time, please know, I grieve for young …
Continue reading "The brilliance of “Tired” by Langston Hughes"
Dear President Biden, Please, sir, please read today's WP editorial by Jonathan Capehart entitled Being Black in America is Exhausting. It should be required reading for all White people. That’s all I have to say today except to reiterate, please read it. May we all be safe to be.May we all be willing to radically …
Dear President Biden, I haven’t had occasion to tell you this before, but my dad is a big White man and before I conjured a big White George the other day it had absolutely never occurred to me that my dad could be the victim of police brutality, let alone be killed by police. And …
Continue reading "White George, Black George, and the vast bucket of worry that differentiates them"
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, Remember the other day when I brought up the idea that we need to include “Transformational” in our conceptualization (and execution) of DEI work and shift to “Transformational Inclusivity, Diversity, and Equity” or TIDE? Well, I still believe this. I still believe that we can’t simply include more diverse people in the …
Continue reading "Marilyn Mosby and Transformational Inclusivity, Diversity, and Equity ~ TIDE"
Dear President Biden, Do you know what “the weight of history” means? I thought it was a super common idiom that must have a fleshy backstory, but Googling it didn’t yield much of anything. Maybe it’s too basic for anyone to bother unpacking, but it’s been bugging me. I can only speak from my position …
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, There’s space in my headfor quiet. I can hear ducksquack as they fly North. Thank you for this. There’s still plenty to do, including some missteps to call out and some strongly preferred directions to encourage, but I’m grateful for the longish stretches of quiet in my head. I hadn’t realized how …
Continue reading "Gratitude haiku III (with a serious catch)"
The Biden Letters 