Dear President Biden, Things have been full on both at work and with volunteer activities so it’s tempting to skip writing to you today, but given what’s been gnawing at me, I figure I better go ahead and tell you about it. You see, I started realizing several months ago that I have a very …
That sort of day
Dear President Biden, Happy (Observed) Juneteenth, a worthy federal holiday, for sure. I am, however, holding out for voting day being designated as a federal holiday as well as passage of a robust version of HR1 and the John Lewis Voting Act, so please don’t let me (and democracy) down on these things. And really, …
Crows, flickers, and White obliviousness
Dear President Biden, Since this is going to be a bit of a lurch-y letter, I’ll just let you know up front that I’ve got a couple of bird things to tell you about and then I’m going to switch over to swimming pools. First, remember how the mean crow swooped me on my morning …
Remembering Darnella, Joe, and George’s moms
Dear President Biden, How are you this evening? By now you’re probably trying to wind down for the night since it’s almost 10pm Eastern. I’m guessing it’s going to be kind of hard for you to settle and maybe even harder for you to sleep tonight after meeting with George Floyd’s family this afternoon, especially …
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Hummingbirds and girl rockers
Dear President Biden, I know there are dozens and dozens of scary, weighty things going on in the world and maybe I’ll feel like treading into some of that territory later today, but this morning I just want to tell you about the hummingbird I saw yesterday. Hummingbird sightings are fairly common around here, especially …
Biden needs to stop mollycoddling Whites and gaslighting Blacks
Dear President Biden, I saw in the Washington Examiner that Friday morning you said the following on NBC’s Today show: “I don’t think America is racist, but I think the overhang from all of the Jim Crow — and before that, slavery — have had a cost.” What a shitty dance you all are doing. …
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Safety, love, and respect are not pies to be apportioned
Dear President Biden, I’m pretty sure it was Saturday, but it could have been Friday, and I was sitting in our living room looking out the window when the 73 bus passed by heading south on the arterial out front. This is not a remarkable thing in and of itself – buses go up and …
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Magpie words
Dear President Biden, I don’t think I’ve confessed to you before that I’m a magpie – I collect things, ideas, words, stuff that catches my eye, or my heart. Some of the physical bits are sitting on the kitchen windowsill or the mantel, but mostly the stuff gets incorporated into these letters or my art. …
Strides aren’t enough; we need to hold out for leaps
Dear President Biden, I’m rather in a funk today. It’s not a big deal at all – it’s just what happens when I need to buckle down and start drafting a paper that doesn’t feel straightforward to frame. I spent much of the day picking through Google Scholar trying to get a better handle on …
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“The lives we are all entitled to.”
Dear President Biden, This morning on our dog-walk-in-the-rain we took a lap around the Sandpoint Country Club to the east of us, an old haunt that we used to frequent almost once a week pre-COVID for it’s lush landscaping, sweeping views of Lake Washington, and sedate drivers. About halfway around the loop I pondered aloud …
The Biden Letters 