Dear President Biden, I think I told you a few months ago that I was reading James Loewen’s book Lies My Teacher Told Me, a world-tilting treatise on how American history is so thoroughly white- (and male-) washed as to wholly misrepresent how our country came into existence and the forces that shaped and continue …
The System continues to work as designed
Dear President Biden, I’m still checking in with the news a couple of times a day, but I’ve been making the check-ins briefer in an effort not to let myself get lost in the various mucky rabbit holes of our body politic. We’re a flipping mess. And yes, we would absolutely be more of a …
The embrace of anti-truth
Dear President Biden, The other day I registered my dismay at your American exceptionalism rhetoric and the toxic masculinity that’s laced through such posturing and today I will register my dismay at what’s happening several notches up the toxic masculinity continuum. As you may have guessed, I’ve been reading about the House vote to censure …
Circling back to what matters
Dear President Biden, Busy, tired, uninspired – I’m sure there’s more to it, but that trio of words sound good together and do a decent job of summing up why it’s been almost a week since I’ve written to you. Busy, tired, uninspired, and well, the overwhelm associated with living in this weird situation where …
A walk in the woods
Dear President Biden, I was hoping to keep this letter on the positive side of the scale and maybe in the end it’ll have tilted that way, but reading yesterday about the woman who was raped on a train in Philadelphia while onlookers snapped pics and recorded video but did nothing to help her, has …
The violence of nooses
Dear President Biden, It’s been a minute since I’ve had a moment to write to you. I don’t usually go this long between downloads, but a combination of being more tired than usual, having more work than usual, and playing more Scrabble than usual (as in playing Scrabble at all) have led to low letter …
Weevils and worms
Dear President Biden, This morning I started a cup of dried chickpeas soaking in water so I could make falafel for dinner tonight. It was to be a Sunday treat – “was” being the operative word here. After several hours I looked into the bowl to check on the plumping progress and noticed some weird …
We are a despicable lot
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 …
Deep pockets and shallow ethics
Dear President Biden, Most everything coming out of your White House has been much more palatable than anything that ever came out of DLT’s White House. This includes your recent Executive Order targeting ghost guns and stabilizing braces for pistols, and putting more money towards community-based violence prevention programs. At least it looks like you’re …
No justice, no peace
Dear President Biden, Yesterday I told you that I hope that Chauvin’s defense attorney, Eric Nelson, is forced to take down his shingle and use it for kindling for suggesting that his client couldn’t possibly have tracked that he was crushing George’s neck (spine, windpipe, carotid artery) because the concerned citizens who were imploring him …
The Biden Letters 