(Everybody's Waitin' for) The Man with a Plan (Laura Benanti and Randy Rainbow)

What a great day!  Wept through much of it, smiled through most of it, laughed at a few parts, drank mimosas as Joe was reciting the Oath.  Such a beautiful, gracious, kind transfer of power.  Lady Gaga!  Amanda Gorman! (22-year-old Youth Poet Laureate, who I blogged about back in June 2020; her use of assonance and alliteration was remarkably powerful, in counterpoint to her youthful appearance and sweet speech impediment), Jill Biden's coat!

Both Biden's and Harris' families are absolutely beautiful.  Everyone in the crowd was wearing masks, just the first of 100-days-urged.  Even *I* sang along to Amazing Grace, as Garth Brooks invited.  So many executive orders signed.  And I am actually watching the news again! First press briefing of the new administration (after a year of *none*!): informational, coherent, personable, non-defensive. Monday through Friday. Imagine that! 

Rachel Maddow says that the vibe in our country today was "a return to radical normalcy".  Well-said... 😍

There is still much to accomplish, as well as regain, but with experienced and compassionate leaders at the helm, we can do this... 💖

SONG:  (Everybody's Waitin' for) The Man with a Plan by Laura Benanti and Randy Rainbow

BOOK:  Promises to Keep:  On Life and Politics by Joe Biden

POEM(S):  Remembering Frost at Kennedy’s Inauguration by Linda Pastan

Even the flags seemed frozen

to their poles, and the men

stamping their well-shod feet

resembled an army of overcoats.

But we were young and fueled

by hope, our ardor burned away

the cold. We were the president’s,

and briefly the president would be ours.

The old poet stumbled

over his own indelible words,

his breath a wreath around his face:

a kind of prophecy.

[A Note from the Editor, written 1/20/21:  60 years ago, John F. Kennedy was inaugurated as the 35th President of the United States. Robert Frost became the first poet to read at a US inaugural ceremony, reading his poem "The Gift Outright" from memory, after he was unable to read a poem he wrote for the occasion. Today, the young poet Amanda Gorman will be reading a poem at President Joe Biden's inauguration. In 2014 Gorman was named the first Youth Poet Laureate of Los Angeles, and in 2017 was named the first US National Youth Poet Laureate. She has performed at many prominent venues, including the Obama White House, the Library of Congress, Lincoln Center, and on CBS This Morning.]

The Hill We Climb by Amanda Gorman (watch it here!)

When day comes we ask ourselves,

where can we find light in this never-ending shade?

The loss we carry,

a sea we must wade

We've braved the belly of the beast

We've learned that quiet isn't always peace

And the norms and notions

of what just is

Isn’t always just-ice

And yet the dawn is ours

before we knew it

Somehow we do it

Somehow we've weathered and witnessed

a nation that isn’t broken

but simply unfinished

We the successors of a country and a time

Where a skinny Black girl

descended from slaves and raised by a single mother

can dream of becoming president

only to find herself reciting for one

And yes we are far from polished

far from pristine

but that doesn’t mean we are

striving to form a union that is perfect

We are striving to forge a union with purpose

To compose a country committed to all cultures, colors, characters and

conditions of man

And so we lift our gazes not to what stands between us

but what stands before us

We close the divide because we know, to put our future first,

we must first put our differences aside

We lay down our arms

so we can reach out our arms

to one another

We seek harm to none and harmony for all

Let the globe, if nothing else, say this is true:

That even as we grieved, we grew

That even as we hurt, we hoped

That even as we tired, we tried

That we’ll forever be tied together, victorious

Not because we will never again know defeat

but because we will never again sow division

Scripture tells us to envision

that everyone shall sit under their own vine and fig tree

And no one shall make them afraid

If we’re to live up to our own time

Then victory won’t lie in the blade

But in all the bridges we’ve made

That is the promise to glade

The hill we climb

If only we dare

It's because being American is more than a pride we inherit,

it’s the past we step into

and how we repair it

We’ve seen a force that would shatter our nation

rather than share it

Would destroy our country if it meant delaying democracy

And this effort very nearly succeeded

But while democracy can be periodically delayed

it can never be permanently defeated

In this truth

in this faith we trust

For while we have our eyes on the future

history has its eyes on us

This is the era of just redemption

We feared at its inception

We did not feel prepared to be the heirs

of such a terrifying hour

but within it we found the power

to author a new chapter

To offer hope and laughter to ourselves

So while once we asked,

how could we possibly prevail over catastrophe?

Now we assert

How could catastrophe possibly prevail over us?

We will not march back to what was

but move to what shall be

A country that is bruised but whole,

benevolent but bold,

fierce and free

We will not be turned around

or interrupted by intimidation

because we know our inaction and inertia

will be the inheritance of the next generation

Our blunders become their burdens

But one thing is certain:

If we merge mercy with might,

and might with right,

then love becomes our legacy

and change our children’s birthright

So let us leave behind a country

better than the one we were left with

Every breath from my bronze-pounded chest,

we will raise this wounded world into a wondrous one

We will rise from the gold-limbed hills of the west,

we will rise from the windswept northeast

where our forefathers first realized revolution

We will rise from the lake-rimmed cities of the midwestern states,

we will rise from the sunbaked south

We will rebuild, reconcile and recover

and every known nook of our nation and

every corner called our country,

our people diverse and beautiful will emerge,

battered and beautiful

When day comes we step out of the shade,

aflame and unafraid

The new dawn blooms as we free it

For there is always light,

if only we’re brave enough to see it

If only we’re brave enough to be it

QUOTE(S):  "Whatever your past has been, you have a spotless future." ~ Melanie Gustafson

“When power leads men towards arrogance, poetry reminds him of his limitations. When power narrows the areas of man’s concern, poetry reminds him of the richness and diversity of his existence. When power corrupts, poetry cleanses.” ~ John F. Kennedy

Write This Number Down (Dar Williams)

From singer-songwriter Dar Williams:

I am hoping that you can participate in Steps2021.  When I saw that mob of people on the Capitol steps, I remembered the piece I had written about how people can demonstrate by singing on steps.  WELL, because of the pandemic, the idea of singing (a no-no in groups...) on steps to counter the image of insurrecting on steps has devolved and evolved into STEPS 2021, complete with website and hashtags! 

Also, could you share this with your friends and really encourage them into doing something, too?!  We're going to have teenagers helping with social media. I'm just Paul Revere with a horse.  I only know how to ride around like a maniac and shout to people I know and love to spread the word!  If you could tell your congregation, folk buds, and family to "find their steps", we think we're going to hit a wonderful tipping point.  If you could go online and say you're going to participate, that would be wonderful, too.  Oy, I am not the queen of the elevator pitch.  But I hope you can do this!  

We're asking people to take a picture or video clip of themselves on their favorite and/or safest steps, any steps that they love and associate with the steps (or ramps) we take into places where we work collaboratively and constructively for the future.  This is to counter the images of armed people who are expected to show up at state capitol buildings (don't go to capitol building steps). 

To learn more about Steps2021, the website is www.Steps2021.org, BUT we're simply asking people to do one or both of these things:

1. BEFORE INAUGURATION DAY: Take a picture of yourselves, your families, pods, etc. on the steps of your choosing: place of worship, library, town hall, home, apartment stoop, along with whatever prop or nice outfit you choose... with a painting, a smile, or a peace sign, in a uniform or in a ball gown. OR...Take a video of yourselves singing, speaking, playing music. 

---SEND IT TO MYSTEPS@STEPS2021.org along with a little caption of where you are and why these steps are important to you.  

---Share it with your friends as a way to spread the word that we are going to be posting a wonderful stream of images and videos on Inauguration morning before Biden's inaugural march.  

2. ON INAUGURATION MORNING: Take and/or post a picture of yourselves, your families, pods, etc. on the steps of your choosing: place of worship, library, town hall, home, apartment stoop, along with whatever prop or nice outfit you choose... with a painting, a smile, or a peace sign, in a uniform or in a ball gown. OR...Take a video of yourselves singing, speaking, playing music. 

---SEND IT TO MYSTEPS@STEPS2021.org and our socials as well as your socials, along with hashtags and with a little caption of where you are and why these steps are important to you. 

---Share it with your friends and with us at our website and on social media.  

I registered for this event, and will be participating too.  Check out the website;  even if we can't sing (for pandemic reasons, as Dar said), there are plenty of ways to make our presence known.  I'm sharing here because I'm not on social media but, for those of you who are, I am counting on you to pass on this message, as well as post your Steps on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc.  As the old protest song goes:  one and one and fifty make a million!

Here are two photos, the first of which (me with Colin) I've already e-mailed to MySteps@Steps2021.org with the following caption:

On the stairs of my South Florida condo, reading to my 2-1/2-year-old grandson Colin, my heart.  Every STEP of political activism I take (voting Blue, fighting for climate change regulations, enacting standards for Justice and Equality, the right to Choose, etc.) is for him and his future! (Susan Moss, Pembroke Pines FL)

...and the second (just me) I will be e-mailing Inauguration Day morning (between 9:30 and 11:30 a.m.) with the caption below:

On the steps of my my 55+ condo community in South Florida, counting my blessings that I have adequate insurance coverage, can afford to eat nutritiously, have wide-open spaces to walk an hour a day, and enjoy good health such that I'm able to take the stairs 99% of the time.  So excited for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris to return our country to positivity and forward motion! (Susan Moss, Pembroke Pines FL)

Thanks again to Dar for alerting me to this action.  By the way, her elevator pitch was spot-on... :-)

P.S.  Puttering around online, following Steps2021 links, and found this (go to the 1:14 mark).  I had already chosen the title song for today's blog post hours ago and, synchronistically, wouldn't you know that's the tune Dar performs in this video segment!  Thank you, Universe... 😍

#Steps2021

#TheFutureWeBuildTogether

#PeaceWithJustice

SONG:  Write This Number Down by Dar Williams ("welcome to this land and yes, we still have all those marble steps to climb" indeed... 💞)

BOOK:  The Front Steps Project: How Communities Found Connection During the COVID-19 Crisis by Kristen Collins, Cara Soulia

POEM:  Strangers by Laszlo Slomovits

A man is running hard

to catch the bus that just left.

It’s picking up speed but he

pulls even and raps on its side,

and a woman by the window

yells to the driver, who stops

and opens the accordion door.

But the man does not get on—

he points back to an old woman

who has not run a step

in a very long time

shuffling towards the bus.

Nor does he leave until he’s

helped her up both steps

then walks back slowly

still breathing hard

toward us who are

waiting for a different bus.

What can a group of strangers

do at a time like this?

A time in its own tiny way like

when Bob Hayes roared by them all

to bring the relay home,

or when Billy Mills devoured

the last 50 of the 10,000 meters

or when Joan Benoit came striding

into the stadium alone—and all of us

strangers stood up and cheered.

QUOTE:  "The vision must be followed by the venture. It is not enough to stare up the steps - we must step up the stairs." ~ Vance Havner

The Room Where It Happens (Original Hamilton Cast Reunion - VOTE!)

[thanks to MegHS (again) for always keeping me apprised of The Mallard Family in Boston Public Garden... 💗]

From Team Biden-Harris:

"Former Vice President Joe Biden [ran] for president (and won!) to restore the soul of the nation. He believes it's time to remember who we are. We're Americans: tough and resilient. We choose hope over fear. Science over fiction. Truth over lies. And unity over division. We are the United States of America. And together, there is not a single thing we can't do."

Also, as we now know, Georgia, with 16 electoral votes and 99% reporting (Biden:  49.5%, 2,465,500 and Trump:  49.3%, 2,455,305) will be going to a recount.  We owe a huge debt of gratitude to Stacey Abrams, who has worked tirelessly for years to further the cause of the Democratic Party in this fair state.  Get out those thank you cards now and drop one in her direction!

Abrams also spoke of the two Senate run-off races which are happening on January 5 (thanks to Nance for the link!).  We should do everything in our power to ensure that votes goes Blue, and I (and many people I know) will be contributing to the campaigns of Ossoff and Warnock.  Both wins would get the Senate to 50/50, with Vice President Kamala Harris being the tie-breaker.  Oh, what a lovely thought... 💖

"We dream of a brand new start, but we dream in the dark for the most part" indeed.  Click-boom!

SONG:  The Room Where It Happens (Original Hamilton Cast Reunion - VOTE!)

BOOK:  Biden: The Obama Years and the Battle for the Soul of America by David Lienemann, Jill Biden (Foreword)

POEM:  November by Heather Altfeld

It’s strange, here, waiting for the last of them to be counted,

surreal to think of them shoveled into piles like old snow,

cast out into the world over land and sea to seek, as it were,

their fortunes. I imagine them in the late terrible light

of those rooms, lingering in the stink of yesterday’s lunch

and the air tepid with breath held back by masks,

talking amongst themselves about the ludicrous folly

of humans, who should be tallying the tadpoles

who grew into frogs this year and the number who died

of fungi blotched on the nose, how we ought to jam

the phone lines demanding a raise in the minimum age

for kindness, a cut in the statutory limitations on human cruelty,

a referendum to mortar our cities

from the endless migration of sadness and despair.

Where is the measure in favor of clouds

not yet dreamed or stolen by the sun?

Who will root for the tulips we’ve planted so dumbly

in the dry crud of the earth?

Call it now, for the rivers and the trees and the rocks,

Call it now for the rain, who knows far better than we

How to become one fierce or gentle thing.

[Heather Altfeld: “I think this poem is a collision of two kinds of waiting—both are temporally communal, which makes them particularly interesting to me–the counting of the vote, and here in California, the rain, which we are all desperate for. Both portend our immediate and distant future. And despite the critics of personification, there is something about the convergence of such energies that each ballot carries, beyond its bubbled-in dots—each arrives (hopefully) from the homes of smokers or drinkers, chewed by dogs or babies, spat on by rain or dissent, and in this way, they seem to harbor a strange sort of essence of their own.”]

QUOTE(S):  Joe Biden's acceptance speech for President / Kamala Harris' acceptance speech for Vice-President

Can You Understand My Joy? (John Gorka)

An e-mail statement from Joe Biden today, Saturday, November 7, 2020 12:46 pm

"I am honored and humbled by the trust the American people have placed in me and in Vice President-elect Harris.

In the face of unprecedented obstacles, a record number of Americans voted. Proving once again, that democracy beats deep in the heart of America.

With the campaign over, it’s time to put the anger and the harsh rhetoric behind us and come together as a nation.

It’s time for America to unite. And to heal.

We are the United States of America. And there’s nothing we can’t do, if we do it together.

I’m going to speak to the nation tonight and I’d love for you to watch."

I (and most of my circle of friends) have been watching television (mainly MSNBC and CNN) around the clock since Tuesday night at 7 p.m.  Admittedly, election returns looked glum at first, because Trump had been decrying mail-in ballots and encouraging his supporters to vote the day of, but it soon became evident that mail-in ballots were primarily Democratic... and the vote count, albeit glacial, continued to skew blue.

Went to bed early last night because I was feeling, as we say in the South, "puny" (due to exhaustion and stress) and slept 11 hours.  Woke up this morning still not feeling up-to-speed (the gloomy weather didn't help), curled up on the chaise in my living room, swaddled in fleece and sipping jasmine hot tea, and turned on MSNBC (my default channel).  Still the same numbers.  Ack.

Decided to find something compelling on Netflix settled on the remake of Rebecca, and my friend/college roomie Linda texted at 11:30 a.m.:  "Election called.  Thank God!!!!!!" (Pennsylvania... 💓), at which point I shrieked and then shared the news with the handful of text threads that have sustained me this week.  I taught my grandson Colin last night to say Joe Biden, and asked Sarah to video it this morning, which makes me smile every time I watch it... 😍

My friend Judi said she saw a meme that keeps making her laugh:  "My three-year-old asked me when I was going to stop watching "The Map Show"... 😄

As some have speculated (and I have no doubt that most of us have been, and will continue to, Go High), I don't want to "watch him burn", but I acknowledge in my mind, heart, and soul that Trump treated the citizens of this country (and the world) with severe disrespect and dishonesty (not to mention contributing to the deaths of a quarter-million people through his inadequate handling of the coronavirus).  He will exit this presidency as he has inhabited it:  "a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing" (Shakespeare, of course).

And now Nevada has been called in Biden's favor as well, bringing the numbers to Joe Biden 279, Donald Trump 214.  Arizona is looking good to stay Blue as well and, although Georgia will go to a recount, the numbers should stay in Biden's favor.  I won't do the math just yet, but let's just say 300+.  Zippity!

Van Jones (of CNN), upon hearing the news of Biden's win... 

I am still watching MSNBC.  Look at all those women, people of color, LGBTQ flags, kids... all of them wearing masks.  This is my America... 💖

SONG:  Can You Understand My Joy? by John Gorka (can't find a video, but here are the lyrics; thanks to MegHS for the heads-up to this song!)

BOOK:  The Book of Joy: Lasting Happiness in a Changing World by Dalai Lama, Desmond Tutu, Douglas Carlton Abrams

POEM(S):  Monkey Mind by Denise Duhamel (written and posted 

I know the worth of each state’s electoral votes by heart. My neck pain

has stopped but has traveled to my elbow and wrist. “Three consecutive

deep breaths” written on post-its, one beside the coffee pot and another

on my bathroom mirror. How many times this fall have I been told

“remember to breathe”? Yoga instructor, therapy group, strength-training

teacher, all on Zoom. When I was a kid I watched “Zoom” (Who are you?

What do you do? … Come on and Zoom Zoom went the theme song.) The kids

featured on Boston’s WGBH were local celebrities and my monkey mind

wonders what happened to them as I jump from tree to tree. I recently started

the Netflix series Ratched, the origin story of Nurse Mildred Ratched

(before One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest). On her job interview, the titular character

says she’s not worried about patients throwing their own feces,

that nothing throws her, which reminds me of monkeys who also throw

their own feces when they are defensive, angry, or bored. I only made it through

the first episode of Ratched. I wanted to like it because I like Sarah Paulson

and am glad she is getting work, but I found the show trying too hard, too stylized,

like Mad Men but without as strong a narrative. Then I tried The Queen’s

Gambit but I know almost nothing about chess which the boys I grew up with

called “chest” to see if we girls would blush. And even now, whenever I read

or write or say “titular” I feel self-conscious because the word contains “tit.”

I remember at a writers’ conference many years ago, a famous poet wanted us all

to go to a “titty bar” (her words). And I said something like,

“I just checked in with my feminist principles and the answer is no.”

But now strippers are seen as empowered by some in the third wave and I guess

I’d need a more nuanced answer if she ever asked again. Not that “titty bars”

are even open in this time of COVID-19. That famous poet couldn’t have been

third wave all those years ago, could she? She’s a few years older than I am.

Maybe she was more revolutionary, better read. I can’t believe two grandpas

are running for the president, the election less than 48 hours away.

You know who I voted for (early) since no poet could be a Trump supporter,

could she? Remember in 2016 when there was a fake story that Trump

was going to invite an American poet of Scottish ancestry (who also played

the bag pipes) to his inauguration? I fell for it for a few minutes, but I don’t fall

for much anymore. I believe Trump’s imaginary inaugural poet was known

for his limericks. When I was a kid I loved Lime Rickeys and Del’s Lemonade,

a slushy concoction that lost fans because occasionally they’d slurp a seed

or piece of rind up through the straw. That only made me love Del’s more—

its authenticity, its real lemons. I bought a lemon but it was red, a Kia

which my then-husband said was inferior to our dying Honda Civic

which he was used to. But the Kia is so much cheaper, I argued, and won.

Then for two years we kept returning to the dealer because the interior smelled

like gas and the workers would reattach some hose that kept coming loose.

One time, when we were traveling, we almost passed out from the fumes.

We stopped at a garage and a mechanic said, This car could catch fire at any minute,

so we looked up the lemon laws but had stuck it out with the Kia too long.

We traded the car in and got the Civic my husband wanted in the first place

and I’m not sure if I said I’m sorry or you were right because by then

we were always fighting and I may have been stubborn like the time

we were in a crowded hotel, waiting to check in, and he insisted we were

in the wrong line. He walked away and sat defiantly on a lobby couch.

I had to move our two giant suitcases by myself each time the line crept forward.

It turned out I was right, but shortly thereafter, a therapist asked

Do you want to be right or do you want to be happy? Now I am in group therapy

and the facilitator finally last week let us talk about politics as she said

it was the elephant in the room. We all hated the big fat elephant in office

and wanted him out. What if he wipes out Social Security in three years?

What about the climate? Two of us in the Zoom group had been already hit

by hurricanes this fall. After each rain, Julie’s Florida street is flooded

to such an extent that ducks congregate and think it’s a lake. Only an October snow

stopped the fires from spreading to Maureen’s house in Colorado.

And what about the overrun hospitals? It’s too late to contract trace now,

says The New York Times—the virus is everywhere. And what about my mother

in the nursing home? No visitors, no activities, twenty-two of her neighbors

dead from the virus. She survived the spring, but will she survive the fall?

When will I be able to see her again? My mother has type O blood,

I keep telling myself, and though the low rates of infection are anecdotal,

I’ll take it. I’ve forgotten my own blood type—I think it’s A or B,

as I’m quite sure I was never a universal donor. And I never had to worry

about an Rh factor since I didn’t have kids. I remember pricking my own finger

in junior high and then testing for my blood type along with all the other students,

though I don’t remember the outcome. I bet now kids can’t perform this test

because of COVID-19, because of AIDS. For so many years my friends

and I were afraid to get HIV just the way we are afraid of COVID now.

Condoms then. Now masks. No dinner parties now, no parties at all.

I teach my Zoom classes and miss driving to and from school in my reliable Honda

though it’s not the Honda I mentioned earlier. That one finally died,

shortly after my marriage did. I thought my then-husband stole it

though I soon learned that you can’t steal communal property.

He simply drove it to the Miami airport and parked it in the closest,

most expensive lot, then hopped a plane to Madrid. It took me a week

before he’d let me know where he was, where he’d parked, then another

month before he was ready to come home. By then it was too late.

Some situations can’t be saved. I hope democracy can, even our half-assed version.

I hope the seas can be saved. Scientists just found a reef as tall as the Empire State

Building. I remember how my mom had a panic attack when she took us there.

Before we could look through the view finders we had to cut the line

to get back to the elevator and down to the street. I was five that trip

to New York and, though it wasn’t the worst part of my childhood, I wonder

what it did to me, to see my mom come undone in front of strangers.

I love heights and rarely get dizzy, even on the scariest amusement park rides

or parasailing. As I welcome the rush, I wonder if I am compensating for something.

I wonder if I am getting compensated fairly. When I was hired, I should have asked

for more money, but I accepted the offer immediately. The chair

of the English Department seemed shocked and then said, “Okay. I’ll send over

the paperwork.” I didn’t think I was entitled. Not like our entitled president.

Though he won the election without the popular vote, he acted like Mr. Popularity—

cutting regulations, nominating nutjob judges and justices, lining his own pockets

like the world owed him. I would have been a tentative president, my feelings

of illegitimacy on display. I would have worked with the other side, trying

to get my enemies to like me. Even now I leap from branch to branch

by my monkey tail, quite certain I’ll never be able to calm my monkey mind

until all the votes are in. I surrender my brain, my body, my own white flag.

[From the poet, written and shared yesterday:  “Forty-eight hours after the presidential election, I am still filled with anxiety, hope, and dread. Monkey Mind tries to capture a slice of where my mind travels to these days.”]

Joy by Donna Henderson

I was so hungry!

& my hunger longed for the bite-sized Joy

in my pocket, its luscious

crush in my teeth,

almond soul from the brown glaze

sweetly releasing.

But my plans! – To hike the length of the Spit,

then have my Joy when I've earned it –

But my Joy wouldn't let me

loose from the lot unpartaken.

Whispered, my hunger,

          Have it now, let it sustain you.

Joy's not the end, Joy's

the way.

Believe This by Richard Levine

All morning, doing the hard, root-wrestling

work of turning a yard from the wild

to a gardener’s will, I heard a bird singing

from a hidden, though not distant, perch;

a song of swift, syncopated syllables sounding

like, Can you believe this, believe this, believe?

Can you believe this, believe this, believe?

And all morning, I did believe. All morning,

between break-even bouts with the unwanted,

I wanted to see that bird, and looked up so

I might later recognize it in a guide, and know

and call its name, but even more, I wanted

to join its church. For all morning, and many

a time in my life, I have wondered who, beyond

this plot I work, has called the order of being,

that givers of food are deemed lesser

than are the receivers. All morning,

muscling my will against that of the wild,

to claim a place in the bounty of earth,

seed, root, sun and rain, I offered my labor

as a kind of grace, and gave thanks even

for the aching in my body, which reached

beyond this work and this gift of struggle.

QUOTE:  “Joy is spontaneously breaking out all over America right now. I predict that you’re going to see large crowds all over the country celebrating what has just happened.  It’s okay for us to wallow in that for awhile.” ~ former senator Claire McCaskill

A Little Bit of Everything (Dawes)

In my opinion, Kamala Harris kicked *ss in the best possible way in Wednesday night's Vice Presidential Debate!  She was prepared, articulate, firm but respectful.  I also loved her smirks and critical eyebrows (which were basically her substitute for giving Pence the finger, or yelling B*llshit!).  As a woman, I am so tired of the whole interrupting, lecturing, mansplaining thing.  It's so rude and minimizing.  "I am speaking".  She handled it/him very well.  Who uses the word existential in a political arena?  Kamala!  She brought me joy and compassion, as well as information, plus her voice is mellifluous... 😊  Best thing Biden did was bring her on the ticket.  Can't wait to have her as our next VP... 💗

I am trying to stay positive-speaking and -thinking, but... this (ha ha ha ha ha!) 

I've also been concentrating on three important aspects during this pandemic which keep me moving forward:  recognizing growth opportunities... controlling what I can... gratitude.  In addition to reading like a motherf*cker, my new (again) walking routine, and music, I have resurrected the habit of talking to special friends during the week, which goes a long-way toward radical self-care.  Two hours *each* with Linda, Michele, Melanie, and Laurie left me hoarse, with cauliflower ear, and so very refilled, rejuvenated, and refreshed (also a lovely in-person porch visit with Nance, and two dear Zoom sessions on Tuesday, both morning and evening).  As Dar sings, in Arrival:

My friends give me purple flowers and orange tea

On goosedown spilling quilts and turquoise chairs

We greet each other in a wild profusion of words

And wave farewell amidst the wonderment of air

And in the laughing times we know that we are lucky

And in the quiet times we know that we are blessed

And we will not be alone

Hey, I haven't offered up a Feel Good Friday post in a while.  As is tradition, five items below of beauty, interest, and humor to brighten your day/weekend/week.  Enjoy! 

~ A ‘Great Gatsby’ Quote Takes On New Resonance:  But the passage shared over the past few days by educators, writers and veterans of past presidential administrations came from an unlikely source: F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel about greed and aspiration published nearly a century ago.

“They were careless people.  They smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness, or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made.”

~ Don't Drink & Debate Smirnoff commercial

~ A fly that landed on Pence’s head for more than two minutes became a star on social media.  "A brief history of presidential politics and flies" from Morning Joe (thanks to Nance for the heads-up!).

~ Thanks to Michele for the heads-up on Last Tango in Halifax, which I am excited to begin watching (on Netflix).

~ Melanie sent me this recipe, which I am looking forward to trying.  Yum!

NR:  In the Dream House: A Memoir by Carmen Maria Machado

SONG:  A Little Bit of Everything by Dawes

BOOK:  The Problem with Everything: My Journey Through the New Culture Wars by Meghan Daum

POEM:  Everything Is Waiting For You by David Whyte

(after Derek Mahon)

Your great mistake is to act the drama

as if you were alone.  As if life

were a progressive and cunning crime

with no witness to the tiny hidden

transgressions.  To feel abandoned is to deny

the intimacy of your surroundings.  Surely,

even you, at times, have felt the grand array;

the swelling presence, and the chorus, crowding

out your solo voice.  You must note

the way the soap dish enables you,

or the window latch grants you freedom.

Alertness is the hidden discipline of familiarity.

The stairs are your mentor of things

to come, the doors have always been there

to frighten you and invite you,

and the tiny speaker in the phone

is your dream-ladder to divinity.

Put down the weight of your aloneness and ease into

the conversation.  The kettle is singing

even as it pours you a drink, the cooking pots

have left their arrogant aloofness and

seen the good in you at last.  All the birds

and creatures of the world are unutterably

themselves.  Everything is waiting for you.

QUOTE:  "To be called ruthless a man must be Joe McCarthy, a woman just has to put you on hold." ~ Marlo Thomas

Kamala! (a Randy Rainbow song parody)/Sweet Kamala (Friction Farm)

Kamala Harris crop art turns up in Kansas field (hat tip to CT for both images!)



It has been no secret with my friends and family (or anyone who would listen, actually) that Joe Biden was not my first choice for the Democratic presidential nominee, nor was Bernie Sanders.  As much as I appreciated their experience and their policies, I kept spouting that I was tired of "old white men" running the show.  I wanted Elizabeth Warren, d*mmit, and she appeared to be the front-runner for a while, but then...

However, Kamala Harris was indeed my first choice for Vice President, and I was delighted when Joe Biden picked her as his running mate.  All this to say, I've been heavily immersed in the Democratic National Convention the previous four nights, and am now convinced of Biden's assets (of course I was always going to vote for him!).  He has proven himself not only to be wise, and on the right (meaning correct!) side of justice, but also genuine.  He has turned his personal grief into political passion, and his record cannot be ignored.  He seems to truly possess a moral compass.

The convention was exactly what I needed to re-calibrate my mindset, and each night I signed off feeling even more hopeful and energized at such smart and caring representation.  The myriad of faces felt like *my* America... a diversity of age, gender, ethnicity, sexual preference.  I cried multiple times during each evening... my litmus test of what feels honest and equitable and kind.

I realize what I'm saying next will sound closed-minded, but I'm saying it anyway:  I will not watch one minute of the Republican National Convention, and subject myself to the venomous spouting of their hatred and division. Nope, not gonna do it.

Since it is indeed Feel Good Friday below are, in my opinion, five highlights of the DNC (although there were so many more to choose from).  As one of the Roll Call delegates said, "It's Joe Time!".

~ ‘It is what it is’: How Michelle Obama’s ‘epic shade’ won the DNC’s opening night:  Halfway through her closing speech at the Democratic National Convention on Monday night, Michelle Obama shifted to address what she called the “cold, hard truth.”

~ Democratic National Convention’s Roll Call Showcases Voices from Across America:  Over a span of about 30 minutes, viewers traveled to 57 states and territories and heard from teachers, small business owners, essential workers and elected Democrats.

~ The Democratic National Convention used John Prine's last recording for a COVID-19 memorial video:  In one of the night's more somber moments, the Democrats broadcast an in memoriam video for the 170,500 people who have died from COVID-19 in the U.S.  One of those Amerians who died from complications COVID-19 was the great singer-songwriter John Prine, and his final recording, "I Remember Everything," was the soundtrack to the memorial.

~ Obama issues a dire warning about American democracy in stunning rebuke of Trump:  From the Philadelphia ground where the American experiment was born, one former president -- in a stunning prime-time address to the nation he once led -- warned that his successor was on the cusp of destroying democracy itself.

~ Joe Biden takes on Trump-era traumas in career-defining speech:  If Joe Biden becomes the 46th American President, his speech accepting the Democratic presidential nomination on Thursday night will be seen as the moment when the destiny of a man and his nation converged.

Also, "Before Hillary Clinton spoke from her home in Westchester County, the convention featured a video montage of women voting, protesting and testifying before Congress over the years.  It included black-and-white images from 1920 and images from 2017, after President Trump had taken office and women marched in protest wearing vivid pink knitted caps.  In clips stitched into the montage, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg spoke before members of the United States Senate; Representative Pramila Jayapal of Washington reclaimed her speaking time from Attorney General William P. Barr at a hearing; Mrs. Clinton herself, eight years before she became the first woman nominated for president by a major party, spoke of failing to shatter “that highest, hardest glass ceiling” but putting “about 18 million cracks in it.”  I was ridiculously impressed with the video, and wanted to include it here, but I cannot seem to find it anywhere!  Anyone who has better luck than I, *please* send me the link in a Reply (which I will then include in my blog post) and I will bake and mail you vegan cookies (or hand-deliver, if you're local... 😄 )

P.S.  As soon as I hit Publish, I am going to donate money to Joe Biden, and will do so again in September and October.  In November, I will put my mouth/VOTE where my money was!

NR:  The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai


SONG(S):  Kamala!, a Randy Rainbow song parody (thanks to JudiS for the heads-up!)/Sweet Kamala by Friction Farm

BOOK(S):  The Truths We Hold: by Kamala Harris

Kamala Harris: Rooted in Justice by Nikki Grimes, Laura Freeman  (Illustrator)

POEM:  Kamala Harris: U.S. Senator by Alejandro Escudé

My divorce mitigator
had an office across the street
from a Bed Bath & Beyond;
it was a huge store, and I thought of going there
the way one thinks of going
somewhere one happens to pass by
and never does because I needed to park
underneath a twenty story building
to meet my ex wife and this other woman
who we hired to file the divorce paperwork
and to suggest how we might split
amicably—and I remember, quite distinctly,
the way one remembers something
that was part curiosity and part pain,
my ex-wife pointing out the sign on the office
next door to the mitigator: Kamala Harris,
US Senator. It was such a plain
looking door, brown, as the floor was brown,
brown my feeling as my ex-wife noticed this.
I remember thinking how interesting
it was that she pointed it out, both of us
starstruck by a stupid brown door
with a name on it, the name of the woman
who had just faced down Joe Biden,
a woman who rented an office
on the seventh floor of this nondescript building
on Olympic Boulevard in Los Angeles
where I was meeting with a mitigator
and the woman I was married to
for seventeen years, who I had
two kids with, and who was now divorcing me
while simultaneously pointing out
the name on a door: Kamala Harris,
and the electric blue Tarantino sky
behind it all, and the bathroom
that was across the same hallway
for which you needed to ask for the key
and how I asked once and went in
and felt a tightness in my chest,
I thought I was having a heart attack
though I wasn’t, it was more an existential thing,
as in where am I and what is happening?
I needed to take a break from negotiating
the way politicians negotiate,
the way they bicker on bright stages
that are just stages and nothing more.

[Alejandro Escudé: “Life is surreal. There are these moments of divine yet absolutely useless premonition. Harris showed up in the tapestry of my life the way the poem describes. I’m cynical, so I think it means nothing. Will she become Vice President? I don’t know. But I do know that this incident occurred, and I remembered it when Biden chose Harris as his running mate.”]

QUOTE(S):  "The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” ~ Martin Luther King, Jr.

"Give light and people will find the way." ~ Ella Baker

"History says
Don’t hope on this side of the grave
But then, once in a lifetime
The longed-for tidal wave
Of justice can rise up
And hope and history rhyme.’” ~ Seamus Heaney