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

Free to Be You and Me (Lawrence/Hart, sung by Sara Bareilles)

March 15, 1933 – September 18, 2020

RIP RBG! (Rest in Power, Ruth Bader Ginsburg... 💙)

I have had this blog post in draft form since August 1, when I finally got around to watching the documentary about her, and something always came up to push it back.  Sadly, it can no longer be delayed.  With all the strength, intelligence, grace, tenacity, wisdom, courage, and fierceness she displayed throughout her life (fighting cancer multiple times, falls incurring broken bones, etc.), RBG finally did something we honestly never thought would happen:  she died, from complications of metastatic pancreatic cancer, at the age of 87.

From The New York Times (full obituary here):  

Remembrances for Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg poured in.

Justice Stephen Breyer called her “a great justice; a woman of valor; a rock of righteousness.” President Trump said “whether you agree or not — she was an amazing woman who led an amazing life.” Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez lauded Justice Ginsburg and said the fact that her death had touched off a political furor was a sign of an unhealthy democracy.

Americans paid their respects to Justice Ginsburg from the Supreme Court, where a crowd recited the Jewish prayer for the dead, to the steps of her Brooklyn high school and courthouses across the U.S.  A mother who urged her to constantly be independent. Teachers who encouraged her. Having selective hearing in a marriage. 

Justice Ginsburg, the second woman appointed to the Supreme Court (in 1993), earned her late-life stardom with pointed and powerful dissenting opinions. 

Ginsburg dictated this statement to granddaughter Clara Spera in the days before her death: "My most fervent wish is that I will not be replaced until a new president is installed."

I know this sounds dramatic, but the fate of the free world is at stake, making the difference between a 6-3 and a 5-4 power balance of conservatives vs. liberal judges.  The fight is on.  My daughter Sarah, her friends, and I were brainstorming yesterday morning via text as to what we could do to honor RBG, and potentially stop a Supreme Court nomination/appointment until Biden is elected.  I supplied the quote, and Sarah's friend Didi, a Photoshop genius, came up with the graphic below.  Please share liberally, and call the number listed to protest.  Let's tie up those phone lines.  We can do this!

P.S.  If you have not yet seen RBG, the documentary, find and watch it immediately (I believe it's on Hulu, and CNN has been running it the last few days as well).

SONG:  Free to Be You and Me by Lawrence/Hart, sung by Sara Bareilles

BOOK:  Notorious RBG: The Life and Times of Ruth Bader Ginsburg by Irin Carmon, Shana Knizhnik

POEM(S):  Justice by Amber Tamblyn
A love letter to our supreme court Justice, Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Dear Ruth, you ruthless
justess of justice,
with your hair bun tighter
than a T on the chest of a wrestler,
and your face giving negative triple F’s
about wrinkles,
and your record
on women’s rights
on fleek,
and your record
on men who want to be on record
on women’s rights
but have no right
also on fleek,
and that one time, back in ’00,
when you ruled Boy Scouts should allow gay Scoutmasters,
and back in ‘03,
when you ruled that the LGBTQ community
should be a constitutionally protected class,
and that in ’00,
when you wouldn’t allow prison sentences to lengthen retroactively,
And then in ’07, when you said states could regulate
polluters and greenhouse gas omissions,
and that other time,
when you said tax payers shouldn’t have to pay for church materials in school
not because you didn’t believe in The Divine,
but because you didn’t believe in forcing The Divine
on anyone,
especially children,
and even that one time, in ’11,
when I didn’t like your stance
on church rights to picket gay funerals,
I still loved you,
because the 1st amendment
is your 1st priority,
and that is so HOT to me,
and those many times
you gave Scalia the hand
and Roberts the finger
and that one time,
when you voted to let rape victims
sue their attackers as a gender-bias crime,

and when you were all,
“Women will only have true equality
when men share with them
the responsibility
of bringing up the next generation.”
And when you were like,
“That’s the dissenter’s hope.
That you are writing (law) not for today
but for tomorrow.”
And then, when you just went,
“The state controlling a woman
would mean denying autonomy
and full equality,”
then dropped the mic,
and walked off stage,
your black gown flowing
to the sounds of applause
for generations to come.

Dear Ruth, you ruthless
Justess of justice,
you gavel witch,
you lovely heart
you protector extraordinaire,
you golden icon of grace,
I have just one question,

Will you marry me?

In case you haven’t heard,
it’s legal now.

In the Steps of RBG by Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer

Real change, enduring change, happens one step at a time.

—Ruth Bader Ginsburg, as quoted in Notorious RBG

So let me take one step right now,

one step toward respect.

And give me strength to take another

toward clarity. And though

my feet might feel like stones, let

me take another step toward justice.

And another toward equity. And another

toward truth. And though my legs

may feel leaden and slow, though someone

else may step on my toes, may I inch

toward forgiveness. May every step

be toward a bridge. Enough divisiveness.

And as I go, may I find joy in the stepping,

grace in the edging toward great change.

But if there’s little joy, let me step anyway.

Then take another step. And another. And another.

QUOTE:  "Fight for the things that you care about, but do it in a way that will lead others to join you." ~ Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Don't Let the Sunshine Fool Ya (Guy Clark)

[Oh, Lesley Anne Numbers... if I could wallpaper my entire house with your stunning prints, I would... 💚]

So, it is indeed Feel Good Friday.  It is also Juneteenth, a historical milestone which commemorates the end of slavery in the U.S. in 1965, which I knew about, but not as well as I should have.  As is tradition, five items below of beauty, interest, and humor to brighten your day/weekend/week.  Enjoy!  


~ Stonehenge livestream of summer solstice tomorrow (Saturday, June 20)


~ The Supreme Court is rockin' it this week.  6-3, 5-4... both decisions have come out in favor of human rights.  The Notorious RBG (Ruth Bader Ginsberg) will always be my first love ("smells like justice and bubble gum... but mostly bubble gum") but I might have a bit of a crush on Chief Justice John Roberts now as well...  ;-)

Supreme Court Delivers Major Victory To LGBTQ Employees:  In a historic decision, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Monday that the 1964 Civil Rights Act protects gay, lesbian, and transgender employees from discrimination based on sex. The ruling was 6-3, with Justice Neil Gorsuch, President Trump's first appointee to the court, writing the majority opinion. The opinion was joined by Chief Justice John Roberts and the court's four liberal justices.

Supreme Court blocks Trump from ending DACA in big win for Dreamers:  Chief Justice John Roberts was the swing vote in the 5-4 decision, dealing a big legal defeat to President Trump on the issue of immigration.

~ Celebrating Life's Milestone Moments While Trying To Stay Safe:  Drive-by birthday parties. Passover Seder on Zoom. Even weddings livestreamed on YouTube.


~ Social Distance:  A Randy Rainbow Song Parody

~ 28 Books That Talk About Race:  With heart and unflinching honesty, these titles celebrate the power of diversity, freedom, and truth.



SONG:  Don't Let The Sunshine Fool Ya by Guy Clark 

BOOK:  I'm Still Here:  Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness by Austin Channing Brown

POEM:  Emancipation by Priscilla Jane Thompson

‘Tis a time for much rejoicing;
      Let each heart be lured away;
Let each tongue, its thanks be voicing
      For Emancipation Day. 
Day of victory, day of glory,
For thee, many a field was gory! 

Many a time in days now ended, 
      Hath our fathers’ courage failed, 
Patiently their tears they blended; 
      Ne’er they to their, Maker, railed, 
Well we know their groans, He numbered, 
When dominions fell, asundered.

As of old the Red Sea parted, 
      And oppressed passed safely through, 
Back from the North, the bold South, started, 
      And a fissure wide she drew;
Drew a cleft of Liberty, 
Through it, marched our people free. 

And, in memory, ever grateful, 
      Of the day they reached the shore, 
Meet we now, with hearts e’er faithful, 
      Joyous that the storm is o’er. 
Storm of Torture! May grim Past, 
Hurl thee down his torrents fast. 

Bring your harpers, bring your sages,
      Bid each one the story tell;
Waft it on to future ages, 
      Bid descendants learn it well. 
Kept it bright in minds now tender, 
Teach the young their thanks to render. 

Come with hearts all firm united, 
      In the union of a race; 
With your loyalty well plighted, 
      Look your brother in the face, 
Stand by him, forsake him never, 
God is with us now, forever.

QUOTE:  “This world is white no longer, and it will never be white again.” ~ James Baldwin

Wherever Is Your Heart (Brandi Carlile)

I have been a fan/follower of Penzeys for quite a while now. I not only love the freshness and tastiness of their spices, but also their e-mails, full of promotional details as well as political commentary.  I have long been a proponent of the boycott, and the *buycott*.  I avoid spending money with companies I am not ideologically aligned with, preferring instead to support businesses who promote good values and fair practices.  Who can resist dishtowels that sport the messages of Love People. Cook Them Tasty Food. and Heal the World. Cook Dinner Tonight?  When we moved from the house to the condo two years ago, two different friends sent/gave me Gift Boxes as housewarming presents!  If you don't already, I urge you sign up for their e-mail list, order some spices, watch the video from their last missive (reprinted below) and, oh yes, change the world... 💖

I just placed an order (to get that cool Embrace Hope pin), and included this comment:  "I love the smell of justice in the morning, and appreciate everything your company does to make this a better, brighter world!"


From Penzeys' 6/13/20 e-newsletter (yellow highlighting is mine...  😊):  
I hope you watched the news video we linked to in Wednesday’s email. Based on the heartfelt thanks I received from so many of you it holds a great deal of hope for our times. Our Minneapolis store, like others in the Uptown area, suffered broken windows in the wake of the murder of George Floyd. This led to stores being boarded up with a whole lot of plywood which was bleak. Then something kind of wonderful happened. As some pretty outstanding graffiti started showing up the Uptown Association quickly encouraged a bunch more by handing out $100 for supplies to local artists. The results have been stunning. Stop now and watch the video, you will be glad you did.

The artist who did our window boards, in addition to an emotional When Doves Cry-inspired piece, incorporated our Embrace Hope image in his work as well. I found seeing the art that Jeri and our kids created at our kitchen table (where I’m writing this) taking on a new life as part of a community coming together to heal from the pain of police racial violence overwhelming. From your comments after our last email the tears from seeing this in the video are not only in my eyes. For Cooks, this really is what it is all about.

Our thanks to Anton and the rest of the artists, The Uptown community association and the local Fox affiliate that did brilliant work on their news video. Local Foxes aren’t national Fox; they really aren’t.

The efforts of everyone here to reimagine the way we pick and ship orders in the time of the Coronavirus and the huge surge in online ordering it has set in motion are now paying off. Orders have been just flowing out our doors these past few weeks to the point where we are actually almost all caught up. With us still a week behind our plan was to hold off on promotions until next weekend. But with the impact Embrace Hope is having it seems to make sense to get more of these out in the world as soon as possible. So, through Tuesday, free $9.95 value Embrace Hope pins with any $10 purchase!

To get your free pin just visit penzeys.com and enter your order for touchless store pickup or for direct shipping to you. After you’ve reached $10 in spending enter the code America at checkout. It’s easy. And no need to place the pin in your basket, the code will do that for you and for free.

And sorry about the “with $10 purchase.” Back in the before-times of early January we would have just given out the pins for free to anyone who showed up because this is one of those things that shouldn’t be about money. But with us only doing touchless pickup orders in the stores and all the stores closed on Sundays, I fear a flat-out free offer would have instantly gridlocked the stores' pickup slots and would have almost certainly guaranteed a lack of social distancing. Sorry.

But then there is that $10 and the thought of what we could do with that. I am so gladdened by so many business leaders speaking out against racial injustice even if some seem a little late getting on the field. If NASCAR wants to be shocked, SHOCKED! to find they’ve been promoting a wee spot of Confederacy I will gladly be shocked right with them. And if the NFL wants to do a victory dance for being the one sport brave enough to give Colin Kaepernick the platform to start all this I won’t throw a flag for excessive celebration. America is all about redemption. It’s not who you were, it’s who you are. Let’s help and encourage every business to become a force for good.

Still, in seeing the new arrivals standing in support of those facing racism, and some even brave enough to risk losing sales to the less than one percent of Americans who openly identify as white supremacists, I have to say this alone will not be enough to bring the change we need. Donations to those facing racism are great and welcome, but as long as only those on the receiving end of racism pay its costs it will be with us forever. It’s only when those actively creating racism feel the pressure of being called out for their cruelty that there can be any honest hope for change. It is here where I think Penzeys can make a difference.

At the heart of cooking is the truth that when we care about others the future becomes a better place. There is little more uncaring and more damaging to all our futures than racism. Many who once voted for our president no longer support him and hooray for that. But the fact we have to live with is that the majority of the sixty-three million Americans who voted for an openly “textbook” racist candidate for president want to pretend that there is nothing racist in their actions. As long as we let them pretend, racism isn’t going anywhere.

So long story short. For every Embrace Hope pin we give away with a $10 purchase we are pledging to spend $10 on social media calling out the racism of those supporting this president. We won’t be saying who to vote for or against because that would be campaigning and we don’t do that. All we will be saying is that your vote for this president is an act of racism and that you are doing a very-very un-American thing by doing so. America is dedicated more than any other nation to the notion that all are created equal. It’s time for us to call out all who would undermine this most American of all American values. Please help us in this.

At some point some version of this will be a Facebook post, but for now can you just forward this email to those who might like to see it and possibly put a few more Hamiltons in the pot (he’s on the $10 bill)? Someone in the last week emailed me that as long as Penzeys is still on Facebook we are part of the problem. I get that, I do. Penzeys could be so much better a social media site if we could just find the time. You people sharing your values back and forth? That would change the world. But for now there is Facebook and if you are going to take on racism sometimes you have to go to where it hides in plain sight. Please wish us luck.

And if you have an Embrace Hope pin and have a story of its impact or maybe of a conversation it set in motion please share it to editor@penzeys.com. You've sent a few of these since Wednesday and I would love to share them with our larger audience. Thanks.

And once again please go to penzeys.com, place your order for store pickup or home delivery and with $10 in spending get your free pin of Hope. Just use the code America because that is what this is all about. And if you haven’t yet, watch the Minneapolis news video. It is the hope we all need.

Thanks!

Bill
bill@penzeys.com


SONG:  Wherever Is Your Heart by Brandi Carlile

BOOK:  On Spice: Advice, Wisdom, and History with a Grain of Saltiness by Caitlin PenzeyMoog

POEM:  Praise by Angelo Geter

Today I will praise.
I will praise the sun
For showering its light
On this darkened vessel.
I will praise its shine.
Praise the way it wraps
My skin in ultraviolet ultimatums
Demanding to be seen.
I will lift my hands in adoration
Of how something so bright
Could be so heavy.
I will praise the ground
That did not make feast of these bones.
Praise the casket
That did not become a shelter for flesh.
Praise the bullets
That called in sick to work.
Praise the trigger
That went on vacation.
Praise the chalk
That did not outline a body today.
Praise the body
For still being a body
And not a headstone.
Praise the body,
For being a body and not a police report
Praise the body
For being a body and not a memory
No one wants to forget.
Praise the memories.
Praise the laughs and smiles
You thought had been evicted from your jawline
Praise the eyes
For seeing and still believing.
For being blinded from faith
But never losing their vision
Praise the visions.
Praise the prophets
Who don’t profit off of those visions.
Praise the heart
For housing this living room of emotions
Praise the trophy that is my name
Praise the gift that is my name.
Praise the name that is my name
Which no one can plagiarize or gentrify
Praise the praise.
How the throat sounds like a choir.
The harmony in your tongue lifts
Into a song of adoration.
Praise yourself
For being able to praise.
For waking up,
When you had every reason not to.

QUOTE:  "Variety is the spice of love." ~ Helen Rowland