Author: lou sight

Conventional Wisdom

When RBG
supposedly

was doing

planks

while ill,

I still

thought

she ought

to have 

resigned.

After several 

bouts

of cancer,

the answer

was not

not

stepping

down.

Of course

I could

not have

dreamed

of the esteemed

Mitch

to bitch

and moan

that the election

had thrown

confirmation

hearings

off 

the calendar. 

And we know

the result

of all that 

tumult.

Going back 

in time,

history’s rhyme

may 

be LBJ.

Did his

resignation

lead to 

Nixon’s 

election,

or was it

the chaos

at the Dem

convention?

This is the fear

as the convention

this year

to nominate

Biden

again

seems

doomed.

But he’s

resumed

his vigor

with

a teleprompter,

so maybe

we should

all exhale?

No way!

I say

with great

dismay.

When did

the individual

become 

indispensable?

The debate

was telling

us what

we knew.

He is kept

from view

for a reason.

This season

is rough

and the tough

decision

is not a revision

of Biden’s

vision

of and for

democracy.

It’s for winning

without 

spinning

his ability.

Ladybird

encouraged

Lyndon

to resign.

We seemed

resigned

now

to go

off a cliff

rather than

riff

on (the) convention.

Energy Crisis

I couldn’t watch.

I wouldn’t watch.

Governance

is not 

a debate.

Yet our 

tradition 

of performance

of endurance

to provide 

assurance

is the substance

we use

to  choose

the POTUS.

By all 

mounting

accounting

in real

time

and thereafter,

I glimpsed

the sad

theater

of our absurd

election.

A weak-

voiced

Joe

seeming

slow

against

each

blow

no matter

how false

the statement,

was a statement

of fitness

to those

who witnessed

what should

never

have taken

place.

Sad 

to say

that the

job

at bay

is partially

appearance.

The grievance

guy

with

each lie

conveys

energy.

He may 

be cruel

but his

fuel

is addictive

despite

being

convicted

so far,

34 times.

We are

addicted

to energy

at all

costs.

But

thoughts

of being

slow,

embodied

by Joe,

are dreadful.

Last century’s

model

seems

on the way

out,

as autocrats

plow through.

But 

dictators

playing

orators

is also 

old

while selling

retold

as something

new—

or at least,

something

strong.

A power

fueled

by desperation

supported

by

exasperation,

cannot

trump

our democracy.

This is crazy.

Alternative

energy

seems necessary

now

more than

ever,

while

voters

still

have power.

The Challenger

All those 

missions

to the moon

soon

felt so 

ordinary.

Everything

else

was a moon

shot

as we forgot

rocket science

challenges

until

The Challenger

explosion.

No longer

cavalier,

the fear

drove

decisions

more than

ambitions,

and understandably

so.

The aptly

named 

Challenger,

famed

for spectacular

disaster

is plastered

in our psyche.

Since then 

it seems,

that doing

big things

like moon shots

have become

too hard.

But that’s 

a story 

(with all

it’s gory

glory)

that fuels

(sorry)

that narrative

of the incentive

of the genius

billionaire

who will 

save us.

They profess

government

fails us;

and billionares

are us

because

the tell us

they are.

Huh?

When  the vaccine

saved us

from COVID-19,

that was a

moon shot

that landed.

The increasing

access

to health,

wealth,

education,

and participation

of all sorts

is distorted

as some sort

of assault

on individual

freedom.

Meanwhile

actual 

assault

weapons

are holier

than thou.

Now,

fear 

is the sphere

in which

we all orbit,

and 

restoring

democracy

as it used

to be

feels like

a moon 

shot.

The Challenger

this election

is Biden,

despite

his current

position.

His world

was blown up

before 

our eyes

and the

surprise

is the

seeming

inability

to completely

clean it

up.

But we 

can still

do hard

things

beyond

challenging.

It feels

like a moon

shot

if you forgot

that we

got

to the moon

many times.

And The Challenger,

which

brought 

with it 

fear,

also made

clear

that rigor

and resumed

vigor

and a program

reconfigured,

meant 

it didn’t

have

to end 

in disaster.

Heat Wave

Desantis

cut

all grants

for arts

in Florida.

This is not

merely

the display

of Tom Delay

opposing

a nude

sculpture.

This is culture

war 

gone

nuclear.

Aside

from 

refuge

from the deluge

of the monstrosity

of absurd 

political

verbosity,

the arts

engage 

with less savage

rage

and elevate

hearts

and minds.

Thinking

critically

is critically

necessary,

and increasingly

lacking

in society.

Not merely

criticizing

the opposing

position,

but juxtaposing

division

for consideration

is the job

of the thoughtful

democratic

citizen.

Of course

arts 

are 

not exclusive

to democratic,

inclusive

societies.

All cultures

create

culturally 

great

works,

that work

to showcase

impressions,

expressions,

confessions,

obsessions

beyond

politics

or religion,

or economics

or any statistics.

Art 

is part

of being

human,

if only

to be

appreciated.

No reason

was given

as to what

had driven

Desantis

to defund

grants

for arts

across

the great

state

of Florida.

How about 

opera

in Tampa?

Or the Miami

City

Ballet?

Or the New

Word Symphony

or every gallery

from Tallahassee 

to The Keys?

More importantly,

these sacred

places 

not

for profit

benefit

the public—

educating,

celebrating,

debating,

and creating

connections

anew.

He won’t

undo

what he 

threatens

to,

despite

his defunding

veto.

It’s abundantly

clear

he’s sincere

about 

being a

rage 

machine.

He won’t

be outdone

by anyone

except

by himself.

Should

we be 

outraged

or disengaged?

Which

would be

most effective

against

the invective

and incentive

to be incensed

by the lack

of sense

and every 

pretense

and policy

to lash

back

against

culture

and history

since 1960?

Adding fuel

and heat

to compete

for VEEP

may be

a steep

conquest,

but my best

guess

is that

this wave

won’t 

save

him.

Heat

waves

have begun

not just

in the Sunshine

State. 

The first 

debate

will ignite

the fight

that will

get overheated

as MAGA

acolytes

on the right

like to 

make waves

and heat

things up.

The boiling

point

is the point;

to foil

any opposition

even if

the position

is to defund

all arts.

Don’t let

the heated

rhetoric

and waves

of crazy

keep you

lazy.

Support

the arts.

Buy and read

banned books.

Help women

access care

as needed.

Ignore the 

debate.

Help create

access

and accountability.

It’s your responsibility

in this 

heat wave.

Faux Bro Foes

The two guys

disguised

as allies

are desperate;

each 

an inveterate

psychopath

full of

wrath.

Poor guys….

They need

to be 

assured

there

will be

weaponry,

and who better

than the other

outlier

liar.

If Anton Chigurh

and Darth

Vader

met for dinner

in no country

for old men

looking

for an empire

to strike

back

in case 

of attack,

one could

fear

what would

appear

as the two

worst

of the worst

could together

strike

first.

The Evil

Empire

just got eviler

or cozier

with the devil

only Trump

claims

to love.

But above

it all,

the small

men 

meeting

looks

defeating;

like 

there’s 

no one

left

to pick

for the

team.

Putin’s war

is bleeding

him,

so why not

Kim

to help 

him win?

Look how 

tough

guys

can surprise

and scare

us.

Double

trouble?

A happy

couple?

Will Trump

make a

thruple?

Our foes

have

weapons

and no

congress

to discuss

and digress

causing

extraneous

distress

which we

confess

is our own

worst

enemy.

Ourselves.

We are 

squandering

our riches

while

fearing

the bitches,

Kim and Vlad.

They had

to pretend

to extend

a treaty,

extending

fealty

to fear.

What

democracy

holds

dear,

is clear:

transparency.

And though

we are fighting

against

corruption

and autocracy

in the making

here,

we can

spot 

the veneer

of faux-reality.

Only the weak

speak

of conspiracy

fueled by

lunacy.

We know 

the show

and the faux

news

that does 

not amuse

but freaks

us out.

Without

clout,

the villains

shout,

either

literally

or with

weaponry,

which

is definitely

scary.

But our

foes

are also

frozen

with fear,

having

chosen

to subjugate

their own

and sown

their fates

inside their

own gates

of hell. 

Umpteenth

Juneteenth 

is a reminder

not just 

of the commemoration

of the Emancipation

Proclamation,

ending slavery

at the end

of The Confederacy,

but

of African

American

History

itself.

The first

Juneteenth

ended the horror

and sought

to honor

the new freedom

from enslavement.

But derangement

followed

as Jim Crow

swallowed

The South.

The Great Migration

still meant

segregation

for decades

until Civil Rights

advocates

political, 

social,

educational,

and economic

freedoms

as whites

had always 

had.

The attention

to celebration

of the Emancipation

Proclamation

was not

yet seen

on the American

scene

as an American

holiday

for the country.

Willfull

ignorance

maintains

intolerance,

though

we like

to maintain

the pretense

of innocence.

Black history

is not 

just February

or Kwanzaa

or MLK

Day.

The 1619

Project

is not

about 

white

feelings.

Diversity.

Equity.

Inclusion.

These are

now regarded

by some

as the exclusion

of fairness

in the world

of white

expectation.

The critics

of Critical

Race Theory

have a different

theory

than the actuality

of CRT.

Who stole

history

from whom?

The American

womb

gave birth 

twice;

birthdays

we now

celebrate:

July 4th

and Juneteenth,

both days

of observance

of independence.

We still

struggle

with freedom,

racism,

and even

imperialism.

Juneteenth’s

immediacy

connects

the history

to today

in a way

that few 

other 

observances

do.

So observe

and celebrate

this date

with no

number,

and stay

awake

to the umpteenth

number

of ways

in which

distortions

and lies

compromise

all of us.

See Worthy

Seeing 

sounds

like looking,

but looking

more closely,

supposedly

what we see-

though we may

disagree-

is processed

internally;

while looking

outwardly

is the action

that allows

us to see.

We look 

good

when we

appear

sincere

and cohere

to a point

of view.

What others

see 

is not

necessarily

our intention

but a form

of convention

even 

if unconventional.

Signaling status

or virtue

or aspiration,

our communication

is mostly

visible.

Yet we are

miserable

when 

misperceived

as unachieved

as per 

our intentions.

Seeing connections

requires 

looking

and thinking;

linking 

between

what may

be seen

and what

is shown,

making itself

known

as related.

Making contact,

in fact,

creates 

continuity

and unity

in thought,

action,

and relation.

This creation

is what

we look for

and endure

when we 

see

love.

But do we

actually 

see

need?

Or greed?

Or just

agreement?

Or disagreement

cemented,

keeping

us tormented

still wanting

to be right?

Sight

acknowledges

with understanding

that compatibility

is different

from uniformity

and the enormity

of possibility

requires

looking for 

rapport

and seeing

humanity

in all its

incongruity.

Father-Love

Father

love:

not above

the scatological,

the probable

jokes,

evokes

rolls of eyes

and sighs-

no other

replies,

yet

tends

to 

repeat

each

generation.

And still

your

skill

at dadding,

adding

to what you

knew,

grew.

Fathering

adults

results

in being

jazzed

by what

has

and hasn’t

changed

in your

grown

children’s

own

lives

you recognize

as their’s

now.

A brief

visit

will elicit

an easy

joy.

They 

are now

the providers:

earning

trust,

discerning,

yearning

to build

what must

seem 

like 

a dream

they know

as home

because

of you,

their Dad.

Locked and Loaded

On the right,

the rights

of states,

corporations,

and each fetus

treats 

the rest 

of us

as peripheral

or collateral

damage.

The carnage

from gun

violence

in America

is grotesque.

And the focus

on the second

amendment

(not commandment)

as a right

to protect

even if death

occurs

is somehow

more important

than a woman’s

life.

The lock

on the court

and the loaded

rhetoric

of states’

rights

as an excuse

for the inexcusable,

undoubtedly 

championed

by the ones

who refuse

to recuse

themselves

for the case

of abuse

by a president

who rallied

an insurrection

despite 

objection

by the citizenry,

is dizzyingly

maddening.

How could

this be

happening?

In lock

step,

the right

falls 

in line

and the left

is left

not even

falling

in love.

Legality

should

contain

morality

of the most

basic,

unspecific

to theology,

sort.

Children

post birth

should

be worth

more

than unfortunate

circumstance.

The court’s

stance

on bump

stocks

mocks

the concept

of a supreme

justice.

Each day

more 

revelatory,

the story

that emerges

is loaded

with history

and those

who want

to be locked

in position

regulating

the regulators.

It all 

feels so

irregular

and anti

secular

while

profaning

a once

sacred

democratic

system

that seemed

poised

to better

all of us.

Triage

No more

space

in the emergency

room

filled

with demanding

needs

commanding

immediate

attention.

Rarely a mention

of the ailing

failing,

yet still

magnificent

grande

dame,

mother

to all,

left

aside

hiding 

in plain 

sight,

frighteningly

sick

but still

looks good

until

she storms

away

flooding

us 

with concern.

Whose

turn

is first

when systems

that nurture

require

sutures,

and fractures

compound

all around

us?

Stabbed

in the heart,

we realize

we must

prioritize

this immediate

wound

stat.

Inside 

this ER

that we 

now are,

we mostly

just take

in 

information.

I see you

already

know

the urgency

each

emergency

requires.

But mired

in crisis

since 

the time

of Isis

is narrowing

our arteries

and capacities

for healing.

We can’t

simply

be 

angry,

fearful,

and depressed.

Nor 

can we

ignore

what’s in store

with more

of the same.

Crises

of democracies

and the climate

across

the earth

are worth

your efforts

beyond

news intake.

What’s 

at stake

demands

urgent

care-

a bit

here 

and there

in addition

to the 

momentous.

What

are you

doing—

not just

reviewing—

in order

to make us

better?