Mike Drop

News dropped

yesterday

about

the fateful day

of January 6th

nearly  

three years 

ago.

Pensive Pence

considered skipping

the election certification

proceedings,

noting 

that there were

“too many questions”

and it would be

“too hurtful

to 

my friend.”

His friend,

the fiend,

brought him

along 

for the ride,

and now 

it was getting

even bumpier

and Trumpier.

Pence’s book

notes,

“You know,

I don’t have

the authority to change

the outcome,”

but later

he contended

that the comma

never should have been

placed there:

“You know I don’t 

have the authority

to change 

the outcome…” .

Dropping the comma

changes the insinuation

about the situation

causing consternation

almost three years 

later.

His son,

a marine,

sought

to intervene 

saying,

“Dad, 

you took the same oath

I took….

an oath

to support 

and defend 

the constitution.”

Ultimately, 

Mike supervised

after

his life

was jeopardized

as the Capitol attackers

chanted

“Hang Mike Pence!”.

He survived

and certified

the election.

But to now get

an inkling

into his thinking

and the sprinkling

of information

almost 3 years

hence,

proves that Pence

was no better

despite 

knowing better

than the rest

who didn’t 

want to be

dropped. 

Thanks Given

I have been

given

everything.

Not 

that I never

studied

or worked

or pursued

or accrued

accomplishments—

if accomplishments

mean

that which 

I have

managed

to manage.

I have been

given

everything

to give

everything

I have.

That may not be

adequate,

but if 

another

can benefit,

then I reckon

it still 

matters. 

I have been

given

everything

to face 

the moments

like this,

when what

I thought

was 

a given,

is actually

a vison

I didn’t see

coming.

I am most

grateful

that I 

am not

hateful

except 

of hate.

I have

been given

voluminous

love

and was taught

to learn

from

everything

that I have 

been given–

even considerable

pain,

which I do not

consider

a gift,

but a continuous

lesson

nonetheless.

Asserting

gratitude

given

the magnitude

of awful

acknowledges

the whole,

not merely

the shards

that have marred

us. 

We are more 

than that which

is broken.

Words yet spoken

that recognize

what we’ve been

given

identify what we have

yet to give.

Minimum Wage

At a minimum,

political

campaigns

are attempts

to influence

decision making

without violence.

We wage wars

on everything.

We conjure

the valor

of fighting

as a warrior

for the right

to champion

Cancer

Christmas

Guns

Personal Autonomy

Fetal Rights

Racial Equality

Gender Equality

Marriage Equality

Group Identity

Gender Identity

Social Justice

Climate Justice

….

You name it,

war is waged

on it. 

Until now,

those wars

have been

metaphors

for concerted

efforts 

to support 

a cause

or suppress

what is 

deemed

an invader

or enemy.

But even after

electoral decisions,

ill health remissions,

and holiday contritions,

divisions

remain,

and positions

harden.

At a minimum,

we wage

a perpetual

cold war

on  several fronts

at once.

Who are

the ones

waging peace?

Too idealistic?

They do not

need

to search 

for the way

to peace,

for they know

that peace 

is the way.

Too unrealistic?

It seems

that waging

war,

at a minimum,

does not

cause peace.

What happens

the day after

the cease fire?

Post Impressionism

Vermin.

From the river to the sea.

Globalists.

Confederate flag.

Noose.

Ok gesture.

Welfare Queens.

Real Americans.

Law and Order.

America First.

MAGA.

Speech

can be

a weapon

that kills

the bodies

politic

and civic.

Let’s not

pretend

that words

may offend

without 

consequences.

Posting hate

through images

visual

and linguistic

is intentionally 

antagonistic

and characteristic

of the most

objectionable

among us.

Proudly

bigoted,

they promote

identity-based

appeals.

These signals

of utterly

inappropriate

appropriations

are coded 

language

that convey

affiliation

by othering

while intentionally

demeaning.

The Dog Whistles

that may have

once been

mostly political

are predictable

and critical

for everyone

to hear.

This coded

communication 

provides 

information

and plausible

deniability.

Hate speech

may be free

to post,

but the cost

of expression

that leaves 

an impression

of hate

and threat

as code

for action

is not 

an abstraction

or mere

distraction.

There is no

innocence

in a call

to violence

without

saying as much.

The impression

says it all. 

Flex Seal

I started thinking

about 

Armistice Day

that we no longer

celebrate.

Instead,

we honor

war veterans

with a holiday

as there will be

mini pauses

for humanitarian

causes

in Gaza

for four

hours.

Armistice

is the basis

for a path

to peace.

While remembering

those who served

we tend to forget

their service

was in 

the service

of peace. 

And peace

requires flexibility—

not just 

to seal

the deal—

but in order

to heal

from the ordeal

of reality

and the tug

of war. 

Daylight Savings Time

Lindbergh baby

John Paul Getty III

Patty Hearst.

Munich

Entebbe 

Iran 

Lebanon

Gaza.

Black September

Idi Amin

Ayatollah Khomeni

Hezbollah

Hamas.

Gilad Shalit

Daniel Pearl.

What could be darker

than kidnapping

and holding

hostages?

This fall 2023,

Hamas’ kidnapping 

of 250 

people

of all 

ages,

has the world

reeling.

Somehow,

the conversation 

quickly shifted

from unspeakable

atrocities

on October 7th,

and the hostage

taking

for nearly a month

now,

to the deliberately

triggered,

hideous

war,

conceived

to decimate

innocents—

the ones 

just trying

to live

above

the tunnels—

the innocents 

who are

supposed

to be liberated

and recognized

to live in

a self-determined

nation state—

intentionally 

doomed 

to suffer 

and die

at the hands

of the

enemy

(Israel),

subjected

to the brutality

of war

just

as Hamas

calculated

along with

massacring 

a kibbutz,

a peaceful

community

across 

the border.

As the world

watches

the horror

in horror,

and diplomats

quietly

seek

negotiations,

profound 

destruction

and devastation

persists

in retaliation.

Hostage taking

works

to call attention

and change

the narrative,

to gain

status,

power,

money.

How quickly 

the conversation

has become

about 

Israeli brutality

against innocent

Palestinian

people

living 

now suffering

and dying

in Gaza. 

Even nonviolent

hostage taking

works:

Tommy Tuberville

Matt Gaetz

Donald Trump.

Who wouldn’t

do anything

to save

lives

and restore

families

and normalcy

and peace?

Hostage takers.

So much 

of politics

is hostage 

taking.

The gun lobby.

As profoundly 

broken

and helpless

as 

we feel

right now,

real

hostages

kidnapped 

from their homes

are still 

in captivity

as bombs

drop

around them.

To those

who struggle

with 

the politics

of everything,

channel

the struggle

to release

and support

those

kidnapped

and held

in captivity

and the families

of the massacred

and hostaged.

Insist on

and contribute to

humanitarian

aid

to innocent

civilians.

We need 

to fall back

to daylight

not add

to the darkness

with political

slogans

and hostile

rhetoric.

I get it.

Our world

feels

out of control

and spiraling

further

away

from all 

that we 

cherish.

Indeed,

too much

is too 

awful.

But we 

have to

begin

to figure out

less damaging

resistance

and build

greater

resilience

because there

will always

be turbulence.

It’s Daylight

Savings Time.

It always 

starts

in the middle

of the night. 

The Scary Stuff

I promise

not to dwell

on why I hate

Halloween.

I will not 

comment

on the 

overconsumption,

glorified

sluttiness

(the only

memorable

costumes),

the adult

takeover

of kid 

time,

excessive waste—

especially plastic—

oh don’t get me 

started!

It’s supposed

to be fun!

Silly!

Autumnal festivity!

A treat 

when everything

feels like 

a trick.

A celebration

of night

and owning

it.

We see 

monsters

everyday

wearing masks

of normalcy.

The literary 

monsters

who

for decades

symbolized

Halloween

were tortured

by their liminal

lives,

possessed 

by cruelty,

but part

human,

wrestling

with destructive

impulses.

Iconic

images

made immortal

by Lon Chaney, Jr.,

Boris Karloff,

Bella Lugosi,

Elsa Lanchester

have become

shorthand

for Halloween

despite 

iterations

over 

generations.

There is a 

secular

sacredness

to this night—

a hallow eve.

The crazy

looking

characters

of Halloween

and all the

accompanying 

excess

is nothing

next 

to the

scary stuff—

the vile 

distortions

and evil

happening

each day.

Welcome Home

I’ve been away

from

home

for

just a week,

not yet

unpacked

after arriving

so late.

Returning

home

is a constant,

wherever

we go

whenever

we go.

We travel

and seek

home

somewhere

else.

Eighty degrees

on the east coast

in October

does not feel

like home.

Election

denier as 

Speaker

of the

House

does not feel

like home.

My pillows

and bed

are insufficient 

to comfort

my anxiety

about losing  

home

as I know

it.

I don’t know

how

to be

at home

in a burning

world

that seems

to be

a matter

of arson.

I was 

always

fearful

of fire—

of getting

burned.

Arsonists

are everywhere.

And yet,

some flames

are diminishing.

The criminal

confessions

mount, 

and I still

have

the idea

that we 

can return

home

and renovate

it;

upgrading

and updating

for better

protection

against

destructive

forces

that prove

to surface

and multiply

without 

intentional

safeguarding.

Meanwhile,

we can 

return home

to ourselves and

to each other

creating

home

in the face

of arson

and a world

on fire.

Returning 

home

is a constant—

even in

your house.

Being

home

is intentional. 

You

are

home.

Welcome

home.

History Lessens

History lessens

the exclusivity

of now.

What seems

unique

is really 

a tweak

of actions

of factions, 

reactions,

and distractions

that humans

do 

to

each

other.

This October

surprise

attack

by Hamas

upon Israelis

shocked

and horrified

in scope

and scale;

each

detail

grotesque.

Historical

comparisons

to 9/11,

’73,

and even

The Holocaust;

to Nazis

and Isis—

the ultimate

barbarism—

casts Hamas

among

other

embodiments

of pure

evil. 

From eternity

to here,

history

does not

lessen

the reality

of evil

of humans.

We like

to think

we progress,

and we do.

We like

to think

we are more

sophisticated

than our

ancestors,

yet

history

proves

to be

more complex,

with effects

that traumatize

and catalyze.

History

must 

humanize.

It is

the story

of humans,

sometimes

beyond

comprehension.

But that

is the

task

that history

asks.

We like

to think

we are

different

and less

naive

than our

predecessors.

But even

our successors

will have

or 

will be

aggressors

or oppressors,

and certainly

transgressors,

because

humans

have such

capacities.

Forgetting

the lessons

of history—

human

actions 

and 

reactions—

lessens

the ability

to strengthen

stability.

Fundamentally,

fundamentalism

lessens—

a lesson

learned

from history.

The progress

and ideas

of accessibility,

diversity, 

and inclusivity

that make

the present

feel

like sustainability,

become

thwarted,

distorted,

supported,

and exported

by extremists

who are

zombies

of history,

trying

to lessen

the inevitability

of time

and evolution.

I still

hope

for all

humanity

that sanity

will prevail

and we 

can exhale

while learning

the lessons

now.

Heart Attack

Teens

at a rave

sprayed

with bullets

in a wave

of gunfire

before

hostage 

taking

of babies

to old

ladies,

making

this 

the most

brazen

invasion

on the

occasion

of 50 years

plus 

a day

since 

another

surprise

attack.

The malevolence

and violence

which is now

inheritance

justifies

nothing.

Failures 

of intelligence

or negligence

without

precedence

is as shocking

as this 

perversion

of nationalism

or whatever 

it’s supposed

to be. 

My heart

hurts.

I ache 

for

humanity.