October 27, 2023

a poem I wrote the other day

not sure if this is more appropriate here or in the lounge, anyway

No one asked to be born.
I'm not saying spirits or souls don't exist
Maybe they do
I don't know.
But I know I heard that creature say
That creature of flesh and bone
That speaks and feels pain
That is right there
That I can see and hear
"I never asked to be born."
"Future generations are hostage to our care."
"Can you help me draw a shark,"
On your car, with this crayon?
"Yes," it is my sacred duty.
And it is fun

August 26, 2023

If you want them to vote for this party

Do Not minimize, dismiss, gaslight the concerns of struggling young people. Disappointing to see that stuff here.
ETA: I know a number of young people who talk shit about democrats but hate republicans too and it's not easy for me to try to defend democrats with that kind of talk around

May 26, 2023

This group might be saving more lives than we'll ever know

CHICAGO (May 8, 2023) – The following statement was released by Life After Hate CEO Patrick Riccards in response to recent horrific events in Texas.
“This past weekend in Texas, we were again reminded of the power of hate and extremism manifesting itself into violent actions that can destroy lives and our communities. As law enforcement continues to investigate the heinous acts of violence at a shopping mall and at the border, extremist ideology has stepped to the front of the line of potential motivations.
What we know today, is that somewhere, someone in this country has seen the devastation and trauma caused by an act of violent extremism and is now questioning their involvement in extremist groups or online hate spaces.
There are pathways out of these lives of violent hate for those who are willing to examine their lives, take accountability for their actions, and make the changes necessary to rejoin our civil society. As the nation’s leader in helping individuals disengage and deradicalize from violent extremism, Life After Hate is committed to helping those individuals, as well as the family and loved ones in their orbit, make the sort of changes necessary to exit their lives of violent extremism.
Change is hard, but it is possible. And Life After Hate is here to help.”

May 14, 2023

my mom wanted the world to read this

Happy Mothers' Day

"But despite differences, our common bond is powerful. When we let it, our strength flows out of us and around each other in a wonderful stream. We frequently care for each other's children as much as we do our own.

Without our interdependence, we would be miserable indeed. Our children would be miserable and isolated, too. But in our shared life, they have brothers and sisters to play with, more than one loving mother and some of them are not entirely devoid of father figures.

I want to write about our lives because I think we have something of value to offer others."

She wrote this in '76 or '77
She would have been about 27.
I remember little if any of that time
but the one impression I have feels cozy.
I saw it for the first time last year,
it took a while to sift through her things
She wanted the world to read this
there was no internet then ~~~

I'm an unwed mother of a three-year-old son. I want to write an article for your magazine about single mothers but with a point of view that is different from the usual one.

So much has been written about the difficult life of the single mother. as I transcribe this sentence I feel like I hear the ghostly whirring and clacking of my grandmother's electric typewriter How her children are deprived and her life is lonely without a man. How hard it is to raise a child alone. How difficult her life is in a male dominated society. How those on welfare get mauled in that system.

But are our lives so depressing as all that? Some of us think so. I don't.
this is where I begin to feel weird from reading this from the distant future, knowing how things ultimately played out

True, I lead a life of late rents, unpaid bills and a continuous search for types of employment that will give me enough money as well as leave plenty of time for me to spend with my son, and even a little time for myself. But despite the difficulties, in most ways because of them, I find that my life is full of opportunity. Opportunity to grow strong, independent and loving. Opportunity to learn cooperation and compassion in human relationships.
but then Ronald Reagan happened on a wider scale

Of course, I must be strong and independent, having no convenient shoulder for my tears. Of course I must still, though unmarried, learn to work cooperatively and lovingly with others. For, though I am single, I do not raise my child alone. I raise my child with ******, a weaver and nurse who supports her boy with no money coming from anywhere but her own paycheck. There's ***** *** ******* * *** **** *** ******** **** **** *** **** **** **** **** **** **** And my roommate, a welfare mother who left her violent ******* husband ** *** ******** and returned ** *** ****** with her year-old baby.
another way that reading this from the future is really weird, is about how my mom was half my current age when she wrote this, and some aspects of her writing style from then make me cringe in the same way I cringe at some of my own writings from that age. But that's not really why I blocked out some of that paragraph, there are some other reasons

My neighborhood, a little enclave of elderly houses and lovely tiny parks, is popular with single mothers. I know so many we could almost have our own community. Some of us are feminists seeking independence, some of us hunger strongly and fiercely for communion with the perfect man. Some of us are somewhere in between. Myself, I've been through all of the above.
I wonder how many of those little parks have become parking spaces by now, and who can afford to live in those elderly houses

But despite differences, our common bond is powerful. When we let it, our strength flows out of us and around each other in a wonderful stream. We frequently care for each other's children as much as we do our own.

Without our interdependence, we would be miserable indeed. Our children would be miserable and isolated, too. But in our shared life, they have brothers and sisters to play with, more than one loving mother and some of them are not entirely devoid of father figures.

I want to write about our lives because I think we have something of value to offer others.

~~~ by the time i began to form many memories that remain with me, that phase of our lives was about over, and, reading from the distant future, may have been our happiest. A few years later the terror in the room was palpable that night as I watched my mom and grandma watch the election results come in. Ronald Reagan is the devil

May 6, 2023

So, how does one tell if the series of sharp explosions in rapid succession

heard down the way is gunfire or not? Wait to see if it comes up in the news? Could've been firecrackers? Just getting jumpy?