reverse threading

the path back is the path forward

Tag Archives: election 2024


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any feather in silhouette. [kerri’s blog on not-so-flawed wednesday]

in silhouette – in the trees against the sky – it was difficult to tell if they were starlings or grackles. the identifying characteristics like feather, head, leg or beak color fly in the face of the silhouette. tail length and body shape can be discerning factors as well as their bird calls or the raucous sound that they make while hanging out in trees together. but – at these moments that we were photographing them – they were quiet and, though i might lean toward starling – because of their general body shape and tail – i’m really not sure. plus, starlings and grackles and blackbirds all often mingle together, so it can be hard to distinguish one from the other.

what i do know is that it doesn’t matter. they were beautiful all perched in the trees and it’s a marvel to look up and see sooo many birds, resting and waiting before they move on.

we are coming ever closer to the changeover in the administration of our government. it feels like we are getting a little bit quiet in waiting. there is so much chaos that can happen quickly and this morning we talked about who will stand in integrity to push back against it all, who will be decent, who will abide by the laws of the land, who will be responsible advocates for humanity – the absence of which will perpetuate a chaos of insane proportion.

were we all to be seen in silhouette perhaps there would be more likelihood that we might all be treated equally, that people would not be disenfranchised or marginalized because of pigmentation or gender or ethnicity or sexual orientation or socioeconomic status or any other differentiating thing.

if we had to squint to try and make out the details of each other and – still then – think that we are all basically the same – for silhouettes – and yes, people – are like that – maybe this country could be a better place.

i shudder thinking about what’s coming. it makes me feel sick to my stomach.

i wonder when wisdom might return. the meanwhile is going to be a shameful place.

if you’re looking for me, i’ll be in the tree communing with the birds. you’re certainly welcome to hang out. they say birds of a feather flock together. any feather.

*****

read DAVID’S thoughts this NOT-SO-FLAWED WEDNESDAY

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galloping gishers. [kerri’s blog on saturday morning smack-dab.]

it was only later that i could put a name on it. after the onslaught, post-avalanche, suffering from shock (though no awe), swirling from being bombarded with zero chance for retaliation. and it all came from what-would-seem the unlikeliest of places – a person in esteemed position, regarded as powerful and wise – a person who turned out to be the wizard behind the curtain. it actively devastated all chance of truth and the cadre of co-conspirators rode the horses in this brigade of destruction. in the end, it was sad. in every way.

later on, i learned it was called the “gish gallop”…a strategy employed to distract, to overwhelm, to usurp any ability to correct the ship – there are simply too many false things, spurious statements at once – all being stated in rapidfire. it’s nicknamed “shotgun argumentation”.

in my experience, it was smack in the middle of the gish-galloping when i realized i had no way to counter all the untruths that were being said. it was too-much on purpose. if someone is going to resort to this sort of gallop – and there are no parameters or guardrails placed upon that person – the race is over before it has started. stating half-truths, misrepresentations, outright lies, it is a painfully sad strategy by wizards who lack decency and integrity, who need to hide behind the oz-curtain and blitz-word-attack. it’s ugly nonsense. and – unfortunately – it often works.

so…as we sit in the stands of this new horse race toward the attempt of demolition of our democracy, we have decided that we absolutely cannot listen or watch or cue in on every single gishy thing going on. it is not healthy. it is not truth. it is devised to make us all walk around in – live inside – the middle of the sickness that permeates this new administration. though – in reality – cantering completely the other way isn’t pragmatic – staying out of the horse race is.

winning is not about pushing all kinds of negative, hateful ish down others’ throats and convincing them that the sky is falling every second of every day.

winning is remembering to live best we can, to be the best we can, to live with compassion and solidarity and generosity and to call out the gishers galloping by.

i’d love to canter the other way – into the sunset. but i don’t have a horse.

*****

read DAVID’s thoughts this SATURDAY MORNING

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prickly. [kerri’s blog on d.r. thursday]

we move forward in this new year – attending to the processes of democracy and this nation’s constitution. we pass by the sixth of january.

“four years ago, a few thousand insurrectionists attempted to disregard the laws of this nation for a single career criminal. and what they could not accomplish then in the capitol rotunda, 77 million americans now have at the voting booth: the voices of our forebears have been rendered silent, the protections of our constitution have been destroyed, and a convicted felon, adjudicated rapist, and wannabe dictator has been given the keys to the kingdom.” (john pavlovitz)

if that is not prickly, i don’t know what is.

once upon a time, back in the day, there was a sexual predator. he was charming and indubitably well-versed at preying on young women. he started by grooming – paying undue attention to these young women – even girls – who were far younger than he, gifting them, serenading them with song and words that – clearly – meant nothing. because he was well-practiced, it did not take him long to go from zero to sexual abuse – his deflowering count blossoming. and then – post-conquest – he would quickly discard that conquest – another young woman who was forever-devastatingly-changed – and move on to the next. he was never punished for any of his crimes nor was he ever held accountable. the misogynistic men who knew and who should have handled the crimes of this crony-of-theirs stayed silent, a peer group of complicity, continuing to enable him. he still walks about freely here in these united states. for decades.

prickly, eh?

and here we are – decades later – nearly half a century since the time of this one devastating story among millions of such stories – and we have not moved any further along. as a matter of fact, we have now elected a misogynistic sexual abuser – with his own bevy of complicit lawless cronies – to the highest office of the land.

it’s just like the story from back in the day. interesting how little has changed. only – now – 77 million people are part of the story – who not only stayed silent but became a part of the enabling – who stamped their wholehearted approval and voted him in – a man liable for sexual abuse.

if you don’t feel prickly about that, i don’t know what’s wrong with you. because your embrace of violence – your ignorance, pushing this newsy news aside – your lack of morality – your perpetuating of this travesty – your complicity – has placed every single woman in this country in peril.

in the way that conditional if-then statements work, that would all condense to: if you voted for him then you are culpable.

pretty prickly.

“we don’t coddle our kids when they spew nonsense or think the truth is irrelevant. we correct them.” (rex huppke)

or – as history and the present show – we let them walk free and even make them president.

“the decision to put someone like [him] back in the most powerful position in america should be embarrassing. it wasn’t.” (rex huppke)

prickly as all hell.

*****

read DAVID’s thoughts this D.R. THURSDAY

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the precipice and the fallout. [kerri’s blog on saturday morning smack-dab.]

i have no doubt we’ll all fall over it at some point – the precipice.

there will be some moment of grief, some slight, some jarring change, some out-and-out grotesque manifestation of this-thing-that-is-coming that will be the precipice for each of us.

i have already felt it. i fell over it on new year’s day. i realized that this thing that is coming now – in 2025 – this new administration’s cruelty and revenge, the emphasized attitudes disenfranchising people, the new way of being in this country, the gloating extremist, isolationist stance this country will take in this world – is already taking a toll. the precipice is real.

for the life of me i cannot understand wanting such things. i cannot understand turning my back on the rights and needs and experiences of my own family or friends. i cannot understand being a cheerleader for what’s coming. and, on new year’s day, it pushed me over the precipice and i spent the day grieving. for all the light i have tried to seek, for all the light i have tried to be, this thing-that-is-coming faster-than-fast pushed me under and into darkness.

it is real.

there will be fallout. fallout for people who know it’s coming, for people who bandwagoned and didn’t bother researching, for people who have family and friends against whom they voted. and that’s the part that made my heart hurtle over the cliff.

even though i knew it – and have known it for a couple months now – the fallout – part of which, of course, is silence – is painful beyond imagining.

knowing is hard.

i imagine i am not alone…one day at a time it all becomes more and more real…and so one day at a time there are others who are over-the-precipice-ing. it’s not going away and, as we are gleaning, it will only get worse and worse. and people voted for all of it. and i wonder – again and again – if it ever occurred to them to think about their own families or friends or community that might be drastically impacted by this new reality – the one they were choosing.

and so the fallout will gain momentum. not just the stuff that the new administration is going to set in place – the stuff that will marginalize more and more people, that will push people down – those already disenfranchised, those about-to-be disenfranchised. the fallout will lift up others – those with self-aggrandizing agenda, those with monster motives, those who perpetuate hatred, those who are clearly soul-less. and the fallout – well – it will snap the binding of relationships at their core, it will silence conversation, it will destroy friendships, it will undermine families.

because it’s real.

now – each time we are hurtled over the precipice – for it is likely that will be more than once – it will be our job to climb back up, to seek safe shelter and to heal from the pummeling of the precipice-fall. even a little bit. to keep going. to get to – what we hope will be – the other side of all this. to survive.

*****

read DAVID’s thoughts this SATURDAY MORNING

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particularly now. [kerri’s blog on saturday morning smack-dab.]

we were on the phone and she said, “we all just need to check out a while.”

i couldn’t agree more.

it has been a lot. more than a lot. and it just continues on and on and on – this farcical nightmare of politics. there is nothing like watching an incoming administration poking fun at every single serious issue out there, lining its own pockets and the pockets of kakistocratic cronies, maniacally ranting and raging and seeking revenge, raising up the uppers and cruelly disempowering the middles and the lowers. it is utterly exhausting and disrespectful to the core of this nation.

but this is me…checking out.

so as we are tending to this holiday season, looking for gifts – the things people may need or wish for – and shopping, i know that there is one thing that we simply cannot buy – for ourselves or anyone else:

hope.

and so we’ll do our best to make people smile, to engage people, to let them know we are thinking about them and holding them close – particularly now, when so many others have disappointed us and them, particularly now, with the emotional whiplash we have felt as a result of the loss of positive possibility, particularly now, grieving the burial of any goodness from the top down, particularly now, overwhelmed by the stunned surprise we have felt watching those we care about wholeheartedly support this horror.

i know that we cannot buy hope. and i know that right now it seems far away, especially if we are actively paying attention to the intentional bullying and destruction of all we know as this democracy.

but that doesn’t stop us from yearning for it, from seeking it, from creating it. together.

we won’t check out on hope. particularly now.

*****

read DAVID’s thoughts this SATURDAY MORNING

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pinball or life. [kerri’s blog on merely-a-thought monday]

“the now is all we have.” (sue aikens)

it feels like we have been barreling through time and space – bouncing off broadcasts and pundits, headlines and breaking news – as if in a virtual pinball machine – not too much control but a lot of noise.

we have decided to get off the ride. as a person who is easily motion-sicknessed, i am weary of the political nausea, the tiltawhirl of these times, the roller coaster of insanity, the cauldron where people have tossed their morality. it’s time to step to the side and not watch every single ball hit every single paddle, bounce off every single bumper and slide down every single ramp while ineptly working the flippers.

because, really, sue aikens is right. the now IS all we have.

it’s time to slow down and just live.

the author wrote, “…i’m no longer under the impression that i can outrun the 77-million-person mob that voted in favor of racism, misogyny, violence and corruption…” (lisa bernardi)

and i agree. i can’t either. but that doesn’t mean that i have to participate with them, hang out with them, trust them. and that, frankly, is pretty heartbreaking. but it is also time-and-space-perspective-arranging.

if, indeed, the now is all we have – which i think is true – then we need attend to the fleeting things that are life-giving, that are generative, that are intentions of kindness, that give us peace.

we need to make the best plans we can, all the while knowing that they may be dashed.

we need to be with those who share our values, who wish for an earth, a country, a state, a community, a family that leads with goodness.

and we need to find ways to linger in every single thing that feeds our souls.

i’ve never liked pinball anyway.

*****

read DAVID’s thoughts this MERELY-A-THOUGHT MONDAY

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with or without. [kerri’s blog on merely-a-thought monday]

“i will not win all of my battles, and neither will you. but if we do our best with intelligence, compassion and love, that will be enough – it has to be enough. and that way, though each outcome may not be what we wanted or hoped for, at least each day we can be proud of who we are.” (elizabeth glaser)

with intelligence. with compassion. with love.

this made me cry. i was going through framed pieces that had had spots in various places of our house or back-in-the-day at my label offices. and these words – instantly stopped me in my tracks.

for these were the very things lacking in what-ended-up the winning campaign of this election. intelligence. compassion. love. and i find that devastating.

i saw a meme the other day. it read: i will be proud all my life that i voted for kamala.

and i will.

because the other thing – the other choice – the magachoice – the one where “he got you to stop trusting the media, scientists, legal and judicial systems, federal agencies, military leadership, economists, educational institutions, our closest allies” et al – leaving “the only person you trust is him“* – that choice…was without intelligence, without compassion and without love.

instead, it zeroed in on people’s internal rage, giving it permission by example. it exploited their lack of knowledge, their lack of curiosity or questioning. it perpetuated the maniacal glee of revenge and retribution. it made a farce out of the legal system of checks and balances, a limitless low bar on integrity for the highest position(s) in the nation. it made self-serving a positive trait. it exclamation-pointed prejudice and marginalization. it underlined and bolded all the worst qualities of humanity and it brought it all to the surface. without hesitation, people jumped onto the hatewagon, pistols drawn, flying flags and banners of “greatness”, bleeding out any semblance of intelligence, compassion or love.

and here we are.

and i wonder how you – who voted for him and for all the cruelty and hardship and extremist notions and fascist intentions and every thing vile of which he reeks – are proud of that.

and so…it made me cry.

and – better than i could have said this, a brief video (x-out top right, turn on audio bottom right). thank you to matt and for his courage to say it aloud:

*****

read DAVID’s thoughts this MERELY-A-THOUGHT MONDAY

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(* – john pavlovitz)

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open season. [kerri’s blog on saturday morning smack-dab.]

we’re getting all the mail – snail mail, email, texts, phone messages. tons of correspondence this holiday season. and all about … healthcare.

because forget about thanksgiving, forget about the gatherings of family and friends, forget about the holidays. we are now in healthcare open season. ok, they call it open enrollment….but it’s clearly one and the same….and the other day – when we saw a hunter, all geared up in camouflage, stride into the woods – it made me think of healthcare open season.

we – david and i and, in amusing moments, my former dear husband as well – are all receiving every manner of advertising for our healthcare. i must say – there is something vastly wrong about this – ads, brochures, glossy words schmoozing us about healthcare.

so we have until the 7th of december to lock in our medicare wishes, in addition to our chosen drug plan. we have until the 15th of december to sign up for whichever “affordable” care act (ACA) plan we wish. it’s all a bit like gambling and there really is no actuary on earth – sans a fortune teller – who can predict what we might really need, what we might really benefit from, what teeniest-tiny details in each plan might be relevant, what might not make us financially suffer.

but wait! there’s more! because now we are at the threshold of new stuff! there is a concept of a plan out there – floating in the universe somewhere – to change the lives of all americans who need healthcare which, ummm, is all of us.

maybe it will be like something we’ve never seen before! maybe something that might place the health and well-being of the populace highest on the priority list!! maybe something that won’t bankrupt people or place healthcare as the apex reason for being impossibly financially strapped. maybe it won’t be privatized in any way, won’t be so insanely priced that it necessitates government subsidies – which, incidentally, will likely disappear anyway in this regime. maybe something that will be like industrialized nations around the world! maybe – just maybe – universal healthcare!!

you are dreaming, i warn myself.

because magaland is not interested in what’s best for actual people. the bottom line, the bottom line, they scream! money, money, money, they insist! and so, instead, their concept is to go back to the days when pre–existing conditions were like leprosy to insurance companies. their concept is to severely cut medicaid, healthcare for the needy. their concept is to eliminate medicare supplemental plans – eliminating choice for people in their own healthcare, foisting privatized advantage plans upon unsuspecting purchasers who think that getting $80 in toothpaste is advantageous over the freedom of seeking out appropriate physicians and facilities and treatment plans for their own needs. their concept will keep regular americans poorer, all in their efforts to make the oligarchy richer. their concept is to be limiting, repressive, serving their own pockets and the pockets of their cronies in some kind of weird quest to make america unhealthier.

it’s all a sad story. and i’m wondering which maga-voters out there are now “learning” all this – suddenly knowledge (all available PRIOR to the election, i might add) is now more abundant. suddenly, some of the corrupt and cruel “policies” (and i use that term loosely) don’t seem like they are in your best interest. suddenly, it occurs to you that this looming autocracy wasn’t really a good idea.

oh well. que sera sera.

in the meanwhile, we’ve gotta don our camouflage and hunt down some healthcare.

*****

read DAVID’s thoughts this SATURDAY MORNING

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plumes. in context. [kerri’s blog on flawed wednesday]

a closer look. i like to turn my macro-lens eye at things…to look at the detail of them. the close-up is often so very different from the overarching view or the afar – and, out in nature, it reveals tiny worlds we are generally unaware of.

i aimed my camera at the reed grass plumes. gorgeously graceful, arcing, they are plentiful in our yard – and their dance in the wind brings life to our gardens. i was astounded at the closer-up photographs, ropey, twine-like, fibrous. are these jute fibers shot with a macro lens?

there is so much more than meets the eye. from a distance, we give nod to the plumes, appreciate them but not necessarily the complexity of their makeup or their role. as a singular object – a reed grass, a plume – it is likely of little consequence to us.

but contextually – in the context of the garden – it is a haven for the winter, a place where creatures will find safety and warmth, protection from predators. this singular grass may make the difference between survival and not for some critter out there.

there is a lot going on now in the arena of this country. incompetent leaders are being selected to destroy the hard work of the past that protects rights and freedoms, that addresses survival for the populace.

we could giggle at the singular choices – laugh – guffaw – at the insane maga administration and cabinet picks that can only point to destruction. were this to be a movie – a farce, satire – about the country, it would be tempting to laugh – it is that unhinged, that thuggish. but it is not a movie and each singular choice has profound consequence – even if it does not directly affect specifically me or you…yet.

and so, contextually – in the context of our country – it is a breeding ground of calamitous policy – deliberately harmful to our democracy, deliberately regressive, deliberately hurtful – expressing the wish even for crushingly austere hardship – led by a catastrophic kakistocracy. there is nothing to giggle about there, nothing funny about that. the close-up is a macro view of a cold overarching exploitation of these united states.

we can sit back – and watch the show – some of us (though not including the personal “us”) feeling somewhat impervious to the destruction-to-come. one can poke fun to get through a moment or two. but from afar or close-up – either one – the consequences of this election – the choice that almost half our fellow voters chose – will eradicate what we know.

there are gleefully menacing people – predators – out there, just chomping at the bit to have power, to reign with supreme control, to remove all the reed grasses from our gardens and leave us there without the safety or warmth of democracy.

every plume matters. especially right now.

*****

read DAVID’s thoughts this FLAWED WEDNESDAY

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golden. [kerri’s blog on d.r. thursday]

on the southern part of the trail, most of the leaves have fallen. we shuffle through them, making that crunchy sound of autumn hikes. we can see further now – further down the trail, deeper into the woods. we can see the river, so often hidden by foliage. our views are unobstructed by earlier thick growth of underbrush and leafy trees.

the golden leaves cling to the willow. the sun catches them and they glow. i am grateful for their color and for this day of technicolor as november begins to push the need for more vitamin d. storm clouds rushed past, hinting at the possibility of pummeling us. yet the sun returned and we hiked on, glad to be out there, grateful to reclaim some air on the trail.

the days are darker now. and it makes me think of the many seasons of alone (the history channel) we have viewed, as moderate weather early in season episodes seemed to morph quickly into unthinkable cold, punishing loneliness, long darkness. we binged on alone during our month plus of covid. and as we hike now, we talk about the ability of the contestants to survive, to sustain. clueless about true survivalist skills, we both know we would likely fail miserably out in the wild – alone.

kielyn – season 7 – was out there for an unbelievable 80 days. a personality full of color, in one episode, she said, “women. we are a force to be reckoned with.”

yes. we are.

and even in the fallout of the fallout of this election, the fallout of the fallout of insane politics and a divided country, the fallout of the fallout of an agenda to kick women (among others) to the ground, we are still a force. she is right.

the lush leaves of spring, summer and early fall blocked what you could see in the woods, past the woods. they blocked long vision.

until they didn’t.

it was in the falling of the leaves on-trail that one could again see. it is in that clearing out, the storm threatening, winter on its way, that one can see further – beyond just existing, beyond just surviving, beyond just sustaining – further – to a place where thriving is an imperative. it is heading into fallow that any bit of color stands out, interrupts the grey.

because we women are out here. and no clearing-out, no storm, no winter will stop us.

long vision is one of the plates we women spin.

we aren’t afraid of a time of fallow.

and we sure aren’t afraid of the dark.

we are a force. you will have to reckon with us.

if the willow has lost all its leaves, we will bring the color.

and it will be our golden moment.

*****

read DAVID’s thoughts this D.R. THURSDAY

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buymeacoffee is a website where you may directly impact an artist whose work directly impacts you. xoxo