Month: August 2020

1.  I watched the Joan Didion documentary on Netflix currently, and was surprised to discover her essay on the Central Park Jogger case, asking important questions a decade before these gentleman were acquitted – an insightful consideration of competing resentments indeed.
2. Like in #1, as I age I am always surprised to hear voices had shouted the truth, but the sentimental narrative is still what sticks in our national psyche.  That is clearly true of Hiroshima and our national vengeance.
3. That very sentimental narrative we cling to likely will resist the truth of this.
4. And among legendary truth-tellers, Fannie Lou Hamer did just that 56 years ago today at the DNC.
5. You can argue big government and small government all day long, but when we fail to recognize the interdependence within our large economic system, we waste valuable resources in the name of saving money.

1.  I wish I had heard this gentleman’s wisdom long before I became a parent.  Not sure if I had the maturity to listen.  His vlog on YouTube is everything I think really matters in parenthood and family.
2. I overheard my son selling his sister on the merits of reading A Choice of Weapons by Gordon Parks.  Thank you Minneapolis Public Schools.
3. A friend suggested I read this book.  When I got a hold of a copy (551 page, plus 300 pages of notes!)  And now I am taking it as a personal challenge to do so.  I am giving myself through the end of the pandemic.  🙂
4. I have a renewed appreciation for the United States Postal Service and hope you do to.  I’ll be either voting early or personally dropping my ballot off to be counted.  How did we get here?  Because we did not believe it could be this bad.  Remember that when you vote this November, and every time you have the opportunity to vote.  You can drop off your mail in ballot but not at your polling location.  Use your friend google and make sure you follow instructions.  For Minnesota friends, see here.
5. The most brilliant ad play I’ve seen in a long time is UBS hiring a spokesperson who is the widow of a rock & roll icon who notoriously cut her out of his will before his death.

1. Regina King is directing a movie and I cannot wait time see it.

2. For Mrs. America fans, this is a compelling editorial pushing to recognize a different version of history.

3. This is what terrifies me most lately – crisis at the Post Office when we need ballot by mail the most.

4. When the world seem to be falling apart, there is always someone making a difference. Thrilled to see New Rules and Christopher Webley recognized Forbes.

5. I finished a great tale of learning confidence and strong decision making in face of adversity and uncertainty. Poker isn’t personal. I’ll be nagging my kids to read it.

I love seeing the work of many black authors get attention, but equally saddened that black is often perceived as a limited, one-sided perspective.  Many of us go looking for the black experience, and it is about time we did.  But what is found is the human experience, made more honest by the wisdom of a pain we white people can never fully understand.  These voices have the nuance and compassion that is carved from having to reconcile the worst parts of our humanity.  That lens of pain yields a wisdom on things like love and parenthood and justice that we – all of us – desperately need.

These voices move me this week.

1. Intimations by Zadie Smith, written and published in the wake of COVID-19 and the impact of losing George Floyd. A powerful juxtaposition of what insidious virus most plagues us, and ponders what America we really want to be.  

2. Myrlie Evers on the Mississippi flag removal, and what it was to love and be loved by Medgar Evers. Love is powerful indeed.

3. Breathe by Imani Perry. This is strong motherhood.  No sugar coating.  No romanticizing.  This is real and gritty and intellectual and philosophical.

4. A grateful remembrance of John Lewis by Barack Obama.

5. And the inspiring last words of John Lewis himself, a man whose strength and bravery were stunningly anchored in love.  May we honor his legacy and continue the progress he relentlessly sought.