Onward – Day 20

marmaladesunset
MARMALADE

I come to the beach
Heart deflated
Breath flat and simple.

I sit on the dune
Waves smashing
Sun bronze and dipping.

I watch the pelicans
Wings beating
Formations ebb and flow.

I soak in burnt color
God’s palette
Marmalade and scarlet red.

I brush sand off my feet
Soul infused
Life fat and possible.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

We’re on day #20 since we, the Americans, voted to put Trump in office this coming term. These past twenty days have felt like a gut-punch mixed with some invaluable family time, and a steep learning curve of about 50 degrees. Uphill. In snow. Wearing used and leaky Wonderbread plastic bags over the insoles of my Moonboots.

I chat with my friend who comes to help me deep-clean my home once a week. She tells me how afraid she is for her son in elementary school because of the violence she’s seen since the election, even in the schools. I feel helpless to do anything for her besides repeat that we are here for her, whatever she needs.

Another friend reports to me in a wooden voice how she was grabbed and shoved the other night and how the two men laughed as they left her, bruised and shaken, yelling, “Welcome to Trump’s America!” not caring who heard them, daring the night to call them on their assault. I feel scared to leave my home alone most days because of how their rudeness and brashness reminds me of how I felt during and after the assaults that happened to me.

Because of those incidents and hundreds of others, it feels like there are no more rules. I survive with rules. Rules make me feel safe, but they only work when people respect them. This America, on day #20, feels like the rules no longer apply.

I can’t stay still. I refuse to sit in my home, scared to leave. I’m deciding that to do nothing is to say I’m ok with what’s happening. And I’m totally, for sure, not ok with what’s happening. If you’d like to do something, too, you could use this website to help you get started or make your own list like mine below.

Here’s what I’m doing to insert a bit of normalcy and power back into my court:

I’m using this as a guide to make sure I’m supporting who and what I want to support: Boycott Trump, Mashable
There’s also an app that can help: Boycott Trump
Boycott companies that support the Dakota Pipeline: Collective Evolution

I’m participating in Weekly Action by using these two websites as a guide:
Weekly Acts of Resistance
What to do This Week

In an effort to never be blindsided again, I’m trying to understand all sides of the issues by consuming news from reliable sources:

Podcasts:
Hey! That’s My Hummus!
Politico’s Nerdcast
The State of Things
NYT The Run-Up
NPR Code Switch
FiveThirtyEight Politics

And to get the conservative side:
Common Sense, Dan Carlin
Dana Loesch
Glen Beck
Chris Salcedo

Websites:
BBC
PBS
Reuters
The Independent
NYT
Inside Newsletter

I signed up to help refugees in my area. Check locally and see how you can help.

And I self-care like crazy.

I’d love to hear what you’re doing. xo
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