Dear Mr. President (A Day Late)

This past weekend we spent some time up at John's Mom's place, and I decided not to take my computer.  That is why I didn't get up my usual post yesterday.  While I felt like it might be better to wait until next week to write this, I decided that I wanted to simply say a few things; so, I'll keep this short and sweet.  Sorry for the delay.

Dear Mr. President,

This letter to you is going to be rather short as I haven't had a lot of time to spend thinking about and learning about politics this week.  But I did have a few moments to reflect this week, and I wanted to share those thoughts with you--abbreviated though they may be.

It's a strange thing to have to still be talking about racism to me, but here we are in 2021, and the problems that colonialism created are still haunting us to this day.  Derek Chauvin's trial dominated most of the beginning of last week (as well the weeks preceding it.)  And I think many people were grateful to see that perhaps our laws in this country might be what many of us hoped for them to be--just and fair.  The idea that someone could murder another person (accidentally or otherwise,) and not have to face consequences for it isn't just, and far too often that has been the outcome of such cases.  To see our laws working as they're meant to be--to know that a man who disregarded the health and well-being of a citizen of our country to the point where, in his custody, that man died, and to know that he will be serving jail time for this offense is...a relief.  But it's telling that such a simple act of justice was in doubt; it speaks to a psyche that has been damaged and traumatized, and one that we need to continue to seek to heal by continuous acts of justice such as this.  Then, perhaps, one day black people won't feel like they have to fight simply to exist.

I even heard it last night as I watched the Oscar's--a respected and honored Oscar woman speaking about the need to "fight" for her people.  It was one of the few moments last night when I found myself uncomfortable.  Through no fault of my own, I was born a very white albino woman, and it has afforded me some amount of privilege in my life.  And while I am also legally blind, and thus considered disabled, I don't feel like I've ever had to fight for my rights in quite the same way as that woman has.  She won last night for Best Song, "Fight for You" and her name is H.E.R. (birth name, Gabriella Sarmiento Wilson.)   When you have to stand up and say that you are going to "fight for your people," what does that say about us?  I can't imagine what it would be like to be a minority based on the color of my skin.  I can't begin to understand the depth of pain and suffering that happens every day because of a lack of recognition of past (and oftentimes, present,) truths.

And so it was an awkward moment for me--knowing that in some way her words weren't meant for me.  She was speaking to the trauma of the American Black Experience; she was speaking to her fellow black men and women here and around the world who feel like their pain has been marginalized, forgotten, or in many cases, purposefully swept under the rug to hide inconvenient truths.  And I think the reason I really felt uncomfortable about it was because there was such a division in our world--something that I had been complicit in by my own tacit actions.  And while I am trying to do better, I hope one day that these amazing black men and women will also be fighting for me, too--that one day I will be someone they can speak to and with, instead of about (though I can certainly hope that it won't be because of or for the reasons that she had to say those things last night.)

I was so heartened to hear about your stance last Saturday regarding the Armenian Genocide.  I am grateful that you finally acknowledged something that our government has been too cowardly and craven to do for years.  It felt...good that after so many years America was finally willing to acknowledge a wrong-doing by another country--one that the Armenian people hold dear to their hearts.  I am hopeful, too, that by acknowledging their pain and their suffering, we may be able to help them begin to heal from it.  Hiding from the truth only hurts us in the end; so, I believe this was incredibly important.

I continue to look forward to all the great work you have planned ahead--from infrastructure to taxes and health care.  I have seen your continued dedication and your administration's tireless efforts to work toward a vision of prosperity and hope for our country's people and its future; and while I know that it isn't going to be easy to get people to see beyond their own interests, I am hopeful that they'll be willing to try...eventually.

I got my second vaccination this past Thursday, and am now just waiting out those two weeks until I can safely venture out into the world again.  And while I'll still need to don the mask and continue to wash my hands (after all, that's a sound way to stop many diseases,) I'm really looking forward to when I get to visit my parents this summer without the mask.  I really, honestly, can't wait.  It seems like it's been forever since I felt that way.  Relief coupled with hope; excitement coupled with cautious optimism--and that underlying fear that we may be dealing with this for a long time to come.  I want to hope, but I also want to have a realistic path moving forward is I guess what I'm trying to say here.  Going back to the way things were isn't good for anyone; so, please let's not keep making the same mistakes.  I'm pretty okay if we make a few new ones to learn from, though.

April 23, 2021. (Photo by JIM WATSON / AFP) (Photo by JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images)

Last but not least--Earth Day.  While it was overshadowed for me by getting my second shot, I've been thinking a lot about how to shift my mindset from a consumer to a protector--from someone who is encouraged by our corporate businesses to discard the old and buy "new new new!" to someone who seeks to buy into companies and ideas that conserve resources instead of merely expending them.  I've been considering the idea of the "whole life" of products lately--like what happens to the plastic containers and packaging that house the products that help me to be my best self, and I am thinking that this is something we need to do more of going forward.  We shouldn't create waste without knowing how we're going to dispose of it--how it will effect the local and global environment, and we should be encouraging companies that take those kinds of views into consideration rather than just rewarding those who are looking merely to make a short-term profit.  Those are responsible things to be doing as protectors and stewards of this world and this life we've been given, and I hope that people will begin to start viewing things that way if our leaders will, too.

And so with that, Mr. President, I think I'll get back to trying to catch up on everything I missed this past weekend while I was taking a bit of a break from the world.  I hope your week ahead is a good one, and I'll catch up with you next Sunday.  Until then, lead well, be safe, and do the right thing.


~~ Jenni

Dear Mr. President

 Dear Mr. President,

It was really hot today--not the normal kind of hot you'd expect mid to late April, though perhaps I could expect it in May.  No.  This was one of those days where the heat snuck in from the outside and smothered things on the inside making it hard to do much of anything at all.  Yeah.  It was one of those kinds of days today.  Which is fine really, since I don't really plan a lot on the weekends if I can help it.  Those are days where I'm meant to relax and try to catch up with myself a bit after working through all the craziness that happened during the week.  And I have to say, I think I had an almost perfect weekend save for that heat.

I finished a few books this week/weekend--nothing but pleasure to read, but I'm also in a new book club and we're currently reading Camus' The Stranger.  Trying to understand that book is like going back in time and trying to untangle a narrative that I feel is still depressingly relevant.  The stories of colonization and slavery, segregation and religious intolerance around which that narrative is entwined leaves me wondering if we've actually ever really addressed the problems, or if we've just been covering things up and dealing with the symptoms as best we can hoping time and memory will make the problems just magically disappear.  Which, for the record, I don't think works too well.  And when we gloss over things--pretend they don't matter for long enough, we start to believe the lies someone else long before us told us.  And I don't think that's a healthy thing either.

There are some old enmities still floating around in the dark spaces of our current conversations, and I guess I just feel like those shouldn't be overlooked in our biases and the way we look at the world.

Speaking of old things, I have been reading a lot about making more seats on the Supreme Court, and I don't have any good reason to like the idea, but I do.  Just the same, I know that some of the best group work happens in smaller groups (scientifically speaking) of about 4 to 6 people.  Still, I love the idea of having thirteen supreme court justices--one for each of the original 13 colonies of the United States.  And think about how having a larger court might make decisions to retire less...worrisome over time?  Still, some voices might get lost in that large array of justices, but maybe that isn't a bad thing either.  Maybe our justice should reflect more ideas than just those of four or five people.  I guess what I'm saying is that without studying the matter a whole lot, I still like the idea and the number 13 for no other reason than that it sounds pretty cool.  Not a great reason for making decisions; I know.  But it is what it is.

I can't speak much on the childcare and military withdrawal efforts you worked on this week as I don't have kids of my own, nor am I much involved or well-versed in our current military goings-on.  So I will leave that to better and more informed voices.  I did want to say how glad I was to know about your allowing transgender people to serve in the military once more, though.  It may be the only way that they can get the care they need, sadly, since we're not about to go and overhaul our whole health care system--even if we really should.  But I guess I just wanted to say thank you for that.  From where I'm sitting, it feels like a good thing; I just hope that one day all of society will stop being so hung up about all of that.  But I guess if we're still holding on to old ethnic and religious grudges, I'll likely be waiting a long time for trans acceptance as an established thing here in all of America, too.  Still, it's a step in the right direction.

I felt really happy to see that states and cities were stepping up to help you all with the border situation.  I know it's only a stop-gap measure and that you're all working on the real problems, but those aren't likely to be solved any time soon either.  So it makes me proud to see Americans working to help solve the problems rather than just condemning them.  And you should be proud of those mayors, governors, and city officials, too.  We do need to look at a longer-term plan here, though, and I hope you've got something in the works.

The biggest thing I wanted to talk to you about tonight is nuclear energy--which inevitably means I need to speak to you about nuclear waste.  I know that you've said moving forward that nuclear energy needs to be on the table, and while I like the idea of it (especially with our newer technologies and methods,) we shouldn't start something without figuring out what we're going to do with our nuclear waste.  It's a problem Japan is having to deal with.  That Russia had to contend with.  That the EU on Russia's borders are having to monitor.  And the thing that's making our relationships with other countries such a nightmare right now--not nuclear waste specifically, but nuclear proliferation.

The only solution I've come up with in over twenty years of thinking about the problem is to send it into space toward the Sun.  But, of course, there are the hazards of getting it into space, and then what does it do to the Sun?  And if the ship explodes...etc. etc. etc.  But the more I think about it, the more I am still convinced that shipping nuclear waste to the Sun is not a bad idea.  I mean, the Sun is full of nuclear reactions--right?

I guess my point here is that before we start building the nuclear energy dreams of our future, we should look at the costs associated with it--especially the costs of the waste it generates.  We are spending millions of dollars dealing with that right now, and if we continue down the path of nuclear power generation, it isn't going to magically decrease or become less of a problem unless we figure out how to deal with it now.  That's not something we should be leaving to future generations; it's not something that should have been left to us.  But here we are, and there you are.  And I just want you to really stop and take a moment to consider this thing before we get sucked into some "great American Dream" that becomes a great American tragedy because we didn't think about the whole life cycle of something we create.

And with that, I think I'll end for today, Mr. President.  It's late; I'm tired, and I just spent the whole day looking at a screen (reading.)  And I guess I just want to rest a little.  Hope you're having a good week, and hopefully this next one will be even better.  John and I are set to get our vaccine shots on Thursday; so, we'll see how that all goes.  And I guess until next week, let's both do our best.

Until then, Mr. President....

~~ Jenni

Tom Brenner / Reuters
President Joe Biden and Japan's Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga arrive for a joint news conference in the Rose Garden at the White House on Friday, April 16, 2021

Dear Mr. President

Dear Mr. President,

Through no particular rhyme or reason, this week has been a tough one for me; as I settled down today to write this letter to you, my inclination was to skip it.  With so much going on in the world, and with so many things I'd like to be doing, taking the time to write this letter just seems like one more chore to get through today.  But as I looked back over the past week at all the things your administration has been doing, I found myself smiling--being pleasantly surprised, and feeling in some small way like what I've been writing here matters.

Probably my favorite moments were Dr. Jill's press conference about Joining Forces, and then the videos of the White House Easter bunny.  But I also loved the sit-down with your Cabinet as they talked about your Jobs Plan for America--an infrastructure bill that, in my mind, is long overdue.  There was one photo that caught my attention, as well--something that resonated in my soul.

The POW/MIA flag flying atop the White House once again speaks to me of our continued commitments to our military families, something that was again echoed in the First Lady's project.  I hope you will speak more on this in the coming weeks and detail for us just how many people are still MIA or a POW in the world; their families deserve that attention and recognition, but more importantly they deserve a chance to heal and to be reunited with their loved ones.

Saying those things, I still find myself frustrated at the double standards that we hold--the choices that we are required to make in order to survive in a global economy.  There are enough criticisms of the MLB move alone--not even getting into the gun debate, or relationships with China and Russia, and our policies and actions in the Middle East.  One person's hero is another person's villain.  But I guess I am grateful that you are trying.  If our minds could be as wide as the world, our thoughts as broad, perhaps we could truly create a lasting good.  I don't if our country's founders had that vision in mind, but I do hope it is one we can embrace.

I want to say more on all of these things, but right now I'm just feeling drained and tired, Mr. President.  So, in lieu of our ofttimes longer conversations here, I think I'll leave it at that for today.  You've got so much on your plate, and I don't know how one sane man can keep track of it all.  So I'm glad you're not doing it alone, 'cause I'm pretty sure trying to do it any other way would be pretty insane.

Do good things and be kind to others until next week, Sir.  And give my love to your friends and family.

Tiredly, but not retiring from the fight,

~~ Jenni

Dear Mr. President

 Dear Mr. President,

As I become better at knowing where to look for information about what's been going on over the past week or so in politics, I find that I feel pretty overwhelmed by the inundation of information that various news sources and your own social network team produce.  It's like looking at a mountain at the end of each week from a place that seems like it ought to be half-way up only to find that I've still barely started on the climb.  It's a sobering experience, but I am grateful to still be learning and growing in my knowledge of the world and our government from week to week as I write these letters.

On a more relaxed note, I hope that you and your wife and family are also having a relaxing and enjoyable Easter Sunday--or at least that you got a chance to spend some time away from the grind that is our political dialogue--never-ceasing and relentless.  I was also moved by your proclamation today regarding today's Holocaust Remembrance Day.  Probably my favorite lines of the proclamation were these:

While hate may never be permanently defeated, it must always be confronted and condemned. When we recognize the fundamental human dignity of all people, we help to build a more just and peaceful world. In the memory of all those who were lost, and in honor of all those who survived, we must continue to work toward a better, freer, and more just future for all humankind.

That said, I wish you'd done more for Vietnam War Veterans Day this past week.  My step-dad was a Vietnam War vet, and while I can't say for sure that talking to him that day about his own thoughts and experiences of the war, I felt like there was a burden being lifted from his soul--if only for a short while.  We can't choose to discard moments of our own history; we must remember them and learn from the lessons that those moments seek to teach us.  I hope next March 29th you'll remember them, too, as you have done here with the Holocaust.  Death, violence, killing, war--these things leave scars on all those who experience them, winners and losers alike.

I'm glad to see that your Infrastructure Plan is getting underway, and I can see the timeline getting more settled into place as the days pass.  I do find it amusing, though, to see lawmakers having to deal with other issues--like legalizing marijuana, for instance, peppered throughout the infrastructure conversation.  I know Chuck Schumer has a reason for this, and I expect it has more to do with setting up some sort of legal standards like we have for alcohol use.  In that I certainly can't fault him since we've got states that have made it legal now.  But setting good precedents, having good and sound legal arguments on the issue could actually lead to some bipartisan legislation, as well.  I guess what I'm saying is that you probably shouldn't discount the issue, even if there are more pressing concerns to deal with right now.

I expect I am not alone in being worried about what this weekend's holiday celebrations are going to unleash in the coming two weeks and subsequent month.  My hope is that with the push to vaccinate, we'll see a rise in COVID-19 cases, but not as big as it might have been, and hopefully nowhere near as deadly.  Still, I am worried, and I know it's going to be a hard time come the end of April and beginning of May.  My hope?  That I'm wrong; that would be pleasant.  I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

So...there's a lot to your infrastructure plan--I mean, a whole lot.  And while I know it's hard to talk about specifics when the legislation is likely going to be turned into a punching bag before its done, I hope you'll get Mayor Pete out there on your Facebook and other social media pages to talk to us about it.  Most days I barely have time for the TV, much less the news; so, it would be nice to catch up with him on social media since I know he's got a lot to say about everything.  I'm also excited to hear about the school reopening plans, and the group testing efforts sound cost-effective while continuing to keep people safe.  I'm looking forward to seeing how that continues to work out, and hopefully we'll get more media and news stories about that soon, since I expect a lot of parents would really like some good news right about now.

One of the things that I don't see union leaders understanding is that there's going to need to be retraining as we move toward a greener economy.  I think they need to hear more of that, and also some concrete examples they can offer to their own people on how to re-train.  Which also brings up another concern I've been reading a lot about this week--student loans and student debts.  Our student loans and debts programs probably need as much of an overhaul as our tax codes do.  And I think it's more important than our tax codes, really--especially if we're going to be asking people to switch careers to greener, less climate-damaging jobs.  Part of the reason that many union workers aren't able to transition from their old jobs to new ones are related to the costs of re-educating themselves.  We can't say we want to end their jobs and then offer them nothing in the way of a path forward; that's just not acceptable.  So keep that in mind, please.

I'm a little disappointed in the 2030 date for broadband everywhere in the U. S., but I guess it's better than nothing.  I read one comment about your clean, public transportation plan where someone from a rural area basically outlined the biggest problem you're going to have coming from that demographic of the country; they basically said they don't want it, and they don't need it.  And while the first is something that can be changed, it's more the second idea there that I feel needs addressing as it plays into the first.  I expect a lot of people out in the country are worried about losing land for construction projects (without realizing the loss of land for things like gas and oil pipelines.)  They're probably also worried about people coming into their cities and counties that they don't know--or worse yet, are foreign investment companies looking to profit off the venture.  Trust is an important factor in getting rural areas to accept these kinds of ideas, and it's important to listen to their concerns, because they make up a pretty big portion of the country; they may not be as populous as big cities and other suburban areas, but your plan affects them, too.  And instead of dismissing their fears, I believe it's important to acknowledge them and have a real conversation about them.  One of those fears might be the worry that people who don't have similar ideas and values might use that public transportation to upset the balance of those small towns and rural areas; they may want to urbanize a place that has always been content with not-big-city ways--worried that they'll have to start fencing things off, or worried about increased crime rates.  Adding increased public mobility to our country's infrastructure can have a lot of benefits (like increased tax revenue, or more money for local businesses,) but if the negatives outweigh those benefits, how is your plan then actually helping to build America back better?

Let's see....  You talked about who you're going to nominate for the open positions in the Department of Defense, which is a good thing.  I think lawmakers were starting to worry, especially about the civilian oversight positions being unfilled.  There was a note about the new "Cyber Czar" also not being filled as part of your executive administration.  And may I just say that I think a lot of kids are laughing at the title?  Cyber tends to denote "cybersex"--which, well, ...anyway.  The title is a horrible one.  I'd definitely look into changing it.  Maybe call it the National Information Technology Director?  Or the National Cybersecurity Director?  Or even just National IT Design and Repair Director?  Kidding about that last one, but honestly anything would be better than Cyber Director--literally anything.

Saw the picture you had of your first Cabinet meeting.  How'd that go, by the way?  I didn't see much press coverage or even mention of it on your Facebook page.  It didn't look very cozy or chummy, though; it looked like you were all attending the Evil League of Evil's Board Meeting.  And while I get that spacing needed to happen due to the current pandemic, it didn't really lend a vibe to me that these people were close to you in any way, which I guess is something I always believed a Cabinet should be with the President.

Also, I really love that you have so many plants in the White House.  I hope you'll shine a light on the people that do that for you and your administration.  They definitely deserve some recognition, especially since I heard that one of the grounds keepers (?) got bit by Champ.  I guess just like people, dogs and cats have a hard time with moving.  I hope Champ starts feeling more comfortable in his new home soon, and I hope the person he bit is all right, too.  Sometimes it's important for animals to get to know the people that they're spending time around a lot; so, hopefully you can help make Champ's transition a bit easier by exposing him to more people so he can start feeling more at ease.  That said, I think he's getting a bad rap.  Maybe have someone who's worked with him a lot talk about how animals deal with transitions; this can help send a more positive message out to the animal-loving community and maybe help those who don't have animals (or are outright afraid of them,) understand our furry friends better.

I love that your wife is continuing to work as a teacher; I think this is positively amazing, and while I don't want to interfere with her day job, I hope she can start highlighting teachers from around the country--their concerns and their hopes and ideas on how to improve education.  It's just exciting to think that she could help lead that kind of conversation for our country, but I understand if she's kind of busy at the moment.

I'm glad that we're starting to work more with our European and Asian allies again, and I'm glad that it's starting to help bring us back to the negotiating table with other countries like Iran.  I was really excited to see that you removed sanctions from the International Criminal Court.  I think that's definitely a step in the right direction.  And while I understand that we aren't a member state and part of the Court's jurisdiction, I feel like shutting them out entirely was the wrong message to be sending.  So, I hope in the future we can find a path forward with them--or maybe even join as a member state one day.

And since I don't want to spend my whole day writing this letter to you, Mr. President, as I'm sure we both have things we'd rather be doing this holiday, I'll leave it here for now.  It's definitely going to be a bumpy couple of months ahead, but summer is looking brighter and brighter all the time.  Thank you for continuing to serve our country in the best way you believe you can.  I guess I'll be seeing you next week, Sir.

Until then, I remain,

~~ Jenni

Pittsburgh March 31, 2021 (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)