This week I have been continuously amazed and awe-inspired by a woman from Spain named Priscilla Hernandez. She writes music; she sings; she writes her own lyrics; she draws and paints. She makes many of her own costumes, and she is simply a beautiful person. This song in particular I helped inspire the title for, and it and another of her songs, "Longing to Bloom" have really incapsulated my feelings of late.
With the vaccination effort ongoing, there is this new sense of hope for what is to come, and with Easter just around the corner as the flowers are starting to bloom and storms are throwing themselves against our shores, it feels like there is an overall awakening as from a long, deep slumber.
Today is also SWAN Day -- Support Women Artists Now Day, and while I can think of several women artists that inspire me, I've felt as though Priscilla has been calling me the most this week to share her work, her beauty, and her hope with the world.
I think hope is something all of us could use right now; so, wherever you are, whatever you're doing, I wish you a hopeful spring full of blossoming inspiration, laughter, new friends, and new beginnings--the memories of those we've lost over the past year a touchstone that can grow our sorrows from pain into something that brings peace.
If you'd like to hear more of Priscilla's music, check out her Youtube Page, consider joining her Patreon, and if you're as enchanted by her work as I am, please look up her work on Bandcamp where you can buy her music!
I can't stop thinking of the images that I saw of Honduran migrants in The New York Times as they were deported to Mexico--not told where they were being taken by border officials, not given any warning until they were already across the bridge (at least according to their reports.) And I guess I'm ...angry, and frustrated--one that you couldn't offer asylum to people of Honduras who have nowhere else to go after hurricanes devastated their homes. We should have known this was coming, Sir. And you have the power to do something about it. These people deserve to be treated as human beings, and if that means we need more help there, then we find a way to fund it; we make that happen. I'm not saying to grant asylum to everyone, but those countries hit by hurricanes last year--one after the other? We should be helping them--not sending them away.
We've done our part in making South America what it is today, too, Sir, and as many South American people will tell you, most of it isn't good. We need to work more closely with them, though; and if we can't work with their governments, we should be offering those that want to leave them some hope for a better life here. Turning them away, even during (and perhaps especially during,) a pandemic is heartless. The message of "go home" doesn't seem to be resonating too well right now, either. But I hope you'll get a chance to clarify that on March 25th. It's just...seeing images like the one below and knowing there are thousands more like that--wondering if, someday, it might be me having to make such a trek to a new land, I want to be treated fairly, not taken places without being told where I'm going and given over to the authorities of some other country.
Photographs by Daniel Berehulak
I just feel like we could be doing more here, Sir. And I get it; we're still dealing with the pandemic. We're still trying to make it through our own emergencies, but that doesn't mean the rest of the world stops needing our help. I just hope you'll keep that in mind moving forward.
I am heartened by everything you're doing for the people of America with the difficulties of the pandemic still on-going, and I felt grateful to see your Nowruz celebration, and your statement against racial hatred--your willingness to work with leaders from the American Asian and Pacific Islander communities. I imagine after your predecessor's treatment of them, it must have been nice to feel heard and seen--to be believed. It won't end the hatred, but at least there's a spotlight on it, now--someone saying that it isn't right and won't be tolerated.
I loved the phone call you had this week with Jocelyn. Those are heartening moments, and you're getting better at them. I guess it's hard to make a phone call seem as real as a face-to-face interaction, but I am still glad to see them from week to week.
The thing about marijuana.... I understand the reasoning for it, but you also have the power to deal with that, as well. With so many states making it legal, maybe it's time to put in the money and research needed to make it legal at a federal level, much like we've done with alcohol. I can't imagine the people who lost their jobs are very happy, but marijuana use is illegal federally right now, and security clearance concerns need to be taken seriously--especially these days. But again, I think it's time we looked at changing those FDA regulations, Sir.
Easter's in two weeks, but I can't say I'm looking forward to it right now. There was some bad COVID news that hit close to home for me this week, and since I don't have the luxury of going and helping out there (still no vaccine available for me yet.), my emotions have been all over the place. Anger. Resignation. Frustration. Grief. Worry. Anxiety. You name it; I've probably felt it. It meant a lot to hear you reminding people to keep masking up, washing hands, social distancing, and all the rest. The worst part is, even if I could get there, being legally blind leaves me unable to actually help them in any meaningful way, either. And I have to say, that last really kills me the most--knowing that someone important to me is in need, and knowing, as well, that trying to do something to help may cause more trouble than doing nothing at all. It's agonizing to feel powerless, Mr. President. But I'm sure you know that better than most.
I feel like you've been somewhat defensive of late, Sir--curt with your answers in some cases without explanations as to why. I read your recent remarks after Marine One landed, and it felt like you were rushed or hurried, or worse still, that you weren't interested in really talking and answering questions. And I guess I get it. You're probably tired a lot--exhausted more like. But please remember not all of us out here are against you, Sir. Help us to understand what's going on. Remember that the reporters aren't always the ones whose questions your answers are reaching; remember that there are people out here wishing and hoping for the best for you and your administration.
I don't know what to say at this point with regard to Russia and China; I feel like they don't care about us any longer--bulls in a china shop wanting to plow ahead regardless of the consequences. I guess just keep doing your best out there and remember that we do still have allies who share our desire to see people free from oppression and able to make choices for themselves through government systems that don't seek to dominate, rule, and subjugate them. And as for Iran, as I said last week, I think we need to consider something new besides sanctions. Also, I think we should end the sanctions that came into being and work with them on creating a new deal--but I'd prefer if those deals were also made with Congressional approval; that way they can't just be changed on a whim.
Ah well...it's late. I'm tired, and it's been a long week. I did have a good St. Paddy's Day, though, and I loved seeing the fountain at your house changed to green for it. We went out for my birthday on Wednesday, a small, careful celebration with family and one friend. And let me just say how wonderful it was to be out with people again. I'll be glad when I can do that again without worrying. We were talking today about that July 4th comment you made, and I think many of us are longing for it with all our hearts--getting to be out in the world with other people celebrating again, the fireworks, the laughter, the hugs...most of all, the hugs. But, we'll get there when we get there, I guess, and in the meantime we'll keep doing what we can to make sure everyone stays safe.
There are still a lot of hills to climb yet, Mr. President, but we can be lights in the darkness, too. I hope you'll consider some of the suggestions I made. I was thinking, maybe we can create a better border experience, too--instead of walls, halls. Instead of cells, rooms. Anyway...I look forward to your press conference on the 25th. Remember that you're not alone and that people need to be told the complex things because the media is always going to try to make sound bites out of you. But the people who care are going to listen to more than just those moments.
And with that, I bid you good night, Mr. President. Try to get some rest, and I'll talk to you again next week.
So I just spent the better half of my morning trying to find a song. But I did find it, and I wanted to share my success with all of you. The song reminded me of today's blog title--a sort of feeling I got by the alliteration of the words that brought this song and its own alliterations to mind. So here it is--Sweetwater's "Through an Old Storybook."
I got some troubling news yesterday evening; so, the feeling's just kind of stuck.
Looking to the week ahead, I'll be doing more causes about writing and politics--which inevitably involves talking about the press, something that I've been wanting to do this month quite a bit. Over the past year, media and news sites have suffered and languished in many ways--local news organizations either thriving or dying as the pandemic took us all from the outside world to being stuck in our homes. I read a lot about the subject over the past year, and now I'm looking forward to sharing some of those discoveries.
Tomorrow's letter to the President is going to be a difficult one, namely because my own emotions are something of a mess right now. But I do want to touch on the immigration problems at our border. I also want to talk a bit about our government technology infrastructure. Do we even have an IT working standards governmental group--you know, a CDC for computer technology--best practices, best infrastructure setups, best practices for securing data at government sites, etc.? It would be nice to have some leadership starting from the top, since technology is so much a part of our lives now--and with the pandemic, it became vitally essential.
Mostly, though, I am just hoping that things don't get worse, and I'm deathly afraid that they will.
One last thing before I go: in April I'll be taking a break from writing daily posts here. These things take time and effort to write, and I have some other projects that I really want to dig into. So rather than sitting down to write these most days, I'll be getting to work on those other projects, some of which I hope I get a chance to share with you here as I'm doing them, or more likely, once they're done. So if you don't see much of me in April, that's why. The President will still get my letters, though.
Please mask up and stay safe while you're out there. I know many people have already gotten vaccinated, but there are many more of us, myself included, who haven't been able to get an appointment or aren't eligible yet for the vaccine. I know it's tempting to want things to be normal again, but they're not--not yet. So please, please please--be safe. Be considerate. Wear your masks, and wash your hands. The lives you can save just by doing that may not be important to you, but they are important to someone--and that someone could be you.
Been holding on to this one since the beginning of the year, but today it seems really important to say--especially the last part. I don't know where I got this or who made it, but if anyone knows or would like to claim it, please let me know and I'll be happy to add the appropriate attributions. Of course, this scene is taken from a Despicable Me movie--I just can't remember which one.
When it is finally ours, this freedom, this liberty, this beautiful and terrible thing, needful to man as air, usable as earth; when it belongs at last to all, when it is truly instinct, brain matter, diastole, systole, reflex action; when it is finally won; when it is more than the gaudy mumbo jumbo of politicians: this man, this Douglass, this former slave, this Negro beaten to his knees, exiled, visioning a world where none is lonely, none hunted, alien, this man, superb in love and logic, this man shall be remembered. Oh, not with statues’ rhetoric, not with legends and poems and wreaths of bronze alone, but with the lives grown out of his life, the lives fleshing his dream of the beautiful, needful thing.
I'm always reading in writing blogs that the biggest detriment to writing is the simple act of sitting down and actually putting words to paper--or more literally to the digital blank canvas. So rather than take a lot longer to get my first post done (as I don't really have a lot of time left in the day to get this finished), I am simply going to write.
That said, today was a long day of learning some HTML and CSS codes with John, figuring out what a creative commons license is, and what sort of license I actually wanted to use for my new blog. Then there was the long trial of trying to find a picture that could be used in the background that wasn't licensed as "non-commercial" (and believe me, there aren't very many of those), and then try to put everything together in such a way that my life is less of a horrible digital mess than it was about twelve hours ago.
Amidst all that were texts from my mom wishing John and I a happy new year, a call from Cynthia apologizing for being unable to join us for pizza night, and the inevitable need to get my site-write post finished for this contest thingie I am doing for World of Warcraft stuff on my server. All in all, I think I managed to hermit the day away in the wonderfully creative world of writing--while learning a smattering of things that I will no doubt forget before the new year dawns once more.
Useful way to spend my time?
Definitely.
I have so many things I want to share with those of you who come to read this blog--so much hope that maybe something I say here will touch you in some way and inspire you to do something more with this new year of 2014.
But for now, ...a humble beginning brimming with possibilities--and a mind brewing with all the wonders that I can't wait to share with all of you.
