A "hairy" entry from 2016; I had no clue these dudes would be so dangerous . . .

Dear you,

The top dude is Sir Johnson of the UK "we are out of the European Union" clan.  And you know who the bottom dude is.

Both have interesting hair in common.  Fluffy.  Crazy.  Strangely albino-like.

And under both of those hair-dos (or don'ts) we can find fluffy, crazy, strangely albino-like brains.

Shared nationalism of the 19th-20th century variety and fear of global anything dance around their gray matter.  Which I have now decided leads to hair-reaction!

Both share rebellious hair.  Those strands on each reactionary head long to fly free!  They want to EXIT those heads they reside on.  GET ME OUTTA HERE!

So, don't blame their hair.

Blame their brains.

And that is as deep as I am capable of being this hot June day, 2016.

XO

Your Joyce

Damage . . .

😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡

Dear you:


Closing out August and grateful for allies abroad who are tolerating our President and “handling” him.  Still, the Amazon is burning.  And we hash-tag away (#PrayForAmazonas) and hope.  Fire fighters and troops are acting, or so I am told.  This is beyond grief.  Yet another beyond grief moment during the Trump era.  That is the zoom-out perspective.  Here is the zoom-in, back at the Villas in Seagrove Beach:


The fall school session relieved us from massive children invasions, to an extent.  But others still appear with parents and baffle me.  Why aren’t they in school?  Oh, they are probably home-schooled.  Fine.  But, more importantly, why are they SCREAMING and having tantrums?  This morning, enjoying my coffee on the south landing, I heard “NO, NO, NO” over and over.  Yes, I know, young ones have fits and yell.  But this was weird and went on for an hour.  (I stepped out on the landing again later for a smoke and the drama continued.) I felt bad for the child and his parents.  This was not an abusive situation.  It seemed to be just a situation, an angry kid situation.  But what is happening here?  Why does this scream-tantrum festival happen so frequently in this zone?  Are our children as broken and fearful as our world, our leaders, our “adults”?


The CDC gave me some data that answers the question or is the beginning of another question:

Approximately 4.5 million children aged 3-17 have a diagnosed behavior problem.  Approximately 4.4 million have diagnosed anxiety.  Approximately 1.9 million have diagnosed depression.  (www.cdc.org)

Millions of damaged young humans.  What causes this dis-ease?  Bad food, lack of interaction with the natural world, weak parenting, social media (yawn, not that again), or the relentless popularity of The Real Housewives of _____________ series?


I don’t know. But something tells me a lack of being outside our own noise and noisy heads has something to do with it.  Be here now.  Let it be.  Don’t cry over spilled milk.  Mantras.  They probably don’t help.  However, given an opportunity, I would like to tell these little screamers that they have power; life is short; and most of all:

DON’T LET THE BASTARDS GET YOU DOWN.


Easier said than done.


Cheers to the day, to you, and good luck to Puerto Rico as Dorian approaches.  (Dear Dorian:  Could you please shift towards the Amazon and drop your rains there?)

Love,

Joyce

High Noon . . . animals on the brink.

Dear you,

The heat index in Seagrove Beach today is up over 100.  I got my outdoor workout done early, thinking it was still morning.  However, at the beach, friend Jake (beach equipment rental dude and cat caregiver for those felines remaining in Inlet Beach) informed me it was HIGH NOON.


Dumb move.  Me in a showdown with the sun at its height.  I dragged myself back to the Villas and finished random workout moves in shade trying to forget another HIGH NOON event going down:


Trump is gutting the Endangered Species Act.


Every day, another horror.  But this topic-area riles me the most.

This Act is 46 years old.  We still have bald eagles, grizzly bears, manatees, etc. due to its protections.

The Big Donald Administration is, of course, doing this to provide more access for drilling carnage, a little gift to big oil. I am pretty sure Sierra Club lawyers are all over this.  Help them:

www.sierraclub.org


And please call your congress-people, futile though that may be.

In this case, I don’t want to “let it be” and pray or act like a stoic.


Stay cool . . .

Love, Joyce

About last night . . . and Gillibrand

Dear you,


The Dem debate last night started as I feared:  a long discussion of health care policy.  Not to dismiss the importance of this, but since the world is literally melting and environmentally “sick”, the debate point seemed silly.  I have listened to these coverage debates for decades.  The only forward movement has been the evolution of philosophy considering health care to be a human right.


But still . . . something strange happened as the debate moved along.  My support of front-running hard- core candidates like Harris or even Uncle Joe weakened.  Why?  Because Senator Gillibrand disrupted the game.  There she was, all dedicated, experienced, and true to her word.  And on a panel of dark-suited tough guys and dolls (Gabbard’s white suit aside), Gillibrand seemed stronger, the strongest.


Listening to and watching Gillibrand, I thought about El Woods, the character featured in the above photo, and recalled how she was judged as fluff, too pink/too blonde to be smart.  Well, we know how that heroine won the day.  And, in my opinion, Gillibrand won the day/the night too.  Unexpectedly.  In a pinkish dress.  All legally, seriously blonde.  And her voice?  Light and kind even when passionate or pissed.  Are all these details, these signs and signifiers of  the “feminine” causing us to admire but dismiss her for a power position like POTUS?  


I hope not.
Check her record.

Look at how she is out there on the ground.

Look at how she won elections in a Republican district.

Consider and reconsider.

I am!


Love,

Joyce