Look Closely

 Dear you,

Yes, the beautiful may be small. But consider a couple of not so beautiful small events, symptoms of our national/global fracturing and tilt towards dystopia.  First, there is the recent fire bombing of a Unitarian Church, a church in Plano Texas.  The church is known for acceptance.  This of course includes the LGBTQ community.  Prior to the attack (luckily, no one was hurt), an anti-LGBTQ troll visited the church with a couple of wingmen. The man, Bo Alford, creates Youtubes testifying to his war on this segment of society.  The aforementioned church visit was featured on one of those videos. See NBC.com news:  "At the end of the video, which has been viewed more than 200,000 times, the men stand by the church sign and ask viewers to "pray for these people," calling the church "pagan and satanic."  So yes, many see the link between the bomb and Bo.  Local authorities, however, haven't established that connection. Alford's defense, again from NBC.com. appears in an email (look for the spelling error):

“First and foremost, my prayers go out to anyone effected by the fire. As to the accusations, My channel spreads the message of Jesus and his love for us. If you watch the video you will see the members of the church having nothing but nice things to say about us. She enjoyed our conversation and even ended it with a hug. The fact we are being labeled as a hate group and being tied to this fire in any way is appalling.”

In his social media bios, Alford describes himself as, "Believer Of Christ YouTuber/ Boxer/Pro Lib Troller." His videos often feature him and his friends "pranking" politically and socially liberal Americans, particularly focusing on members of the LGBTQ community."

Oh, okay.  Not a hate group but a PRANKING group. Whew.  No problem, Bo. You are probably pranking all the educated libs with that homophone error too (effected instead of affected). Ha, ha, ha! I said HOMOphone. You are so funny, Mr. Alford. But, seriously, have you considered how your little videos encourage other idiots of your ilk to act out violently?  Have you considered your Christ and thought about the "what would Jesus do" message on that T-shirt you probably own?  Pointless to ask.

Next event, here in Seagrove Beach, FL.  My stroll studying visitor bumper stickers this week introduced me to another Texan and his point of view.  The sticker: an American flag with three words, "Jesus and Trump!"  I expected this. My assessment when I first saw the car's owner was right, unfortunately. The previous evening, I watched pelicans cruise over the coast while stationed at my south bedroom window. I heard a bang, looked down to the source of the noise, a man slamming the trunk of his vehicle. Trunk secured, he strutted to the driver's side costumed in tight denim slacks, tucked in long sleeve shirt (red, very red), pointy cowboy boots, and a big old cowboy hat.  So, what do you think my read on this guy was?  Besides the idiocy of all that hot clothing on a "feels like 110 evening", I judged him as idiotically conservative, probably a Christian Nationalist. I did a fast bias check and tried to shut down the judgment. Appearances mean nothing. Be cool, Joyce! But then, the next day, I saw the sticker.  Small but not beautiful.

I hate being right. Small sketches, big picture.

But as Kant advises, I must look for the beautiful small sketches too.  Right now, I look up and out and see clouds forming for a cooling rain, an ancient longleaf pine standing strong, cat Coco lounging on the bed, a delicious cigarette sending up smoke signals in a crystal ashtray, a happy child headed to the beach, twirling fans overhead, etc. etc. etc.

Looking Closely. 

Joyce

War On Woke

Dear you,

Where to begin? I'll begin here, right here in Florida where the assault on enlightenment continues.  Recently, Leon County banned the following books from high schools:

Push by Sapphire

Dead End by Jason Myer

Doomed by Chuck Palahniuk

Lucky by Alice Sebold

Me, Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews

According to Moms for Liberty (them again) who made the initial complaint, these books did not meet state requirements.  Key requirement? To "protect students from woke indoctrination in schools".  Once again, life stories (fiction or nonfiction) are labeled dangerous.  More voices silenced because they might wake people up.  The rage against the "woke machine" is pretty obvious in its motivation; keep them dumb, numb, and obedient. Keep them asleep. The Ragers have now extended their project beyond literature.  Actual history is being rewritten in the most 2 + 2 = 5 way possible.  The Florida State Board of Education now requires instruction about how "slaves developed skills which, in some instances, could be applied for their personal benefit."

Oh for the love of god.

These people told us what they wanted and they are making it happen.  The Christian White Nationalist dream is gaining traction.  Listen to Alabama Senator Tommy Tuberville defend himself against assertions of racism by stating throughout his life he has "dealt with" minorities as a coach, etc.  He dealt with them. We use that verb when referring to things we handle or tolerate.  We deal with annoying neighbors, we deal with inflation, we deal with toothaches, we deal with flight delays.  The senator wants validation for dealing with minorities.

Unbelievable bastard.

Tommy and his crew have a pretty clear mission statement:  WE WILL DOMINATE AT ALL COST.  WE WILL TELL YOU WHAT TO DO AND WHAT TO THINK.

This is where we are.  And I, in Seagrove Beach, Florida, am surrounded by the advocates of this fucked up dominance.  The sad thing is the majority of those advocates are getting screwed over by the people they support. They will remain uneducated, unenlightened, asleep. And they will continue to dump their money into the coffers of the grifters just like the poor dude I passed on the beach cross-over yesterday.  He wore this:

He paid for that; he chose to be an advertisement for Trumpism at his own cost. Poor dude. He was intoxicated, crimson from sun exposure, and rather unfortunate looking. I wonder why he didn't just buy a "Fuck Joe Biden" suit. Perhaps this trunk wearer didn't want to offend the women and children he surely believes he owns. I wonder what makes him tick, why he supports a movement whose key aim is to erase/rewrite truth?  Doesn't that require an awful lot of angry effort? Chuck Palahniuk answers that question in Doomed, one of those five banned books:

"It's exhausting, the energy it takes to unknow a truth."

Bless their weary hearts. Damn their twisted actions.

Stay energized, my friends.  So much to protect and defend these days. #TruthMatters

Love,

Joyce

Happy Muted 4th of July.

Dear you,

Post-Independence Day, I reflect on that (for me) muted holiday.  My joy is on mute.  As fireworks exploded around Seagrove Beach last night, I paced around grumpy.  Independence Day?  It felt like Dependence Day.  We depend upon the decisions of a Supreme Court to tell us how free we are. Last week's bloody verdicts, not so good for individual freedom, unless of course you are a white Christian nationalist.  We depend upon the cruel whims of certain governors like my DeSantis whose captive state legislature dropped more restrictions on citizen choice.  Among the worst there, a thumbs up for using toxic waste to build highways; yes, radioactive roads.  Add that to the list of fun things to enjoy in the Sunshine State.  We depend upon branches of government that are partly or wholly owned by a gun lobby.  See the list of 4th of July holiday mass shootings.  Overall, I am not feeling independent at all.  And yet, the flags flew, the grillers grilled, and the locals and visitors here donned their favorite red, white, and blue beachwear.  Party on. Me? I'd rather adopt my cat Coco's strategy; curl up and snooze with paw blocking input, a very effective muting action. Wake me up when it's over!

Today, the morning after, I am determined to turn off the mute button and regain my Aurelian sense of "carry on", and as always, comedy helps.  Case in point, the recent political ad by my governor attacking Trump for being too soft on the LGBTQ demographic. In the ad, we see shots of male body builders. I guess these represent his idea of masculine normalcy.  Oh, Ron.  Your fans may not get it, but that choice is so obviously homoerotic, one can infer something different than you intend. And we see this:

Ah, the dream of laser eyeballs that can target and eliminate those pesky "others".

Maybe that's not funny after all.  Moving on, I check out my foolproof source for laughter, The Onion.  Their current edition's Breaking News headlines:

Oath Keeper Shoots Out Other Eye

Mysterious White Powder Found In West Wing Identified As President Biden

Texas Governor Adds Backup Prayer System To State Electricity Grid

Critics Say Submersible Should've Been Tested With Poorer Passengers First

CEO's Skill Set Transferable To Any Job That Requires Dumbass To Receive Big Salary

Smiling temporarily!  But still, reality kinda bites right now.  Dependency bites.  You say this too shall pass?  Excellent.  Just wake me up when it's over.

Meow.

Joyce