for those asking (from fb - 20200531)

(this is a post I originally made on facebook, copied here and backdated so I can look back on it later)

(Oh, and for those folks that are asking "What happened to COVID??"

It's still there, and it's still infecting and killing people, and it is very definitely making its way through the groups out protesting. But they believe the risk is worth it, that the message is necessary in these fucked-up times.

They are putting their health and well-being on the line to try to stop injustice and to shine a light on the darkness that is festering and breaking through in our society, accepting the danger from the virus *and* from the response many are seeing as they speak out.)

I hope (from fb - 20200531)

(this is a post I originally made on facebook, copied here and backdated so I can look back on it later)

If you are condemning and dismissing the people protesting and their reasons for it because of the actions of a small percentage of the group, then I sincerely hope you did the same for the heavily armed, angry, tactical-geared people who broke into state and federal buildings earlier this month.

(And I very definitely hope you noticed the difference in responses: One set was met with law enforcement who stood silently in place while weapons were being brandished at them and government buildings were being occupied, while the others were met with shouting, riot gear, tear gas, and rubber bullets as they simply walked down the streets or knelt on sidewalks, long before a subset starting getting violent.

I also fervently hope you spent a bit of time thinking about the differences in the two responses and what it must be like to face that reality EVERY. SINGLE. DAY.)

powder keg (from fb - 20200530)

(this is a post I originally made on facebook, copied here and backdated so I can look back on it later)

Global pandemic. Millions infected, hundreds of thousands dead. Over 100,000 Americans dead from the virus and its effects. Massive unemployment. Financial devastation. Systemic discrimination. Divisive politics. Fear. Helplessness.

This was a powder keg. And yes, in amongst those trying to peacefully spread their message, there are those taking full advantage of an already volatile situation...but don't make the mistake of dismissing everything and everyone involved because of that. Look below the surface to what it took to get here.

If people protested having to wear a mask and stay distanced from others for a few months in order to save thousands from illness and death, imagine generations of people being told they are less-than, seeing people that look like them being hurt and killed more and more openly by those who are supposed to protect them.

People are angry that they aren't allowed to go to bars, gyms, salons. Now imagine living your entire life with the fact that you couldn't rely on it being safe to walk to work, birdwatch in the park, drive your car, go jogging, buy some Skittles at the local store, sleep in your bed. Your life these past few months is many people's entire existence.

And because I have to try: Please try to put yourself in the other person's place. Flip the script, swap the players. Seriously think about whether you would agree if "the other side" said those things, did those things, acted that way. Think about how you would feel, react, live if *you* were the one under the knee, in the park, behind the gun, in the car, with the badge, on the ground, at the grave side.

I know you can't force empathy, and I know that our bubbles are strong and hard to break out of. But please try.

Please see people as *people*. As individuals. Not as a label, not as "other". Not the enemy, not the excuse, not as a group.

As a person.

my own little may day (from fb - 20200501)

(this is a post I originally made on facebook, copied here and backdated so I can look back on it later)

My own little MayDay...five years since The Great Shingles Incident of 2015, five years (and counting) of postherpetic trigeminal neuralgia. No change in the past few years (grr), so life settled in to what has become the new baseline: avoiding triggers where possible (sun, wind, cold, wet, basically anything really), planning for down time after activities, accepting the weird twitches and spikes and Tourettes bouts of "Ow!", "Monkey buckets!!". "Gah!", "Mother PUS bucket!!" (and other less family-friendly epithets).

(A weird "advantage": I'd gotten used to wearing face scarves and gaiters for protection long before Coronapocalypse hit, so that came in handy. Umm, #silverlining?? Or more like #tinfoillining maybe?)

Big thanks to Will for dealing with this shit for so long; this isn't quite what we pictured when we pledged "in sickness and in health". And hugs to all my friends who put up with my twitches and postponements and inability to do everything I want to do. You guys rock.

(bonus pic of Railroad Bandit Stacey and Always Underfoot Darwin)