Each of you who were able to complete this extremely fast-paced semester (and didn’t have extenuating circumstances, and even if you did!) performed wonderfully. A 5-week semester is VERY difficult and you made it happen. (At least in my class.). Each of you chose topics close to your hearts and I enjoyed each and every presentation/discussion and to get to meet with you all face to face. I know that isn’t normally what teachers do with online classes, but I like to connect.
Thanks everyone for putting your hearts into your work. Critical thinking is difficult and that’s one reason why people don’t do it. It is also NOT TAUGHT in public schools. That is a manufactured, intentional tragedy committed by those who would de-fund our schools and oppose universal health care, but would give trillions to rich corporations, prisons and war. (Yes this is a red herring argument, I’m fully aware. HAHA!) You all know my biases; I am sure these statements don’t surprise you. Please pass on what you have learned to your beautiful children, brothers, sisters, parents, co-workers, and ELECTED OFFICIALS! Democracy is not a spectator sport; we ALL must participate or we will be affected to the detriment by our own lack of interest and clinging to temporary comfort. One last thing, when you speak to all those different people about critical thinking, do so with love. Even if you disagree with someone, you can still love them. Even if someone hurts you, you can forgive. If we harden our hearts, then we harden our minds and that hurts everyone. Love to you all, thank you for all your hard work.
Some quotes from the Moral Movement video:
“Silence is betrayal We affirm the voice of each human, that within each person is endowed these rights and recognitions. Racism is the virus that tears at our humanity.”
Please give some time from your day today. Sit and listen. Please listen. Please join us.
“…racism infects out systems and festers within the great democratic experiment that is America. …we won’t be silenced anymore…. by racist capitalism… BEFORE the virus.”
“There is enough for everyone to live free but there is not enough for corporate greed. Somebody is hurting our people and we won’t be silent anymore.”
Please give some time from your day today. Sit and listen. Please listen. Please join. Love you. Do more than just vote. We are the ones we have been waiting for.
“We lament because we love. We advocate for justice because we love. We speak difficult truth because we love.”
White Power & How To Confront It As A White Person
I remember dreaming last night in a fitful sleep. I went to bed thinking this: things in our world are both building and deteriorating. Systemic, institutionalized, implicit, and internalized racism are coming into our White collective consciousness and there are those who are resisting that truth, tooth and nail.
On my mind are the non-violent steps being taken to combat these ills (protests, vigils, marches, social media amplification of melanated voices, removal of racist statues and the banning of racist flags, White people doing their own consciousness work, ETC) and the backlash I deeply feel is coming to meet them. There are many more people on this continent now than after the 2nd Reconstruction (after which due to White power “ultimately led to the overthrow of that democracy and decades of whites-only rule”) or during our last Civil Rights movement, only about 50 years ago. What is being highlighted right now is the incessant use and prevalence of police brutality, especially against Black and Brown people.
Dumbfounding to me is the seemingly complete and utter lack of respect and dignity for human life. Vehicles being driven through groups of peaceful people. “Shoot them in the leg.” as if that is a conscionable solution? There has been a manufactured crippling of critical thinking skills and intentional building of hatred via indoctrination and propaganda. There is a distinct and variable lack of morality — lack of care for the common good — lack of devotion to the common principle of opponents having equal worth. There is a serious and rampant deficit of concern for people or the planet or for life in general from those who would wish for things to stay as they are (or even worse, hearkening back for when they were “great”).
The depths of the aforementioned violence is not solely exclusive to the police — the hearts and minds of all who have grown up in this country are also painted with that same racist, bigoted brush. In no way is it possible to have grown up in this country without being racist, no matter how much you would like to think to the contrary. Racist history makes one either racist outright, silently, unknowingly or for Black and Brown people, racist against one’s own self (internalized). (See WEB DuBois for more on this: here.) Our history of OCCUPANCY in this country began with genocide of Native American people. Very soon and subsequently after, the economy of White, rich men (landowners/thieves/dominators — call them what you will) and their descendants, began to thrive on the backs of African bodies, owned and sold, existing in forced and disgusting slavery. What is not often discussed here is poor White people who were also marginalized — by that I mean never included in the dominant ruling class. They were however, and most importantly, pitted against their Black and Brown counterparts.
Our history has given birth to us as direct descendants who perpetuate mass violence, poverty, inequality and also silencing of dissent. Those inherited perpetuations directly injure Black, Brown and Indigenous people of color. Poor White people have been historically and purposefully convinced of our superiority and by swallowing that pill to save our own asses against exploitation and brutality, we pass that exploitation and brutality to our Black and Brown brothers and sisters. We have participated in one of the greatest fallacies in human history. Being deceived by “those in power” (rich, white, male, power-hungry executors of violence) has created harmful White violent culture and a poverty of conscience. Those of us to whom the powerful give some riches and some privileges pacifies us into submission and makes us tolerant of some racism (appeasement). We see that gatekeepers most certainly will not simply hand over stolen, unearned wealth and unsound privilege. Some who profit from this fallacy and their leaders will cling, like the great Smaug, to the mounds of hoarded gold and silver, aka toilet paper, hand sanitizer, land and powerful positions of authority. Having a divided racist class system protects the powerful. They will use the media to confuse and divide us further. What these allied classes look like however, are you and me, people in police or army uniforms, many of us never stopping to think about what it is we are actually protecting, that is, White power.
Another outfit worn by the protectors of the powerful elite are white collars and corporate suit-wearing humans, confused into thinking that a savvy tongue and piece of that pie will save them when the shit hits the fan. Unfortunately, it will not. You too will be pushed out of the lifeboat when this ship is sinking of its own burning weight in riches.
All of us manipulated gatekeepers have access to power with our White skin, but lack the insight and ability to truly question or, dare I say, threaten White power with Love and radical, sacred inclusion. We will continue to unknowingly — very well knowingly — perpetuate this cycle of violence set upon our Black and Brown Spirit siblings and, insidiously, our very own selves, unless this collective consciousness is tapped SO HARD as to turn on the light and take on the risks and tasks of anti-racism with our every action and breath. We have to give away, willingly and with grace, the privileges of our White skin in order to uplift our more oppressed neighbors of color. Then, we can start rectifying our collective cycle of divided existence in this country. This has never been done on a mass scale. There are current examples, minuscule efforts of some humble White people. Give up seats in the Senate and General Assembly. Give up board of directors appointments. Give up our seats on the bus. Give up our privileged, protected and powerful positions everywhere where that privilege keeps Black and Brown people down. That means at every level. That means in every stage.
That means in OUR hearts we must trust that we are not, in any way or shred of consideration, better than, more qualified or entitled to the opportunities in which simply our White skin has afforded us. It has never been about qualification (for those of you who are pissed about affirmative action), it’s about equity. We White people literally have to go backwards in order for our Brothers and Sisters to move forward. We have to get out of the way so that we can ALL be a part of the way, the new flowing of this rushing river. We may not be able to pay out of pocket (but we should try anyway) reparations. (Yes, I believe in reparations. The same way I believe the men who sexually abused me as a child should still be in jail and owe me some money, at least to cover my mental health costs). By giving of our own privileges, taking ourselves out of seats of power (the little power we have compared to the mega-rich and powerful), we can come together to fight the beast that is patriarchal capitalism run by rich, White men.
They certainly didn’t invent racism, violence or slavery, but they damn sure profited off the perpetuation and weaponization of it throughout our history in North America and worldwide. Exponential riches and power have been gained by global colonization and dominance, profiting from and exploiting the Earth and people of color, and so have we, regular White people, profited in our acceptance of trickle-down privilege.
White people in our own ways, in our own lifetimes, we, too, have profited and existed in a trickle-down privilege and that has to stop, NOW. Check your privilege in every moment you exist from this moment forward and ask yourself “Why?”. “How did I get this?” “Did I inherit this?” (See this and this for more on how to do this and this. Or hell, come talk to me, we can do this together.)
Next we can ask ourselves, “Who can I give this to or share this with?”. How can I, if I truly believe, as stated above, that I am in NO WAY superior to Black, Indigenous, and Brown people of color, give this up and work consciously for equality and equity?
PS: These questions above refer additionally to privileges of gender, ability… all the privileges and layers of marginalized identities which exist in this separate and totally unequal society. This means the environment, too. Mother Earth has also been marginalized.
It shouldn’t stop there — we should not stop just with White people stepping back and marginalized people coming forward in power. No, the transference of power will not appease me. Ayn Rand’s Anthem ends with the oppressed becoming the oppressor and this will not do for our future at this point. The transformation we need can lead toward a more nurturing economy led by people who understand oppression. We must begin thinking of the virtue of life itself, the virtue of a human being with inalienable rights of dignity and somehow instill an undeniable sense that there is value of life, value of difference, value of harmony in our economic structures, our political decisions and systems. Some say it may be possible that similar systems have happened before. This is our time to be an example, give a true gift to our children. What is it to both live in and transform the world we live so it can be a real, more just and equitable society? What is it that we truly need to thrive? What would better serve the planet and greater good of all living things?
What would better serve us right now is to realize that we White people inherit our privilege — our male-dominated culture dictates that one (__fill in the blank, color, gender, ability, etc__) is better than the other and that concept is, in every single way, wrong.
I say, have lofty fucking goals. Aim high. We may miss the mark and we most definitely will mess up. Forgive yourself and continue on. Don’t let fear of the unknown, making mistakes or losing friends keep you from working to exist in a world where we are all equal and Love wins, ’cause that time, is not right now, not yet. We all must make steps to get there, even if it happens after we die, we have at least worked for something greater than ourselves, for the Higher Power that is Serenity, Peace and Justice for All.
Dedication: This week’s edition of TuesDayNewsDay is dedicated to Amy Alexander and her family. Here is her obituary and HERE. We said goodbye to Amy on Saturday after she passed on last Tuesday. Last Tuesday, in lieu of a newsletter, Bruce and I did a memorial livestream on the Facebooks which you can see HERE. It is more and more difficult to speak of her in the past tense. Ryan and I had a talk about that. I have so many unutterable feelings. All I can express right now is my gratitude for her. I could never be more grateful for her presence in my life as a substitute mom. I love you Ma.
This is Amy, Loren and me:
This was us (the family of Alexanders and friends) at Thanksgiving last year:
This is Amy and her oldest son, Josh. Everyone knows him as Skip. I called him Skippo. He called me Stinkie. They are together on the other side now and to quote my post about this earlier this week: “My thoughts also drift to our brother Skip during this time. Time slows down when I think of him. There is something strangely comforting and tragic knowing that they’re on the other side together now.”
The week before last, another friend passed over the rainbow bridge, Paul Vasquez (the double rainbow guy) and I made a memorial video for him live on the Instagrams. You can see that HERE.
Quote: “WILD KINDNESS” by Jack Kerouac
“By practicing kindness all over with everyone you will soon come into the holy trance, definite distinctions of personalities will become what they really mysteriously are, our common and eternal blissstuff, the pureness of everything forever, the great bright essence of mind, even and one thing everywhere the holy eternal milky love, the white light everywhere everything, empty bliss, svaha, shining, ready, and awake, the compassion in the sound of silence, the swarming myriad trillionaire you are.”
Cat Stevens says, “Don’t be shy just let your feelings roll on by, don’t wear fear or nobody will know you’re there..” Today, as we lift our heads to the heavens all around us, it is with acceptance and grace that we move through grief and mourning those souls who have gone before. To be real as can be, this last year has gifted many opportunities for pause and reflection, gratitude and silence, reception and art, Spirit messages and an outpouring of gifts we can only begin to imagine. This may seem folly, overly light-hearted, or flippant – but please, know I say these things with extreme reverence in the midst and acknowledgment of the pain and suffering in our world right now too.
As I sit here on this magical rock, a direct connection to the heartbeat of this earth, I have no choice but to breathe and sigh, sit in awe of the moving spectacle of the water coursing through my toes, the sunlight pouring in through juvenile leaves of Summer. The Elm and Sycamore, the Box elder and Tulip Poplar are my Sacred canopy. The bees gently buzz in puddles left from the latest flood. I have been blissfully swimming in poetry and space, gifts of song and tears, all the while mourning and then once again, with dry and damp eyes, tapping into the divine through connections with others, these plants, the garden soil, growth, and my dearest buzzing, singing, trumpeting beautiful flying beings.
No, I cannot complain. Yes, there has been much loss. Yet, I am making my own type of peace simply by surrendering to what is. Supplication to blessings, even if they hurt. Nodding my head and heading in the direction to which I am called, without an ounce of regret or hesitation.
I love you all. Thank you for Being. Thank you for being there, being challenging, being real, being You.
ALM
Shows: Ha! I’ll do a live stream tonight on Facebook at 9pm! Here’s the link to my FB music page, that is where the live stream will be going on. Anita Lorraine Moore Music on Facebook
Visual aids and insights from Life:
Tulip poplar
Tamales with Bruce
Amy and the Eiffel Tower!
Thanksgiving 2018
Last photo Scott took of Amy being a Grama, one of her favorite things in the world.
Dedication: This is dedicated to the workers out there who have to go out. I am indebted to all of you working at the grocery stores, those doing double duty cleaning and trying your best to make people safe. This is going out to all the healthcare workers and first responders. You all have my respect and gratitude. I hope these ill-informed morons going out in protest to “open up” do not end up putting more extra burden on you in the long run.
from @peaceofthecircle
Song: “Tell It Like It Is” by Aaron Neville – oh my how this song hits the nerves and gives the goosebumps. For the numerous layers of truth in this song we’ve lived, one of the greatest for me is that the phrase “telling it like it is” is what my grandfather says when he’s “laying the law down” or rather, simply describing reality as he sees it. Unfortunately, folks who “tell it like it is” and see their reality as the way things SHOULD be or the way things are, ignoring other people’s right to exist and live without imposition, are creating havoc in the U.S. right now, going out there, being told “like it is” by extreme right-wing nuts with bad information, led by a bad president. Now I’m telling it like it is, huh… ? I say, speak from your heart, be honest and truthful, but also, have some critical thinking skills y’all. For Pete’s sake. Aaron Neville, “Tell It Like It Is”
Quote: “The status quo sucks.” – George Carlin …it’s going to take some major shit for things to change in our world. Perhaps we’re seeing the beginning. I sincerely hope we end up better than where we were when this began… The nihilist in me doubts that. The idealist in me knows that it is possible.
Dear Humans, This week, there is so much to say, but I’m so exhausted I can’t really say it. Work has been 3 times as much with my teaching going 100% online. I am doing 3x the work in preparation, grading, keeping in touch (ha… touch, not really) with students, and honestly, feeling very despondent about it all. It’s all the shitty things about teaching with none of the good stuff. No more students’ faces lighting up in those lightbulb moments, the chatter and laughter after I play a Trevor Noah clip and talk about how critical thinking is an essential skill to exist in this world, and the knowledge that everyone saw the material if they were there that day. When someone’s not in class, you know they didn’t hear or see the lecture. Online, you have to somehow quantify it and find out who really did see the lecture, then you have to grade them on whatever quantification method you’ve used to ascertain whether they understood the material…. it’s a circular nightmare, one I will refrain from boring you with from this point forward. Instead, I’ll read you some poetry about how I feel. Enjoy. Happy Tuesday. Pray for me, I’m struggling with motivation and depression, anxiety and deprivation. I’ll pray for you because I know you’re going through something too. I love you all.
Y’all, I have been up to stuff… I’m just about to go to bed: Fed the cat. Cleared the floor of the random things on it… a sweater, a shirt, some discarded sticky lint tape, my water bottle, the plein air paint set that I made, and some letters I need to read. After looking at the clock, realizing yet again that bed is further away than I would like for it to be, time-wise, and bam! I haven’t written my newsletter as yet and it’s STILL Tuesday, so I have time! Ok well, here goes: (Be sure to make it to the bottom. There’s a video of my grandparents dancing that is quite literally the most amazing video ever made. Perhaps I am partial.)
Bangin news: Tiny Desks accepted my new song. I wrote/completed that song 3 days ago (started the bones of it back in December), but the hefty sum came on Sunday. It feels surreal to have a song I’m barely familiar with to be accepted with such fervor, embraced even. I’m reeling in thanks and in disbelief.
Now, I’m sipping on mugwort and lemon balm tea to see if my subconscious dream world can help me process all that is happening. The mugwort AND lemon balm are just beginning to fill out in the forest and in my neighbors yards.
The new song is called “For Us To Seek Her”. It’s about Isolation versus Solitude. Depression versus Hermitude. (A word I may have made up.) Technology versus Flowers and Stars. Strength vs Vulnerability. It’s also about whether or not we need the VERSUS at all. How can it all co-exist without judgement? In Love, that’s where. …if only I could find that. Find it and know it.. Find it and keep it? Can we keep it? All those things, those dichotomies can all co-exist in our voices as we sing along to the natural soundtrack of our lives, no matter where we live. They can co-exist in flight or in grounding and rooting.. Choice versus subjugation. Something I said to a friend at breakfast one day was this: “Choice is all we get and change is all that’s real.” This new song is honoring the choice, the humanity, the disconnect and the connection of right now. It’s about how I want love and stability and to stand up straight and tall while flying headfirst into a blinding love that knocks me off my feet. It’s about how the world is keeping us apart and driving me mad. It’s about how we ingratiate technology with such reverence while it robs us of our perfect imperfections and our time. I guess this song is about life. Life as we know it. (Cue R.E.M. …and I feel fine)
All that said, I’ve been busy. Teaching, grading, checking up on students, talking to them on the phone, painting, singing, writing poetry, drawing, reading, journalling, dreaming, trying to sleep, walking, learning about more plant identification, smelling the blooms! The Black Locust tree has a divine smell….
This newsletter today is dedicated to all the people who have passed and their families due to the COVID outbreak. Just found out today that Sturgill Simpson has the COVID. I HOPE that man stays alive. He’s a visionary and one of the only modern country (alt-country, but seriously…) singers who gives a damn about world peace. (Sorry modern country, it’s true though.). This period has been heartbreaking and is changing our world. This is a divine culmination of which we cannot see the light at the end of the tunnel just yet. We must know there is light. There must be light. It is within each of us. We have to let it shine, now more than ever.
The QUOTE for today’s newsletter is this:
Because damn… don’t we all need to know that’s the case sometimes? I mean, let’s look at the “President”. His actions surely don’t reflect us as people, they reflect how inept he is at running a country full of living beings and at being a human himself… I will say this however, we NEED to not REACT, we need to ACT! COLLECTIVELY to fight this insane mfer and his cronies. Stripping the W.H.O. of funding? Are you effing kidding me? Jesus H. He and Richard Burr and all those money whores are just asking for protests in the streets when people can come out of their houses. I am looking forward to it. I digress.
The Song for today is this: I’ll share the new song “For Us To Seek Her” – here’s the version my friends got to see first. I think it’s better than the one Tiny Desks got, but hey, what do I know? Rules are rules. I had to make a new video just for NPR. PS Did I mention I’m effin’ STOKED. It’s such an honor to just say that they liked it enough to put it out there! So rad…
Dearest Humans,
This world is giving us some lemons. Please let us make more lemonade and not try to arrest the folks trying to sell it on the corner to pay rent. Let’s make a shit ton of lemonade. The good kind, with the pulp in the bottom that squirts in between your teeth when you get finished and it’s still cold because all the ice hasn’t melted yet. Just sayin’ y’all. This world needs more lemonade than a bunch of bitchy lemons. (FYI though: if you’re feeling bitchy, go with it. Honor it. Dream with it. Know the next good time is coming. If you’re feeling keen on seeing the world as a better place and hopeful, go with it. Make something better happen than what was happening before all this took over.) Let’s get creative and change our perspectives. I love you. Thank you for believing in me.
Now here’s a pretty painting I’m working on. I love pansies.
Keep going………. I promise the wait will be worth it. You get to see my grandparents dancing in the last video.
See? I told you Lucy. This is my favorite video in the world. I will most definitely go to my grave loving these two. Earle and Juanita Moore, you are so very sacred to me. Thank you both for making me into who I am, all the good and the not so good. All of it.
I am doing 3x the work in preparation, grading, keeping in touch (ha… touch, not really) with students, and honestly, feeling very despondent about it all. It’s all the shitty things about teaching with none of the good stuff. No more students’ faces lighting up in those lightbulb moments, the chatter and laughter after I play a Trevor Noah clip and talk about how critical thinking is an essential skill to exist in this world, and the knowledge that everyone saw the material if they were there that day. When someone’s not in class, you know they didn’t hear or see the lecture. Online, you have to somehow quantify it and find out who really did see the lecture, then you have to grade them on whatever quantification method you’ve used to ascertain whether they understood the material…. it’s a circular nightmare, one I will refrain from boring you with from this point forward. Instead, I’ll read you some poetry about how I feel. Enjoy. Happy Tuesday. Pray for me, I’m struggling with motivation and depression, anxiety and deprivation. I’ll pray for you because I know you’re going through something too. I love you all.
anita lorraine moore 