Turkey Update!

“How are the turkeys doing?” I get that a lot from people who followed the great turkey invasion and our steps to quell it, last year. Well, that was last year and this is this year.

I went to harass one off the lawn last week and I just didn’t give a shit anymore. Which is funny because they have literally shit all over my roof and sidewalk a lot this fall. The inundation is an insurmountable problem for now, so I am taking a more live and let live approach. Candice from Fish and Game hasn’t contacted us this year to set another trap up. I think she is disheartened too.

In some ways, it’s a good metaphor for what is happening now in Spokane and all over the United States. We have been invaded by turkeys, and they are shitting all over! It’s not that we shouldn’t take a stand against all the racism, homophobia and trans hatred that the fascist/racist turkeys now feel safe to shit upon us. It’s just that, personally, I am going to be more involved in some soft-spoken (witness televangelist/politician Mike Pence) politics and discourse, hopefully stemming the feelings where a lot of this hatred comes from.

I am reading about political systems again, especially the work of MLK and Gandhi. I believe in nonviolent change. That changing people’s hearts through education and empathy always wins over change by a gun barrel. I am subscribing to political magazines, again. Sarah and I just bought Bernie’s book at Aunties - where we probably paid more than we would have on Amazon, but buying this book in our local bookstore means more to me than saving money right now. By the way, I still have one of my poetry books still on sale at Aunties - bottom shelf - hard to find.

Sarah and I are back to, at least part time, veganism. We were led back to the straight and narrow by two of our boys whom we had introduced vegetarianism and the ethos behind it when they were very small. Thanks guys.

I am listening to more Thom Hartmann. And reading one of his books. Obviously, I am writing more. I have also been busy dealing with, since this summer - a kind of mixed-bag thing which will all get sorted out.

I know to my Conservative friends this may seem like a lot of Liberal hand-wringing and a totally intellectual egghead response to the rising of The Right. Believe me, the stakes are higher than you know for me - from seeing the ones I love lose fundamental freedoms to the elimination of my labor union to the destruction of our state’s rights. All these concerns are very tangible and very expected. But, I stand by my earlier observation, that no matter what the election result, we are still on the correct long-term trajectory (if you are interested, I will send you my article). Now unfortunately, the truth is that Sarah and I are probably going to be on the downward blip during the rest of our lifetimes, and we will have to work hard to stop the downward momentum so others can start the climb up again.

There are more active steps coming from me, but right now, I am preparing and you should be too. For me, despite the rhetoric, despite the chilling appointments to his cabinet, I still hold out some hope in the Trump Administration. Why? Because I have to. And you never know.

When it goes south, when the real bad stuff starts happening, it will be something that I have trained for. I used to be there, years ago, fighting. I have gotten physically old and intellectually flabby. I am back in training. I didn’t think I would ever have to get back in the ring again. In a way, I am thankful for the rekindling of the flame.

My hope is that those of you who voted for this will own it, and that you will reflect upon your decision in the coming years. But, I am pretty sure that won’t happen. I can point to two terms of GWB and your amnesia regarding wanting the Iraq War in the first place. As someone who was jeered at and booed at during an anti- prewar rally, I know there are so many of you out there in Spokane. But in the meantime, I will have empathy for you, especially the poor government-assisted, white men who hate government whose order at Starbucks takes too long. Making nice to the literal turkeys of destruction is teaching me how to do just that.