I have a friend  who is a good listener 

Who reminds me to be present Calms my often-raging mind Reassures me when I doubt myself. 

A fount of sparkling wit and comedic timing the most charming dinner companion A stand-up guy (as they say)  in every-day life. 

He sees things as they are drinks in the beauty of the ever-changing stream of what is

Knows his blessings One by one Is a blessing on his own. 

We almost lost him once The angels took one look

Said-

 “Go back”      

“It’s not your time”

 “Your heart has more to give” 

He landed with a thud back into his body-home Grew stronger there- 

Since then he gives and gives and gives-  Wide, open, unabashed Unrestrained As he is, where he is With what he’s got

(Always enough

Often more than enough)

And will 

until his 

day 

comes

When he’ll 

have 

   no 

      more

This Tedx Talk is from 2016, and yet it is entirely relevant today. 

Professor at U Washington Megan Ming Francis discusses her experiences being stereotyped as well as those of her students, and the way that even when other people observing know that it’s not right, especially when it’s a coworker, they stay silent, which allows the racial injustice to continue. 

To be clear, African Americans are not inherently more dangerous than white people, and yet it’s become ingrained and reinforced in a lot of the current population. I’m hoping that this is changing, as people examine their own implicit biases. And that more and more people speak out when they see something that’s not ok. Stand up for each other. 

This campaign is one I wanted to showcase here because they focus on policy and passing local and state regulations to reform the police force. 

The steps laid out are very common-sense, like limiting use of force and ending for-profit policing. It’s hopeful that lately, in the last couple days, the use of choke holds and strangle holds is being looked at, because those moves, especially on handcuffed and unarmed citizens, is completely reprehensible. 

I encourage you all to take a look. 

Link: 

I’m encouraging everyone to donate to these organizations. If you believe that our social interaction with police needs to change, if you can see that African Americans and other “minorities” are more adversely affected by interacting with the police than white counterparts, if you know that police shooting into peaceful protests with rubber bullets and spraying teargas, as well as being able to get away with total impunity the violent and fatal acts that have occurred in the last 5 years, but especially the last couple of weeks- then please, put your money where your mouth is. 

With Actblue, it splits the donation evenly between all of them, or you can choose which individual organizations you want to support in the quest for racial justice:

Black Lives Matter Global Network

National Bail Out

Know Your Rights Camp

Black Voters Matter Fund

BYP100

NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund

The National Police Accountability Project

Color of Change Education Fund

Unicorn Riot

Campaign Zero

Advancement Project

Higher Heights for America

Fair Fight Action

I donated $50- it’s not a lot, but feels like it when I a) don’t have a job anymore with only 1 more paycheck coming at 50% pay and b) don’t know WHEN I will have another job again (hopefully by September) but you know... this is important, I believe in it, and change IS happening, so you know what they say about “put your money where your mouth is”

So that’s what I’m doing.... and I encourage you to do the same, even if it’s $10, or $5. Just sit with it and feel out what’s right for you. What aligns with who you are, and what you believe it?

Links:

 https://www.joincampaignzero.org/#vision 

https://secure.actblue.com/donate/ab_mn?refcode=insta 

#donations

#blacklivesmatter

Sounds like the invasive drone of lawnmowers  Or the power-rush of a hose turned on a car  Soapy suds running in a river down the street 

The black asphalt hot  The houses all the same   Uniformity equating respectability   The cars all parked in the spots  Garages all full of the deemed necessities  Of living in Suburbia  

One tree for each house, some in bloom  Others simply leafed  Others bare  

Backyards in squares, some with trampolines, like ours  Others, with shaded tents  Veggie boxes  Chairs and tables  (We can see them when we jump on the trampoline) 

Often-   The smell of barbecue  And charcoal on the breeze  Walking by in the evenings,   Smelling dozens of dinners  Multicultural feast for the nostrils  Wishing we could be invited  

Passing neighbors  Nodding and sometimes a smile  A wave, a “hello”  

The one thing I really like from around here  Is that everyone is from different places  India, Pakistan, Iraq, Iran, Syria  Sudan, Ethiopia, Nigeria  Haiti, Jamaica, Trinidad, Tobago  A U.N. disguised in a development area  

On the playground every few blocks, children venture out  Even though the equipment is still off bounds   The grass is now free again  It’s a small gift, but it means a lot  After “only walking through” was the rule  For 2 months, and it means, if nothing else 

You can stand around and talk to people  Run into neighbors you sort of know  Again, and the kids and I-   We can fly kites  We can wave to their friends  They can run together 

And I ran into a neighbor   With a dog that is a big fan of mine  They had a new puppy too  And I got to say hi to both of them  Get jumped on and licked  And although I washed my hands when I got home  I felt ok, more than ok, with it.  

Discovered the BBC Myths and Legends playlist, and this piece on looking for trolls in Iceland is so well done- all of the people interviewed, as well as the narrator- are all so lovely. I want to go and have tea and a walk with all of them. 

My favorite stories were of the Whey Well and the Troll Bath. The idea of our cultural narratives influencing ecological/human interaction when those stories COME from the landscape- that’s something that really speaks to me. 

It also reminds me that when I landed on the name “mythfact” for this blog, it had something to do with my curiosity and wondering about the space between the things that we culturally believe as a society “myths” and then the “facts”- aka the truth, the objective details. 

sham·bo·lic| ˌSHamˈbälik | adjective informal, mainly British chaotic, disorganized, or mismanaged: the department's shambolic accounting. 

----

I’m a fan of how the word sounds like its meaning. I read it in relation to Pete Davidson from an NYT article about his new film coming out: The King of Staten Island.