Good morning!
Photo credit: Brad Bell
Stand your ground
I've been listening to The Decemberists on my bike commute. And since I now have two young sons, this one hit me as so beautiful. A real parenthood anthem.
Justice
While many of us feel helpless in our privilege, in fact we are the ones who have the power to help this change.
Be vocal. Talk your white friends and colleagues and community and let them know how outrageous the rampant hate and systematic racism is.
Share this video from Trevor Noah, who states it quite well that we can be pro-cop and pro-black, respectful and supportive of law enforcement and the people they are sworn to protect.
Vote.
Call the police in your area and ask what types of de-escalation training is offered on an ongoing basis to all officers.
Stand with black comrades at rallies and marches.
Be introspective. Think about how subtle and systematic racism have benefited you, or how you might have been complicit in it previously. Change your behaviors and help others do the same.
Keep the dialogue open. It's a difficult and important one. But it is not a black person's burden to educate you. Educate yourself.
Teach your children. #blacklivesmatter
Happy Eid!
Step outside
It works for lunch hours or long weekends -
All you need
I require a constant reminder that I need to pare back. Both on physical objects and psychological wants. So much less is actually necessary.
Opportunity
This one is for my dad
Summer fun
They pulled up some seats to watch the bunny in the backyard.
Love is love is love...
The recent act of terror in Orlando brings two important lessons into intense focus. One, that access to military-grade assault weapons is unnecessary and beyond dangerous; and two, that even in communities as diverse as Orlando, we must counter the intolerance and hate that exists.
The first part of that is easy; it is a policy change. Or a more exact reading of the 2nd amendment, which does not actually allow unlimited rights to firearms.
The second part is harder. It is changing and opening minds and hearts. It takes longer, but it is not impossible. And the only way there is to humanize those who are victims, and continue to love freely. Try to not be swept into the hate that motivated the crimes, but instead try to educate and motivate others to be open-minded.
#wearorange
Today across the nation people are wearing orange to bring awareness to gun safety. Sparked by the death of a 15 year old on Chicago's south-side in 2013, Hadiya Pendelton's friends chose to wear the color orange to remember her. They started what has become a national movement.
Get involved with saving lives from gun fire. There are common sense solutions that would benefit us all.
Let your faith
Just a reminder for when starting something new or putting yourself on the line.
Friend calls
Yesterday I randomly called my best friend during my lunch hour. I don't normally do that. We haven't been frequent phone-callers since high school, or really, the widespread invention of email. In fact I felt the need to preface the call with "this isn't an emergency". We hadn't chatted for awhile and I just felt the urge to touch base. I'm so glad I did. We talked for 30 minutes about life stuff and generally both felt better getting off the phone than we had when we picked it up.
My April was all about written correspondence. Maybe my June will be about conversation.