CROWS AND SQUIRRELS AND BUSHTITS

Hello from Portland! (still) I’m in the studio for the second week singing my nards off and making lots of microscopic decisions. It’s exhausting. The good kind. I do wish I had a little free time though. Earlier today I was at the brink of expiration so Tucker picked me up by the scruff and took me for an emergency taco. It did the trick. I’ve been waking up at 4:30am and burning it pretty hard. Trying also to keep things moving at home from three thousand miles away. That part is stressful. 

I have been really enjoying my rainy walks and drives across town. Fall is still here and running late. Critters are busy! The bushtits are flittering around in the bushes (as their name suggests) and chatting like crazy. They are so cute. I wish I could just grab a couple fistfuls and let them ride around in the collar of my jacket close to my neck. I mean that much less violently than it sounds. Yesterday I saw two separate instances of crows rifling through someone’s rain gutters looking for something, throwing leaves behind them as if they were looking through the laundry hamper for their favorite sweater. The squirrels are just plain dangerous, drunk, stunt clowns. On the way here today I saw one run under a city bus on purpose because it figured the bus was going slow enough so there would be time to exit the other side. I guess that’s one way to do it?

I sure do miss my creatures and ManFriend, but doing a job in one place feels good too. ManFriendJeff is on tour until January and sounds a little worse for wear but he assures me he is enjoying himself. I believe him. The animals likely don’t miss me as they are hanging out with Uncle Mike who they adore. Oh well. They will still be excited to see me when I get home. Coco made a crazy chattering noise at me for two minutes straight last time. I almost cried it was so sweet. 

So, it’s not exactly the elephant in the room, but the election has tainted most things in my face this week, and understandably so. I have stood fast in resisting the negativity and being grounded in my knowing that for not one second have I given in to the despair and the bullshit. I am not bragging or saying I’m handling it better than anyone else. People’s reactions are valid and real. I’m just ready, really ready to not yield an inch to hatred. Not one. Media is really milking the post-election bum-out and I will not feed their fucking furnace. Being sad and scared and disappointed is exceptionally valid and I wish to take nothing away from that real place people are existing in at the moment, but the exploitation and fear mongering generated on/by social media and news sources are unforgivable. I’m not talking about useful information and actions, I’m talking about horror speculation. It’s smart to be informed and to understand, to be concerned and alert but I want to focus and be hyper aware of how I, as a consumer of information can leave my personal intention and information “repetition” on a really negative setting unchecked. It infects others with a low wattage sub-surface fight or flight which helps no person at all. We do impact the future with a negative gaze forward. I don’t mean “so choose blindness,” I mean actively INFLUENCE and comfort. Measure and temper if I can. I love you all and it makes me so sad/angry that so many of you are having to experience this post election feeling this way. 

All people minus straight white men are at far more risk than ever before, especially Indigenous people, women, LGBTQIA people, people compromised by disabilities or neurodivergence, people of color, immigrants and refugees… Guess who that makes? That makes MOST of us. Stay with me you beautiful fucking rainbow. I am yours forever. We outnumber the hate by the millions and millions. I don’t know exactly what that means or looks like yet, but I know we are capable of bright light and loud-ass “HELL,no!”

Let’s make some music shall we? While the sun shines. Two nights ago while on the highway toward Milwaukie, I saw the great nightly convergence of all the crows in the city as they flocked together in the sky, thousands of them over Portland to return to their roosting place where they all sleep together. My chest shuddered with awe at the sight. I know where it is they sleep completely by accident, but I promised them I’d never tell.

LATER THIS WEEK: Paid subscribers will get more studio content so get to subscribin’!

Dennis say’s “Hi!” Photo by Uncle Mike Bulington. Also, here is an image/email I got from the ACLU that I do NOT have permission to post. I’ll take it down if they want me to. It made me feel good.

Neko –

On Sunday, we published a message to President-elect Donald Trump in the New York Times: Any attempt to roll back our nation's civil liberties will be met with the full power of our resistance.

Here is our message:

Dear President-elect Trump:

In case you had any doubt, we are the American Civil Liberties Union. And we're not moving to Canada.

So, rest assured that when you target immigrants, dissidents, and your political opponents – we will challenge you in the courts, at state legislatures, and in the streets.

Surely, you remember the landmark lawsuits we won against you on family separation, the U.S. Census, and immigrants' rights – some of which were decided by judges you appointed.

During your last presidency, we brought 434 legal actions, including 250 lawsuits against your administration's anti-civil liberties agenda.

We also mobilized the power of our more than 1 million card-carrying members into the streets, at airports, and in state capitals.

We've developed a comprehensive roadmap to defend our rights beginning on day one. We're not new to this.

At the ACLU, we play the long game. We've been around for 105 years and seen 19 presidents come and go.

That's why any attempt to roll back the nation's civil liberties on our watch will be hard fought and met with the full power of our resistance.

Steadfast and determined to make ours a more perfect union, we remain,

The ACLU