Mary Beth Writes

3/1/2022

It's the first day of March and it has come in like a lamb. Sunshine, bright skies, 40 degrees. Our porch is so hot this afternoon one needs a hot pad to touch the cat.

Most of my adult life I have been wondering about this thing my sister-in-law Lindy said. She was a therapist. (Lindy died young.) She said that in family therapy, when people begin to say their secrets, the family becomes chaotic, angry, awkward, and messy. It’s a dangerous time because no one knows how to act in the “new” family that no longer leans on the old props.

Who are our venerated heroes if we say aloud that this relative assaulted other relatives? If we tell the assaulted ones to say nothing and they don’t - are we fine? What happen if one daughter won’t go along with this old strategy? If a family member drinks too much and becomes irrational but none of us mention it – what’s going to happen when one of us does?

Telling secrets disrupts the traditions by which we live. When one person calls out another everyone takes a side. Why say that now, he’s been dead for years? Yeah, we had one redhead in our family of brunettes and dad was hard to get along with but there was that friendly redheaded guy whom some of us remember ... We’ve been an honest and noble family ever since our venerable founder stole the entire factory’s weekly pay envelopes and sailed to America that night. Who was BFF with the local politicians who figured out how to arrest POC on trumped up charges, incarcerate them, then utilize brutal chain gangs to do for free the labor formerly done by enslaved people?

If no one tells the secrets then everything stays the way it always was - and that worked so well for the (generally) older, whiter, richer and often male people in the family. And the community. And the nation. Keeping power by not saying truth has propped and preserved generations of power among those who already have the power.

..

So yeah, this is what I’ve been thinking about this week. Since the 1960’s and 70’s a lot of people have been telling their secrets and it has liberated some, confused many, and made some people dangerously angry.

And now this. We have seen a lot of strife and violence in our lives, but I don’t think we’ve ever quite seen a vulnerable nation stand up as powerfully as Ukraine has done this past week. We are witnessing an astonishing pushback from people who seem to be done with intimidation. At incredible risk, they have somehow organized themselves into this moment.

This week I googled LGBT Rights in Ukraine and in Russia. I won’t tell you all the numbers – you can look, too if you care, but it is fascinating. In Ukraine over the past 20 years, just like here, the percentage of people who support LGBTQ legal rights has increased. In 2010 it was 28% support. In 2017 it was 56% support. Russia has gone backwards. 60% of people were anti-LGBTQ rights in 2002. 74% were anti- in 2013.

What happens when ordinary humans see themselves as worthy of rights, independence, and full human agency? What happens might be what we are watching.

Yes, there are plenty of fissures and cracks and this is not a story with an ending we know. There are weeks and months and more to go. 

But maybe we as free citizens with our cell phones and twitter and 24/7 news and our proud out-ness about truths early generations hid - maybe something new is happening here. Maybe we are seeing a different ending to the story of how people live in a political system.

Brought to us by a writer, thinker, comedian, and dancer - and his family - and 43 million of his country men and women.

 

Friend Michol sent this to me:

Thin Ice

— after W.S. Merwin

 

The trouble with despair is the drowning.

You need a clear mind to rescue yourself.

 

When you scuttle past warning signs. 

When you’re lured by tremors in dark depths. 

When your world splinters under your weight. 

When you fall through. 

 

To survive your body’s panic: 

first, exhale. 

 

Still your thrashing.

Slow your breathing. 

 

To grasp the steadiness in front of you, 

you have to let go all longing to become

numb, your strange anchor in ache.

 

With what strength remains 

in your legs, propel yourself forward. 

Emerge undrowned on solid ground. 

 

Upright, move toward warming light.

Take the clay cup of chamomile tea. 

This is called practicing freedom.

by 

- Lailah Dainin Shima

...

 On a funnier note: Did you know that before Zelenskyy was president he was on Dancing With the Stars/ Ukraine, 2006?

https://youtu.be/TlJywp7E3Gw

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Comments

Mary Beth, A parishioner reads a bio to the congregation of someone every week during Black History month. I read yours of Ms. Judge. Most were surprised, many looked uncomfortable…we usually do a successful musician or such. It was an important look back to colonial times. Thank you.
Mary Beth's picture

That's excellent to hear! After I wrote it (after, sheesh) I read the book about her and learned so much more about that time and ethos.

I'm reading the book now and like you I'm learning a tremendous amount of information about that era and its people. Very well written. I highly recommend it.
Mary Beth's picture

"Never Caught: The Washingtons' Relentless Pursuit of their Runaway Slave Ona Judge" by Erica Armstrong Dunbar. Yes, it is not a hard read but one comes away with such a strong image of the time and of Ona Judge's courage to endure.

Profound message. Thank you!!!

It is 67 degrees at 4:30 PM here on March 1. This was a really thought provoking piece. Wasn't quite sure what the Merwin reference was about. I attended a poetry reading that he gave in Chicago 15 years ago - he's one of my favorite poets.
Mary Beth's picture

I agree about the Merwin reference. I was posting it, thought HE was the writer, had to go back and fix that. Now we have a mystery for tomorrow...

Thank you. Patricia

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Y is for Yellowstone

9/27/2023

Back in February I asked you to give me topics to write about that would correspond to the alphabet. Sometimes several of you sent ideas for one letter and sometimes I wrote about all of them (I’s and S’s) Here we are at letter Y for which your suggestions are Yummy Food and Yawns. The word yawn absolutely makes me yawn; no way I could write about that - I would yawn for hours. I worked on Yummy Food but could only find a scolding voice about Americans eating too much sugar. Bah. True but not interesting.

So, I gave Y a go again. Y is for?

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W is for Wonder

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However, I have FOUR suggestions from you guys for X - but I do not want to write four X essays. These are the suggestions:

1.) X signature substitution

2.) xylophone on a string pulled by a toddler

3.) xenophobia

4.) Xmas. 

If you have an opinion respond with the one you would like me to attempt. I will choose whichever X gets the most comments.

There will be no gerrymandering in this election.

GNTL - NAMI

9/7/2023

Grownups Noticing Their Lives

NAMI

Most of you know about my former weird and lovely job of coordinating an employability skills program for Huber-qualified inmates in the Racine County Jail (that’s a mouthful). Early on I realized that most of the people I would work with were people with 1.) huge addiction problems, and 2.) underlying and over-the-top and to-the-side just lying around mental health issues.

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9/6/2023 

For those who are new here - This year I am writing about topics, in alphabetical order, that were suggested to me by readers. Sometimes this is hard! 

IRTNOG

My cousin-in-law Dave has some powerfully thorough avocations (for fun and profit he earned a PhD in biochemistry; you will notice this in his list). This year, among other pursuits, he has been collecting words which have appeared in our culture since 1945, which was the year he also appeared in our culture.

Tag Cloud

9/11 17 minutes 500 Words A-Z AARPtaxes AAUW abortion Acadia accident Accountable Advent aging Alaska anniversary antibiotics antlers apples appointments Arrows art Ashland August Augustine aunts baby Badlands balance Baldwin Barbara Barkskins Beauty Becky Becoming Esther Berry birthday bistro BLM Blue BookReport books boy scout Bread BrokenDays BuyAngry Cabeza de Vaca Cahokia calendars Canada canoe cat romance cats cello Chicago China Choosing Christmas cilantro Cinnabuns circus climate change clouds Clowns clutter Colonialism comet ComfortZone CommonSense community consumerism Cops Corvid-19 Courage Covid-19 Crazy creditreport creosote CrimeShows danger DarkRiver death Debate December DecisionFatigue decluttering democracy dentist depression Destination Today Detroit Didion disasterprep dogs dollhouse Dreams Duty Easter eBay Echoes Eclipse election EmilyDickinson eschatology Esquipulas exit polls eyes Fable FairTrade family farmer Fata Morgana ferns firealarm Fitness Five Flatbread Flexible flu Food Pantry Fort de Chartres frame Franc FrancGarcia friends frugal FrugalHacks Frugality frustration Ft.Ticonderoga fungi fusion Galena Gannets Garden GarfieldParkConservatory Gaspe genius geode GeorgeFloyd gerrymandering ghosts gifts girls GNTL gorgons goulash GovernorThompsonStatePark Graduation grandkids granola groceries Guatemala gum guns Hair happiness HaveYouEver? hawks healthcare Healthinsurance hearings heart heaven HelleKBerry heroes hike History home HomeRepair Honduras Hope HowCrowGotOutofJail humor hurricane Ice Cream idiosyncrasy igloos impeachment Innkeeper Instincts integrity InternetPrivacy Interview InviteMe2Speak James Baldwin Jan 6 Janus jewelry JoyceAndrews Judy JulianofNorwich Jump justice Karen kites ladder Lady Lamb LangstonHuges LaphamPeak laundry LeeLeeMcKnight lemming Len Light Lincoln Little Women LockedOut Loki loneliness LouisArmstrong Love Ludington Macaw macho Manitoulin MargaretFuller Maria Hamilton Marquette marriage Marsden Hartley masks Mayan MayaWorks meme Memories men Middlemarch MilesWallyDiego MindfulChickens Mistakes MLK moon Mother MothersDay mounds mouser movies museums must-haves Mustapha NAMI Nancy Drew Newfoundland New Mexico New York City Nomadland nope observation OBUUC Ocotillo OnaJudge ordinary OscarRomero osprey Outside oximeter Parade mayhem PastorBettyRendon Paul Hessert PDQ Penny persimmon photos Pi Pies pineapples poetry Preaching privacy procrastination Protest QE2 Quern quest Questions Rabbit holes racism reading recipe recipes recommendations Remember RepresentationMatters Reruns responsetoKapenga Retirement rhubarb Ricky rime RitesofPassage romance Rosemary Ruether Roses Roti Ruth SamaritanWoman Sanctuary Sandhillcranes Santuario de Chimayo SaraKurtz SaraRodriguez satellites ScottSimon sculpture Seasons Sermon ServantsoftheQuest sewing Shepherd Shontay ShortStory shoulder sick sickness Slower snow Social Security SofritoBandito solstice South Dakota SpaceShuttle spirituality spring square feet staining stars stele Stereotypes stories StoryStarts stream monitoring stress Survival swim Talent taxes teenager thankgsgiving Thanksgiving TheBridge TheMaid ThePerpetualYou therapy ThreeBillBoards Three Thing ThreeThings Three Things TidalBore TimeBeing toddler Tom tortillas Trains travel Traveler Tubing turtle Twilight Bark Tyrone Ukraine Ulysses Grant Umbrella UnrelatedObservations Up North urgency vacation vaccine Valentines vanilla Vietnam vision VivianWokeUpDrowning Vocabulary vole volunteer WalkingAndSeeing Wampanaog war WarsanShire weather weaving Webs wedding whines WhyAttendChurch Wiley Willa WillaCather Wisteria Won! Wonder words Xeriscape Yellowstone
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