3.148/366: “I’m in the Ramble, and there’s a man, African American, he’s got a bicycle helmet. He’s recording me and threatening me and my dog,” she said.

Amy Cooper was walking her dog off-leash, despite being in a leash law area of Central Park, when a bird-watcher asked her to leash her dog. She refused and approached Christian Cooper when he started recording her. She said she was going to call the police, he said to go ahead and call the cops. She did. he taped the whole thing. I’m not posting it because it’s everywhere, but this Instagram post got my attention.

3.147/366: 1-800-WYT-FEAR

I’ve been thinking about what to write today because the racism that’s existed since day one in our country and for some ungodly reason is either worse now because we know about instances because of cell phones or because a large number of white people are afraid and/or hateful. I’m not an expert on a damn thing, but I know hate breeds hate.

A few years ago on Grey’s Anatomy, Dr. Bailey and her husband sat their son down and told him he can’t act the same way his white friends do if approached by cops. She told him he could never, ever run. She told him he couldn’t reach in his pocket. She told home he had to raise his hands and ”yes officer” and ”no officer.” She told him he wouldn’t be treated as his friends if they made a mistake. I watched that and realized that’s the reality for friends of mine and their kids. I don’t have to have that conversation with my kids, but a lot of their friends, no doubt, have had the conversation with their parents.

So, for anyone reading who has never thought about these things; for anyone who doesn’t have black friends; FOR ANYONE WHO JUST DOESN’T GET WHAT THE BIG DEAL IS — here’s a semi-cute explanation of what white fear is:

3.146/366: I made stuffs

A sweet friend asked me to make two pieces of art for her in memory of her mother and enjoyed the process so much. I’ve been making mixed media art with song lyrics styled in typography and add paint, alcohol ink, washi tape, metal sizing, fibers, and cut shapes. My friend requested a Helen Reddy song and a poem her friend wrote. She sent me pics of things from her bedroom to get an idea for colors and asked me to incorporate things her mom liked: birds, feathers, bees, and crowns.

This is what I came up with.

3.145/366: notes from your therapist no. 12 or something

This one rings truer than true. There have been hundreds of times I’ve told someone something — something that concerns me, a personal issue, an issue with another person — and instead of listening, they want to solve a problem. What they view as my problem, as if I am a puzzle to be solved. I cannot emphasize this enough, Dear Readers, if someone comes to you with a concern, just listen. If they ask for advice, that’s when you offer advice. Try listening. It’s nice.

3.144/366: Everything is Going to Be Alright by Derek Mahon

One of my favorite actors, Andrew Scott, reading ”Everything is Going to Be Alright” by Derek Mahon:

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The beautiful, breathtaking talent that is Andrew Scott reads for us ‘Everything is Going to be All Right’ by Derek Mahon. Andrew has asked to dedicate this to Men Against Cancer Ireland https://macprostatecancersupport.ie/men-against-cancer/ Andrew we salute you! 🕺 It comes under the prescription for need for reassurance. Here’s how it reads as written in the book @thepoetrypharmacy @thepoetryremedy There are moments in life when the banal suddenly, and quite without warning, becomes the transcendent. Perhaps a shaft of afternoon light paints a familiar view an unfamiliar gold; perhaps dust in a sunbeam or the dance of sparks above a fire transport you, for a long instant, to somewhere else altogether. The almost magical-seeming reflections of ripples on a ceiling are transfixing in just the same way. In moments like these- awe-struck moments when the ferocious beauty of the everyday catches us unawares- we are often moved to a reassessment. One flash of sunlight can be all it takes to give us the sense of possibility that can change everything. As a great sufferer from depression myself, I find a small moment like this, a sudden splash of serenity and beauty, can provide the impetus needed to run my mood around. Not completely, perhaps, and not permanently- but sometimes a small push is all any of us is waiting for. Derek Mahon’s poem ‘Everything is Going to be All Right’ describes wonderfully the feeling of that little push and reassessment. And there’s something hugely powerful, too, about its final line. When my children are suffering and I hold them in my arms, it seems to be the most natural mantra in the world: Everything will be all right. There’s a comfort to those words, whether or not they’ll prove to be true. OF course, some wounds don’t heal, and some wrongs go un-righted. But in the grander sense, in the everything sense, things to tend to be all right. Too often, our pain is either in our heads or magnified beyond all proportion. If we can learn to manage it, if we can find that oasis of calm in the reflection of the waves, then we might find that out problems are not as all-consuming as we imagined. Thank you thank you Andrew!

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