Election debate is a little different in my household than at other places in the country. This probably has to do with the fact that Michael and I are radically leftist in our politics compared to, say, Democratic candidates that further big business interests over effective social services and equate shoddy health insurance policies with universal health care.
Anyway, here are some gems from recent conversations. I should add a disclaimer, though, that none of these gems occurred in the course of sincere political debate. It's mostly cynicism and humor as a defense against the sorry state of American politics. Maybe it solves nothing, but oh is it amusing!
^ me and my friend Jeremie on life after Bush:
Jeremie: Will we recover?
me: depends on what you mean by "will"
Jeremie: In 2009?
me: you know the top contenders right now are Clinton and Giuliani
that's not really boding well for our future.
Jeremie: Oh come on.
You may hate Clinton, but she's a helluva lot better than Bush.
(But then again, I would settle for Nixon at this point.)
^ Michael on recent poll results:
Giuliani's numbers are going down, but Clinton's still up by 30 points. We may really be looking at a choice between Romney and Clinton. The only worse choice I can think of would be Pat Buchanon and ... Stalin.
^ my cousin Will and Michael on Clinton as President:
me: (reading Will's facebook quip about a poll that asks if women would make good Presidents) My cousin Will says, "This question is absurd. Of course a woman can be as effective as a man, gender and race are not defining characteristics of a leader. This however is a loaded question aimed at Hillary. The poll will be interpreted as support for Mrs. Clinton. Hillary would be nearly as bad as Jimmy Carter."
Michael: Huh. I see Hillary and I think Stalin. He sees Hillary and he thinks Jimmy Carter. I guess she really can be all things to all people. All bad things.
Saturday, December 29, 2007
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Enjoying the Weather
According to my.msn.com, the weather in Honolulu today is 80 degrees and sunny. It's December 19th. That's so cool. As a reference, the weather in Chicago (also according to my.msn) is 32 and cloudy, Memphis is 57 and cloudy, and Murfreesboro is 55 and cloudy. Yes, I keep track of the weather in all the places I have lived. It's not that I'm that sort of geek, it's mostly that I never bothered to take any of those locations off my my.msn.com weather information thingy.
In Chicago, that weather information thingy allowed me to feel particularly like a martyr as I watched the well-above-freezing temps in TN versus the plummeting temps just outdoors. It allowed me to appreciate how very 'put out' I was by having to wear all sorts of layers of clothes when I hate wearing all sorts of layers of clothes. Here, the weather information thingy allows me to appreciate the difference between where I am now and where I was last year. Particularly the fact that I no longer have to wear all sorts of layers of clothes.
I swear, this post is not about lording my good fortune over the rest of you. It's more about enjoying my good fortune while it lasts.
Michael picked up a couple of chairs off the side of the road yesterday morning. They are currently flanking our front door, on the outside of it, but I don't know if that'll last. I'm not entirely sure that we're not breaking fire codes by having chairs out there, obstructing access to the stairs. They may eventually go back onto our very cramped lanai, to take up space near the washer-dryer and water heater. But I like them where they are, because the view (although not quite good) is better in the front of our apartment than the back. More open, at least.
This morning, I awoke early (well, early by Xmas vacation standards) and had two cups of coffee and a slice of patitsa sitting out on our balcony, watching the traffic and feeling the breeze. It's a beautiful day today. The still air is warm and the breeze is cool and the sky is blue and the clouds are white and Honolulu's high is definitely not the temperature at which water freezes.
The weather has been particularly good here this last week, in comparison to the weather we had BEFORE they fixed the holes in our roof. For a month we had a string of torrential downpours. Thunderstorms. Thunderstorms are uncommon here, but we had them nearly every day for a good while. They came into our kitchen through the ceiling. They came in through the windows, blowing clear sideways six feet in. They kept me indoors if I could help it. There were not your typical Hawaiian rain, that happens while it's still sunny, lasts ten minutes or so, and doesn't really bother anyone, even if you don't have an umbrella on you. I don't want to tempt fate by claiming these storms are over; I'm just glad that they're not happening right now. Because it means I can go outside and have my morning coffee there, and keep our windows open without worrying about getting gusts of water blown in.
Another thing that's really cool about Hawaiian weather is its penchant for rainbows. Rainbows are far less common where I'm from than they are here. Every time I see one (almost every day), I get this jolt of excitement and feel like a kid again. Every time I see one I feel this way, even after six months.
But the coolest thing was a couple weeks ago on the way to the North Shore for filming, the car I was in was going over a bridge in the mountains and we came within 20 feet of a rainbow! No kidding! It was right there -- thick and almost tangible. It looked like a colorful plasma, shooting from high in the sky down into the valley over which we were passing, nearly touching the bridge as we went by. I kept expecting it to dissipate as we neared, but it stayed put and we got very, very near to the end of the rainbow.
Ryan slowed the car and we all awed over it... four kids from Tennessee, North Carolina, Argentina, and Indonesia, dumbstruck over this colorful illusion.
Except it didn't look like an illusion. It looked like you could walk into it and be painted those colors. It was like childhood dreams and fantasies, long outgrown.
I look out my living room window and I see city. And there are trees and grass and broken down buildings and overgrown lots and crumbling asphalt that kind of passes for a sidewalk, but even still the weather is great and the neighbors are friendly and I just feel so comfortable here. But then sometimes I'm out there and suddenly I can feel the land beneath me like a living thing, and I can understand why Native Hawaiians believe that the land is literally their ancestor. Sometimes I can feel the spirit of this place and it's like sitting in the middle of the heart of God.
So yes, absolutely I am enjoying the weather here. It's brilliant.
In Chicago, that weather information thingy allowed me to feel particularly like a martyr as I watched the well-above-freezing temps in TN versus the plummeting temps just outdoors. It allowed me to appreciate how very 'put out' I was by having to wear all sorts of layers of clothes when I hate wearing all sorts of layers of clothes. Here, the weather information thingy allows me to appreciate the difference between where I am now and where I was last year. Particularly the fact that I no longer have to wear all sorts of layers of clothes.
I swear, this post is not about lording my good fortune over the rest of you. It's more about enjoying my good fortune while it lasts.
Michael picked up a couple of chairs off the side of the road yesterday morning. They are currently flanking our front door, on the outside of it, but I don't know if that'll last. I'm not entirely sure that we're not breaking fire codes by having chairs out there, obstructing access to the stairs. They may eventually go back onto our very cramped lanai, to take up space near the washer-dryer and water heater. But I like them where they are, because the view (although not quite good) is better in the front of our apartment than the back. More open, at least.
This morning, I awoke early (well, early by Xmas vacation standards) and had two cups of coffee and a slice of patitsa sitting out on our balcony, watching the traffic and feeling the breeze. It's a beautiful day today. The still air is warm and the breeze is cool and the sky is blue and the clouds are white and Honolulu's high is definitely not the temperature at which water freezes.
The weather has been particularly good here this last week, in comparison to the weather we had BEFORE they fixed the holes in our roof. For a month we had a string of torrential downpours. Thunderstorms. Thunderstorms are uncommon here, but we had them nearly every day for a good while. They came into our kitchen through the ceiling. They came in through the windows, blowing clear sideways six feet in. They kept me indoors if I could help it. There were not your typical Hawaiian rain, that happens while it's still sunny, lasts ten minutes or so, and doesn't really bother anyone, even if you don't have an umbrella on you. I don't want to tempt fate by claiming these storms are over; I'm just glad that they're not happening right now. Because it means I can go outside and have my morning coffee there, and keep our windows open without worrying about getting gusts of water blown in.
Another thing that's really cool about Hawaiian weather is its penchant for rainbows. Rainbows are far less common where I'm from than they are here. Every time I see one (almost every day), I get this jolt of excitement and feel like a kid again. Every time I see one I feel this way, even after six months.
But the coolest thing was a couple weeks ago on the way to the North Shore for filming, the car I was in was going over a bridge in the mountains and we came within 20 feet of a rainbow! No kidding! It was right there -- thick and almost tangible. It looked like a colorful plasma, shooting from high in the sky down into the valley over which we were passing, nearly touching the bridge as we went by. I kept expecting it to dissipate as we neared, but it stayed put and we got very, very near to the end of the rainbow.
Ryan slowed the car and we all awed over it... four kids from Tennessee, North Carolina, Argentina, and Indonesia, dumbstruck over this colorful illusion.
Except it didn't look like an illusion. It looked like you could walk into it and be painted those colors. It was like childhood dreams and fantasies, long outgrown.
I look out my living room window and I see city. And there are trees and grass and broken down buildings and overgrown lots and crumbling asphalt that kind of passes for a sidewalk, but even still the weather is great and the neighbors are friendly and I just feel so comfortable here. But then sometimes I'm out there and suddenly I can feel the land beneath me like a living thing, and I can understand why Native Hawaiians believe that the land is literally their ancestor. Sometimes I can feel the spirit of this place and it's like sitting in the middle of the heart of God.
So yes, absolutely I am enjoying the weather here. It's brilliant.
Friday, December 14, 2007
Satisfaction Not Guaranteed
...because I've had the flu and it just may have stolen all my creativity. So, here's a potentially boring update of things.
1) I had the flu. It sucked. I spent have of the time in denial that I was really that sick, and half of the time complaining about how I wanted to do things. I don't know what it is about the flu. I guess I just can't stand having all the energy sucked out of me and so in retaliation against the sickness I come up with all sorts of really exciting things that I must do today and cannot wait until next week. Like, going to the library. Or cleaning my bathroom. Of course, because I have the flu I wind up not really doing any of that, or I wind up doing a half-assed job of it. Most all of my trips out of the house this week got me a block away before I gave up and went back to bed. Keep in mind, too, that I was in denial about the flu. Which is why I left the house to begin with.
2) Before I got the flu Michael had a birthday and the newby CCCers had a party to celebrate our first semester finished and then... hm, kind of fuzzy on the timeline thing just now... at some point Michael finished his first semester of college and we ate Indian food and it was good.
3) The newby CCCers (me, Gina, and Melodi) inherited responsibility for the Lokahi Adopt-A-Family program and so we've been soliciting donations while I've been sick (I was in charge of emails) and this weekend we'll go shopping for stuff (I'm in charge of books) and next week we'll deliver it to a family in need. Much aloha. It's actually kind of nice. Not quite the crazy excitement/effort/insanity of the Pantry last year, but it makes me feel like I'm still involved. Also makes me feel homesick for the pantry.
4) A group of us from Oahu nanowrimo have continued on into December. Some of us are writing a new novel (like me), some of us are editing last month's novel, some of us are completing last month's novel. I dig this group of folks. They're geeky writers like me and we have a good time at the write-ins. There's a movie night tonight, but I'm skiving off because I did wind up going to the library today and it wore me the frig out. Sad story because a lot of them are going home to various places over Christmas so I won't see them again for a bit. Ah well.
5) I got accepted to the Quentin Burdick Summer Practicum. I'll be going to Honokaa on the Big Island (the one that's named Hawaii) for six weeks over the summer to do interdisciplinary work with the community, hopefully developing or furthering a program they can continue on after we've left. Oh, I'm so excited!
Mmmmmm... I'm sure there's more but later. I'm tired. Gonna have dinner and lay down.
Love muchly!
1) I had the flu. It sucked. I spent have of the time in denial that I was really that sick, and half of the time complaining about how I wanted to do things. I don't know what it is about the flu. I guess I just can't stand having all the energy sucked out of me and so in retaliation against the sickness I come up with all sorts of really exciting things that I must do today and cannot wait until next week. Like, going to the library. Or cleaning my bathroom. Of course, because I have the flu I wind up not really doing any of that, or I wind up doing a half-assed job of it. Most all of my trips out of the house this week got me a block away before I gave up and went back to bed. Keep in mind, too, that I was in denial about the flu. Which is why I left the house to begin with.
2) Before I got the flu Michael had a birthday and the newby CCCers had a party to celebrate our first semester finished and then... hm, kind of fuzzy on the timeline thing just now... at some point Michael finished his first semester of college and we ate Indian food and it was good.
3) The newby CCCers (me, Gina, and Melodi) inherited responsibility for the Lokahi Adopt-A-Family program and so we've been soliciting donations while I've been sick (I was in charge of emails) and this weekend we'll go shopping for stuff (I'm in charge of books) and next week we'll deliver it to a family in need. Much aloha. It's actually kind of nice. Not quite the crazy excitement/effort/insanity of the Pantry last year, but it makes me feel like I'm still involved. Also makes me feel homesick for the pantry.
4) A group of us from Oahu nanowrimo have continued on into December. Some of us are writing a new novel (like me), some of us are editing last month's novel, some of us are completing last month's novel. I dig this group of folks. They're geeky writers like me and we have a good time at the write-ins. There's a movie night tonight, but I'm skiving off because I did wind up going to the library today and it wore me the frig out. Sad story because a lot of them are going home to various places over Christmas so I won't see them again for a bit. Ah well.
5) I got accepted to the Quentin Burdick Summer Practicum. I'll be going to Honokaa on the Big Island (the one that's named Hawaii) for six weeks over the summer to do interdisciplinary work with the community, hopefully developing or furthering a program they can continue on after we've left. Oh, I'm so excited!
Mmmmmm... I'm sure there's more but later. I'm tired. Gonna have dinner and lay down.
Love muchly!
Thursday, December 6, 2007
Hurray!
I have finished my first semester of grad school, and here I live to tell about it. So, what to tell... Um... well... you know... stuff.
My projects were well received, and I'm pretty sure I'm gonna walk out of this semester with high A's in my classes, which is really cool and a great way to start off. I've got a research topic now, so over Christmas break my major academic goal is to learn as much as possible about this topic so that I can figure out a specific research question, make some contacts, figure out a design and methodology... but first things first. At this stage I'm reading background news stories on the Superferry. Once I'm well versed in that, I'll go through the legislation and technical legal stuff that's happened these past years. Also, will be looking into psych journals for previous research on community change. Oh, it's exciting.
Non-academic goals for Christmas break are to write another novel (10K already, hoping to add 4 more K this evening at the write-in), to move forward with editing the one I just wrote, and to finish this fanfiction I've been working on forever. Fanfiction one is particularly fun right now... My fics have apparently been listed on some site or other because I've gotten dozens of new readers over the past month, and this during my nanowrimo hiatus. International readers too... it's neat.
Anyway, I feel confident having all these goals because I'm staying here over the holidays, I won't be doing much by way of work (or maybe not anything), and so I'll have time. Time over Christmas holidays. To do whatever I want. Anything at all. I just... it occurs to me that I'm not entirely sure when this happened last. I guess 10 years ago, my first year in undergrad. Holy cow. This is so cool, and certainly will not last so I must milk it for everything it's worth.
I heard this morning that fireworks are huge here for New Years, and that some neighborhood streets get covered (actually blanketed) with spent fireworks, and that if I can get to high ground I'll be able to look out over a haze of gunpowder smoke that will cover Honolulu. And that Waikiki and Chinatown and downtown will have cool stuff happening to celebrate. Ah, will miss going home even still, but what are you going to do?
It's December here (and probably where you are as well) and while it's not been 82 and sunny these past few days, it has definitely been 78 and rainy. Which is still hellza above the Chicago low of 21 today. I remember playing last year, telling people that I would lord this great weather over them, but secretly thinking that I'd be glad for the bad weather if I could just be with my loved ones. Well, really, I wish everyone would just come here. I'm a pansy already. I lost my touch with the cold and I think it scares me now more than ever, given that I really do need sweatshirts now when the temps drop into the mid-seventies. Ah, but still I'd brave even Chicago's winter...
I miss you all. Life is going well for me, but it is so far away. So, let me send my love on out there to you.*
.
* This is as close as you will get to Christmas cheer. Take it or leave it.
My projects were well received, and I'm pretty sure I'm gonna walk out of this semester with high A's in my classes, which is really cool and a great way to start off. I've got a research topic now, so over Christmas break my major academic goal is to learn as much as possible about this topic so that I can figure out a specific research question, make some contacts, figure out a design and methodology... but first things first. At this stage I'm reading background news stories on the Superferry. Once I'm well versed in that, I'll go through the legislation and technical legal stuff that's happened these past years. Also, will be looking into psych journals for previous research on community change. Oh, it's exciting.
Non-academic goals for Christmas break are to write another novel (10K already, hoping to add 4 more K this evening at the write-in), to move forward with editing the one I just wrote, and to finish this fanfiction I've been working on forever. Fanfiction one is particularly fun right now... My fics have apparently been listed on some site or other because I've gotten dozens of new readers over the past month, and this during my nanowrimo hiatus. International readers too... it's neat.
Anyway, I feel confident having all these goals because I'm staying here over the holidays, I won't be doing much by way of work (or maybe not anything), and so I'll have time. Time over Christmas holidays. To do whatever I want. Anything at all. I just... it occurs to me that I'm not entirely sure when this happened last. I guess 10 years ago, my first year in undergrad. Holy cow. This is so cool, and certainly will not last so I must milk it for everything it's worth.
I heard this morning that fireworks are huge here for New Years, and that some neighborhood streets get covered (actually blanketed) with spent fireworks, and that if I can get to high ground I'll be able to look out over a haze of gunpowder smoke that will cover Honolulu. And that Waikiki and Chinatown and downtown will have cool stuff happening to celebrate. Ah, will miss going home even still, but what are you going to do?
It's December here (and probably where you are as well) and while it's not been 82 and sunny these past few days, it has definitely been 78 and rainy. Which is still hellza above the Chicago low of 21 today. I remember playing last year, telling people that I would lord this great weather over them, but secretly thinking that I'd be glad for the bad weather if I could just be with my loved ones. Well, really, I wish everyone would just come here. I'm a pansy already. I lost my touch with the cold and I think it scares me now more than ever, given that I really do need sweatshirts now when the temps drop into the mid-seventies. Ah, but still I'd brave even Chicago's winter...
I miss you all. Life is going well for me, but it is so far away. So, let me send my love on out there to you.*
.
* This is as close as you will get to Christmas cheer. Take it or leave it.
Monday, December 3, 2007
Juice Dopplegangers
Oh, it's fun! This is a video made by Edy Dominguez who I knew in Chicago. It's got several of my boys and marimba music to boot! Say HI to Holy Cross and Back of the Yards for me!
Friday, November 30, 2007
Updates
So, a lot of you may have heard by now that Michael's mom died. She had been sick for a long time, although we didn't know this until after we moved here. Michael did have a chance to talk to her a few times since we moved, so I think that was good. But his dad didn't call to tell him when she passed, so that was less good. Michael seems to be doing okay, but it's hard for me to tell sometimes because we show emotion differently from each other. So I try to be available if he needs me, and be nice to him because he deserves it. He really deserves better than what he's gotten in life. I just wish I could make everything perfect. But that, I cannot do.
The Saga of the Roof continues. Apparently, when the roofer came before and went up on the roof and then left without saying anything to me, he reported back that he couldn't find the leak from the top. So the building maintenance guy came through today and cut a huge hole in the ceiling to try and see if he could find the leak from the bottom. And he did. And now there's a big hole in the ceiling, and it's supposed to rain for the next four days. The good news is that there should be a direct line of dripping from hole-in-the-roof to bucket-on-Kati-and-Michael's-floor. So, any time now this'll all get fixed. And actually, I'm not that fussed about it. It's an inconvenience, to be sure. But knowing that I don't have to pay for this (and have a general variability in my schedule that allows me to be home for roofers' visits) kind of takes the anxiety out of the situation. And so it goes.
My Methodology final went well. I think. I feel. I'm pretty damn close to knowing for sure. Yeah, it went well. And sprung from this project is the official (albeit general) topic of my Masters Thesis: the Superferry. The next step will be researching background literature and learning everything there is to know about the Superferry, and looking into psychological research into community change. Within the next few months I'll tie all this info together into a research proposal, and then I'll do research, and then I'll defend it, and then I'll be Master Kati. Simple as that.
Oh, and I finished my novel. Working on the editing/rewrite a bit already. I'll have time in December to put forth more effort to that. Also, a group of us nanos in Honolulu are sticking together for more writing through December. We like the momentum of the writing we've got going, so we're gonna stick with it. New stories, or finish this one, or really whatever each person feels like working on. So I'm gonna edit and try to get another book laid out and basically written. It's amazing to me all the ways I can see to improve this last one while maintaining the basic structure I've written out. This is a new type of writing for me. And it's fun. Wish me luck.
The Saga of the Roof continues. Apparently, when the roofer came before and went up on the roof and then left without saying anything to me, he reported back that he couldn't find the leak from the top. So the building maintenance guy came through today and cut a huge hole in the ceiling to try and see if he could find the leak from the bottom. And he did. And now there's a big hole in the ceiling, and it's supposed to rain for the next four days. The good news is that there should be a direct line of dripping from hole-in-the-roof to bucket-on-Kati-and-Michael's-floor. So, any time now this'll all get fixed. And actually, I'm not that fussed about it. It's an inconvenience, to be sure. But knowing that I don't have to pay for this (and have a general variability in my schedule that allows me to be home for roofers' visits) kind of takes the anxiety out of the situation. And so it goes.
My Methodology final went well. I think. I feel. I'm pretty damn close to knowing for sure. Yeah, it went well. And sprung from this project is the official (albeit general) topic of my Masters Thesis: the Superferry. The next step will be researching background literature and learning everything there is to know about the Superferry, and looking into psychological research into community change. Within the next few months I'll tie all this info together into a research proposal, and then I'll do research, and then I'll defend it, and then I'll be Master Kati. Simple as that.
Oh, and I finished my novel. Working on the editing/rewrite a bit already. I'll have time in December to put forth more effort to that. Also, a group of us nanos in Honolulu are sticking together for more writing through December. We like the momentum of the writing we've got going, so we're gonna stick with it. New stories, or finish this one, or really whatever each person feels like working on. So I'm gonna edit and try to get another book laid out and basically written. It's amazing to me all the ways I can see to improve this last one while maintaining the basic structure I've written out. This is a new type of writing for me. And it's fun. Wish me luck.
Thursday, November 22, 2007
Day of Atonement
I mean, Happy Thanksgiving.
I was reading this article that suggested we rewrite Thanksgiving as a national holiday and instead observe a Day of Atonement for the genocide committed on behalf of the future generations (us). The author talked about expecting criticism from right-wing traditionalists, but not expecting so much criticism from left-wing progressivists. Their arguments tended to run along the lines of, "I know our history is terrible, but we can still give thanks for our family and friends and be quietly mindful of the true history so as not to buy into the big holiday consumerism nightmare."
And, you know, sure. Whatever. That's what I've tried to do. But this got me thinking about paradigm shifts (which I've been thinking about a lot lately) and so I started trying to imagine what would actually happen if the US converted Thanksgiving into a Day of Atonement. And in a way, it's hard to imagine because we don't have any national concept of saying we're sorry. In a way, it seems so un-American.
One of the petty arguments I've had about this (but which is actually a pretty big deal) is how would we teach a Day of Atonement to kids. How do we forgo the pretty mythology of the first Thanksgiving and teach little kids about the genocide on which our nation was founded? It's a tough one because our school curricula always start with watered-down, well, lies that sound nice and don't get to the gritty truth until high school or so, if then. This would be a big change.
So I imagine a classroom filled with 6-year-olds and they're expecting to wear paper Pilgrim and Indian hats and expecting to draw turkeys from their hand prints and expecting to learn about sharing your bounty, just like their older sisters and brothers did last year.
And I imagine a teacher standing before them, telling them a watered-down version of the genocide that followed the first Thanksgiving, telling them that a lot of the Indians got sick because the settlers had diseases the Indians' bodies couldn't deal with, so a lot of them died. And telling them that the settlers wanted to live on the land and didn't think the Indians should get to have the land, so they took it away and kept pushing the Indians further and further away until they had nothing left. The settlers took it all away. (We can tell them about torture, enforced slavery, and mass killings once they reach second or third grade).
And I imagine the teacher comparing this action to ... what? ... playground bullies deciding they want the swing set all to themselves. And if they push everyone else off, is that wrong? Because it was wrong when the settlers took all of the land. It was a really, really bad mistake. Therefore, on the Day of Atonement, we think about these bad mistakes we made as a country and as individuals, and we say we're sorry.
So then all the kids can say what they're thankful for and what they're sorry for. Then they get cookies. So there, class party and positive life skills all present.
The second and third graders can write letters to Congress about the ongoing oppression practiced against Native American nations now, today, ongoing, now and still in the United States.
The fifth and sixth grade social studies classes can do reports on centuries of anti-Native American policies and what can be done now to end our dominant oppression over these sovereign nations.
High schoolers can start petitions, and picket in front of their state legislature.
Adults, meanwhile, sometime between cooking turkeys and scribbling out holiday checks to charities, can sign their high schoolers' petitions and lobby to their Senators and Congresspersons about how the Constitution doesn't really have a clause regarding the civil liberties of the people we've conquered and how we've got to make reparations, big time, to all the people we've hurt in the past.
Yes, it'll be a new country, one that bothers to say 'we're sorry' and perhaps even one that'll stop doing bad things to begin with.
So, what we need in order to get this off the ground is... a historian, a political scientist, and a marketing/web design person. Or twenty. So, what say next year we offer apologies as well as thanks?
...
word count: 45,345
I was reading this article that suggested we rewrite Thanksgiving as a national holiday and instead observe a Day of Atonement for the genocide committed on behalf of the future generations (us). The author talked about expecting criticism from right-wing traditionalists, but not expecting so much criticism from left-wing progressivists. Their arguments tended to run along the lines of, "I know our history is terrible, but we can still give thanks for our family and friends and be quietly mindful of the true history so as not to buy into the big holiday consumerism nightmare."
And, you know, sure. Whatever. That's what I've tried to do. But this got me thinking about paradigm shifts (which I've been thinking about a lot lately) and so I started trying to imagine what would actually happen if the US converted Thanksgiving into a Day of Atonement. And in a way, it's hard to imagine because we don't have any national concept of saying we're sorry. In a way, it seems so un-American.
One of the petty arguments I've had about this (but which is actually a pretty big deal) is how would we teach a Day of Atonement to kids. How do we forgo the pretty mythology of the first Thanksgiving and teach little kids about the genocide on which our nation was founded? It's a tough one because our school curricula always start with watered-down, well, lies that sound nice and don't get to the gritty truth until high school or so, if then. This would be a big change.
So I imagine a classroom filled with 6-year-olds and they're expecting to wear paper Pilgrim and Indian hats and expecting to draw turkeys from their hand prints and expecting to learn about sharing your bounty, just like their older sisters and brothers did last year.
And I imagine a teacher standing before them, telling them a watered-down version of the genocide that followed the first Thanksgiving, telling them that a lot of the Indians got sick because the settlers had diseases the Indians' bodies couldn't deal with, so a lot of them died. And telling them that the settlers wanted to live on the land and didn't think the Indians should get to have the land, so they took it away and kept pushing the Indians further and further away until they had nothing left. The settlers took it all away. (We can tell them about torture, enforced slavery, and mass killings once they reach second or third grade).
And I imagine the teacher comparing this action to ... what? ... playground bullies deciding they want the swing set all to themselves. And if they push everyone else off, is that wrong? Because it was wrong when the settlers took all of the land. It was a really, really bad mistake. Therefore, on the Day of Atonement, we think about these bad mistakes we made as a country and as individuals, and we say we're sorry.
So then all the kids can say what they're thankful for and what they're sorry for. Then they get cookies. So there, class party and positive life skills all present.
The second and third graders can write letters to Congress about the ongoing oppression practiced against Native American nations now, today, ongoing, now and still in the United States.
The fifth and sixth grade social studies classes can do reports on centuries of anti-Native American policies and what can be done now to end our dominant oppression over these sovereign nations.
High schoolers can start petitions, and picket in front of their state legislature.
Adults, meanwhile, sometime between cooking turkeys and scribbling out holiday checks to charities, can sign their high schoolers' petitions and lobby to their Senators and Congresspersons about how the Constitution doesn't really have a clause regarding the civil liberties of the people we've conquered and how we've got to make reparations, big time, to all the people we've hurt in the past.
Yes, it'll be a new country, one that bothers to say 'we're sorry' and perhaps even one that'll stop doing bad things to begin with.
So, what we need in order to get this off the ground is... a historian, a political scientist, and a marketing/web design person. Or twenty. So, what say next year we offer apologies as well as thanks?
...
word count: 45,345
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)