Total Eclipse of the Sun

Total Eclipse of the Sun

I am a hunter-gatherer.

In my small band, we find what we need nearby.

This is a satisfactory lifestyle for the most part.

I have time to gossip and play with the kids.

A PBS documentary captured how we work together.

Although of small stature, we brought down an elephant.

All the hunters did not make it back,

But we shared the life-sustaining meat with everyone.

The beginning of the agricultural revolution was the end of contentment.

 We invented money, written language and laws to manage complex relationships.

Then came empires and governments. Some distrust our own inventions,

Fearful of the deep state pushing levers of power out of sight.

We were terrified by that first total eclipse of the sun in our primal African home.

But then, the sun reappeared. We thanked our gods for making nature whole again.

Today, science explains it all, as we put on our protective lenses.

Einstein was right: light bends as space-time warps.

Many millennia later, some of us feel an atavistic terror,

Not from the movement of celestial bodies, but actions of people in power.

Will the sun continue to shine on our liberal democracies?

Or will fascism’s dark clouds again threaten to blot out the sun?

Fema

Fema

The Holocaust never goes away.

Even the Deniers keep the horror alive.

My memories are as indelible

as the number tattooed on Fema’s arm.

Alabaster skin and platinum blond hair enthrall

a young girl as Fema styles my frizzy curls.

Leon trims my brother’s hair in the barbershop upfront.

Their daughter, a displaced person at birth, is my mirror.

I heed the command to heal the world,

but shy away from Friday night rituals.

When people question my Jewish identity,

I share my defining memory of Fema.

I know who I am.

Zero Sum or Win-Win

In yesterday's New York Times, Eduardo Porter gave an insightful analysis of the way a large segment of Americans see the social safety net. In my view, there are two types of people. One group sees life as a zero-sum game: if you are winning (i.e., getting an undeserved benefit from government programs), then I am losing. The other group sees life as win-win: we all benefit when people's lives are improved by the social safety net. ACA (Obamacare) is a win-win program. The health care proposal being worked on by the Republican-controlled Congress is zero-sum. I have an idea: instead of shrinking the social safety net to appease groups who feel they are being left out, why not expand the safety net so that everyone benefits? Oh, but that would be too Scandinavian.

This Is Bigger Than Email Server

Some people are still blaming Comey for the election of the 45th President. When you are living in the middle of history, it is difficult, if not impossible, to see clearly cause and effect. I read The Economist to help me look at today's world from a different perspective. 

This week's cover story is the upcoming French presidential election. The Economist editors sum up the difference between the top contenders this way: "The implications of these insurgencies are hard to exaggerate. They are the clearest example yet of a global trend: that the old divide between left and right is growing less important that a new one between open and closed."

When seen in a global context, the election of the 45th President is less an affirmation of American Exceptionalism and more another manifestation of the political forces of disruption that have been moving west from eastern Europe. Will the French election disrupt the long-running European social, economic and political contract the way Brexit did? 

Our response: Resist the forces that will close the future. Stay true to the openness and diversity that define American Exceptionalism at its best.

10 Steps to Staying Sane in Trumpland

1. Keep ACLU pocket U.S. Constitution with you at all times.
2. Show up at one Marco Rubio demonstration to establish your Resistance cred.
3. Sneak off on Saturday afternoon to see a live HD presentation of opera from the Met.
4. Don't read even one news story about Kellyanne Conway.
5. Let digital natives manage social media for the Lake Nona Democrats.
6. Focus on the long game: electing progressives in 2017, 2018 and 2020.
7. Read the obituaries in the New York Times to meet truly inspiring people.
8. Get thrown out of an Indivisible meeting to show you haven't lost your New York edge.
9. Build up immunity to constant viral revelations by repeating each morning: "Donald Trump represents an existential threat to the country and the world."
10. Finally, tell your family and friends you love them every day!

The Indefatigable Mr. Smith

I first met Carlos Guillermo Smith when I became a precinct woman for the Orange County DEC in spring 2010. He was the legislative aide to Scott Randolph in Tallahassee at the time. Last night, I was at the ribbon-cutting for Carlos's district office. He is now the Florida State Representative for House District 49.

I greeted Carlos with one question: Do you ever sleep? The indefatigable Mr. Smith said not much, with a proud smile. It seems about half the posts to my Facebook page are from Carlos, chronicling his debates, speeches, and media appearances. Although a freshman member in the minority, Carlos is not sitting back to see how it is done. His experience as legislative aide serves him well. He is determined to make a difference from the start. I am confident that he will.

I am proud to be a supporter of Florida State Representative Carlos Guillermo Smith!

Income Inequality Starts at Home

Eduardo Porter is a left-leaning journalist for the New York Times whose column appears on the first page of the Business section every Wednesday. Yesterday's column described one cause of the shredding of the social and economic contract between employers and workers that contributes to the growing income inequality in this country.

I was reminded of the negative reaction when IBM moved from a defined benefit retirement plan to a defined contribution retirement plan (401k) and laid off worker for the first time in its history. No longer could workers count on staying with one company for their entire careers. Much of the recent discourse has been about globalization, technology and other economic forces. Read this article for another cause. And check out Porter's column every week. I always learn something important.