Keep on pushing

Vol. 47

In This Issue: ESSAY | NOW READ THIS | PURE POETRY | I AM ONCE AGAIN ASKING | FINAL FRAME

What a decade this summer has been. Every week feels like there’s new, history-altering news to process. Trump was shot at while I was in France back in July and I, like many people, was guilty of thinking, “Damn, this is it, he just won this thing.” And then Joe Biden stepped down and Kamala Harris stepped in and everything seemed to change overnight. There’s just A Lot to keep up with and it’s hard not to not feel some sense of whiplash. Meanwhile, we’re all just trying to live our damn lives.

Biden stepping aside so that Harris could take over as the Democratic nominee for president was fairly earth-shaking. I know I was surprised by it. I was also surprised by how quickly the major players in the Democratic Party rallied behind Harris. Would I have much preferred a competitive primary? Absolutely. But this late in the game, all I wanted was for the Dems to avoid shooting themselves in the foot by fighting over who the new candidate should be once Biden abdicated. Harris made the most sense by far and had/has the most name recognition. And her candidacy has already been a massive shot of energy in the arm of the Democrats and those on the left who were, by and large, incredibly unenthusiastic about another Biden run.

Honestly, I have a lot of criticisms of Harris–chief among them her close ties to AIPAC and alignment with the Biden Administration’s approach to Israel’s genocide in Gaza (which is to say, continuing to send billions in military aid and weapons to help Israel conduct said genocide while claiming that they’re “working hard” toward a ceasefire agreement). For me, this is a pretty damn big blemish on my enthusiasm for the Harris-Walz ticket, because I don’t yet see much indication that she’ll break much with Biden’s record on the matter*.

That can be true at the same time that it’s accurate to say that I am grateful for the sudden and tangible injection of energy and possibility that Harris’ candidacy has brought to the race. In the end, it’s much less about this individual person running for office and more about the coalitions forming, the policies being pushed, and the battling back of despair that seems to be coming from it.

I’m also deeply grateful to the protesters who continue to show up at Harris’ rallies and engagements, at the DNC, and elsewhere to make sure the issue of Palestine can’t be entirely ignored or brushed aside. Protest is how to push candidates on the issues. It might not convince Harris to do a complete 180, but there’s evidence already that the pressure is at least causing her to change her tone. At an early August rally in Michigan she snapped at pro-Palestine protesters and essentially told them to shut up. At more recent events where protesters have interjected, she’s said she “respects your voices” and urged an immediate ceasefire. 

Part of that is definitely just savvy messaging. It’s not nothing, either. There’s a long way to go, but with a Harris presidency there’s at least a fighting chance to keep pushing her and the United States toward dipping its toe into the right side of history. 

I’ve seen others argue that, under Trump and/or Republican presidents, the upside is that the left tends to be more mobilized to protest and shout and resist. That we are prone to becoming too complacent under Democrats and/or ostensibly “liberal” leadership. I think there’s definitely some truth to that–you’ve only to look at what we barely said a peep about under Obama’s time in office, despite his administration’s prolific use of drones to carpet bomb civilians and the extended the use of Guantanamo Bay’s inhumane and illegal detention facilities, among other things.

I’m not willing to sit on my hands if Harris wins the presidency, though, and I strongly suspect there’s enough momentum behind movements on the left to keep up the pressure–on abortion, on Palestine, on housing, and so on. Because those critical issues are not going away the minute a Democrat is back in the White House, and we should never assume that our electeds will do the right thing without our continued engagement and pressure. A Democrat in the White House is just one possible tool in the toolbox (pun intended) when it comes to the changes that are so urgently needed in our country.

Which is a long way of saying that I am both excited about the possible change in fortune that the Harris candidacy represents for us (i.e. there’s a real shot at beating Trump), and realistic about the immense amount of work that remains to be done by those on the left, regardless of who wins in November. 

I am also never going to tell someone that they have to vote for Harris if their conscience is telling them no. Claiming that not supporting Harris is “voting for Trump”--or somehow an indication that someone doesn’t care or wants Trump to win–is downright wrong, patronizing, and ignorant. We should be holding our candidates and elected representative’s feet to the fire on these things and making them earn our votes–not simply because the alternative is worse, but because they are actively working to be better. 

I’m extremely borderline on this myself, to be honest. Palestine is enough on its own to make me incredibly angry that these are the only choices presented to us. But for me, again, I see my vote in November as just one action in what needs to be a much larger and more diversified approach to our fight for a better world. My vote does not come without expectations, demands, accountability.

Individual politicians or parties will never save us. They can be helpful, though. They can also do serious harm. So it’s up to us–the messy, loving masses of everyday people in communities across the country–to hold them and ourselves accountable to each other. 

(*I finished writing this just as the news broke that Uncommitted delegates at the DNC—the people who I voted for in the primary—are being denied the opportunity to put a Palestinian American on stage to give a (vetted!) speech. This is incredibly cold and wrong-headed of the Harris camp, especially given that speakers have included everyone from anti-choice Republicans to Border Patrol officers). We’ll see if that changes today, the last day of the convention, but if not, it will be a massive misstep—not to mention moral failing—of the party that will cost them a not insubstantial number of votes in November. Keep an eye on it.)

Now Read This

“On pandering (to me)” [Garrett Bucks at The White Pages]

As a middle-aged White guy in the Midwest, I am begging the Democratic Party: I would like to be asked to think. I would like to be asked to connect dots. I’d like to be asked to reflect— both on what I deserve from my government but also how I need to show up for others. I’d like to be expected to love, to be a member of a community rather than just a cloistered sovereign.

U.S. dooms its Red Sea mission by denying Gaza link [Spencer Ackerman at Forever Wars]

If the Houthis are merely opportunistic, then a great way to call their bluff would be to impose a ceasefire on Israel. Either the U.S. would immediately achieve its regional and its Red Sea objectives or the Houthis would expose and isolate themselves by continuing attacks amid a ceasefire, which would vindicate Wikoff. That sure seems worth trying. But no. 

“The radical theology of Mr. Rogers” [Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg at Life Is A Sacred Text]

I love this spiritually-based look back at the life and work of Mr. Rogers and his commitment to radical love: "Deep down, we know what matters in this life is more than winning for ourselves. What really matters is helping others win, too. Even if it means slowing down and changing our course now and again."

“Nothing is gayer than my love for women’s basketball” [Melissa Febos for Autostraddle]

…my basketball obsession is pure joy. After games, I feel jubilant, exhilarated. Basketball is a beautiful game, swift and easy to follow, but there are more personal pleasures to watching it. As a former athlete, my body sings with recognition, the vicarious rise of that old drive to win, the simple pleasure of trying. Watching any sport is like traveling to a country where I once spoke the language. The body remembers, twitches with recognition.

“The Privilege To Fail: How Rachael ‘Raygun’ Gunn’s Olympic Routine Made Breakdancing A Global Joke” [Stacey Patton for Newsone]

Gunn’s breakdancing at the Paris Olympics wasn’t just an embarrassing series of missteps—it represented something even more sinister. Her viral performance was a modern-day minstrel show, where cultural appropriation masqueraded as athleticism, and a global audience was invited to laugh at the crude distortion of a cultural expression once demonized because it originated with Black urban youth. Gunn stripped away the history, socio-political significance, and skill behind breakdancing, reducing it to a caricature for the world to mock.

“Begone, panty-sniffing ghouls of the GOP” [Talia Lavin at The Sword & The Sandwich]

There is no science and no rationality behind banning abortion—just cruel Christians and a mass of ghoulish, racialized obsession with breeding. The “natalists” of this country, the “pro-life” movement of this country, is a crusade to tell women we are ghosts in our own flesh, and neither our words nor our spirits matter at all. We live in a dystopia created by a fifty-year movement to deracinate feminism, to make it an object of ridicule and shame. A movement that produces marriage manuals that tell women to kill our selfhood, and serve our husbands. To survive by suspending and degrading our desires, curtailing our autonomy, learning to love the bit and bridle, to breed on command.

Pure Poetry

Are you familiar with Danez Smith? If not, I strongly recommend that you get acquainted. Danez is a truly fantastic poet (and Midwesterner who used to live in Madison). They just released a new poetry collection, Bluff, and posted one poem from it to their Instagram this week that absolutely knocked me off my feet. I want to share it with you now, and then urge you to check out Smith’s work (preferably at your local indie bookstore):

Voted for the negro twice, twice my captor

Wore my face. Admit it, Danez, you loved

Your master in your shade. Yes, I loved

Knowing the color at the end of my chains

It was water when one of us helmed the boat.

Water for our eyes, water raised to the lips

Of cargo. Still cargo. In summer

We turned down that Jeezy, learning a new one’s

Slain name. The helm and still. The boat, still

Headed to Carolina shores.)) My president was Black

When mothers got millions in exchange for sons.

Michelle’s perm was perfect as bombs dropped

In the middle of childhoods.

We buried my grandpa with an Obama button

Pinned to his lapel. Finally free, we sent him to heaven

American. When he won, we printed Bascom Hill

& danced like happy slaves at Lincoln’s feet.

We were happy ass slaves, happy to vote

Happy to be able to protest the killing

We couldn’t end, happy for healthcare

That killed us slower, happy the gays could marry

In the country where trans women vanished

Like snow in warm winters

Happy our wars were only of the mind

Only elsewhere.

Forgive me, I wrote odes to presidents.

I am once again asking

I was delighted and honored to learn that I’d been nominated for two Madison Area Music Awards this year, and I’m even more delighted and honored to learn that I’ve made it into the final round of voting.

If you have a moment and are willing, it’d mean a lot to me if you’d head over to broadjam.com/mama and cast your ballot for me in the “Drum Kit” and “Instrumentalist of the Year” categories. There are so many other amazing Madison-area musicians and music-related folks nominated, too, so I absolutely encourage you to vote in any/all other categories as well. And consider throwing a few bones to the MAMAs, which do good work in the community to support young people who want to play and us older folks who inhabit the scene.

It’s been a really good year for me and music and drumming. Between playing with LINE and celebrating 10 years of Damsel Trash, I’ve gotten to spend more time doing this thing I love with a bunch of people I love, and I’m forever grateful for that. Winning a cool award would be awesome! But the sappy truth is that I’ve already won. Wee 3-year-old me, who used to flip over a trash can and tie pot lids to the closet door as my first drum kit, would be pretty amazed by it all, I think!

Final Frame

Did you know that Wisconsin has several carnivorous plants that are native here? I got to go tromping through a fen (a type of wetland) in southeastern Wisconsin this week–a very cool day at work–to find and photograph one of them: Sarracenia purpurea, the purple pitcher plant.

This time of year, the plants are more green than purple, but they’re still very cool. These plants eat insects to get the nutrients that are lacking in the peaty soil of the fen. Small hairs on the leaves of the pitcher-shaped part of the plant trap insects inside, which then drown and decay in the pool of water collected there. Like I said, very cool.

The other neat thing about this trip? The pitcher plants–among a variety of other native plants–have been able to thrive thanks to an intensive restoration effort at the fen. Huge, choking stands of invasive cattail are being methodically removed, which opens up the wetland and allows a far more diverse array of native plants and critters to thrive once again. It’s pretty astonishing to see this process happening in real-time, and gives me a lot of hope for what’s possible if we just put some muscle (and some money) into it.

‘Til Next Time.

My sincere gratitude, as always, for reading! Feel free to drop me a line or a comment with any questions, suggestions, etc. And if you’re at all able, please consider upgrading to a paid subscription. It helps a lot!

Take care. xoxo