(no subject)
We had a fabulous weekend, but WHAT THE FUCK IS HAPPENING TO MY COUNTRY???
Seriously.
While we were at Great Escape (where we all walked the entire park, Kelsea and I rode all four of the good roller coasters, and we had an incredible time together), racists with torches marched onto a college campus to surround a small group of anti-fascism protesters, intimidating the hell out of them, then attacking them. Also terrifying a Civil Rights conference at a church nearby - imagine looking out the window and seeing 150 racists marching straight at you with torches!
We were at the Great Escape. Riding on little fake trucks. Eating cotton candy. While the race war started.
Then on Saturday, we hosted a lovely dinner party with bacon-wrapped turkey and corn on the cob and roasted brussel sprouts and chatted for hours with dear friends we don't see often. We talked til nearly 11 p.m. KB went right to sleep at 8:30. It was such a peaceful, beautiful night. Lara said repeatedly, "I wish we lived closer."
And at the same time, a racist drove into a group of anti-fascism protesters, killing one, injuring 19. Other racists followed some of the protesters into a parking garage next to the police station and beat one of them, a black man, until he was unconscious. All of these racists did this openly - no masks, broad daylight, wielding their torches like weapons with no worry of consequences.
I checked my phone Saturday night after Lara and Jay and Gordon left, for the first time all weekend, and I could not believe it. Surely this wasn't all true?!
So on Sunday, while we drove two hours to an art museum, I read Sandy news updates while she drove and KB napped.
How can this be happening??
We went to the Eric Carle Museum for Picture Book Art because Leslea Newman was there, reading from her new book, Sparkle Boy. Newman wrote "Heather has Two Mommies" and "Mommy, Momma and Me" which we read all the time. KB loves them because she sees herself in them - she sees her family. We dressed with sparkly jewelry and KB wore a sparkly, twirly dress, for a sparkle party celebrating the new book. In it, a little boy learns that he can love what he loves instead of just loving "boy things." Colors and clothing and accessories don't have to be restricted to just one gender.
There were about five families there, including us.
I looked around at our small bubble of otherness. We used to be on the outskirts, not allowed in the public eye. Newman had to self-publish "Heather has Two Mommies" for the first printing in 1989. Now it is a top seller and if you look on amazon, there's tons of other books like it. It's not hidden. Used to be you could only buy it at a couple artsy tables at pride festivals. You wouldn't come across it unless you were actively searching for it.
Now we can get married and the wedding might make it onto the wedding page in the New York Times.
A similar evolution has occurred for people of non-white races, non-Christian faiths, non-native-English-speakers, and so on. In other words: the Western Europeans are no longer the only acknowledged citizens of this country.
The only comfort I can take from the race war starting in Charlottesville this weekend is that the whites-only group may be very small. Apparently 90 percent of the angry, racist tweets come from 1,500 accounts. While the torch-wielders looked huge and intimidating, there were only 150 of them. My god, the Pride festival in tiny cities brings out larger parades than that. DRAGONCON has a larger parade than that!
We can win this. I am not sure how. But we can win.
Seriously.
While we were at Great Escape (where we all walked the entire park, Kelsea and I rode all four of the good roller coasters, and we had an incredible time together), racists with torches marched onto a college campus to surround a small group of anti-fascism protesters, intimidating the hell out of them, then attacking them. Also terrifying a Civil Rights conference at a church nearby - imagine looking out the window and seeing 150 racists marching straight at you with torches!
We were at the Great Escape. Riding on little fake trucks. Eating cotton candy. While the race war started.
Then on Saturday, we hosted a lovely dinner party with bacon-wrapped turkey and corn on the cob and roasted brussel sprouts and chatted for hours with dear friends we don't see often. We talked til nearly 11 p.m. KB went right to sleep at 8:30. It was such a peaceful, beautiful night. Lara said repeatedly, "I wish we lived closer."
And at the same time, a racist drove into a group of anti-fascism protesters, killing one, injuring 19. Other racists followed some of the protesters into a parking garage next to the police station and beat one of them, a black man, until he was unconscious. All of these racists did this openly - no masks, broad daylight, wielding their torches like weapons with no worry of consequences.
I checked my phone Saturday night after Lara and Jay and Gordon left, for the first time all weekend, and I could not believe it. Surely this wasn't all true?!
So on Sunday, while we drove two hours to an art museum, I read Sandy news updates while she drove and KB napped.
How can this be happening??
We went to the Eric Carle Museum for Picture Book Art because Leslea Newman was there, reading from her new book, Sparkle Boy. Newman wrote "Heather has Two Mommies" and "Mommy, Momma and Me" which we read all the time. KB loves them because she sees herself in them - she sees her family. We dressed with sparkly jewelry and KB wore a sparkly, twirly dress, for a sparkle party celebrating the new book. In it, a little boy learns that he can love what he loves instead of just loving "boy things." Colors and clothing and accessories don't have to be restricted to just one gender.
There were about five families there, including us.
I looked around at our small bubble of otherness. We used to be on the outskirts, not allowed in the public eye. Newman had to self-publish "Heather has Two Mommies" for the first printing in 1989. Now it is a top seller and if you look on amazon, there's tons of other books like it. It's not hidden. Used to be you could only buy it at a couple artsy tables at pride festivals. You wouldn't come across it unless you were actively searching for it.
Now we can get married and the wedding might make it onto the wedding page in the New York Times.
A similar evolution has occurred for people of non-white races, non-Christian faiths, non-native-English-speakers, and so on. In other words: the Western Europeans are no longer the only acknowledged citizens of this country.
The only comfort I can take from the race war starting in Charlottesville this weekend is that the whites-only group may be very small. Apparently 90 percent of the angry, racist tweets come from 1,500 accounts. While the torch-wielders looked huge and intimidating, there were only 150 of them. My god, the Pride festival in tiny cities brings out larger parades than that. DRAGONCON has a larger parade than that!
We can win this. I am not sure how. But we can win.