JPPENS

                                                      I can't believe what I hear or what I see. I know what being a good human is...empathy and care for others who have less and are forced to fight for themselves and their families to be free from violence...this is why the majority of people are crossing  borders. No matter what you hear, this is a fact...they are not coming to steal a job, but hope to work to provide for themselves. They are not coming to take over your town or this country. They are coming for the same reasons all of our ancestors did... to have a better life. Fact people! To have someone tell me that a person deserves to die because they kicked the tire of a car, or stood with a sign yelling, or that a child was used as a ploy only to make a video moment more effective or that people have been paid to get on busses to go picket...

“We the people…” When spitballs and pea shooters in schools are replaced with automatic weapons, where are “We the people…”? When untruths and fear are used as tools to sway and incite the blind unquestioning believers, where are “We the people…”? When $$$$ and power are THE REASON, above all else, where are “We the people…”? When a Country’s moral compass becomes magnetized so far away from true north, where are “We the people…”? When the answer to mass killings is to give more guns to the masses, where are “We the people…”? When the climate changed from what it was to real weather no one expected, where are “We the people…”? When closed doors and redacted words are left covered to hide the sins,  where are “We the people…”? When social injustice because of race, color, gender, orientation or land of birth suffer for the good of one race, one color, one gender, one orientation or one land of birth, where are “We the people…”? When our elections are raped and voters discounted, whe...

  NOW Not everyone can resist in the streets. But there are many things you *can* do, that *need* to be done, to support those who can: MONEY: Bail costs money. Hospital bills from protest injuries cost money. (In the kafkaesque American health care system, boy howdy does getting treated for injury cost money).  Lawyers to defend your arrested neighbors - to make sure your arrested neighbors get food and water in custody: that costs money.  Sustaining resistance costs money - costs a *lot* of money.  Little contributions, given to your friends and neighbors, add up.  Little contributions to national organizations rallying defense - like the ACLU - add up.  Money matters. Especially among us financially privileged, it's a key role we can play. VOICE: You have a voice - right here on Facebook. On BlueSky. On Twitter. At the workplace lunch room. Everywhere else.  I've written this over and over again - every place people gather, online or in person, is a...

My solitary fitness walks have become not only a necessary part of my life for wellness but the past decade it has allowed me the peace and calm I find from seeing "my tree".  It majestically owns a mountain ridge, beaming its rounded crested image through every season and welcomes me with my silent prayers of peace, hope, and tears of fear. Those who know me also know of my tree as it lays witness to all who drive into our community. Some have asked since they know I talk to my tree, does it talk to you? My response is always the same..."no, it does not talk to me but it whispers to my heart"... As the most trying times of my life in America continue to show themselves to me every single day I find I have to actually talk myself out of frustration, out of anger, out of anxiousness and into remembering who I am, how I struggled to be here and what I value; and, still I want to rage! Rage against what I see happening in this country and to its people.   The citizens ...