14 Comments

Yes! What we focus on becomes the way we live our lives!

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It’s a beautiful piece, Jenna. I will listen to the poem in a little while, but you’re right, we need to be kind and supportive, but how do we stem the rise of fascism all over the world? It’s terrifying. Education plays a huge part in it, but teachers are afraid for their lives in certain areas because the kids are so vile. Sorry to be a downer, didn’t mean to get into this, I’m just like you, I wish everyone was kind and generous… I don’t have answers . Beautiful writing!❤️

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Hi Francesca. You're not being a downer, you are being realistic and supportive. Thank you. I spent 15 years writing books and designing programs to teach elementary school kids social-emotional as well as core literacy skills. My biggest challenges were not the kids but administrators who didn't want to spend the money or time on EQ. They would tell me the time was better spent teaching the kids to take tests. IMHO the real problem lies in the manufacturing model still employed by most schools that teach kids to believe some are more deserving than others through competition, comparison, and grading. I regularly worked with 3rd and 4th graders who believed they needed to be perfect. Sigh...If you're curious, see https://www.dreamingwideawake.org/critterkin

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Gorgeous poem, and I loved this piece, Jena. It feels welcoming, and healing here, in your space. A place to find a way to go on. With hope. ♥

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Thank you, Tizz. That makes me very happy to hear as that was what I was shooting for. Trying to think of more ways to bring others together to support one another. I am reading and really enjoying your latest story and will comment when I’m caught up with Part II.

And Gloria’s poem? It IS gorgeous. The woman can write!

Hugs.

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Thanks so much for reading it. Yes, she sure can. =)

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Jena writes so eloquently. I’m honored that she included my poem.

Jennifer, Seeing people vote for Trump and the GOP is like watching a goddamn train wreck in slow motion—you can’t look away, but you wish you could. I’ll never fully trust a white woman again, much less a white man, and I’m white, for God’s sake. But it’s the women who really twist the knife—there isn’t a vile enough word in any language to capture the depths of their betrayal.

Don’t let her funny videos fool you. She is a wolf in sheep’s clothing. She would send my wife and I to a concentration camp because we are lesbians. It’s that simple.

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It IS like a train wreck in slow motion!

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Powerful Poem...I listened to the poem...the emotion in the reading was powerful too. Last week I was too shocked to cry. Yesterday I started crying. Hard. It was triggered by my best friend from high school sending me funny videos. She and her husband voted for Trump. My husband and I did not vote for Trump and are horrified. I think I am heartbroken that people I love have done the wrong thing. I am heart broken people will be harmed with this hideous President and his Psycho Clown Choices for his WH stand. I am in that stage of Grief where the shock wears off and the pain starts. But in the meantime...I ignore my friends texts. Nothing is funny right now. The videos she sends feel like a mockery of reality and of my grief. Love these stories...Gloria is indeed a gifted poet.

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I discovered when I got up this morning that I'd left out a whole paragraph about resistance. I am NOT advocating a Kumbaya moment, believe me.

A few days ago two of my MAGA neighbors stood directly beneath my windows in the parking lot talking about how happy they were the orange one was elected and how the libtards would have destroyed the country if they'd "gotten in."

Clearly they haven't been paying attention to what their hero did to the country and how the Biden administration cleaned it up. I really do think a lot of this has to do with not teaching our children critical thinking and both research skills and EQ. These people are ignorant, operating on disinformation and what I call emotional indoctrination. They have no idea they are being manipulated.

I too am dismayed and discouraged. It is ignorance like this (how can you even call that person a friend any longer?) that has caused untold damage. Sending love and hugs your way. Really happy to hear you are liking the B & B stories.

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This is the heartbreaking part...the friends I have lost...the friends who have voted for a Rapist...I am not used to just cutting people off. I don't know how to navigate this hell. But I do know that sending me videos of puppies unicorns and rainbows while I am in deep grief and The Rapist puts puppy killers and pedophiles in office does not warrant any response but my silence.

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Couldn’t agree more. Also speaks to the depth of the depravity these people have bought into.

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🌹

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Hugs, Gypsie.

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