Joyful – this is going to be the most joyful Presidential ticket in history, and there’s something to be said for joy for the sake of joy.
In his state, he signed an executive order protecting gender affirming care; he eliminated tuition for state schools and signed into law universal free school lunches. We know that kids need to eat healthy in order to learn and thrive.
And so much more.
As an added bonus, his Lieutenant Governor is Peggy Flanagan, who will become the first Native American Governor in the country. She is a citizen of the White Earth Nation Ojibwe and holds a Bachelor’s degree in Child Psychology and American Indian Studies.
The choice of Walz is a win-win for the country and for Minnesota.
Today we should know who VP Harris chooses as her running mate. All the names put forward as being on the short list are all excellent candidates. They all have virtually the same positions on every subject: reproductive rights, gun control, rule of law, Supreme Court reform, and the war on Israel.
We will be lucky to have any one of them.
But first, we need to get them elected on November 5th!
Before you go on vacation.
Before school starts.
Before Election Day comes and goes.
WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO SAVE DEMOCRACY BY GETTING OUT THE VOTE FOR KAMALA HARRIS AND HER VICE PRESIDENT AND THE REST OF HER PROSPECTIVE ADMINISTRATION?!
On Tuesday, I had intended to begin the campaign season with a new Election Connection, and if I do, it will be links to Act Blue, Vote Save America, and the Kamala Harris campaign. (Any money that continues to go into Joe Biden’s official campaign account can be and will be transferred to Vice President Harris, so don’t stop donating.)
It’s currently Sunday afternoon, and when I first saw the news, I didn’t believe it. I went from room to room to chair to TV remote with my mantra, thisisbullshitthisisbullshitthisisbullshit, and apparently it’s not bullshit. That doesn’t make it okay. That doesn’t make me okay. I thought I might pass out.
I’m still shaking.
It’s 2:40 and the pity party is over. I don’t want to hear about proxies. I don’t want to hear about Republican unity candidates. I don’t want to hear about a contested convention.
THERE WILL BE NONE OF THAT.
Do you hear me?NONE.
Kamala Harris has been the Vice President for four years, she is on the ticket,
and she will make a superb President on January 20, 2025.
We have 103 days to get this right.
Vote like my life depends on it. And my daughter’s.
“Each of us is put here in this time and this place to personally decide the future of humankind. Did you think the Creator would create unnecessary people in a time of such terrible danger? Know that you yourself are essential to this world. Understand both the blessing and the burden of that. You yourself are desperately needed to save the soul of this world. Did you think you were put here for something less? In a Sacred Hoop of Life, there is no beginning and no ending.”
Nearly one year ago, I attended the first of what I hope will be an annual event at the National Shrine and Historic Site of St. Kateri Tekakwitha in Fonda, New York. It was World Peace and Prayer Day and was being held around the world on the same day, the Summer Solstice.
Please watch this video as told by Chief Arvol Looking Horse about how the day came to begin, starting with his own life history and the tragic past and present of the reservation system. The words are weighty, and the music only adds to the chills I felt, and I think you will feel as you watch:
In 1994, Miracle, a rare white buffalo calf was born in Wisconsin. It was the first white buffalo calf born since 1933. White buffalo calves are sacred to many Native American nations in the US and Canada. The World Peace & Prayer Day began in 1996 and for a time, rotated to different sites until expanding to individual events held at sacred sites globally. The Kateri Shrine is one of those sacred sites and why the administration decided to hold this interfaith prayer service. The Shrine is sacred to the Native peoples who lived and nurtured the land and there is a Mohawk community nearby as well, and it is also sacred to Catholics who believe the Saint Kateri Tekakwitha lived there in the village of Caughnawaga throughout her child- and young adult-hood. This village is the only fully excavated Mohawk village in the country. I’ve written before about my experience there and how profound it was for me and others who attended it.
The Shrine is planning a second World Peace & Prayer Day service on the Summer Solstice, June 21.
Two days ago, it was revealed that another rare white buffalo was born in Montana, in Yellowstone National Park and according to Lakota prophecy and tradition this foretells better times coming as well as a caution that more must be done to protect the earth. This new calf and Miracle are said to be true white buffalo and not albino – they both have a black nose, hooves, and dark eyes.
In the article I’ve linked about this recent white buffalo calf, there is discussion about the killing and removal of bison every winter to keep the herds at about 5000 animals. There is opposition to increasing the numbers in herds from ranchers and the governor, but I don’t see any input from local tribes or from across the nation. Perhaps because they also oppose transferring the buffalo to the tribes. I wonder why they can’t go back to having the Native tribes participate in their traditional hunting of buffalo which kept the population manageable naturally.
That political segue is important to be aware of, but a digression to this joyous event of another white buffalo calf.
Whatever you’re doing and wherever you are on June 21, take a moment to pray on the continuing vitality of the earth, our home, and all of those who live here. I will be at the Kateri Shrine in Fonda participating in the ceremonies and listening to the prayers both spoken through the participants and in the air swaying the trees.
Earlier this week, the Reverend James Lawson passed away at his home in Los Angeles at the age of 95. He was a large part of the non-violent civil rights movement, learning that hatred and violence are not the way to bring about change. He learned this from his mother when he was a child and she asked him “what good that [his hitting another child for calling him the N-word] served,” and from Gandhi when he studied in India under his philosophy. As his mother suggested, he found a better way.
I first heard Rev. Lawson speak as I watched Congressman John Lewis’ funeral, and I was spellbound by his words and his reach through the television screen. He used the word ‘providential’ and that is what I felt listening to him. It was providential. And inspiring.
One year, on our way to Canada, we stopped in Rochester, New York. My boys wanted to visit a comic store (of course), and since we were in Rochester, I suggested we visit Susan B. Anthony’s gravesite (Section C, Plot 93). I wanted my daughter to see a symbol of one of the pioneers of suffrage and women’s right to vote. Especially because when I mentioned that she had been on the dollar coin, there was a little confusion and looking up the difference between the Anthony dollar and the Sacajawea one. Driving to Niagara Falls and the Canadian border, west on I-90, there are several signs for women’s history from Seneca Falls, NY (birthplace of women’s rights) to Auburn, NY (home of Harriet Tubman).
I’ve written before about Susan B. Anthony and suffrage. They can be found by searching my tags in the search bar to the left. Below find some places to visit related to Susan B. and women’s rights as well as the surrounding area.
Two races I’d recommend getting involved with are Harry Dunn and Eugene Vindman in Maryland and Virginia, respectively. These two names may seem familiar.
Eugene Vindman is a retired Army officer targeted for retaliation by the Trump Administration when he and his brother, Alexander, also an Army officer at the time came forward as whistleblowers when the then President Trump extorted the Ukraine government. Eugene is now running for Congress in the 7th District in Virginia.
Harry Dunn for Maryland’s 3rd Congressional District. 2024
Eugene Vindman for Virginia’s 7th Congressional District. 2024
Below are two videos from The View television show that feature my Hebrew School teacher. I was searching for him online, and discovered that he died in 2020. I thought about him all of the time. I loved my time learning with him and recall it fondly. His daughter who you will see in the second video was our music teacher. One word of warning: the second video cuts off. I haven’t been able to find a conclusion.
We must Never Forget what happened. Something important that Mr. Baran said in the video follows:
A family piece that’s come down from my mother. A Rabbi, praying. (c)2024
This is the first part of a three-part series. The impetus was something I read in Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer, which I will reflect on in the last part. Part One delves into my childhood, growing up Jewish in what I consider a fairly religious household, although it was less religious than my grandparents’ households that my parents grew up in. Looking back, it is certainly more religious than I raised my own kids in, and that will be discussed in Part Two. Part Three, funny enough is the part I wrote first, but then kept expanding and writing and re-writing, and realized there was more backstory than I could fit into that section. I hope you enjoy reading about my past lives, and my reflections and reconciliations with who I am today and how I became that person, at least in this one aspect of my life.
Griffins and Ginger Snaps 