still

Twelve years of tending—I did not expect I’d be standing here still

Picking up after you, you, you, and you.

I have regrets, I have a few—they have everything to do with me,

surprisingly

not to do with you.

The flow that serves me so well sometimes, has landed me here,

my earning years

all but disappeared.

Lean in.

eff you.

Opt out.

eff you.

Everyone telling me what to do.

How to think.

What to feel.

Feminist, YES! Also repressed.

Maybe.

Not me.

I’ve never felt that landed true.

HOW ARE WE STILL HERE?!?

Still and still

and

still

a little note

The Honorable Ruth Bader Ginsburg, US Supreme Court justice, women’s rights advocate, mother, wife, leader, inspiration—has passed away.

Mrs. America is streaming on Hulu—the story of the 1972 equal rights amendment, an amendment seeking equal legal rights for all citizens regardless of sex, an amendment that came within three states of becoming enshrined in our constitution, never passed.

Is it a radical notion for my rights as a woman, our rights as non-binary beings to be equally as cherished as those of our beloved men?

I think not.

Today’s president of the USA called Kamela Harris, the democratic vice presidential candidate, a “monster”.

I don’t understand how we’re still here.

How our nation’s leader dehumanizes people who do not look like him, who may not think like he does.

What is this?

Our country is stronger when we see each other as equals—when we really see each other and all the differences that exist in this nation.

We are stronger when we see each other’s humanity.

Our strength comes from the interweaving and the seeing and the desire to understand and to hear from others who do not look like us,

who do not think like us.

We are stronger because we differ.

Know that.