Footnotes and Scare Quotes

Erik and I spend a good part of our day trying to stop our two oldest boys from setting themselves up to be mortal enemies. Neither of them gives the other any benefit of doubt. One yells way too loud and too quickly. One feels the constant need to rub the other one's ignorance in his face. One covers his ears and repeats annoying provoking statements. One hits swiftly at the slightest cause. One has a victim complex and has mentally cataloged every slight in his life. I should mention that these are good boys, and we love them. And they come to each other's defense when anyone else  trespasses against them. But other than that we are constantly trying to get them to act like they hope to be friends one day. And, believe me, it becomes harder after hearing from both of them individually that the thought of growing up and being free of each other doesn't currently bother them. But as parents we know that they are robbing from their futures, even if they currently don't t...

A. Freaking. men. I feel bad sharing so much of the same person, and I don’t endorse him all the time (like I wouldn’t endorse yesterday’s show), but he was spot on today.  https://youtu.be/2lGQTyBrJFU Also, I have a guilty pleasure show. I don’t like to share it with people because the guy definitely isn’t speaking to a general audience. He’s just a place where conservatives go to laugh while listening to a very articulate person voice their grievances and make irreverent jokes. But he’s well-researched and has his finger so squarely on the pulse of the actual Trump voter, I wish people would watch this particular episode even from just an anthropological perspective. Because, believe me, misrepresentation is the number one grievance. And as long as people refuse to understand, the problem is going to get worse. https://youtu.be/FSRhdurEnZc

Erik and I couldn't help but talk politics last night, due to a school debate topic that had to be explained to Brooklynn. Erik and I don't see eye to eye on a few things, and we probably never will. At one point he asked "What do you want from me? Because I can't give you a vote for Trump." That's fine. I don't need that to be satisfied. But if he (or anyone else) really wants to make me the happiest girl on the planet, they can demonstrate the following very sexy mindsets:

If you happen to catch me in a rare but low, sad mental state, it is usually because I am pondering the loss of our modern-day ability to truly communicate. The obligation I feel to hold my tongue in order to peacefully avoid  triggering  someone. It is what I am most often pondering when I read or listen to the news... The questions that aren't asked. The uselessness of the ones that are repeatedly asked. The nuance that is not acknowledged. The numbers that aren't included. The intent that is assigned .  And especially , the multiple meanings of words and the subjective thresholds for their applications.  Sometimes it's just a symptom of pride or our natural love of a good caricature. Other times, it is a deliberate tactic. Mucking up our common language is one of those things I submit is deliberate. My questions is: When a word gets a new meaning, can I call dibs on inventing the new word that takes the place of the old word's meaning? Like Racism. A stroll t...

To start with something important and what should be non-partisan, I would like to share this article, written by a roving journalist who spent the last two months going from town to town in order to get a first-hand understanding of the true nature of the protests and riots, as well as their impact. This should be required reading: https://medium.com/@mtracey/two-months-since-the-riots-and-still-no-national-conversation-12a7e3e4e006 The journalist is not a Republican. But he went on to interview with Dan Crenshaw afterwards, and the conversation was a valuable one as well: (This link takes you to the Apple Podcasts channel. The interview was on September 12th.) https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/hold-these-truths-with-dan-crenshaw/id1498149200 And now,... https://youtu.be/yxzViUl41lA?t=23 I swear Ben Shapiro snuck into my head last night and stole his first 10 minutes of Tuesday's show directly from my own personal thoughts over the last several weeks. Now, I personally know so...

I cannot endorse such an honest piece of good work more. I don't even agree with some of his statements, but his willingness to look at the overall data and note the difference between rhetoric and reality is sooooo needed right now.  https://www.city-journal.org/reflections-on-race-riots-and-police?utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium=Organic_Social&fbclid=IwAR2u0cNQMD_1YGn56LvpascUcj-ztWrBICbV8tN3KoMh1bhjb-15fMM83N8 This is the type of thing I hope to save/share. It will always be required to have legitimate references to direct studies or reports. Not to be augmentative, but to help ground us. So that conversations have a chance at being productive.