Returning with renewed purpose

Like many other Americans–actually, like many others around the globe–I was, and remain, appalled by the outcome of the presidential election.  The man who occupies the Oval Office is the antithesis of everything I revere in others, and of what I myself strive to be.  I believe it’s safe to say that the only things that he and I have in common are the facts that we are 1) carbon-based life forms who were 2) born in New York.

A recent Talk of The Town piece in The New Yorker checked in with Philip Roth who, among other comments, shared this:

“…[N]either [Nixon nor George W. Bush] was anything like as humanly impoverished as Trump is: ignorant of government, of history, of science, of philosophy, of art, incapable of expressing or recognizing subtlety or nuance, destitute of all decency, and wielding a vocabulary of seventy-seven words that is better called Jerkish than English.”

Impoverished.  Ignorant.  Apt adjectives.  One adjective Roth didn’t use was ugly, but it’s one that can be rightly applied to so many aspects of Trump’s being, above all the divisiveness of his rhetoric.  He’s an ugly human being–and I’m not referring to his physical appearance.

So, what to do?  Again, like so many others, I’ve spoken with my wallet, making donations to The Trevor Project, the ACLU, Planned Parenthood, the National Resources Defense Council, Equal Justice Initiative, and a scholarship fund established in memory of Gwen Ifill (God, I wish she were here to help us all make sense of things).  I need to do something with more of an activist flavor though, but haven’t hit upon the best solution.  As I recently stated in a Facebook comment to a friend, “In a roughly 30 second flight of fancy yesterday afternoon, I considered running for my district’s House seat in 2018!” (Not an option: the fundraising that would be required would be the end of me).

So while I continue to mull over my options for a meatier form of opposition, I decided to resuscitate my blog.  My intent, when I started it back in March of 2013, was to write about fleeting moments of beauty in different works of art (see About This Blog for more detail).  I had a very small following (emphasis on small) and after a labor of love that generated 82 posts–on topics as varied as Bach, Tom Waits, Brahms, Philip Larkin, Joni Mitchell, Tennyson, and David Bowie–I closed it down exactly one year after I’d started it.

But I find I’m needing to write about–and share–beauty, to counteract that aforementioned ugliness.  So I’ll resume making posts about things that I find beautiful, or that flick my Joy switch.  It may all amount to so much spitting in the wind, but I’ll give it a go.

And joy seems like a good place to start with this second round of mine in the blogosphere.  There’s plenty of it to go around in this incredible video.  Enjoy.

15 comments

  • Welcome back!! I loved this post, especially the commonality of you and DT both being carbon based life forms. Watched the up town funk video twice. Thanks for making me smile

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    • Marjie, you’ve been one of my most loyal readers. So glad you’re on board. Smiles are a good thing, particularly in the era of DJT. XO

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    • Bruce!! You’re the best. The last year has been tough, on a number of levels. It feels good to re-affirm a commitment to the blogosphere, in terms of both creating and consuming content.

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      • Great to hear, J. I find that although both writing/posting are sometimes onerous, and I never feel like I’ve read as many of others’ pieces as I’d like, there remains a fine but tangible sense of community and comradeship that I value. Hope you can (re-)discover that.

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  • So glad to have you back…..so much in agreement with you!!!! And watching the dancing was a wonderful breath of fresh air……would love to have some of that back!.

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  • All so very true. To the great quote above I would add Saint Paul – see Galatians 5:22-23. Thank you for your eloquent reminders of the many types of beauty that surround us. With love and admiration — C

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    • Con, thanks for following along. It really means a lot to me. The verses you mention are worth citing: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.” DJT exhibits none of those characteristics (which is, of course, your point). Actually, I’d give him one ‘self-control’ point for being a teetotaler, but he loses it, and accrues many additional demerits for the lack of self-control he shows on Twitter alone…

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  • All Hail, Edel Rodriguez – augenblick

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