Seems to be a good throwback photo day… so… here are some from this day (give or take) 15 years ago (whoa, that’s crazy):

Peter was in a run-everywhere phase of life. He was 7 years old and we were in Italy:

Coming…

Going…

Coming…

And going…

I gotta get me some of those. Tulip season doesn’t last forever.

Happy Monday to you.

I dreaded today because I’d let a writing project hang over my head for a couple of weeks and — so incredibly baffling to me — could not make myself do it.. and yet, hadda. Clock was ticking, time was running out… I really had no choice but to do it… like, today.

So… beautiful thing #1, I headed downtown to sit at Cloud Forest and write my article. On the way, was mesmerized by a skyful of amazing clouds on a clear, crisp spring day:

Beautiful thing #2 was this yummy avocado toast. I love the way Cloud Forest does theirs… with toasted sesame seeds, cherry toms and a bit of olive oil and salt. Heaven on toasted sourdough.

Beautiful thing #3 was meeting a woman named Mary, who looks like she’ll work out great as our new yard maintenance person who is also a horticulturist and can — in addition to yard maintenance — advise on plants, advise on the planting of our new vegetable garden, prune and shape trees, and other stuff, too. I’m thrilled and relieved and feel 1000% less apprehensive about our yard’s future.

Beautiful thing #4… that article. It may not be done, but a draft is done and presently in the hands of a real editor who can (gently or brutally) steer me in a constructive direction. I think I’m over the hump of reluctance and procrastination.

Beautiful, right?

It was a two-Zoom-event weekend.

There was a concert….

This was Monica’s very interesting and non-traditional singing troupe from the Bay Area, Volti, performing another of its made-for-Zoom concerts. This is the fourth one I’ve “attended” this year and, as if the music isn’t out-of-the-box worthy enough, the performance online is so clever and different.

This was a performance called “Ink” and each of the five pieces was a variation of that: drink, blink, think, link and, finally, ink. This is how they describe it:

“Ink” (a choral work in five movements) by Pamela Z is a work that unfolds in five sonically distinct movements that variously use standard notation, graphic elements, instructions, and rote transmission of sung and spoken vocal material. Speech fragments from interviews with the Volti singers make up a portion of the sonic structure and determine some of the work’s melodic and rhythmic passages.

Here’s a screen grab from the think movement:

(I wonder if this means Monica’s mind is blank?) (Which it never is, btw!)

~~

So.. there was that.

And then there was a 59th birthday party for Lisa! Five sisters and five honorary sisters.. our whole Northern Michigan Vicki birthday gang. We came with hats and stories. Best Lisa story: the time she brought her horse Dudface into her bedroom… just… to do it. Walked him right in through a sliding glass door that lead to the backyard. At some point, she worried he might poop, so she got him outa there… not sure her mom saw it.. but there are pictures…

Ann had left just before this pic was snapped (by Karen).. but here we are: me, Lisa, Claire, Karen, Leslie, Vicki, Leah, Betsy, Lauren:

Weekend also featured a nice lemon piccata chicken dinner (Chef: Janet); a short, but spectacular rain storm; a springy, lovely Farmer’s Market; a rushed brunch this morning at Bernardo’s (but notable b/c it was Jim’s and my first time eating indoors in Davis); and now, as I type this, the Oscars! (Notable for maybe not being a Zoom-event… we’ll see, it’s on the verge of starting after a very different red carpet.)

Bracing for tomorrow’s storm. Maybe more like anticipating with a tiny bit of preparation. And by preparation, I mean Jim covered the hammock.

Otherwise… the Farmer’s Market was today’s big event, over which hung beautiful skies.

My nephew John and his 5-year-old, River.

He doesn’t always just go along for the ride… he is a skater in his own right (with his own Instagram account):

All photos by the amazing (and proud) Alexis!

My goodness, it’s been a heavy heart week.

While there was a satisfying and due verdict in the George Floyd case, it doesn’t change (yet) the fundamental problems with policing, systemic racism and the general racial injustices that persist. Meanwhile, as if to underscore exactly that, there have been more police-involved shootings this week as we are still reeling from last week’s. One officer shot and killed a 20-year old with a gun when she meant to reach for a taser (that young man, Daunte Wright, was buried today after a high profile, televised memorial); another police officer shot and killed a 16-year old girl who appeared to be on the verge of stabbing another girl with a large knife. That one is less about officer abuse (since he responded as trained) — his split second response while fatal to the knife wielder spared the life of her attackee — and more about fundamental police training issues (why a gun, why shoot to kill?) and, perhaps more fundamental, about a society that failed the troubled teen in the first place.

And, adding sorrow to sorrow, Jim and I attended a memorial today for a Davis 23-year old, Jake, who died way too young of an accidental drug overdose. Hundreds showed up at the cemetery, including so many young folks.

It just makes you want your kid here right now so you can wrap your arms around him in love and safety. It makes you realize, for the gazillionth time, life is precious and can change in a heartbeat… words that sound like platitudes we hear them so often, but they’re just the plain god-honest truth. Life is precious and can change in a heartbeat.

There are a lot of moms and dads in pain this week.

~~

A few favorite shots of wrapping our boy in love…

Nothing says you gotta lotta work aheada ya like a whole buncha newly built and empty garden beds. Also, Ruben & Co planted the fruit trees… so now we have a working orchard! (Huge overstatement.) Here are some pics of where the backyard stands today:

Taken from the observation tower.. farthest north is the mandarin orange tree, then the meyer lemon and then the existing plum. A portion of the nearly finished beds on the right (irrigation lines to be connected next week, then I can plant them):

Moving my camera to the right to catch a bit more of the beds and a good portion of the patio:

Here is a wider view of this part… lots of construction stuff still to be cleared out, but it gives an idea of the full beddage:

Now, looking down the other side, an overhead shot of the hammock.. and you can see the start of a fig tree (far right). Out of view is the newly planted nectarine… in lower right, if you could see it:

And because the color is magnificent.. the last blooming purple tulip. Couldn’t you just live in that tulip, surrounded forever by that color?

Derek Chauven = guilty.

Judge Cahill read the jury’s verdict/s of guilty on three counts (after just ten-ish hours of deliberations), then Chauvin was handcuffed and remanded.

Today, George Floyd’s life mattered. It mattered to his family, but he was also a proxy for unjustly treated people everywhere.

That is a good day.

~~

Van Jones said that a lot of people woke up today afraid to hope. Yes, sir. Exactly that. At coffee with Vicki, before the verdict, she asked what I thought would happen, and I said my best guess was a hung jury, maybe the manslaughter count, or.. acquitted. We all knew what happened. We all saw it. But I didn’t have faith. I, like everyone, was full of dread.

[And I’m a white woman, well outside the zone of fear, completely untouched by other people’s reality. I was full of dread today and cynicism, yes, but mine will never be the same as that of people battered by centuries of abuse and marginalization. Their reality, our collective problem.]

Now, evening, I find myself grateful beyond words that the wrong thing didn’t happen today. Grateful, relieved, but quaking in my boots wondering how we’ll ensure justice going forward for when it happens again. It will happen again, a thousand fold.

~~

But for.

But for the cell phone video of Darnella Frazier, this case would have been closed before it opened. If you want to feel sick.. deeply weary… read the initial police report of their encounter with George Floyd a year ago. That tells you all you need to know about trusting the police, about the internal policing of the police. It should scare the bejeezus out of you because we all know there are incidents — hundreds? thousands? — that fly under the public radar, that get buried for lack of a Darnella Frazier recording.

Even though we all watched a murder in process for ten minutes in broad daylight, a lot had to come together for us to arrive at this point today. It was a girl’s chance recording of the entire 9 1/2 minutes, it was the shock and outrage of a nation numbed by a pandemic, it was the appointment of Keith Ellison to the case, it was the breakdown of the blue wall — a whole bunch of police officers compelled to testify against one of their own — and somehow a jury came together to render a unanimous verdict.

And because of all of that, this one went the distance.

~~

A country awakened to the rank injustices in law enforcement and our judicial system is worth a ton. And now the ball’s in our court — the public’s. We somehow have to sustain the focus and outrage to keep people engaged in order to bring about a real shift in cultural attitudes.. right? As Van said, a guilty verdict today isn’t the end. There’s a lot to do to bring about fair policing. The public has to want it, the media’s got to keep it alive, there has to be significant pressure on our policy makers and legislators at all levels to re-imagine our policies, practices and laws.

The George Floyd Justice in Policing Act is an important step. Ban chokeholds, establish a registry for bad cops, the Senate can approve right now Biden’s pick of Kristen Clarke for Civil Rights Chief in the DOJ (we made calls for her a couple days ago!). Those are concrete steps…

…and wow…it’s a long slog from today’s outrage all the way to systemic change. Like VP Harris said this afternoon, a measure of justice is not equal justice. She also said this is not black people’s issue alone. It’s all of ours. Van put it this way: it’s a math problem.. the majority has to work with the minority; we need numbers here.

The prosecution said there was a “bouquet of humanity” who bore witness that day, who ended up testifying in the trial. A commentator today said the jury was also a bouquet of humanity.. people from so many walks who had to come together in unanimity to bring about justice in this case. And now that same bouquet’s gotta get activated across an entire nation to ensure that justice is the ultimate, enduring outcome for all people, including people of color.

Right?

I heard a lot of dubious commentary today, even as people acknowledged and celebrated today’s amazing decision. Justice is ultimately way more than this verdict, this issue is bigger than one man’s death. It’s about an entire system that does not protect black people in the same way as it protects white people. I can understand the dubiousness.

We’ll see what happens with the next one.

~~

Some pics, screen grabs from today:

That is a DC Statehood flag.. count ’em! 51 stars.

The above is a promotional selfie a bunch of us are posting on social media.. part of an Indivisible Yolo campaign. Here is a great overview of the reasons for DC Statehood. (https://statehood.dc.gov/page/why-statehood-dc)

Why Statehood for DC

For more than 200 years, the residents of Washington, DC have been subjected to systemic inequality and denied the full rights of citizenship that the residents of states enjoy including voting representation in Congress. It is time to right a great historic wrong.

• The District of Columbia is the only political and geographical entity within the United States of America whose citizens bear the responsibilities of citizenship, including taxation and Selective Service registration, without sharing in the full rights and privileges of citizenship.
• Washington’s residents pay more taxes than residents in 22 states and pay more per capita to the federal government than any state—yet they have no votes in Congress.
• DC is subject to the whims of the federal government where Congress interferes with our local laws, local funding and operations.
• DC has all the same responsibilities, but not the same rights, as our fellow Americans—we are treated as second-class citizens
• Like our counterparts in all 50 states, D.C. residents pay federal taxes, serve in the military and on juries, start businesses and families, and contribute to our national economy.
• Yet, we are still unable to control our own budget or our own laws, and we still have no votes in Congress.
• DC residents want statehood and made their voter clear during the 2016 referendum with an 86% in favor to make Washington, DC the 51.
• Congress passed the Democrat-dominated House by a vote of 232-180. It was the first time that a chamber of Congress had passed such legislation. Currently, legislation was introduced in both chambers and has overwhelming support among Senate Democrats.

American Democracy: Fixing the Racial Inequality

• This is an American issue—critical on racial justice and democracy.
• Washington, DC is a historically Black city and Black people still make 47% of the population (41% White, 4% Asian and 11% are of Hispanic origins).
• American democracy systematically overrepresents White voters at the expense of Black voters and other voters of color.
• The average Black American voting power is only 75 percent as much representation as the average white American in the Senate and a 55 percent to the Hispanic voter.
• The structure of the United States Senate has less voting power for People of Color compared to White Americans. The District of Columbia is severely disadvantaged with 0 representation or voting power.
• The District’s lack of representation is a wider oppression and disenfranchisement of Black Americans.
• If admitted to the union, the District would be the only plurality-Black state in the country. This would highlight on the importance towards making Congress more responsive to the needs of a diversifying electorate and fixing racial inequalities.

Equal Treatment 

• Since the riot at the Capitol on January 6, 2021, when supporters of Former President Donald Trump attacked the US Capitol, the women and men of the DC Metropolitan Police Department answered the call to support our federal partners without hesitation and quickly restored order to the Capitol despite not having full representation in Congress.
• The lack of precaution by federal authorities to prepare for a highly anticipated attack placed Congressional leadership in danger, clarifies the need for a District of Columbia that controls its own National Guard. Currently, the order must come through the White House.
• While our population is larger than that of both Vermont and Wyoming, under the CARES Act, the District was denied $755 million in emergency funds, which is the amount provided to the least populous state through the Coronavirus Relief Fund.

Washington, DC is large enough to be a state:

• DC has 712,000 residents, more than Vermont and Wyoming and comparable with other states including Delaware, Alaska, and several others.

Washington, DC can afford to be a state:

• DC takes on the responsibilities of a statehood without enjoying all the rights and privileges embodied in the U.S. Constitution often referred as “taxation without representation”.
• DC residents pay the highest per-capita federal income taxes in the US.
• In total, DC residents pay more in total federal income tax than residents of 22 other states, but have no say over how those tax dollars are spent.
• DC now operates as if were a state with the exception of federal control over our courts and people in prison for committing felonies in DC.

DC residents are denied representation:

• DC residents have contributed to this nation just like residents of all other states. More than 11,000 DC Residents currently serving in the military can be sent to war to fight for American values, but do not have full voting rights in their own place of residence.
• Since World War I, DC has sent nearly 200,000 brave men and women to defend and fight for democracy abroad, and tragically 2,000 of those patriots never made it home.
• DC elects a non-voting Delegate to the US House of Representatives who can draft legislation but cannot vote. The current Delegate for DC is Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton. 
• DC residents do not have a voice in Senate Committees or on the Senate Floor. This means that DC residents have no say in the determination of who should serve as leadership for federal agencies, Serve as U.S. Ambassadors to foreign countries, sit on federal court benches or serve in the U.S. Supreme Court. This is true even for the federal courts within DC’s boundaries. 

Statehood for Washington, DC is constitutional:

• The Constitution sets only a maximum size, “not exceeding ten miles square,” for the federal district that is the “Seat of the Government of the United States” (Article 1. Section 8). Congress has the authority to redefine the borders of the federal district and shrink its size, as it did in 1846, when the portion west of the Potomac was returned to Virginia (now Arlington and Alexandria Counties).
• The proposed state map carves out a 2-mile radius to be called the National Capital Service Area, which includes federal buildings, such as the White House, Capitol, Supreme Court and the National Mall. This becomes the seat of the federal government as defined in the Constitution.

We need to revive the basic ideals of American democracy. We know that DC statehood cannot wait. Generations of Washingtonians have been denied the right to participate in our democracy – to have their voices and votes heard in Congress, to help shape the future of our nation, and to have a say on Supreme Court justices, whose decisions affect every single person living in the United States. It is time for the 712,000 tax-paying Americans to get full equality and autonomy in their government.