Word Of The Day

From Dictionary.com on June 18th, it was “risibility - the ability or disposition to laugh; humorous awareness of the ridiculous and absurd”. A good reminder indeed given the prevalent uncertainty and crazy governing practices from the far right and left authorities at the federal, state, and local levels. Is the flailing human in the oval office ridiculous and absurd? Yes! Is it ridiculous and absurd to continue strict shelter-in-place orders and foster destruction of businesses with a total of 3,057 confirmed cases of COVID and 47 deaths in SF? Yes! Is it ridiculous and absurd to impose a curfew and exempt the growing number of tents and people living on our streets and lumping them with essential workers? Yes, in my opinion and laughable! My goodness, I could go on with the ridiculous and absurd injustices.

(For the record, I feel utmost empathy for those who are homeless and dealing with mental illness and addictions. Year after year I vote for increased funding and pay increased taxes. However, the burgeoning tents are absurd given the $300+ million spent per year to deal with the conundrum. Obviously, a new tact is warranted like quickly building low-cost housing and medical facilities. Amongst the mayors including Gavin, there’s been plenty of time and opportunity.) Humorous awareness!

Birthday Greeting

A dear artist friend wrote, “May your special day offer deep introspective meaning for you. May you be joyful and at peace. And may your gathering wisdom guide your hands at the canvas.” This last part was especially touching and inspirational. So that’s what I’ve been doing all these years? Going through passage after passage “gathering wisdom”? Such a lovely way to frame the many travails, triumphs, sorrows and joys, in searching for and claiming my autonomy. Ahh, the power of language! With this phrasing, my awareness has been elevated, and I so look forward to being guided at the canvas.

Another Birthday Card

This one is from my son with lots of happy faces. Certainly perfectly timed and appropriate given the plethora of masked faces. As I’ve posted before, the world is a strange place without smiles but, hey, here they are rallying in full force!

Gemini

The weather today was gorgeous, sunny and warm with no wind. It was perfect for the long bike ride across the Golden Gate Bridge. Add to it a zoom party, lots of text messages surprisingly including one from ex, well wishes, phone calls, cards, flowers and dinner with my son, and it was an extra stellar birthday celebration. I feel so grateful for my dear friends. Phooey on shelter-in-place! I was showered with loving reinforcement that “I matter”, and it felt really good.

A number of years ago when I was enthralled with incorporating text in art, I bought the birthday card below. As it’s totally my style with the cursive and uneven brush strokes of background color, I give it to myself and display it on my bathroom mirror every birthday. It feels me with a sense of recognition and beauty.

Word Of The Day

I really enjoy subscribing to Dictionary.com and receiving a word and definition each day. Often the word is one I’ve never heard of. An exception is today’s “dilly” which is “something or someone regarded as remarkable, unusual, etc: a dilly of a movie.” Now that’s a word that can describe the time we are living in; a dilly of a reality show. Who can deny all the dynamics in play are remarkable and unusual? For me, this word has a fun element to it. I vote for anything that adds a moment of frivolity to this situation we’re all in together.

Pertinent Repeat Post - Constitution For The United States - Preamble

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution fo the United States of America.

Qualified Immunity

How the U.S Supreme Court helped create police abuse - in 1967 this was enacted into law. Per Wikipedia:

Qualified immunity is a legal doctrine in United States federal law which shields government officials from being held personally liable for discretionary actions performed within their official capacity, unless their actions violate "clearly established" federal law. It is a form of sovereign immunity less strict than absolute immunity that is intended to protect officials who "make reasonable but mistaken judgments about open legal questions", extending to "all [officials] but the plainly incompetent or those who knowingly violate the law". Qualified immunity applies only to government officials in civil litigation, and does not protect the government itself from suits arising from officials' actions.

The U.S. Supreme Court first introduced the qualified immunity doctrine in 1967, originally with the rationale of protecting law enforcement officials from frivolous lawsuits and financial liability in cases where they acted in good faith in unclear legal situations. Starting around 2005, courts increasingly applied the doctrine to cases involving the use of excessive or deadly force by police, leading to widespread criticism that it, in the words of a 2020 Reuters report, "has become a nearly failsafe tool to let police brutality go unpunished and deny victims their constitutional rights".

Let’s abolish this.

Banksy Continued

In posting his new art in support of Black Lives Matter, he also added “It’s on white people to fix systematic racism.” Although I understand his statement and likely feelings of anger and sadness, which I share, I don’t necessarily agree. I think that it will be much more powerful if we work together in collaboration.

On June 3rd black protesters linked their arms to make a human shield and protect a lone, white Louisville metro police officer from getting harmed by angry protesters. Unquestionably, this was a collaboration that provided much-needed inspiration and a win/win for race relations.

A black man Thurgood Marshall was on the Supreme Court from 1967-1991 followed by Clarence Thomas who, to this day, continues to serve. (Is this enough black representation? No, similar to female representation, but I know inequality of women is not the pressing issue of the moment.) As of 12/31/19, there are 226 African Americans serving on the federal bench. Surely, they are in positions to affect change and help eradicate racial injustice too.

Further, all of us who are black, white, yellow, and brown need to galvanize and vote out of office the angry, fearful, white elitist leaders hell-bent on securing racial inequality. When a president will call in the military, order the gassing of peacefully protesting people in a “democratic” nation, and be supported in doing so by the senate and attorney general sworn to uphold the constitution for “We The People”, this is of utmost priority.

Banksy

He’s one of my favorite artists and so adept at making political and social statements. His brilliantly-executed compositions always seems to precisely capture reality. In support of Black Lives Matter:

Unrestrained

Appropriate again on so many levels - the human and entourage in the oval office, senate majority leader and senate, police forces, protesters, and all of us fighting for freedom, equality, and justice.