We Still Got Game Friday Round-Up

We have bought into No Mow May (not mowing our lawn during the month of May to give the bees a chance to do their thing) and will now need a thresher to harvest the crop. I’m glad about the bees and all, we have dandelions aplenty to make them happy, but I’m mindful of the well-mown neighbors’ furtive glances in our direction. It probably doesn’t help our cause that we have a Biden Harris sign stuck in the middle of the knee-high grass.

We attended a talk on White Christian Nationalism this morning. This was an alternative to attending an Older Americans Month/Mental Health Awareness Month event at a senior center which would have yielded several pens from the inevitable resource fair and the opportunity to participate in a mini-meditation session and, I quote, “learn a new game!” Sometimes, and this is not a criticism, just an observation, events for seniors seem to be very-cute-activity driven. One wouldn’t say that about delving into White Christian Nationalism.

My good friend broke her right arm. I went to her house this afternoon to talk about a PowerPoint she is creating to generate critical discussion of the Republicans’ Project 2025 plan. This is a 920-page document that outlines the specific changes the new Republication administration would institute. Getting rid of immigrants, whittling birth control down to the rhythm method, censorship of books, words, and deeds, and a whole crazy inventory of rights-reduction. Meanwhile, my friend is cheerful about her broken arm, saying that “it will heal,” unlike the maladies several of our friends are enduring. We are very old. We are okay. We can still make PowerPoints and serve people bad coffee and old donuts while we talk about the massive risks of not voting. We still got game.

Speaking of which, I am president of Street Angels again. It’s a long story but the upshot is that I was asked to fill in so I am, happily. We are about to launch our new shower trailer which is a first for Milwaukee – a trailer with three showers towed by a truck to places accessible to people in need. Mostly, this will be unsheltered homeless folks, but people without working plumbing could also use the trailer. A hot shower, a change of clothes, a bag lunch, and a huge dose of hope for the future – that’s the whole idea of the shower trailer. It’s going to be amazing.

Hercules the cat wakes me up every morning by nudging my hand to pet him. If I huddle under the blankets, he lies down with his legs tucked under his chest and pretends to sleep. If I open my eyes, he turns his head to consider whether I am getting up or just fooling. He stays there, maybe two inches from my nose, as long as I am still. This, I believe, is the best part of my day.