go_team

This morning I woke up from a long, complicated, Wizard of Oz-style "and you were there, and you were there, and you were there" kind of dream where I caught up with a lot of people, some of whom I hadn't thought of in a long time, and we talked, and some of us performed, or showed off art, or writing, or kids (who mostly showed off themselves), or other projects that have been not consuming us so much as transforming us and our recent and not so recent lives (and vice versa), to the point where maybe we haven't been in touch as much as we might like. Anyway. All of the people in this dream were very dear to me, so I wrote a mushy Open Letter about it, but I wanted to tell everyone the most important part of the letter, which goes like this:

Friends, it was good to see you. No matter how long it's been since we last saw each other, or spoke, or wrote, or exchanged stupid email or whatever little time sucks the Web just distracted us with, I've missed you. I hope this letter finds you well --- at least as well as you were in my dream last night, if not better (and we were all pretty great). I think you are both the best thing that has ever happened to me, and that our friendship is the best thing I do, and every time I edit this sentence it gets a little longer and clumsier when what I really mean is just: You're the best. Thank you.

There ya go. Everything else can wait.

Love,
-Tracy

P.S. I sorta lied about everything else waiting. Soundtrack for this morning and the writing of the mushy open letter and all: "Visit in my Dream" by Dan Bern (Breathe), "Willing to Fight" by Ani DiFranco (the Living in Clip version), and "My Friends" by Dar Williams. Yep, I'm a colossal mushball.

Dear Universe,

Is news like this recipe-copyright controversy bullcrap your way of telling me to get deep into intellectual property law, or should I just fire up the stick blender and go for the jackasses' eyes? Damn. I don't even know what to think. And I should probably go to bed.

Love,
-Tracy

Dear Rain,

Don't get me wrong. I know you're good for my garden, especially the carrots I thinned out and the brand shiny new green zebra and yellow brandywine tomatoes I planted today. I'm down with not having to water my plants with the garden hose, although I'm still going to mulch them lovingly with grass clippings in an effort to retain water (and as an added bonus, keep down weeds). But couldn't you wait with starting till I'm at work instead of making it hard for me to get there on my bike? I would've liked to keep pruning my roses and make a run to the library, too... but I'll settle for the fact that you seem to be slowing down a bit. Hold that thought! Thank you!

Love,
-Tracy

kweerious is even more awesome than usual for creating an LJ feed for my Open Letters project: epistolography. I almost forgot, but fortunately it's automated and it posted today's letter to my Friends page, which reminded me that LJ delivery of my unsendable letters is now available to anyone who wants it.

Thanks dedi! You rock! Yay for friends who know how to do things that I haven't learned to do for myself yet and help me out with them!

I need to go to the store for basic food staples like eggs and bread (we've finally admitted that the bread machine isn't working) but in the meantime, a little brain dump.

Previously worrisome tax stuff about the house has been sorted with our big scary corporate lender; now all I have to do is remind Lane County that I own this house, too. That's not so bad. However, while I'm on the subject of taxes, I for one am not happy to hear that the Bush administration's tax reforms may focus on taxing consumption instead of income. That translates as "big tax cuts for people with more money than they can spend", mmkay? It is bad news if you are spending anywhere near what you earn, living paycheck to paycheck, or borrowing money, you will be paying proportionally more. Isn't that kind of the definition of regressive taxation? I haven't looked it up yet, but I'm definitely feeling suspicious. If any of you want to beat me to researching this and writing or drawing it up in catchy Internet meme form, please feel free.

I think maybe I need one of these shirts. Longsleeve, though; my t-shirt collection is still pretty out of control. I'm glad to report that my crew at work is mostly shell-shocked and/or disgusted by the events of this Tuesday; the one guy who probably voted for Bush isn't scheduled to work with me for at least another two weeks, so that's all good. By then I'm sure he'll be rooting for some other team he thinks is a winner, or else I can always kick him in the balls accidentally bump him with a hot pan add him to my list of "okay, so you voted for the guy, now explain me why" interviewees. I think I'll probably be able to maintain horrified curiosity, but if he gets obnoxious, there's always the hot pan fallback plan.

I am loving SorryEverybody.com. Part of me still wants to be writing letters to everyone I know outside the U.S. to remind them that 3.5 million is not that big a lead and there's no way of knowing how much of it is faked or stolen or due to voter intimidation or crappy machines or provisional ballots or whatever but most importantly there's still millions of people in this country who are not actively trying to bring about the Eschaton. But actions are louder than words, yes? Better than a personal letter from me to a few friends and relatives is for many more people to see the world news have report millions of U.S.-ians protesting the stupids in charge. Hint, hint, y'all.

Speaking of news, self-censorship can suck it. Last night after I finished closing, I stopped by the office to chat with my manager, as I am wont to do. He's in "turn off the TV'" mode, which I can respect a bunch, oh yes. But I was never big on the TV to begin with, and I do still want to keep informed. This is where all y'all help me make a list of independent media sources so I can see things through more filters than just The New York Times, AlterNet, and whatever generic Associated Press-style shows up on my Yahoo! homepage when I make my daily email check there. I check out Common Dreams from time to time, I don't read or listen to Democracy Now! nearly as much as I should (note to self; independent radio news is kewl) and I like Salon, maybe even enough to put my money where that comment is and subscribe (they do, after all, publish Lynda Barry and Keith Knight's comix, which is reason enough to love them right there). But where else should I be looking? Keep me posted, kids!

I don't want to take the No on 36 sign out of our window. I'm thinking of adapting it to say "Constitutional Amendment 36 is still wrong".

At the very least, I'm working on compiling a big list of the good and hopeful and productive and just interesting things people are saying in the wake of this election. I'll probably write some more about hope, since that's my theme for now, but after that I'm not sure where to go. Do I try to make it into a book? Would any of you who wrote in last time be interested in contributing to a book about hope? How about a more self-published indie zine-type thingy that we sell on the Internet all underground economy style because it's easier than trying to shop things around to publishers? Again, bring the ideas, please.

Note to self: write defiant "Dear U.S. of A." letter.