Things I’ll be doing today while not giving oxygen or attention or clicks or views to the inauguration:
WRITE – crafting narratives where people are valued, love is stronger than hate, and empathy for those different from yourself is thoroughly explored.
READ – on Fridays I do “Donuts and Divinity” with my kids wherein we make a pilgrimage to Dunkin Donuts then return home to discuss philosophy, religion, politics and whatever else our open-ended conversations lead to. Last week, we talked about the power of story and how each religion has their own and decided to visit some from various religions. This week, we’re reading Buddhist tales aloud as well as the biography of the Dalai Lama, then discussing.
DONATE – sent a donation to the Human Rights Campaign in support of my LGBTQ friends.
LOVE – this is my message of love to all of you. I have a lot of friends on facebook, thanks to the blessings of a public career in writing novels and a private advocacy of helping other writers to find success and fulfillment. It’s likely you know me from that. Or maybe you saw one of my posts (like this) or a comment I made somewhere and decided to friend me. No matter how you landed here where my voice can reach you, know that I believe in you, your hopes, your dreams, your desire to make the world a better place with your words and your actions. I have a radical and abiding belief in the goodness of the human spirit. We’re not perfect, none of us, especially me. We struggle. We get tired. We get distracted. But we also lend the power of our attention to support and uplift and rejoice in the beauty of the world and the humanity in it.
LOVE is an insanely powerful force. It gives joy and meaning to the life we live every day. I give my LOVE to you without hesitation because you need it. We all need it. And the giving of it is one of the best things humans do.
This will be my day. As it happens, not all that different from any other Friday.
And tomorrow… tomorrow, I march.
Women’s March On Chicago
(a sister-march to the Women’s March on Washington)
Because women’s rights are human rights, and human rights are women’s rights. Because my sisters are black and brown and white, queer and straight, and marching in peaceful protest is my #Resistance to the idea that upholding their rights isn’t fundamental to what America is and ought to be.
If you want to meet me down there, PM me. If you’re marching anywhere, leave a comment and tell me #WhyYouMarch.
http://womens121marchonchicago.org/
Saturday January 21st, 10 am, Grant Park, Chicago