This post was supposed to be about the May 14th Bans Off Our Bodies rally in New York City and the people I met in making this short edit. I meant to talk about how I approached the people I spoke with at the rally and instead of asking "Why are you here?", I asked about their signs and banners.
Instead we're collectively dealing with yet another mass shooting, this time at an elementary school.
I'm not even sure how to properly and respectfully mention what happened this past week in Uvalde, TX. We spent time with good friends a few days ago and talked about how this one felt different considering those kids were nearly the same age as ours. Even before this past week Saint Anne the Wife has talked about how every time she's in a new classroom setting one of the first things she does is instinctively look for the exits and figure out what she'd need to do to protect her students.
How are we supposed to keep up with the fire hose of bad we're living through? It's like the last few years has dunked our heads in one turd filled bucket after another in an endless row of sun baked porta potties. This far in we've learned to appreciate the time we have above the syrupy blue water knowing the next suffocating dunk will come soon enough.
We're living through history and at times it takes nearly all I have to just not collapse into a numb and helpless puddle. I'm not kidding about learning to appreciate the time we get in between those lumpy blue dunks.
I sincerely didn't know how to feel about being a guy at a rally supporting women's health, but knew that I was there to do what I could to support it. There's a shot in the edit of a guy holding a "Men for Choice" sign that I'd put right up there with me getting super excited about the new Kendrick Lamar album and this latest season of Atlanta. I appreciate these women and the other strong ones I know like my wife and my mom. As educators they spent (are spending) their professional lives raising up the next generation of leaders while I'm here polishing spreadsheets, writing words no one will read, and trying to make "art." More and more is being required of teachers on even thiner resources, and conservative politicians would rather arm teachers instead of consider gun control.
While the governor of my home state recently signed into law the nation's strictest abortion ban, I'm thankful for Oklahoma officials like Reps. Cyndi Munson and Trish Ranson for fighting back against these short sighted political grabs (even Rep. Mickey Dollens and his tounge-in-cheek proposal of mandatory vasectomies). Wasn't sure at first how to feel about Beto O'Rourke's crashing of Gov. Greg Abbott's Uvalde press conference, but I'm totally fine with him standing up with actual solutions to their "thoughts and prayers."
"What are we doing?" - Senator Chris Murphy