Month: November 2016

Weekly Vent — from Rage Against the Minivan

This is an article by a mother of four kids, two of whom are adopted black children. She blogs about parenting. If we don’t step up and start demanding adherence to decent social norms from people like the President-elect and his “White House senior adviser”, Steve Bannon, we are on a steep, slippery slope toward chaos. They have got to disavow these extremists.

If you care about me and my family, I hope you will read this. As many of you know, this year my family was targeted and harassed by a white-supremacy group known as the “alt-right” for having adopted black children. Their attack was brutal and relentless. They inundated all of my social media sites with racist…

via The alt-right movement harassed my family for having black children, and Trump is considering their leader for Chief of Staff — Rage Against the Minivan

Ray at 14 by Dorianne Laux | Tuesday, November 01, 2016 | The Writer’s Almanac with Garrison Keillor

Bless this boy, born with the strong face of my older brother, the one I loved most, who jumped with me from the roof of the playhouse, my hand in his hand. On Friday nights we watched Twilight Zone and he let me hold the bowl of popcorn, a blanket draped over our shoulders, saying,…

via Ray at 14 by Dorianne Laux | Tuesday, November 01, 2016 | The Writer’s Almanac with Garrison Keillor

I loved this short poem. It reminds me of a favorite epigram, by J.V. Cunningham:

Arms and the man I sing, and sing for joy,

Who was last year all elbows and a boy.