Thanks Am

I checked hubski today to see reactions to the election, and then thought to send the poem.

I haven't noticed pro-Israel and anti-Trump together. But I can imagine, because Liberal Zionists are basically progressive and liberal for everything except Palestine. So sad.

F'g psychopath Netanyahu was the first world leader to congratulate Trump.

Thanks for the recommendation Ta-Nehisi Coates. I haven't dug into him too deeply, but I'm aware. I've been reading and watching Timothy Snyder. I am reading his new book On Freedom and of course On Tyranny

This report was amazing. Thanks for showing up.

Hello everyone, good morning or afternoon.

I am grateful for the hubski archives. I found poems there that I need from 2015 and 2016 that I had no memory or record of I'm sure there are more.

Meanwhile, the genocide in Gaza is horrific. We are depressed all the time about it and trying to do small things -- pressuring Canadian government to accept families of Canadians who are there, expanding the list to include families of our friends who are refugees waiting for landed status, sending money to the Gazans that we are in touch with and have been friends with for several years.

Meanwhile, meanwhile, . . . so much more. Luckily, we here are okay for now.

What does OK look like, you ask.

  Up and writing this.

  the rest is up for grabs

we're lucky we live in a society where we're allowed to not agree.

Ha ha -- thanks for the edits!

I signed up!

and I'll keep you in mind if I ever get to Spain again. I have a close friend in Portugal that I may visit someday...there's a cheap flight from my Ontario town to Lisbon via Iceland.

Thanks Devac I was looking for this yesterday.

Each line could be a prompt!

Who can't watch horror they're too jumpy

I think about this a lot. There's so much horror right now and feelings of powerlessness -- yelling "ceasefire now" in every gathering, every day. People being accused of anti-this, anti-that, when we're just anti-slaughter. Compassion, compassion, people. We know this conflict in the Middle East is going to end very badly for a lot of people.

--

But apart from that, I like your poem a lot. ... I'd like a word after "who can't ever be" ??

  I remember a 20 year old screaming without sound
  In the dark room at 4am

I've been talking to my male friends what it was like in their 20s. For many, there was a lot of distress.

Wow Rene

if you could wear the clothes of dreams, seen or unseen, how would you seem, empress?

I ask myself that question every day.

I had completely forgotten about this poem. It seems relevant in many ways -- like it should be read at meetings where some people are too shy to speak up or feel outnumbered or, or . . .

Wow! Good to talk about it -- wow. Is there a song there?

The thread of naughty rhyming couplets was written September 7 2015.

kleinbl00 said an equal relationship means "getting what you want without giving up anything you want to keep" -- I wish I had asked what does that mean or give me an example, but it was time to go.

To me, equality in a relationship is a feeling -- it just feels equal, there are no tallies, no quid pro quo, and most of all no resentment, no resentment generated passive-aggressive behaviour or critical sarcastic comments. Some couples have to work it out on a tally sheet -- and that's okay as a way of building trust. Others just give all they can naturally and spontaneously and consistently and it feels kind of equal even though you're both willing to give even more than your share.

OK, finally, I'm back at my computer and can report on that historic meeting.

I came prepared with questions.

I asked Seth to pick numbers.

We managed to talk about #6, 7, 9, 12 and a little of 11 and much more in the little time I had between my Amtrak train (Eugene to Seattle) and my Amtrak bus (Seattle to Toronto).

1. Think of something about (the place where you grew up; your family; your school) that gave you your sense of the world and your place in it?

2. Are you an open book? If so who’s your best reader. If there’s 100 pages, what page are they on?

3. What have you learned recently about your family that wasn’t the story you told yourself?

4. What important lesson did an earlier romantic relationship teach you that helps you in your current marriage?

5. What is one thing you remember from all your changes in the last 10 years that made you feel vulnerable (beyond your comfort zone) or felt a little challenging.

6. Are you carrying any resentment that you could let go of if you thought about it. Would it be a benefit?

7. What are some questions you have about your life now that you’d like answered in the next year.

8. What is an experience of success that you still feel good about?

9. What is your road not taken?

10. What idea or attitude did you once believe that you later discovered was false?

11. When you realize that everything is made up -all religions, nations, patriarchy, democracy, etc are ideas made up by people, what then do you believe?

12. What does an equal relationship mean to you?