Dream State

December 10, 2016

Blog is back up .  Please excuse the disruption and loss of some of your comments.  We have figured it out and can commit to future reliability.  Below is the blog post that went up  just before we went down.  Keep an eye up for next post soon.  Comments and suggestions are welcome and add to our strength in action. Keep them coming.

Dream State

When dreaming in space astronauts find themselves floating upside down. Their psyches hold them aloft, in this state of no gravity, long after they return to earth.  Since the election, I dream that I am caught in a dangerous world with few markers that show me how to find my way around .  I awake in the middle of the night in a state of anxiety.  I fear that my psyche will hold me in this state for as long as Trump is President and possibly for years after.  

This anxiety can spread and permeate other parts of my life.  I am often in a vigilant state worried that whatever task is at hand may be out of my reach, even In the light of day, I know that these reactions are tinged with my past, past history when other tyrants ruled and the present uncertainties of this moment in time. I have always wondered what I would have done if I, a Jew,  had lived in Germany when the Nazis took over.  How might I have survived? How or if I would have escaped.  We are not there yet, but the signs are ominous and in opposition to my anxiety I speak with others, take actions and stay alert.  I invite you to stay with me on this journey.

Wise Words

“Random Kindness and Senseless Acts of Beauty” Herbert,A., Pavel,M., Oda,M, Volcano Press 1993 

Excerpt:

“When we tell ourselves there’s nothing we can do

we are wrong.

We never know how much

and we never know how far it goes,

but always we have power

We have power!”

Charles Blow 

 OP-ED COLUMNIST New York Times  DEC. 5, 201c

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/05/opinion/trumps-agents-of-idiocracy.html?_r=0

Excerpt:

Resistance is not about some sort of clairvoyant condemnation of acts yet uncommitted, but rather about the resilience of memory, the rigidity of morality and the depth of wounds.

The truest measure of a leader is as much about how he or she attains power as how he or she wields it; while the latter is yet to be determined, the former has been revealed in devastating clarity…….

…. resistance isn’t only principled, but essential and even existential. 

We are not in an ordinary post election period of national unity and rapprochement. We are facing the potential abrogation of fundamental American ideals. We stand at the precipice, staring into an abyss that grows darker by the day.

Trevor Noah: Let’s Not Be Divided, Divided People Are Easier to Rule

 DEC. 5, 2016

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/05/opinion/trevor-noah-lets-not-be-divided-divided-people-are-easier-to-rule.html

Excerpt:

I grew up under the harsh racial oppression of apartheid as a person of mixed ethnicity. The lines between black and white were clearly drawn and enforced with guns and tanks, but because I am neither black nor white, I was forced to live between those lines. I was forced to communicate across those lines.  I was forced to learn how to approach people and problems with nuance.  If I hadn’t I wouldn’t have survived.

America, I’ve found, doesn’t like nuance. Either black people are criminals, or cops are racist — pick one. It’s us versus them. You’re with us, or you’re against us. This national mentality is fueled by the hysteria of a 24-hour news cycle, by the ideological silos of social media and by the structure of the country’s politics. The two-party system seems to actively encourage division where none needs to exist.

This has never been more apparent than during Donald J. Trump’s campaign for the presidency. With his flagrant misogyny and racist appeals to fearful voters, Mr. Trump succeeded in dividing an electorate already primed to turn against itself. His embittering candidacy obscured the fact that the vast majority of Americans, both Republican and Democrat, wanted many of the same things: good jobs, decent homes, access to opportunity and, above all, respect.

The past year has been so polarizing and noxious that even I find myself getting caught up in the extreme grandstanding and vitriol. But with extremes come deadlock and the death of progress. Instead of speaking in measured tones about what unites us, we are screaming at each other about what divides us — which is exactly what authoritarian figures like Mr. Trump want: Divided people are easier to rule. That was, after all, the whole point of apartheid. 

Actions to take:

Donate to non-profits that uphold social justice and resist oppression.  

Examples: 
My sister Joan Carney just donated to Amnesty International. I donated to:  ACLU, International Rescue Committee, Missy (Motivating, Inspiring, Supporting,and Serving Sexually Exploited Youth, Oakland)  OCO (Oakland Community Organizations).  Small amounts of money count!

Ask Forgiveness:

Example: 
www.dailykos.com/stories/2016/12/5/1607591/-Veterans-at-Standing-Rock-shock-tribe-members-beg-forgiveness-for-war-crimes-against-tribal-nations

Organize across differences:

Example:

Formation of the TheMuslim-Jewish Advisory Council a group  focused on policy. http://www.prnewswire.com/news/the-muslim-jewish-advisory-council

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/05/us/muslim-jewish-alliance-after-trump.html?mwrsm=Email

Organize to take back state legislatures with Flippable.org.

http://us14.campaign-archive1.com/?u=e16a636f45b7f293a4b51a48f&id=3ead94010b&e=e13e65da5c

Sign petitions:

Examples:

https://act.weareultraviolet.org/sign/stop_steve_bannon/?t=3&akid=3824.2284255.sXGJAv

https://www.change.org/p/president-of-the-united-states-general-service-administion-revoke-the-trump-lease-of-the-old-post-office-pavilion-in-washington-dc

What actions are you taking?  Let me know so I can tell others. Either comment on my blog or email me at: ellen.pulleyblank.coffey@gmail.com

Comments:

Thank you, Ellen, for sharing your nightmares, thoughts, and a large amount of great information. Having Jewish cellular memory of a history full of persecution and personal memories of life in Israel I am having many nightmares myself. Everybody I love and most people in my closest communities are considered fringe people, outsiders. That adds to my nightmares. I take solace in the fact that we still live in the best bubble in this country. I know that taking action and doing for others is good for my mental and emotional health. I donate to ACLU (American Liberties), Anti Defamation League, and similar national organizations that stand for social justice; locally I'm involved in various ways with Glide Memorial in SF. I'm checking the Muslim-Jewish organization, I may be able to become part of that. 

Thank you again,

Zahava

  

 I remember just before I read your blog, feeling particularly overcome with what, I wrote, must have been actual hatred creeping into and around the edges of my waking life and near panic in my dreams.  On the 9th of November I felt physically ill, which might have been a combination of shock and the post-op narcotics that I was taking, and it occurred to me that "Ellen would know what to do."  Reading Blowing on Embers the other day confirmed that you have been in this place before and that you can offer doable tasks to confront the advance of 'the barbarians."  I especially liked the reminder that small amounts matter.  

Today I am feeling much stronger, especially after attending the Winter Concert at Sydney and Karri's middle school. The choir sang Al Shlosha D'varim in Hebrew.  This wonderfully diverse group of children has been given this;  that our world depends on Truth, Justice and Peace and has given it back to us in song.

     

So many of us are searching for ways to sustain those easy days of our liberal satisfaction without the constant nagging of what is and will be lost. I found this simple poem by Wendell Berry.

              The Real Work

It may be that when we no longer know what to do

we have come to our real work,

and that when we no longer know which way to go

we have come to our real journey.

The mind that is not baffled is not employed.

The impeded stream is the one that sings.     

So good to know you are there.   

Marian