i am expecting to be shown the edges of trans culture as well as hopefully to find a better understanding of what i am in relation to trans culture… am i simply a cross dresser?… which, honestly, should be enough but in my mind i am more than that… my feminine nature trumps my masculine nature such that i want to wear feminine clothing and makeup and be the feminine i want to see… most of the time…
gratitudes, pablo neruda, zorhan mamdani, anxiety tech, my photographs | daily me
and so, fortified by morning rituals and this post about the power of words i moved on to confronting the daily shock and awe of heather cox richardson, not that she intends it to be shock and awe… and what do i find but another uplifting testament to the power of words, this time in the form of quotes from the victory speech of zorhan mamdani, mayor elect of nyc…
gratitudes, anxious and depressed, blue wave, my photographs, making vegan taste great | daily me
democrats won every race and ballot issue that mattered last night… and by wide margins… in virginia… in every county in virginia… there was a move towards democrats… a blue wave that hopefully leads to a blue tidal wave in the midterms… i am wondering what the trump administration reaction will be…
gratitudes, urologist, growing up in america, lichen, who runs the white house? | daily me
as you get older, the things that go bump in the dark are mostly health related… something will get you sooner or later… the goal is to make that later and to have a good quality of life until you get there…
the author had a difficult relationship with his family… especially his father… but his mother was an authoritarian figure in his life… more so than his father… even so… he was closer to his mother… his parents fought a lot… he was embarrassed to bring friends home… when he told acquaintances about them he made up better parents than he actually had…
i am profoundly worried about what is coming down the tracks at us… the news that cabinet members have moved onto military bases, that the president has ordered the creation of rapid response national guard units in every state, that the president refuses to provide congressionally allocated emergency funding for snap programs, that the president believes he has the right to carry out extrajudicial killings of suspected drug boats, and so much more, all while renovating the white house into a presidential palace and throwing lavish great gatsby parties at mar-a-lago…
developing my “silver linings playbook”… | daily me
i wrote what follows in the immediate wake of the 2024 election… i knew i would need a coping strategy… this was it… i am pleased to report that i have acted on most of it… and it has helped… there is more that i can do… there is more i will do…
as i watched the springsteen movie, a kind of sadness came over me… it focused on the period between stardom and super stardom… the period when he wrote and recorded the songs for nebraska and born in the USA… the music is mournful, proud, frustrated… working class struggle permeates… it’s a portrait of america that was already slipping away from greatness…
the last 8 years have been challenging… trump 1.0… pandemic… reprieve with biden 1.0… failure of justice system to hold trump accountable… biden screwing the country over by running for a second term… trump 2.0… then the normal things that go on… the normal challenges… i am lucky to be a white male and to have resources… i may be inviting trouble with my trans feminine explorations… i am too happy dressing femininely to give that up…
yesterday i was grateful for fiza, indian-pakistani cuisine…
today i am looking forward to yoga with maryanne and photography salon…
i have worked out my halloween costume… i bought a red midi spaghetti strap slip dress at a vintage clothing store… only $26… i will go as a devil in a red dress… red devils horns, dragon head cane, red sunglasses, red dangling earrings, red lipstick… red boots, pink-red stockings… this will be the first time in i can’t remember how long that i will have a halloween costume!…
the storm is gathering in washington and flowing out across the country… liberal, centrist and conservative outlets are all sounding the alarm… it promises to be category 5…
i passed by the public library in my home town this morning and spotted a sign opposing censorship and advising the reading of whatever you want… literature and art is under attack especially from conservatives (liberals do it too, just not as much historically and certainly not in the present moment)… censorship is never a good idea… a society can’t critique itself effectively if that critique is censored…
it is said that protest turnout needs to reach 3.5% of the population to turn back authoritarian rule… 7 million is 2% of 340 million, the population of the united states… we are more than half way there…
note to americans…
when 47 says he could invoke the insurrection act, but chooses not to… we should translate it to… “i would invoke the insurrection act but i don’t have the support of the generals”… yet…
gnostic feminine wisdom, east wing demolition, music technology issues | daily me
it is unbearable to watch the trampling over and destruction of everything that is sacred… though a materialistic, capitalistic society holds nothing above exploitation and trampling… what seems laughable is that a lot of this is the tip of a spear the shaft of which is christian fundamentalism… an epically secular approach to the world in which nothing seems sacred… i despair that western civilization is anything worth preserving for the future…
no kings, jeff daniels, the newsroom tv series, i am worried, dahlias | daily me
last night we went to see/hear actor/musician/playwright jeff daniels… the last time i was so mesmerized by a performance was betty carter at lincoln center, not long before she died… it is a rare ability to enthrall people… he was smart, funny, warm, honest… at least as far as i could tell on the honest part… my wife used the term authentic… i would tend to agree… i recommend attending any performance of his you are lucky enough to be near…
no kings, fashion choices, maga hatred, suffering | daily me
we have been suffering here in the united states… i only wish we were at the end of it, rather than the beginning… i think it will get much worse before we can hope to welcome something better… i hope to live to see the better…
this morning i listened to fleetwood mac’s rhumors album… a sublime album… very feminine forward… love and love lost songs… reflective of the tempestuous love lives of the band members, especially stevie nicks and christine mcvie… it put me in a powerfully good feminine mood… i was reviewing and screen shot saving images of beautiful-to-me women on behance… a morning ritual to affirm and inspire my inner feminine… the music and images together were an amazing self reinforcing loop…
what half a terabyte of memory looks like these days…
that kind of amazing moment when you are listening to an album and loving it and you pick up your smartphone and send a message to the artist who is a friend… and she writes back:
Thank you for this message- it made my night. Sometimes making art feels like screaming into the void (as you know!) so it’s nice to be reminded why I do it.
i am wearing my new gathered smock dress, bare shouldered, warm fuzzy black speckled sweater over the top… i love the way i feel in this dress… i love the way i look in this outfit… something about how swishy, flowy fabric feels around my legs as i walk is so wonderful…
my first step in developing a set of high quality dedicated to their purpose devices… next up is a compact leica camera and then a minimalist phone…
speaking the truth, government menace, christopher columbus, fiction vs truth, | daily me
today i am grateful for the things i got done…
tomorrow i am looking forward to finally getting my new shoes all the way from australia!…