Perspective | The Direction of Intention

It Is The Time [David’s blog on KS Friday]

Posted on October 3, 2025 by davidrobinsoncreative

Yesterday I painted the rail on the front porch. I sanded the small windows upstairs; they need repainting. One of the window sills in our bedroom has water damage. It is next on my list to fix before the snow returns.

I realized what I was doing; what we are doing. Since we cannot control or impact in any way the rapid destruction of our democracy – at the hands of those sworn to preserve it, no less – then I will do my best to attend to what I can control. I will be a good steward of our home. I will fix what I can.

She said, “We have to do something to pull our heads out of this madness. At least for a little while.” Yes. We bumped into them on our walk around the neighborhood, a couple who we admire. We shared our concerns and dismay. We have to do something to remind us of goodness, that people of good intention are all around, even when it feels hopeless. Our brief sidewalk chat gave us hope. We are not alone in our worry. We are not alone in our belief in goodness.

We harvested the last of the peppers. This summer our garden was prolific. The basil exploded. The tomato plant is still producing. The garden, the yard, the pond, the appearance of the frog…the exercise of intentionally coming into the moment, the place were common sense can be found when it is otherwise absent.

I had a revelation, the release of a judgment. David Neiwert told a story of the German people, living in villages just outside of the concentration camps, each morning sweeping the ash from their sidewalks and window sills. After the liberation the villagers claimed that they had no idea what was happening in the camps. How could they not know? Sweeping their steps, picking their peppers, painting the rail on their front porch…doing anything possible to pull their heads out of the madness.

This is not the time to look the other way. This is not the time to normalize the obscenity that is erasing our nation. People are already disappearing into camps. Due process and habeas corpus are gone. The Supremes ruled that racial profiling is lawful: it’s no different than sewing yellow stars on clothes. Now, we hear from the dictator wannabe that “the enemy is within”: the enemy is anyone who disagrees with the fascist fire raging across the nation. Anyone who protests or questions. My revelation? I do not want to someday sweep ash from my walk while telling myself that I have no idea what’s happening.

We know. So do the republicans.

This is not the time to normalize the obscenity. This is not the time to look the other way. It is the time for all people of goodness to join hands in the commons, to stand together, to call out the lies, to push our elected leaders to push back against this corruption, this out-of-control authoritarian regime.

It is the time, our time, to be good stewards of our nation-home.

Kerri’s albums are available on iTunes and streaming on Pandora

read Kerri’s blogpost about THE LAST PEPPERS

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Filed under: KS Friday, Metaphor, Perspective | Tagged: artistry, authoritarianism, Bridge on AS IT IS, David Neiwert, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, democracy, distraction, fascism, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, normalization, republicans, revelation, story, studio melange, the melange | 1 Comment »

Meeting The Madness [David’s blog on Merely A Thought Monday]

Posted on September 29, 2025 by davidrobinsoncreative

Act 2 of Stephen Sondheim’s musical, Into The Woods, delivers a healthy dose of reality: there is no happily ever after. There is, however, a full-life with bumps and barnacles and growth and messy challenges and change. There is heartbreak and jubilation. There is a full-palette of feelings. There are bright days and dark days. A life without obstacles is a very boring affair.

In my past, when facilitating groups, I used to love proving to people that they like challenges, that they adore obstacles. If we don’t have hills to climb we create them. They are called hobbies. Or workouts. Or volunteering. We set goals that seem impossible and then meet them. And, among the greatest challenges we eagerly embrace is called “relationship”.

I knew how to teach about the challenge called “relationship” because I was once under the spell of happily-ever-after. I thought something was wrong with me when all of the colors of the relationship rainbow demanded attention. What was wrong with me was my unrealistic expectation, my dedication to a life without obstacles.

It’s what I love about this life: things flip over when illusions are popped. Happily-ever-after is no way to live. Each day I step out of bed looking for the miracles and find that they are always right in front of my face – and often they initially look like stumbling blocks. I can say with confidence that the road ahead looks to be riddled with hurdles and though I may grouse and complain, secretly I recognize and welcome the full-spectrum of color these hindrances will evoke.

My friend, Robert just wrote that, “…sometimes life throws big surprises at you.” We are living in a time when life is throwing big surprises at us in rapid fire each and every day. It seems that we are in an impossible situation with a government spiraling into authoritarianism. The vast majority of the people of this nation have had enough of the clown show and are turning out to meet the challenge.

There is no happily ever after. There is no return to a fantasy past. There are, however, millions and millions of people who are up for meeting the challenge, with all its bumps and barnacles, ready – more than ready – for the growth that meeting the madness will evoke.

read Kerri’s blogpost about I TOLERATE

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Filed under: Merely A Thought Monday, Perspective | Tagged: artistry, authoritarianism, challenges, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, hindrance, Into The Woods, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, madness, obstacles, relationship, Sondheim, story, studio melange, Surprises, the melange | 1 Comment »

The Heat [David’s blog on DR Thursday]

Posted on September 25, 2025 by davidrobinsoncreative

“One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious. The latter procedure, however, is disagreeable and therefore not popular.” ~ Carl Jung

If you have not yet seen it, the short 18 minute documentary of Bernie Sanders in red-red-red West Virginia is worth watching. It is illuminating to witness what is possible when the misinformation bubble is breached. Though we’ve been pitted against each other, our division is not between the red and the blue. Not really. We are united in wanting a government that works for us.

I shuddered last night when I heard Mark Elias say that he no longer believes that media, universities, law firms…are capitulating to the demands of the dictator-wannabe. He now believes that they are collaborators. They offer no resistance because they are collaborators. Who would willingly sacrifice their first amendment right to free speech, freedom of the press…unless it profited them mightily to do so? Mark Elias’ contention certainly answers my question about the missing congress: over the weekend we read a public message from the president to the attorney general instructing her to prosecute his enemies. No actual crime needed. That he was not immediately impeached is sad proof of Mark Elias’ assertion. Profit over Constitution. Personal interest over sacred values. We heard more than one commentator say something akin to, “This makes Watergate look like kindergarten.”

One of the symbolic meanings of a pyramid shape is integration. Bernie Sanders sat at table with people who are economically drowning. They want the same things that I do. They want their rights protected. They do not want to be lied to by their government or their media. They want to be represented and not exploited.

This hot fire in which we live has the power to reduce this nation to ash. But it also has the possible power of alchemy, to forged a union of the red and the blue. The heat might wake us up. We just might realize that we are being distracted by demonizing each other. It might wake us up to how thoroughly we’re being exploited by those who claim to be representing our interests while simultaneously selling us down the river.

Pie in the sky? The corruption isn’t being hidden. The cowardice isn’t being masked. The voters in West Virginia are sitting at a table with Bernie Sanders and recognizing they have much more in common than they’ve been led to believe.

Prayer of Opposites, 48″x48″, acrylic on board

read Kerri’s blogpost about THE PYRAMID

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Filed under: DR Thursday, Perspective, Possibility | Tagged: artistry, Bernie Sanders, Carl Jung, Congress, conscious, Constitution, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, distraction, First Amendment, impeachment, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, story, studio melange, the melange, Watergate, West Virginia | 1 Comment »

It’s Only Natural [David’s blog on Two Artists Tuesday]

Posted on September 23, 2025 by davidrobinsoncreative

This is a photograph of diversity: thriving tomato plants, basil, rosemary, cilantro, parsley, peppers, and autumn clematis. Look closer and you will spot bees, caterpillars and garden spiders. The chipmunk trail runs directly behind the bench. It is a tale of interconnectivity. Biodiversity is nature’s secret of success. Symbiotic relationships make the garden flourish.

Monoculture, on the other hand, all but guarantees a system’s collapse. It is true in nature. It is true of us as well; as human beings have learned again and again when soiling the nest, we are not separate from nature. We are not above it all. We are one thin ozone away from annihilation.

The word “symbiotic” comes from the Greek word for “living together.” Our democratic experiment is a test of human cultural symbiosis. For those of us who value actual history over made-up dross, it is undeniable that innovation has always thrived at the crossroads of cultures and the USA is an intentional crossroads.

White supremacy has been an ugly thorn in our democratic saddle since the nation’s inception but thankfully, until now, has never held the reins of power. As we watch the ICE horror story of racial profiling – astonishingly permitted by the Supreme Court, the assault on DEI, the erasure of people of color from our history, the vilification of Democrats (the party of diversity), we are witness to the insane attempt to force a monoculture into existence. And, as the insane – and inane – attempt at whitewashing our very colorful nation progresses, we step ever closer to our system’s collapse.

White fragility is at the epicenter of white supremacy. It claims to be a master race but fundamentally fears looking at its face in the mirror. It flees criticism. It touts being atop a pyramid built upon the labor and innovation of everyone else. It purports to represent the average citizen while embracing the economics of oligarchy (neoliberalism) and the politics of division. It knows how to pillage and rape and rig the game but understands almost nothing of building true strength, power, community and unity. It doesn’t have the first idea of the reality of symbiosis; it swirls in the fantasy-strut of mythical cowboy independence.

It is not a mystery that our democratic garden is in danger of dying. Perhaps, if we survive this race to destruction, we will at last be able to look in the mirror, see-embrace-and-deal with our full history. We will insist on building our home on the truth. All of it. Perhaps we will rise from the ashes without the idiotic idea that any race is superior to any other and truly, fully embrace the beating heart of our democratic union: that all people are created equal, that all people are protected equally under the law, that it is our experiment in diversity that makes – and has made – this nation great all along.

Symbiosis. Diversity. The same relationships that make our garden thrive will make our nation thrive. It’s only natural.

read Kerri’s blogpost about THE GARDEN BENCH

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Filed under: Identity, Perspective, Two Artists Tuesday | Tagged: artistry, biodiversity, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, DEI, democracy, Diversity, history, Kerri Sherwood, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, monoculture, neoliberalism, oligarchy, relationship, story, studio melange, the melange, unity, white fragility, white supremacy | Leave a comment »

Black and White [David’s blog on KS Friday]

Posted on September 19, 2025 by davidrobinsoncreative

“Despair is a narcotic. It lulls the mind into indifference.” ~ Charlie Chaplin

It turns out that there are some things that are black or white. For instance, we either have free speech or we don’t. We either have the protections of due process and habeas corpus or we don’t. We either adhere to the Constitution or we don’t. We either have a free press or we don’t. We either champion the truth or we don’t.

We either have a democracy or we don’t.

Right now, in this moment, where all of the above are concerned, we don’t.

I’m still shaking my head at the 90 million voters who did not turn out to vote in the last election. Were they indifferent? There is certainly enough despair to go around given the sucking of wealth from the many into the hands of the few. We either exercise our power in democracy by voting or we don’t.

The system is either built for all of us or it is tilted toward the privileged few. And that seems to be the line of discord in our short history, the rope that we perpetually tug in our incessant internal war: who do we mean when we say, “We the people”? It either includes all of us in the promise or it doesn’t.

We either protect the dream or we don’t.

Lately, in a mass capitulation of courage by corporate America, the legal profession, universities…we’ve learned that despair is not the only narcotic that lulls the mind into indifference. Profit might be mightier than despair in producing indifference. We’re literally seeing our nation sell its soul. It’s become abundantly clear what is valued and what is not.

Democracy, for the morbidly wealthy, seems no match for private gain. It’s up to the rest of us to wake up, shake off indifference and loudly remind the gluttonous few that fascism has no place in a democratic republic, that our rights and protected freedoms are not for sale or to be used as leverage for the corporate merger.

We either protect the dream now or we lose it. We’re standing at the line. All of us. It makes no difference if you are on the blue team or the red. The orchestrated collapse of our democracy, the loss of protected freedoms, of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, the erasure of our nation of laws and not men…applies equally to all of us.

It turns out that somethings are not black or white, they are black and white.

Kerri’s albums are available on iTunes and streaming on Pandora

read Kerri’s blogpost on BLACK AND WHITE

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Filed under: KS Friday, Perspective | Tagged: artistry, black and white, Constitution, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, democracy, fascism, free press, freedom of speech, freedoms, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, liberty, rights, story, studio melange, the melange, vote | 1 Comment »

Silence [David’s blog on DR Thursday]

Posted on September 11, 2025 by davidrobinsoncreative

It is 9/11, the 24th anniversary of the terrorist attacks on our nation. I remember the day like it was yesterday. The assault on our nation (mostly) brought us together.

On the eve of this anniversary, the current occupant of the White House, in a speech to the nation, used the murder of Charlie Kirk, a right wing provocateur, to incite violence on his political opponents and the “radical left”. Keep in mind, no one knows anything about the assassin. Statements of empathy poured from the left, statements of violence poured from the right.

Keep in mind that there was yet another school shooting in our nation, in my home state of Colorado. There was no mention in the president’s speech about the latest example of the continued and incessant violence enacted on our children.

In the past several months, the conservative justices of the Supreme Court of the United States have suspended due process, habeas corpus, and just this week, the conservative justices ruled to allow racial profiling. They’ve elevated the president above the law.

All of these rulings are in direct violation of the oath they swore to uphold The Constitution. They are systematically dismantling our constitutionally-protected freedoms.

Along with a feckless congress, the Supremes deconstruct the checks-and-balances of our democracy, and are consolidating power in the executive branch. This is fascism. I do not use that word as an insult. I use that word – a word with a specific definition – to ring the alarm.

On this anniversary of 9/11, it is imperative to recognize that the current attack on our nation is coming, not from outside, but from within. A rogue Supreme Court and a republican Congress enable the authoritarian desires of a serial criminal. They support the absolute suppression of opposition and are moving to militarize the clampdown on democratic ideals.

And,sadly, a mainstream press long ago abdicated its responsibility to inform (rather than entertain) the public. They’ve worked hard to normalize the violent rhetoric of the current administration. The media on the right has worked hard to create a straw man, an enemy in the democratic left.

The current threat to our democracy is far more dangerous than the attacks on 9/11. On that day, planes took down buildings.

On this day, on this anniversary of an attack on our nation, an authoritarian and his enablers are taking down our democracy.*

Soon, if we do not stop this assault on our nation, all that will be left to us is silence.

(*again, I do not toss the word “authoritarian” as an insult or to provoke. I use it to describe the actions of the executive and his enablers).

***

During the Jacob Blake riots and martial law in our town, we learned that we could not get up-to-date or factual news on mainstream media. We had to seek independent media if we wanted accurate and immediate information. The same is proving true now.

Democracy Docket (Mark Elias)

Brian Tyler Cohen

Historian Heather Cox Richardson

read Kerri’s blogpost about CLARITY

Filed under: DR Thursday, Perspective | Tagged: 9/11, artistry, Brian Tyler Cohen, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, Democracy Docket, Heather Cox Richardson, independent media, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, story, studio melange, terrorist attacks, the melange | Leave a comment »

Suspicious Sugar Sipping [David’s blog on Flawed Wednesday]

Posted on September 10, 2025 by davidrobinsoncreative

Breaking news! It was just discovered that most hummingbirds winter in Mexico and Central America. They are, in fact, migrants and not the benign sugar-sipping citizens of the USA as previously believed.

Rest assured, roving bands of ICE are on it. Luckily, the Supreme Court just dismantled constitutional protections against racial profiling. Hummingbirds join Latinos as groups who can be detained without cause. Any bird perceived to be a hummingbird is now subject to arrest and subsequent deportation without due process.

The court’s ruling clears the way for ICE to detain and disappear any bird, migrating or non-migratory residents, without cause or due process, based on looks (asian, caucasian, african american, latino, indigenous*…), occupation (chef, construction worker, professor, lawyer, artist, economist, democratic politician…) or language (truth, fact, data, wisdom, knowledge) spoken in Spanish, English or any of the other approximately 7,100 languages spoken on earth.

Residents are encouraged to immediately report any suspicious sugar-sipping-behavior – or anyone who espouses moral clarity – to your neighborhood roving ICE band.

(Dear maga reader: In case you missed it, this post is purposely facetious. Facetious is an adjective and means to treat serious issues with deliberately inappropriate humor; flippant.)

***

*The U.S. federal government’s race categories include American Indian or Alaska Native, Asian, Black or African American, Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander, and White, with an option to select two or more races. In addition, these categories are often paired with Hispanic or Latino and Middle Eastern or North African to form a comprehensive list of seven co-equal categories for data collection on race and ethnicity.

Once racial profiling is legal for one group, it applies to all groups. The Supreme Court is sworn to uphold the Constitution, not to dismantle it as the six conservative justices are now doing.

read Kerri’s blogpost about HUMMINGBIRDS

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Filed under: Flawed Wednesday, Perspective | Tagged: artistry, citizen, civil rights, Constitution, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, deportation, due process, fascism, freedoms, hummingbirds, ice, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, racial profiling, story, studio melange, the melange | 1 Comment »

No Space. No Time. [David’s blog on Two Artists Tuesday]

Posted on September 9, 2025 by davidrobinsoncreative

Our saturday-morning-smack-dab-cartoon was about feeling wistful in the fall. We very intentionally prompted something non-political, non-news-of-the-day-ish, so we might give our hearts and minds a break from railing against the incessant assault on our democratic way of life. And then I read something that deeply upset me. Instead of writing about wistfulness, I wrote about our national incapacity of dealing with the truth.

And then, at the end of my post, I wrote an apology for once again shaking my metaphoric fists and railing at the lies.

And then, I erased my apology. I did not want to lie. In truth, I was not sorry for railing at the lies and misinformation and abuse of the public trust. I call myself an artist and the very epicenter of that role is to hold a mirror up to my community. Sometimes the image in the mirror is ugly.

We were walking on the Des Plaines river trail, just north of Chicago, when two fighter jets ripped across the sky just above the tree line. The earth shook. It was the same day that the authoritarian wanna-be, in a meme no less…, declared war on Chicago. I made the assumption that the fighter jets were an opening salvo, a demonstration of power by a weak little man meant to shake the populace.

“Can you believe it?” she asked.

Isn’t it sad that my first assumption was that the president of the united states sent war planes over the region to startle the populace? Isn’t it sad that, in these times, even though my assumption was wrong, it was not an outlandish proposition, not a sci-fi-speculation, but actually within the realm of possibility?

Many of her recent photographs capture fading flowers. I am drawn to them. The brittle shapes. The muting colors. Life energy pulling away from the blossom and retreating to the root to rest and re-energize. It produces a different kind of beauty.

It is this waning beauty, this retreat into the root that has always evoked my wistfulness. I realized that this autumn I will probably not feel my usual wistfulness. The yearning of fall is made delicious because of the promise of spring emerging from dark winter. Wistfulness is letting go to open space for renewal. I realized, watching the fighter jets, aghast that a president would resort to such a childish meme to declare his ugliest of intentions, to turn the military on its citizens, that I do not know if our democratic nation will be here in the spring.

There is no space for wistfulness. There is no time for apologies. There is no longer any doubt that a fascist dark winter is descending. We are fools to think that it will lead to a democratic spring.

read Kerri’s blogpost about WANING FLOWERS

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Filed under: Perspective, Seeing, Two Artists Tuesday | Tagged: artistry, cycles, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, democracy, denial, fascism, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, lies, renewal, story, studio melange, the melange, truth, winter, wistfulness | 3 Comments »

This Simplistic Principle [David’s blog on Merely A Thought Monday]

Posted on September 8, 2025 by davidrobinsoncreative

Years ago I facilitated a conversation with students about the first amendment. They were doing a research project and ran headlong into a wall of hate speech from the KKK. They were horrified and adamant that this kind of expression shouldn’t be legal. The question was this: if you restrict their freedom of speech are you not also restricting your own? Infringing on the core liberties of any group – no matter how much we disagree – damages constitutional protection and endangers the freedom of speech for everyone.

It’s not a fundamental right unless it protects everyone equally. That is the genius of our constitution.

In the past six months we’ve witnessed the suspension of due process (a violation of the 5th and 14th amendments), the suspension of habeas corpus (a violation of article one, section nine of the constitution) and, more recently, the Posse Comitatus Act (a violation of federal law).

People are being plucked off the street and “disappeared”. People are being sent to concentration camps without charge (violations of due process and habeas corpus).

The government is using the military as a police force against civilians (a violation of posse comitatus).

We’ve also been witness to The Supreme Court ruling that a president has absolute immunity from prosecution. The law no longer applies equally to everyone so, essentially, the law no longer applies to anyone. Witness the immunity granted to the January 6th insurrectionists by the president who has absolute immunity.

To MAGA and to the republicans who hear-and-see-no-evil, to the law firms that have folded, the no-longer-free press, to the tech bros scooping up our data and to the fox fueling the fascists, the message is the same to you as it was to my long ago students: what is being done unto others will soon be done unto you. It’s not a right or a fundamental freedom unless it applies to everyone. Everyone. Understanding this simplistic principle is what makes it an imperative to fight for the rights of others, even when you don’t agree with them. Understanding this simplistic principle this is what it means to be woke. We-the-woke know that you do not yet understand this simplistic principle. When due process dies for other people, it also dies for you. When immigrants or democrats can be incarcerated and disappeared without charge, it will inevitably happen to you.

Do you understand that this simplistic principle is the genius of our constitution. It’s why we are marching and protesting and resisting this authoritarian take-down of our democracy. We believe protecting the freedoms and rights of others is to protect our personal freedoms and rights – and yours. As you cheer the military rolling into L.A or snicker as the president declares war on Chicago, as the freedom to vote is being stripped from women and people of color…we-the-woke wonder at what point you will wake-up. At what point will you realize that these losses of freedom also apply equally across the board?

read Kerri’s blogpost about RIGHTS

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Filed under: Edges, Perspective | Tagged: artistry, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, due process, Fifth Amendment, First Amendment, Fourteenth Amendment, habeas corpus, individual freedoms, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, law, Posse Comitatus Act, presidential immunity, rights, story, studio melange, the melange | 1 Comment »

Plant The Seed [David’s blog on Not So Flawed Wednesday]

Posted on September 3, 2025 by davidrobinsoncreative

And just like that, fall is in the air. The harvest is happening and jalapeno poppers are on the menu. We have a bumper crop of tomatoes and are making an extra batch of pesto since the basil is outdoing itself. In the middle of nature’s man-made erratica, our garden thrives and reminds us to appreciate abundance where she shows her face.

Over the Labor Day weekend, a woman, an elder on the block, decided to host a neighborhood gathering. People came out of their houses with platters of food to share. Kerri has lived here for 36 years and has a long history with many of the people who sat in a circle and chatted. I’ve lived here for 13 years and although I’d seen many of the faces before, I’ve waved to many of the faces as we walked by, but I’d never actually had a conversation with most of my neighbors. They are delightful and quirky, each with an interesting story to share.

I decided that the people of this nation need one-big-block party with one rule: no talk of politics. Bring food to share. Shake hands. Ask, “How are you?” Talk about the real stuff, the plumbing problem or share photos of grandchildren. Talk about the zealous garden that the hot and humid summer weather ignited.

Kerri and I used to host many, many gatherings: slow dance parties, midnight X-mas eve bonfires, ukulele band rehearsals and choir potlucks. Since COVID and with the rise of ugly-maga-madness, we’ve “pulled up the drawbridge”. We keep and guard a tight circle of friends. We cultivate a sanctuary in our backyard.

This morning I read a quote by Noam Chomsky:

Neoliberal democracy. Instead of citizens, it produces consumers. Instead of communities, it produces shopping malls. The net result is an atomized society of disengaged individuals who feel demoralized and socially powerless. In sum, neoliberalism is the immediate and foremost enemy of genuine participatory democracy, not just in the United States but across the planet, and will be for the foreseeable future.

Maga is neoliberal. Project 2025 is neoliberal: it promotes “liberalizing” markets, meaning the removal of all regulation and oversight, while eliminating anything that smacks of service or a social program. Neoliberalism has been a disaster in the past; it promotes oligarchy and fosters dictatorship. Our Civil War and our Great Depression were in large part produced by a neoliberalist agenda. It worships business, undermines service, and fosters division. It is the toxic philosophy creating the national disaster we currently endure. Neoliberalism is a Roman orgy for the wealthiest few. It is an economic speeding car with no brakes and cares not-a-whit for who or what it runs over. It always ends in a nasty crash.

The phrase in Chomsky’s quote that struck a chord was “The net result is an atomized society…” Here we are. Atomized. It is undeniable. It is antagonistic.

On my growing list of responses to the question, “What can we do?” I am adding, “Host a neighborhood gathering.” Breaking bread together is an ancient tradition, perhaps as old as humanity itself. At the very least it is a step toward connection. Social power is a group sport and begins when neighbors gather and talk. A neighborhood gathering plants the seed for participation and active community, a someday-place-of-appreciation, a mighty harvest, where abundance will gladly show her face.

read Kerri’s blogpost about HARVEST