Anti-Trump protests? Better term: We gather together to save our democracy

I didn't attend any of our local "anti-Trump protests" as the header read in this morning's Daytona Beach News-Journal. I couldn't bring myself to gather the support materials I would need for an extended stretch in the Florida out-of-doors. I need to slather sunscreen over every exposed inch of my body to avoid the return of skin cancer. Yes, it takes years for a burn to turn into cancer and I may not be around for that future dermatologist visit but I always try to think of my long game. I'll need a hat and a jug of water. A clever sign, which I hadn't yet made although many ideas are floating around the Net. 

I also must transport my e-scooter on the rack attached to my SUV. I have to make sure it's charged so I don't get stranded on the way back to the vehicle parked at a handicapped space if I can find one. Once on site, I have to make sure there is an accessible restroom nearby and that I can get to it. My wife usually helps with transportation but she was out with old friends on Saturday.

So I didn't make it. But millions did. I loved the photos that appeared on social media. I was able to view old Wyoming friends at sites in Cheyenne, Laramie, Rock Springs, Casper, and other places. Joe Barbuto and his brave compatriots in Rock Springs endured lots of nastiness. The city was once a Democratic stronghold, back when union miners were Dems. It takes an inner fire to get out on the streets in very red Wyoming. There were opposition rallies although not well-attended since Trump needs no more help destroying our fine country. Some name calling, screams and shouts. But most responses from passing motorists were horn honks in agreement. 

I saw a video Sunday of an armed MAGA man getting out of his truck and threatening protesters with an automatic weapon. Not in Wyoming, though. Not wise in the Still-Wild-West to go around threatening citizenry when so many are armed. And these protesters were mad as hell and not gonna take it anymore as a movie character once shouted from the rooftops. Despite what you may hear in the MAGA blogosphere, the rallies were peaceful, police wisely keeping their distance lest they be branded as Gestapo wannabes. 

So Mike didn't go. Boo hoo. Millions did and that's what matters. As a long-time Facebook scribe kept reminding us, none of this matters if we don't get out and vote. It would be tempting to ask rally attendees if they voted in the recent special Florida election that sent a GOPer that not even GOP stalwarts like to a seat in Congress. Volusia County's turnout for Democrat Josh Weil was impressive. Still, the majority of registered Dems stayed home. Chris and I voted by mail. The GOP seems worried that there will be a record turnout in midterm elections. They are busily crafting legislation to keep us from voting. 

I have participated in many protests and rallies. I was an onlooker as a confused young man at Vietnam protests in D.C. and South Carolina. Later, I participated in a big way. I was so proud to help plan the Wyoming Women's March in Cheyenne, Wyoming, on Inauguration weekend 2017. Some labeled it Wyoming Women and Allies March. I was part of the security detail and served the hungry at the post-rally potluck with my heart-friendly low-sodium chili. The Laramie County Democrats fed 1,200. We plugged in so many crock-pots that we shorted out the electrical system at the Historic Cheyenne Train Depot. Lukewarm chili still can keep a person warm on a chilly January day. 

Seems like ancient history now. We thought those days were behind us.

Thanks to all those who participated this past weekend. I will be there next time.

For my blogs on the 2017 rallies in Wyoming:

https://hummingbirdminds.blogspot.com/2017/01/wyoming-womens-march-and-potluck-draws.html

https://hummingbirdminds.blogspot.com/2018/01/i-wonder-if-ive-learned-anything-after.html

H.L. Mencken predicted it, Hunter S. Thompson would have nailed it

Baltimore's H.L. Mencken may have been the most quotable of newspaper reporters. Some comments are crass and insensitive. Others dug deep into the heart of darkness. Here's one:

On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last, and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.

You may know Mencken by his Broadway/Hollywood persona -- E.K. Hornbeck, the cranky cynical reporter in "Inherit the Wind." Here he is blasting attorney Henry Drummond (a.k.a. Clarence Darrow) who is representing the defendant in the Scopes Monkey Trial. Hornbeck is the devil sitting on Drummond's world-weary shoulders. Here's how Hornbeck sees it:

Looks like you're going out in a blaze of glory counselor. You were pretty impressive for a while there today, Henry. "Your Honor, after a while you'll be setting man against man, creed against creed" etc, etc, ad nauseam unquote. AHH, Henry! why don't you wake up? Darwin was Wrong! Man's still an ape. His creed still a totem pole. When he first achieved the upright position he took a look at the stars... thought they were something to eat. When he couldn't reach them, he thought they were groceries belonging to a bigger creature... that's how Jehovah was born.

I would love to hear Mencken on Trump & Co. And Hunter S. Thompson, the Sage of Woody Creek, Colo., where are you when we need you?

I guess it's just us. Just little ol' us.

The Hitchhiker's Guide to Nostalgia

Artwork courtesy Dean Petersen

My friend Dean Petersen in Wyoming is a talented writer and filmmaker. He once joined us at Jeana's Dining Room Table Writers' Group in Cheyenne, Wyoming. He has many stories to tell, as he showed in his novel The Burqa Cave. We critiqued each other's work with other members and sipped tea and gnoshed on baked goods. It was helpful and civilized and almost all of our members, past and present, have multiple published books. 

Dean always has a new project, his latest is an intriguing podcast, "That Doesn't Happen Every Day." He has profiled sand sculptors, Laramie's lone ska band, WYO nukes, and this hitchhiker. I imagine myself as the guy with my thumb out in the illustration, although it's been awhile since I hit the road in the 1970s. Dean is from the generation younger than mine (Gen-X?) and he notes in the episode that in school and at home they were lectured often about not getting into cars with strangers. 

Boomers received the same warnings but thousands of us ignored them as we hit the road to see America and Canada and the rest of the Americas and Europe too. My sister-in-law hitched around Europe with a woman friend in the '70s. My brother Dan hitched around Florida and the East Coast before he got a haircut and joined the USAF. My wife Chris ignored all warnings as a teen and hitched A1A from her house way north in Ormond Beach to party with friends in Ormond and Daytona. 

It was a great way to get around especially if you had no car or motorcycle. Go to Dean's podcast and check it out.

"Writers Who Play" features words & music & fun March 28 in L.A.

This comes from traveling troubadour and poet Ken Waldman:

In Los Angeles the end of this month, my NOMAD co-editor, Rachel White, and I will be getting our new NOMAD literary journal out in the world, and I'm producing a Friday, March 28, show at the fabulous 1642 Bar at https://www.facebook.com/1642beerandwine/ .

Here's the poster:

The event is being held off-campus you might say from the Association of Writers and Writing Programs conference at Los Angeles Convention Center this week. Consider it a break from AWP sessions and the magnificent bookfair where you can buy books and have books thrust upon you. Also a good time to schmooze with editors and publishers. I haven't attended AWP in a number of years but it always was fun and where I recruited writers to come to Wyoming. And always brought an extra bag to haul books home.

WyoFile: Crowd jeers Hageman at Laramie Town Hall. She calls them hysterical

WyoFile is one of my favorite publications. Based in Wyoming, it covers this vast state, reporting on events big and small. 

When I lived in Wyoming, I wrote arts and book reviews for WyoFile. Their political coverage has been particularly good. Their reporters covered the most recent legislative session, providing insight into the GOP Crackpots called the Freedom Caucus who now run the place. 

WyoFile's Maggie Mullen wrote March 20 of Rep. Harriet Hageman's town hall meeting in Laramie. Credit goes to Hageman for hosting town halls when the national GOP has told their reps to cancel them lest they be confronted with angry constituents and questions they refuse to answer. 

More than 500 people turned out for the Laramie event in the auditorium of the historic Laramie Plains Civic Center. It originally had been scheduled for a more cloistered space. Read the WyoFile article. Americans from all over are mad as hell and are not going to take it anymore. I love the header: https://wyofile.com/crowd-jeers-hageman-at-tense-laramie-town-hall-she-calls-them-hysterical/

Hageman is a confirmed MAGA cultist and defeated the outlaw Liz Cheney for the state's lone House seat. I switched parties and voted for Liz in the primaries but you can't do that anymore and now I'm in Florida trying to figure out its voting laws. She had the weight and the money of Trump on her side. 

Voters in Wyoming once elected Democrats as Governor (I worked for two of them) and common-sense yet irascible senators such as the late Alan Simpson. They are off the rails now. They were joined by 77 million or so ("I got almost 80 million votes," Trump recently bragged) who voted in Trump and Musk and some Vance guy. I know, I can't believe it either, but the horrid results are becoming more evident every day.

WyoFile is a publication we really need now. It's crucial if you live in Wyoming; entertaining and educational if you live elsewhere. Donate at wyofile.com

Get out there and vote on April 1 in the District 6 special election w/update

Update from an old friend and reader of blogs: 

"There is a peaceful rally on Saturday, 3/22, at the west side of the Granada Bridge to support Josh Weil and the progressive anti-Trump agenda. It is from 2:30-5:30.... If you or any of your friends can come it would be great. We need a big turnout."

You heard it here. FYI, the Grenada Bridge is in Ormond Beach, possibly the most traveled thoroughfare in Volusia County. I saw a large gathering for Harris and Walz there during the November vote. They were happy and peaceful. My wife honked the heck out of our SUV in support. They have been unhappy ever since, as have I. See you at the bridge Saturday.

Chris and I voted by mail Tuesday. It felt great. This is a special election set for April 1 and I voted for Josh Weil, a Democrats in Florida District 6. I believe that Chris voted for Weil but I wasn't looking over her shoulder as she filled out the mail-in ballot. I was schooled that who my spouse or friend or neighbor voted for was none of my business. 

Me: Who did you vote for?

Someone else: None of your beeswax!

But here I am, telling my readers who I voted for. 

Weil's opponent is MAGA GOPer Randall Fine. Weil has been kicking Fine's butt on TV ads, labeling him the nogoodnik that he is. Nogoodnik now. Nogoodnik if he gets to D.C. He will join the mindless House GOP horde dismantling our democracy (OK brother -- Democratic Republic) on the orders of Trump and his favorite fascist, Elon Musk. Donny and Elon want to take away your Social Security payments to line their own already-stuffed pockets. More golf balls for Donny, more Swasticars and exploding spaceships for Elon. 

They must be stopped. So get out there and vote, District 6 registered voters. The life you save may be your own. Here's a quote from Weil in the Daytona Beach News-Journal:

"We cannot take our foot off the gas," Weil said. "We have to continue knocking on doors and continue dominating the airwaves, holding more and bigger events and getting people out."

This election is being held to replace our former GOP Rep, Michael Waltz, who resigned Jan. 20 to become T's national security advisor. When Waltz was in Congress, he was a big supporter of Ukraine but now he's towing the T line to sell out Ukraine to Putin. We need a better Rep than this or Fine. Wins in this district and District 1 can negate the GOP majority in the House. We need checks and balances more than ever.

Early voting starts Saturday.

FMI: volusiaelections.gov 

Irish poet Eavan Boland: "Memory itself has become an emigrant"

The title poem of Eavan Boland's collection "The Lost Land" always moves me. It begins as a confessional with "I have two daughters" but ends with one of the big topics in Irish and Irish-American writing: diaspora. You know the story: the Potato Famine, the rapacious of the English landlords, the sailing away. The Irish, always sailing away and landing on a foreign shore. The last lines always get to me. I send you to the Poetry Foundation web site to read the whole thing and other work by Boland. Go there now. Read an Irish writer today. Happy St. Patrick's Day.