February 5th, 2019.

I had a friend ask me last night if I thought we were going to hit our country’s “eat the rich” moment soon – she expressed hope that she wished we would. I asked what brought up the question and she was like: “reddit?”

Eat the rich? Or release xenomorphs on the poor? Having more fun than we ought to with a cool graphic novel: “Jonesy: Nine Lives on the Nostromo” by Rory Lucey

My answer was no, I didn’t think it was likely to happen – we’re becoming a angry, cloistered culture – but the same thing that I feel is creating this (isolation and siloing through targeted news and social media) – is the same thing that will keep those angry, cloistered people staring at their phones and upvoting and “liking” articles, tapping out furious comments and tweets, rather than actually getting involved. Trump has shown us the way: get clicks, not hearts.

If you believe revolution is coming – Live like you believe it.

Heather and I performing Friday night at Vini Culture in Frederick, MD.

After fruitlessly trying to remove a fleck of something from his milk, my Dad decided to use it as an example of keeping perspective in Life. He said that it was POSSIBLE that that fleck wasn’t just a bread crumb or a bit of pepper, but a flake of arsenic or something else wildly poisonous. Not likely, not even remotely probable, but it COULD be something Life-ending. And in theory, almost any effort was justified in removing it rather than subjecting oneself to the unknown danger. But in practice, it’s so unlikely as to be negligible. You shouldn’t be scared of crossing the street, or of strangers – you need to be aware, and make intelligent choices, and then move on… because Living in fear is at best impractical and at worst… not Living.

And he drank the milk and didn’t die.

SO – if you think the Eat the Rich moment is coming, and you think it ought to… carry on with that thought and prep. Because bringing down the government of a nation is no small ordeal and it’s not going to be pretty. She admitted to wishing she could do it herself, but that she didn’t have the “organization”. Well, I’d argue that means you don’t have the will, and beyond that you don’t REALLY have the interest, it’s just something to click and read and amuse yourself thinking about.

Never DID get the story as to why half of Mike’s head was shaved…
A surprise visit from Jocelyn Faro.
Benham benham benham.
Last time they were in town Gina Holsopple’s kids were outspoken and charming. This year, they are more of the same!
Gina Holsopple.
Outspoken and charming.
Performing at the Teavolve open mic with my baritone!

Which I get. And thought experiments are fun. But there are plenty of people that are already unbalanced and just need a little push….

I asked if she’d ever Lived through times of violence. “No”. I haven’t really either, though there was a surfacial feeling of it as the Freddie Gray “riots” swept through Western Baltimore… more ingrained there is the memory of 9/11… and more distant the constant news footage of wars in the Middle East as I was growing up, the fear of nuclear Armageddon.

Getting ready for a snowy night at Busboys and Poets.
Hanging at House of Musical Traditions before my open mic night.
Oh! Well, that’s alright then.

A snowy, but warm night at the Busboys and Poets open mic in Takoma Park, MD.
A welcome visit from Juels Bland!
Featured artist Acacia Sears!
HMTer Justin Heath.
and then home to the cat!

And there’s history. Anyone who can sit in Teavolve in Baltimore and not understand that we’ve come a very, very long way in the past 50 years needs to go back and get acquainted with history. Things have DEFINITELY gotten worse over the past 10 years or so. And racism and hate crimes are on the rise… but we didn’t bother to track these things decades ago because we didn’t care enough. Teavolve, a black-owned business that doesn’t sell the cheapest food on the block, popular amongst many races? That simply could NOT have existed in the 50s or 60s… Teavolve, a black-owned business that’s a popular hangout space for black business meetings and black politicians with a white woman behind the bar SERVING a black doctor writing grant proposals for his research into cardiology? GRASP that that wasn’t possible in the 60’s because it’s taken GENERATIONS to get here.

Understand where we’ve REALLY come from, not just what got upvoted this morning and don’t undermine the sacrifices and effort and heroes that have gotten us here.

ONCE you’ve studied some history, you can start thinking about the future. Then, once you have a plan for keeping my toilet flushing and taking out the trash after we’ve fought the war, THEN we can talk….

Oh, but first please talk to someone who’s Lived through a revolution. I can volunteer some sources.