finding moments of connection with each other

"We must pull ourselves up out of the chairs. We must find our coats.   We must go."
- Virginia Woolf, The Waves

I am simply copying and pasting this post from the Indivisible Front Range Resistance Group, because I honestly have no words this morning.

Except for this:

Last Friday, I went to Karaoke night with Y, the young woman I teach English to.

She has a toddler, so we are learning all of the little kid songs:

The Itsy Bitsy Spider, Head Shoulders Knees and Toes, Row Row Row Your Boat, etc..

When I asked Y what song she wanted to sing for Karaoke Night, she immediately said, “Itsy bitsy. Let's sing itsy bitsy. And headshoulders. Also let's sing headshoulders."

So on Karaoke night, Y and I sang together. Loudly and very off key.

The audience sang too.

I’m holding on to these moments of connection and delight.


I'm storing them in my memory and my body, for whatever unfolds.

K:


Here's what these amazing, hard working, and persistent Colorado Resistance Groups are saying:

“Statement to Senator Michael Bennet and Senator Cory Gardner:

During the last SCOTUS nomination process, one of the greatest acts of political treachery in American history unfolded as Republicans in the US Senate refused to carry out their constitutional duties and give Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland a hearing. With nearly a year remaining before the next major election, Republicans declared that the voters should have a say in the next lifetime appointment to the nation’s highest court.

Senator Cory Gardner of Colorado said at that time, "our next election is too soon and the stakes are too high, the American people deserve a role in this process as the next Supreme Court Justice will influence the direction of this country for years to come.” This was an opinion echoed by Republicans at all levels to justify their unprecedented decision to obstruct a Supreme Court nominee for almost an entire year.

Today, Gardner’s hypocrisy has come full circle. Following the announcement that Justice Anthony Kennedy will retire at the end of July, Gardner now says that the nation is in “a completely different situation.” It is clear to the citizens of Colorado that Gardner fully plans to support ramming through another Supreme Court nominee before the 2018 midterm elections, despite his own position just two years prior.

Senator Michael Bennet’s Wednesday statement regarding Kennedy’s retirement was far less transparent than this.

Bennet said that “the President and Senate owe it to the next generation of Americans to identify a consensus nominee who can earn the confidence of the American people. The President should resist the temptation to nominate an extremist who could be approved only by a bare majority vote.”

Does Senator Bennet plan to participate in the nomination process--at the whim of a disingenuous GOP--and despite massive public dissent? We the undersigned demand a much stronger stance from Bennet at this stage in the Trump presidency. President Trump’s administration remains under special counsel investigation over possible conspiracy with a foreign power. He has demanded loyalty pledges from the FBI, incited violence against civilians, separated migrant children from their families, enriched himself and his own family using the highest powers of his office, and banned whole countries from entry to the US based on religion. He has stated publicly that he has the power to pardon himself and cannot be indicted for criminal acts.

It is logical to expect this president will use this opportunity to ensure his own immunity from the investigations currently under way, with a dictatorial demand for loyalty from his nominee.

Moreover, our most fundamental, American rights to a representative government are likely to be taken from us through a politicized Supreme Court that equates money with speech, conflates corporations with individuals, approves racially gerrymandered districting, and suppresses access to voting. We would like Senator Bennet to understand the stakes, and recognize that we are past the point of relying on traditional senatorial process to result in a “consensus” nominee.

Senator Bennet must not participate in any process involving the confirmation of a Trump Supreme Court nominee before January of 2019, and we expect him to make a statement to that effect very soon. Senator Gardner must also reverse course on his position and hold the Trump administration to the same standard to which he held Barack Obama and his nominee Merrick Garland.

SIGNED

6/16 Indivisible Boulder
Action for People and the Planet
Arapahoe Young Democrats
Arvadans for Progressive Action 
Asian Communities Together
Boulder CAN
CAPE Denver
Chair, Arapahoe County Dems
Citizens for Hope CS
Coffee and Civic Action
Colorado Friends of Democracy
Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition
Crawford Area Indivisible
District 3 Indivisible Colorado
Denver Resistance Organizers' Clearinghouse
Fort Collins for Progress
Front Range MoveOn
Greeley Indivisible
High Plains Indivisible
House District 38 Democrats
Indivisible Ambassadors
Indivisible Arapahoe
Indivisible Boulder
Indivisible CO-5
Indivisible CO-7
Indivisible Colorado
Indivisible Colorado District 6
Indivisible Denver
Indivisible Douglas County District 4
Indivisible- Durango
Indivisible FoxRidge
Indivisible Front Range Resistance
Indivisible Grand Junction CO
Indivisible Highlands Ranch
Indivisible- Montezuma Alliance for Unity
Indivisible Montrose
Indivisible NOCO
Indivisible Pueblo
Indivisible Southglenn
Indivisible Southwest Metro Denver
Indivisible United We Stand
Indivisible Yampa Valley
Interfaith Alliance of Colorado
Jeffco CAN
JeffCo Resistance
March On Colorado
Mountain Indivisible
NARAL Pro-Choice Colorado
One Broomfield Indivisible
ProgressNow Colorado
The Resistance 5280
Roxborough Resistance For America
Stronger Together Orchard Hills
Stamina: United
Together We Will Colorado
Weld Action Network
West Metro Resistance
Win The Fourth Colorado"

Besides calling Bennett and Gardner about this:

Michael Bennett: 303-455-7600 and  202-224-5852
Cory Gardner: 303-391-5777 and  202-224-5941 

Please also call:

Lisa Murkowski: 907-271-3735 and 202-224-6665
Susan Collins:  207-622-8414 and 202-224-2693 

Urge them to vote with the Democrats to block any Supreme Court nomination hearings until January 2019.

And thanks to all who showed up at the rallies throughout the country on Saturday to stand in solidarity with our Immigrant and Refugee Communities. With our Native American and POC family, friends, and neighbors too.

“Hope locates itself in the premises that we don’t know what will happen and that in the spaciousness of uncertainty is room to act.”
-- REBECCA SOLNIT
 

Warmly,
Joanna