Dimensionally Barrett

Image source: stablediffusion.com The Future isn’t Written in Stone - some things to bear in mind in the coming months/years This is not going to be a pie in the sky feel good piece, but it is offered to anyone who wants to consider that while democracy has taken a critical body blow, there may be reason for some slivers of hope here and there. No silver linings; but maybe some larger scale obstacles to Trump and Project 2025 getting their wish list filled. Once again, Trump’s appointments gear toward the unqualified and ludicrous. Once again, he’s stacking his advisory board with billionaires and his BFF Elon is at the head of the line. However, many of those billionaires come from the petroleum industry and yes, that’s terrifying and bad in ways I shouldn’t have to describe; but Elon is all about pushing through alternative energy. He’s touted the idea of a fossil fuel free future (as well as relocating to Mars because we’ve trashed Mother Earth), and were this any other crackpot in ...

Photo credit: tedosius.com I’m kicking off this “what to keep in mind” as a reminder to myself and others of that what Trump 2.0 has stated it wants to accomplish. I want this to serve several purposes. One is to just keep this administration’s policies and goals firmly in front to remind everyone of what they voted for and what others voted to stop. I also want to post these to let folks know that we’re not powerless and that there are individuals and organizations that will be fighting on many fronts. Some, admittedly, will be more successful, some may not. But we can all find a community to share ideas, voices, and actions. Today,, I’m looking at Trump’s deportation plan. Setting aside the immorality of it, the cost alone will be $88 billion in tax dollars.  It will likely worsen housing costs and add greater stressors to the economy. Additionally, “  a deportation operation targeting millions would require many more officers, detention beds and immigration court judges. Am...

How are you doing? How are we doing?  Personally, I don’t know whether to cry or throw up. Or both.  I have refrained from saying the most acerbic things about the U.S. electorate over the past however many years I’ve been saying them. I refrained because I want to see the best in people. I refrained because I can’t relate to how fearful and dark your view of the world has to be to support a man so grossly inadequate, petty, and small masquerading as a tough guy or even more laughable, an intelligent one. I refrained because I tend to operate from a space of hope and caring. I tend to care about and for the marginalized, the oppressed, the Other. We have all, at some point, been bullied, threatened, subject to anger, if not hatred. Many of us more than others. The positive outcome can be greater empathy, sympathy, and a desire to understand the person who bullies, threatens, hates. The positive outcome is not giving into, much less returning bullying, threat, and hatred with m...

On this Election Day Eve, I don’t feel compelled to exacerbate handwringing nor even to traffic in hope, though, if you read the previous entry , you’ll find that I’m certainly not un-hopeful. I don’t want to spend a lot of time on building an argument for how or why I look on the current historical moment that we are all part of as I do. Aurelius put it better than I ever could: ”This is a fine saying of Plato. That he who is discoursing about men should look also at earthly things as if he viewed them from some higher place: should look at them in their assemblies, armies, agricultural labours, marriages, treaties, births, deaths, noise of the courts of justice, desert places, various nations of barbarians, feasts, lamentations, markets, a mixture of all things and an orderly combination of contraries.” (The Meditations, VII; 48) This isn’t to say that one assumes an aristocratic, above-it-all, attitude; simply to recognize that what is unfolding moment by moment is part of a greater...

Shantideva, Bodhicittasangha.org Recently, I’ve been mulling over what to write about the Big Election. After I voted, I realized that I was going to be reading every day about what the early voting results mean, the horse race in the polls between the candidates and was brought back to some advice from the great Indian philosopher, Shatideva. In paraphrase, “if there is a situation about which you can do something, what is there to worry about? If there is a situation about which you can do nothing, why worry?” Usually, I use this as reminder for the innumerable times when I get flustered over something someone has said or when coming to terms with upsetting news.  Shantideva wasn’t saying we shouldn’t be upset, but he nudges through the rest of his work the Bodhisattvacaryavatara or the Bohisattva’s Way of Life , that what needs to change is our overall sense of grasping at the ephemeral and the generation of genuine compassion and an ethics based on that. All of this helps maint...

I’ll be voting tomorrow, early, ahead of the Election Day. Why tomorrow? Quite simply, because i’m undecided on several judicial elections, principally in the appellate courts and on a bond issue that isn’t as cut and dried as i originally thought. I figure i have another few hours of research to do on the candidates and while i’ve listened to some in-depth analysis on the bond issue, I remain sitting between two stools. Why am I not addressing the larger contest for U.S. President? Because I genuinely believe that local elections are at least, as important. Because we’ve seen what happens when demagogues get their way and make concerted efforts to determine local politics. For example, i was on the fence about voting for a judge endorsed by both the Dallas and Houston papers. He doesn’t sound like, on the face of it, the type to rule based on a strict agenda and indeed, does have a reputation for adjudicating fairly. However, he also has the support of Texas State Attorney-Under-Indic...

It's been a lovely time. Leaving is bittersweet, of course; however, the next leg of this journey takes me back to New Jersey and Pennsylvania, where I'll be spending long overdue family time!  In the meantime, returning to old haunts, some changed beyond recognition, has been fun. Much has happened in the world since I've been back, but over the course of the next few entries, I'm likely going to spend more time on art, gardens, literature, and reminiscences shared and unshared. I restricted myself to well-trod paths (in some cases, literally; there's the Alewife Footpath, and the lovely stroll into Harvard Square from my dear friend Graziella's house, which will henceforth and ever be called Venti. I could sing Graziella's praises all day; she's not just a gracious host, but a woman of innate strength, deep introspection, and a huge heart. She and Joyce, another of the inestimable heart-sisters in my life are a team of love and fun that can raise the s...