Category Archives: culture

Love notes for Solidarity

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“Quiet, piggy.”

It makes me seethe.

Friend pointed me to Andy Borowitz’s Facebook post (11/18/2025) where he shares the transcript of Katie Johnson’s (pseudonym) testimony for a lawsuit she brought against Donald Trump in 2016 for allegedly raping her when she was 13. This led me to Borowitz’s Substack post in which he interviews Kate Manne and discusses the allegations, the media’s tepid response, and the implications of both. Manne states, “Is this proof beyond a reasonable doubt? No. Is this something which we can be absolutely confident happened? I don’t think so. But those are legal standards, not moral ones, and they’re not epistemic ones either. Can we say, if we’re assessing the evidence soberly, that what she says is credible, and can I say I believe her? Absolutely.”

I shared Tanya Eby’s Facebook post (11/19/2025) with my own caption, “Fuck. Yes. I am Piggy. Hear me fucking ROAR” in response to her call, “For every woman out there, for anyone who has ever been abused, for every reporter who is trying to tell the truth, this is the time to embrace your own inner Miss Piggy and speak the truth out loud. Stay centered. Stay rooted. Ask the questions. Embrace your marvelous.”

Harry Shannon posted this on his Instagram page (11/19/2025): “Women reporters will ask Trump difficult questions and suffer his insults while the men in the room look like timid little puppies afraid to upset their master. Are there no men in Washington?” The last sentence landed sideways on me. I understand where it comes from, and it further reinforces our cultural gender dichotomy. Trump’s misogyny and our culture’s tolerance of it is intrinsic by now. And it’s up to all of us, not just men or women, to stand up to it. We are human, and none of us should tolerate for any of us to be treated this way, or for the ‘leader’ of the free world to set such a toxic example.

from Instagram

I could write a dozen Love Notes for Anger. Anger can be an appropriate and healthy response to violations of our core values. But it’s not the vibration I want to emit tonight. What we do with our rage is what matters. And right now the best thing I can think of is to express (and then act productively on) my solidarity with our shared humanity. Whenever I make statements like this I think of Donald Trump, and challenge myself to include him, the most despicable human I can think of right now, in my calls for compassion, kindness, empathy, generosity, etc. 99.5% of me has lost all hope for reconciling his character, and I also believe in miracles. So until we witness divine intervention or something akin, I choose to direct my time, energy, and resources toward the light, like that scene in Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince when Dumbledore dies and folks at Hogwarts aim their lit wands to the sky to dissipate the Dark Lord’s black cloud.

We Are Piggy. We’ Got This:

  1. You are worthy of dignity and respect just by virtue of your existence. May I train the fortitude to remind those who deny you this.

2. The defender of humaneness in me calls to the defender of humaneness in you. May we march forward, protecting HUMANITY.

3. I see you. Your humanity is my humanity. May I never forget, and stand up for you when you need me.

4. The first challenger gets dismissed. May the rest of us step up, shoulder to shoulder, and brave the backlash–TOGETHER. Our strength is synergistic.

5. When we see someone’s humanity attacked, may we not only not participate, but may we find the courage to counter. Resist firmly and non-adversarially. We can do it.

6. My Why is connection. My Just Cause is healing relationships and maximizing the greater good through mutual respect. How can we work together this way?

7. Hurt people hurt people, as they say. Wow, LOTS of hurt people walking around now. May you heal your hurt and turn the tide around in your little corner. I hold you up.

8. May your inner Miss Piggy shine. Never let anyone diminish your awesomeness. Own your strength and toss that hair like a queen.

9. We may think love makes us weak and vulnerable. But what greater force is there to drive sacrifice and sustained advocacy? Stoke the love. Stand strong.

10. How do you need me to show up for you? May I do it bravely, lovingly, and with conviction.

11. I know I take my privilege for granted. Your struggles affect me, even if I don’t see it. May I work for your freedom from the worst of our culture.

12. When I witness abuse, may I be a brave upstander and may you join me, leading others to follow.

These turned out better than I anticipated. The call to unity is strong. Let us answer in kind.

Love Notes for Bridging Difference

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The PA student wellness talk went great! 42 or so junior colleagues engaged with me and my badly designed PowerPoint for ninety minutes and I had the BEST time! I realized this morning that for the youngest of them (about half the class), the pandemic hit during high school and the beginning of college. It reminds me of The Fourth Turning and how significantly the intersection of phase of life with momentous human events influences our world views. This summer I was challenged to address the impact of generational differences on organizational culture in a corporate wellness talk, and I started to see age and generation as another form of diversity.

“Respect and challenge the hierarchy,” occurred to me for students this year. We elders (some very elder indeed) still run things, and our experience and wisdom matter. We also have much to learn from our juniors, from their fresh and diverse perspectives. If we can all lead, from any chair, by humble and confident example, our professional culture will progress toward stronger inclusiveness and mutual respect.

I continue to seek conversation and connection with both conservative and progressive friends around politics. But I want to go deeper than news headlines and the loudest arguments. I want to know what core goals and values we share, to start walking together to see where our paths diverge. Where are our shared destinations, and why do you choose 90/94 while I choose Lake Shore Drive? What are the dis/advantages of each, what are the trade-offs?

I am really starting to miss more long form posting here, how fascinating! We are 60% through this daily blogging challenge. Many thanks to all who have followed along (Hi Mick and Donna!), and welcome to any new friends! Now let’s see how much love we can find across difference:

  1. Keep your antennae tuned for those who would divide us to serve their own purposes. This is NOT our better nature. Resist them and stay connected!

2. You and I disagree on this today. That may not necessarily be the case in the future. We can keep our minds open to change, without shame or judgement.

3. You don’t believe everything I believe. But let us not let that stop us from staying curious and connecting anyway. May we see light in each other no matter what.

4. The holidays can challenge our patience and resilience to triggers. *deep breath* May we stand firmly in love and ties of respect and shared history to get us through gratefully.

5. Our biases come honestly or not, we inherit many and form others organically. It’s a human thing. But let us hold them loosely and let them go to connect to one another.

6. Today and all days, may our differences feel softer, less threatening, and approachable with openness, light, and optimism for connection.

7. How wonderfully diverse we all are! How boring the world would be if we were all the same! May we appreciate and celebrate every spectrum!

8. To my friends who vote differently and sit with me over a meal or coffee to discuss–thank you. Our persistent and resilient connection gives me hope for our future.

9. I love you because we share important things in common. And the places where we differ teach me, make me better. Because of our love.

10. One deep breath can be the difference between a connecting moment and a destructive one. Let our breath give us the space to make the connecting choice.

11. Humility Curiosity Empathy Kindness Generosity — Is there any theme of love note NOT founded on these?

12. These fun music mash-ups like AC/DC-BeeGees — If we can so easily and artfullly blend divergent melodic creations, why not try with our policy ideas? We are a creative species, no?

Oh, I like this set, friends. Onward to 30!

Love Notes for Work

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Listening to the end of Coming Up Short, Robert Reich’s memoir. Daughter and I saved it to listen on the road trip to college at the end of August. We finished all but the last two hours, which I could not bring myself to continue alone until now, nine weeks later. Highly recommend! His stories are rich and heartfelt, and I respect his principles and values. He is forthright and honest in his unflinching conviction and passion for lifting the middle/working class and making government work for all, not just the rich, an ideal to which he has dedicated his professional life. Reich describes his emotions at retirement, including gratitude and ambivalence. I wonder how I will feel when I stop seeing patients for a living, though I imagine I will always think of myself as a doctor.

So I hope I can come up with twelve excellent love notes for work!

Two days into thirty, I notice how redundant these love notes feel to write and reread all at once. As readers can you see these post titles as a list? Does it occur to you to read the first couple each day this month and save the rest for later? Would it work to dip in and out of this blog throughout this month and beyond, depending on what love note you need/want on a given day? Would you come here to pluck a love note for a friend or loved one? At the same time it feels a little awkward to write them this way, I wonder if these thirty days could be a closer approximation of my love notes pocketbook than I initially imagined? Hmmm, we shall see! 😀

Let us continue:

  1. OK so, my friend, what do you love about your work? How does it fulfill youo and bring you joy? I hope you can count multiple ways!

2. Autonomy. Mastery. Purpose. May you feel these enough or even in spades daily. Now go forth and badass this day.

3. You work. Whether or not you make money is a different story. You spend time and energy doing, and that matters. You. Matter. onward.

4. May the meaning and personal fulfillment in your work far outweigh its stress over the long term! And if not, may you cope healthily.

5. Even if your work is solitary, may you always know without a doubt the positive impact it has on those it touches. And may you(r) support network live at your fingertips.

6. Our culture too often equates work or career with identity. If that works for you, yay! If not, good on you! You contain multitudes. Your job is only one aspect of you.

7. What inspires motivates gratifies you at work today? This week? Ever? May it recur on your consciousness regularly!

8. Whatever B.S. you must cope with at your job (because let’s be honest we all do), may it take a backseat to your mission and purpose. You’ got work to do.

9. However you describe your job — maker, helper, builder or anything else, may you feel meaning and intrinsic joy in it every day!

10. Hey, maybe take a break from work today and *dance*!? 😀 Who knows how life could be better if we all did this daily? Go on, twirl a little.

11. May your next work day bring you the meaning you most need, and interactions with our fellow humans that lift you in the best ways!

12. May you always see, feel, and internalize the value of your work to humanity. You do good, and that matters. Onward! You matter.

Thanks for coming with me on this love note trip with me! Please tell me how it’s going? 🙂