This is something I made because I'm just sick and tired of social media, but I still want to put things on the internet.
Update: Jan 21, 2025
Today, this day after one of the darkest days in modern American history, I dropped my kid off at the Mall of America with a friend. I decided to go in and grab some food, even though the thought of going in sort of made me sick. Ugh, America, right?
So I got my food at Naff Naff Grill and sat down to eat. Instead of looking down at my phone, I observed. And yeah, the mall is a monument to everything wrong with capitalism, blah blah blah. But at its core, it's a marketplace. Want to learn what a society values? Go to the marketplace.
While I ate my hummus/falafel bowl, I saw all these beautiful things that Trump and his voters don't want.
They don't want the refugee from a "shithole country," married to a white dude, eating and laughing with their family, with their hijabs and baseball caps.
They don't want the gender-fluid couple eating at the table next to the midwestern white family.
They don't want the Pakistani girls flirting with the white and Korean boys at the next table over. Everyone perfectly happy to be sitting in this space full of these multitudes.
This is what is everywhere. Cultures and lifestyles all rubbing up on each other. Getting along. Sometimes arguing. Getting over it. Getting along. Making all of our lives work together. Stronger because of our differences, not in spite of them.
White suburban moms power-walking their strollers alongside teens in suits and yarmulkes. The descendants of enslaved people having coffee with second generation Somali refugees.
A&W next to Panda Express next to Little Tokyo next to Shake Shack next to Naf Naf grill. This is anathema to them. They fucking hate it.
The world they don't want is already here and it's FUCKING BEAUTIFUL.
Multiculturalism, diversity, equity and inclusion have ALREADY WON. There's room for everyone, even if they want to pretend there isn't.
These next four years are going to be awful for a whole lot of people. Keep your eyes off your phone and on the world. That's the only place you're going to find reality. Messy, happy, sad, infuriating, beautiful reality.