... and several butcher's aprons.: Coming to Terms

Jubilant Throngs Packed the Washington Mall this Inauguration Day

“The Party told you to reject all evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command...The past was erased, the erasure was forgotten, the lie became the truth." – George Orwell, 1984

As a self-anointed analyst and comedy commentator on the usually simple to satirize social and political arenas, I have been struggling and searching for the proper response to the dawning of the age of President Trump. It is a rich and complex issue, and a painfully sad, tragic turn of events that will very likely have grave consequences not only for “America first” but for the entire world. And, unlike most other catastrophic occurrences in our history, 9/11, Pearl Harbor, the conception of Sarah Palin, we’ve got no boogie man for this one – no one to invade, no one to bomb, no one to drone – this is all on us, the great, unread American public. And this time, in geopolitical terms, we’re the international bad guy, we’re Spectre, we’ve unleashed onto civilization an unstable, petty, vindictive, vengeful, childish, cowardly madman who, by the way, has the gym locker combination for the deadliest nuclear arsenal mankind has ever known. Umm, sorry about that, Earth. Not surprisingly, chuckles, alliterative similes and clever wordplay have been a little hard to come by, as of late. Then something on TV moved me, and I thought, risk ridicule and accusations of weakness with heightened levels of wimpiosity, and try something unique to this keyboard, a few simple sincere thoughts. And so, we venture on.

Cecily

Despair

On this week’s Saturday Night Live, cast members Cecily Strong and Sasheer Zamata sang the Lulu chestnut and movie theme, “To Sir with Love,” with almost painful sincerity, in front of a black and white photo of President Obama. Like, Kate McKinnon’s performance of Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” as Hillary Clinton on the episode following the election, initial reaction was a bit of puzzlement, unexpectedly replaced by melancholy emotion. And then (sordid, unmanly confession) I teared up, and continued to lightly moisten my cheeks throughout the remainder of the song. A bit off-kilter, I wondered why wonderful Cecily’s extremely heartfelt, but sometime slightly strained vocal stylings had affected me so. But, it wasn’t really the earnest, and exceedingly partisan, performance that precipitated the waterworks; it was the sudden and painful, and long-delayed consciousness of reality that was triggered by the tune. That simple and genuine farewell to a good and decent man was, for me, the very moment that fear became fact and, in reaction, my body sprung a leak. To borrow from the Band, these were “tears of rage, tears of grief” - anger, anxiety, disbelief, frustration, fright and fury finally free, after 2 months of sanity saving repression.

Sasheer

Since the wee small hours of November 9^th, like millions and millions of other patriotic and empathetic Americans, I have tussled with the truth, completely incapable of accepting the incomprehensible as actuality. I have not, and will not ever, acknowledge Trump as the leader of my great country, and, until the travesty transpired, maintained high hopes that he would never step upon the inauguration platform. Surely, long before this day of transition, Trump’s myriad crimes and misdemeanors would call him home to his rightful place of residence, a federal penitentiary. But, alas, justice is frequently far too forgiving for the well to do, and rewards are proffered in place of penalty.

New York City - January 19, 2017

Hope

We weep, we wail, we scream, we curse, we have one too many drinks, we turn to each other for aid and succor, but mostly we resist. We resist the bigotry, misogyny and anti-American hatred that Donald Trump and his Fourth Reich followers confess, profess and proliferate. We march, we rally, we protest, we demonstrate. As a participant in both the nationwide Women’s March (2.9 million strong, but merely, a paltry 2,899,999 minus my attendance) and the pre-inaugural rally in New York’s Columbus Circle, I experienced the excitement, exhilaration, sense of community, pride in America and even, unanticipated optimism, that democracy in action and activism brings. And we must continue, relentlessly, to take to the streets, for it’s nothing less than the very continuation of our republic that is at stake.