We Can Do This, Folks!

 We have a lot of work to do. 

I believe we can do this. 

Be kind. 

Ox, 

Mari 

Awareness and Awakening

I feel as if we are awakening from a long nightmare and, if we are open to it, an awakening. 

As the votes get counted, and the United States of America moves on from this election, there will be questions that need answers and work that needs doing. For many of us, those questions are the same as they have been for years. 

Basic human needs must be satisfied before we can even consider secondary needs. That is, we want to get from surviving to thriving, but we must be patient or we will not survive. When I feel impatient, I remember, "Water on a rock."

As I have said before, the solutions are already here. They are all around for the sharing. Look inside for the answers. 

I'll spare you any long winded diatribes, and wish you peace of mind and love in your heart. 

Ox, 

Mari 

Local Considerations

Hello Again, 

May this note find you in good health and good spirits. If you have not yet voted, please do so. If  you are local to Marin County, please consider the following candidates: 

Greg Knell for San Rafael City Council. He is a good guy and a musician, so he understands our point of view and will do what he can to support the arts in our community. 

Joe McGarry for Fairfax Town Council. Joe is an ally and an active anti racist. 

Vicki Nichols for Sausalito. Ignore the silly SNL skit from last week. Vicki values local history and has been active in civic matters for a long time. She is kind. 

Thanks for caring enough to engage. 

Keep wearing those masks. Spread love and kindness, not germs. 

And please don't worry. It doesn't help, and the stress lowers your immune system. 

Stay safe!

Love, 

Mari 

Loss, Life and Love

 https://marimack.bandcamp.com/track/my-brothers-smile-2

I send this out to anyone who needs it. 

Ox, 

Mari 

"The deeper that sorrow carves into your heart, the more joy it can contain." 

Kahlil Gibran

103 Days

 

I'm Voting Blue and Hope You Are, Too

 Hey Everybody! 

As I have shared for quite a few years, I hope this note finds you well and happy to be alive. Or something close. 

How lucky are we to be living in this time? It seems as if the world is waking up to realize what matters most in this world. Health, love and the freedom to be your true self. I choose to take a positive outlook, because I have lived long enough and survived enough BS to know that we have power to create the change we want to see in this world.  We make mistakes, we can fix them. Follow nature's lead.

Did you happen to watch Joe Biden's speech from Gettysburg? If you have twenty minutes, I recommend it. It was a nice speech. Please exercise your right to vote. And keep covering your nose and mouth. 

Let's make the world a better place, by taking care of each other and by being the best we can be. 

Ox, 

Mari

Http://marimack.bandcamp.com

The Choices We Make Matter

It would make little sense for me to repeat information you could find elsewhere on the internet about Ruth Bader Ginsburg's incredible life. Instead, I'll offer some suggestions for simple actions you can take, should you feel motivated to do so. And I hope you do feel motivated, because when our country and our world is changing all around us, we bear a responsibility to take part in the process, to affect the things we can.

In addition to writing Mitch McConnell (simply to flood his office and to help the USPS, because he will likely ignore whatever you say,) write to every Republican Senator.  Let's flood their offices with quotes from 2016, when the Senate Majority Leader refused to allow a hearing for Merrick Garland's nomination. 

Let's flood their offices with RBG quotes. Let's flood their offices with our own thoughts. 

And let's donate to every Democratic Senate campaign who has a chance of winning. 

We must flip the Senate.

Send letters of encouragement and gratitude to our current representatives, those who have demonstrated commitment to principles of honesty, fairness, equal rights for all and stewardship of the planet, for clean water and air in our communities. 

If you have the will and the additional resources, donate to those who have absolutely no chance, because we need to support people who simply have the guts to run. Eventually, that investment will pay off.

 We need to encourage more everyday people to become engaged in our civic processes. Because in order to truly represent the people, this government of "we the people" needs US.  

Capisce? 

 

 

 

Life Lessons

I figured out what the lesson is/was (see previous post) - it's to research and give myself a bit more time before posting to this blog. After this most recent Democratic convention, I decided to do a bit of research, and discovered that Mr. Biden made that comment about a "battle for the soul of our nation" three years ago, so that's a relief. Of course, I haven't yet researched my own words from that time, so... ;) 

While discussing the similarities between Bernie's "not me, us" slogan, plus Barack Obama's syntax on more than one occasion, and then a few sentences in Michelle Obama's DNC speech, Joe Biden's words, Andrew Yang, etc., I asked a dear friend what they thought the meaning of all these similarities to my own writings might be, and this was their response:  "I don't know, maybe 'Great minds think alike?' " ...and now you know why that person is a dear friend. 

It's an odd dance, humility and the requirement to sing one's own praises in order to gather votes. My dear friend also said that I have a tendency to put everyone else's interests before my own,  which is a fairly accurate assessment. But isn't that the type of person we need in public service? I see many public servants who fit that description. Dennis Rodoni, one of my fellow District 4 candidates in 2016, is one. 

Now, as for the Democratic Convention: I thought it was traditional in the content sense, trotting out a representative from almost every walk of life, although the production was virtual except for a small group of journalists practicing physical distancing due to Covid-19 protocol. It seemed like a long infomercial, which is what it was. 

As for my own quest to get to the national debate stage during this election, yes, it is true that our campaign was ignored by the DNC, so it didn't have much time to get off the ground. Same can be said for most of the 700 additional candudates we never got to see or learn about, unless we took the time to do so. I'm fairly sure that my making almost no videos might have had something to do with keeping my status as an unknown. That is, unless you count the dig about my split ends and "80's scrunchie" that Colbert lobbed toward me after I made one tiny video. By the way, Stephen, that scrunchie was not from the 80's  - it was part of a set given to me at Christmas in 2019. You really have no idea what you are talking about.  I just don't understand why some people have to be so petty. 

Yet, consider this - I am just getting started, and do not enjoy playing political games. It seems that unless you are independently wealthy, or really famous, or in some Harvard insider group, you are, for the most part, ignored. 

That is, unless you are constantly typing rants about an illegal sidewalk (I hear you groaning "oh, not THAT again")  in which case, they just think you have lost your mind, because, let's face it, stealing 1.1 million dollars for a four block sidewalk is chump change when billions of dollars are being wasted and given away in pork projects every day, while some of us are homeless. At least that seemed to be the former attitude of our former Supervisor. 

And some of you still wonder why that egomaniac DT was elected? Do you have any idea how desperate or delusional or angry or misinformed or clueless someone had to be to vote for THAT guy? If you are considering doing it again, please don't. It's not just about him. It's about decency. 

Yes, it can be discouraging, when we keep cutting down trees and pouring concrete, building gigantic planes and bombs. As long as someone is getting a paycheck, seems as if they just don't care what is happening to the planet or innocent people. That is, until their own kid gets knocked down by some spandex warrior because the road width has been reduced (yes, that is another dreaded sidewalk reference.) We need to check ourselves, people. I'm not judging you. I'm asking us all to look in the mirror and decide who we want to be, what kind of world we want to live in and what kind of world we want to leave for our kids, and future generations. Not to mention our next lives, if you believe in that sort of thing.  

This experience of running in place for public office has been a labor of love and an experiment. I learned a lot - mostly relearned that a lack of funding is a huge barrier to civic engagement - and that a desire to protect your family from bullies requires placing your own needs and desires on the back burner sometimes, making difficult choices, doing the things we would rather not do. Like housework. Ugh. 

I wish you good health, love and peace within your heart. 

Ox, 

Mari 

P.s. I mean, "Come on, man..." you all can't be reading my online posts and regurgitating my words without giving credit, or at least an email or a tweet to say "Thanks," now, can you? Are you all that selfish? Or so insecure that you think by acknowledging someone else, that somehow, you will be diminished? It's quite the opposite. That said, it could be we are all on the same wavelength. Is it a zeitgeist thing? That would be nice, but... 

P.s.s.Thanks for ignoring the typos on the first draft. Constantly striving to do better.