Dear Mike

Hey Mike, So, after listening to a bunch of (ok, a few) old songs (Asexuals, Sham 69, DOA, Angelic Upstarts, Special AKA, 7Seconds) I leashed up the dog and headed out to check on the kids in the CHAZ. Not gonna lie: it did my heart good to see what amounted to the seeds of a squat (they don't have an actual building to occupy - they are asking for the city to hand over the East Precinct, and I'm honestly not sure how that will go) all over 11th & Pine. And it was pretty damn cool. Sloppy, but cool. Easily 50 tents parked in the park, loads of tents with free supplies, medical help, saintary supplies (tp and paper towel, for free! people had been lining up for hours just weeks ago to pay jacked up prices for that stuff!). I roamed around, taking in the graffiti, the art (the BLM painted down Pine street, honestly, it was really great) I talked briefly to a girl setting up a free book exchange/library, I went up to the precinct and listened to people talking aobut plans, a ...

Hi Mike. So, it just keeps getting worse, so maybe it's getting better? Watching people come to terms with how fucked up America is has become paralyzing for me. It's a goddamn good thing I don't have a job to go to, because I don't think I could cope with that right now. So much residual rage from all these years of being poor. I mean, yes, I'm not black, so some things are better for me, but there are loads of ways this fucking materialistic, consumer culture hates anyone who differs from the accepted norm. Last night, at 11th & Pine, the thing I expected to happen finally did: a guy drove a car into the crowd. All of it captured on video - you can see he chickens out (thank god) and halts the car as a (black) guy who had been chasing him down the street catches up to him and punches him through the window of the car. The driver shoots the guy in the arm, and he falls back. Driver gets out, has a glock with multiple cartridges taped to the handle, and I kid yo...

Good morning Mike. So, day 7 of protests here in Seattle, and today it looked like DC in '88 (and stuff I've seen and been told about from '87) - the protestors, most are young people who live in Capitol Hill, holding the line at 11th and Pine 24/7 now. Last night there was music, dancing, poetry, and light projections. The signage has been creative and plentiful. The kids are supplying each other - they are definitely taking their cues from the kids in Hong Kong. The cops are on a shorter leash, but still getting caught displaying their disdain for dirty hippies. And by dirty hippies, I mean anyone who doesn't look like Molly Ringwald and Emilio Estevez in Breakfast Club, or those loons from Duck Dynasty. That being said, there is a definite commitment I haven't seen before, and I have to guess it is coming from being in lockdown for so long. This is gonna be a summer for the ages, for sure. The soundtrack is a bit different, but the anger, the frustration, is real...

Hey Mike, I dunno where to even start, but how about with this: George Will calling for a purge of Senate Republicans. This coming minutes after the Mango Mussolini has declared that he's gonna activate the military to put down the protests and looting that have been happening in the 4 days since George Floyd was murdered by a cop, which of course happened after two other basically public lynchings, which have been happening our whole lives, but toss in a pandemic, which has put tons of people in limbo, and boom goes the dynamite. Right at this moment (5pm, 6/1) helicopters are overhead - and 2 blocks from my apartment (city hall) the streets are filled, again, with protesters. I feel like a pathetic wretch of a person not being out there, but my knee is fucked up, and, well, I've been trying not to get too upset. Being face to face with confused kids and angry cops isn't gonna help, and I'm probably days, or maybe months from a heart attack or somehting anyway. The poi...