After decades of Arcadian Shop renting kayaks at its Lenox location and then bringing them and their renters to the beautiful Stockbridge Bowl to paddle, the state announced a new policy that rentals aren’t allowed to launch from its facility.
Now the problem is not only Trump—it is also us. Now we have accepted Trumpian norms and values. He has changed us. We have not, in any way, changed him. He was immune to us; we were susceptible to him.
Our illustrious president has referred to South Africa, in the past, as one of those “s-hole” countries from which he wants to bar immigration—unless, of course, they are the white racist homeboys of a former Afrikaner who has stuffed billions of dollars into the president’s pockets.
What moved me to begin thinking about the world differently was reading writers who wrote about existential choice, like Camus and Sartre, which meant for me transcending convention and the values that shaped my early life.
Coaches would give large and powerful players a list of small and less powerful players whom they would be instructed to stalk, sneak up on, and take out of play.
There is no defined procedure or policy for the Great Barrington Police to follow in situations like the recent abductions performed by mostly unidentified federal employees, except a policy not to facilitate such actions.
Devastated and overwhelmed by the cruelty I am observing, as an individual, I am going to highlight some bright spots to inspire you, so that you will keep caring for the people in your life, which is part of how we create a world where caring is what matters.
Asking “Why are you detaining my neighbor?” is a civic duty when someone’s rights may be violated. We owe it to each other to demand transparency, especially when masked agents in tactical gear show up without warning.
All at once, I knew what I wanted to do—no matter how much time I had remaining. I wanted to preserve and protect our land, our history, our lives, and if not our way of life, then a clear record of it.
This “beautiful” bill has built in many restrictions to our already limited social safety net. It is unnecessarily cruel and amoral. And it will cause so very many to suffer. It needs to be prevented from passing in the Senate.
We come closer to an actual definition of “Deep State” when the people who are directing every government action are in fact not a part of our government at all.
