Remember Joy

What were you doing the morning of November 7th when the Presidential election was called for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris? 

I was sitting exactly where I am now, in front of my computer, having my first cup of tea, MSNBC on mute, slacking with my Feel Good Voting colleagues about the fact that the results were clear and suddenly a co-worker exclaimed that CNN called it.

“WE WON!”

Wolf came running from the bedroom. We embraced, sobbed while laughing, dancing and screaming. My phone was going crazy. I was spinning in circles not sure what to do first or next. I grabbed my car keys, ran outside, and honked the car horn to let the world know that JOE BIDEN AND KAMALA HARRIS WON!

Neighbors started gathering in the street. Champagne bottles popped, Sharon Jones “This land is your land” and the theme from Rocky played on a portable speaker while Wolf danced with our American flag. Masked up and overwhelmed with relief and excitement. One of my soul sisters said she felt a sense of relief like she had never felt before, not even after childbirth.

This was the moment we were waiting for.  A glimpse of light and hope, a way out of the darkness, an opening onto something better.

WE DID IT!

Everyone of us stood resilient and fierce in the face of authoritarianism. We were steadfast in our resolve that this is not who are as a country, as a community, and as individuals.

This was not a Blue win and Red loss, even though that’s how it’s been messaged. This is a victory for humanity, the planet, truth, Democracy, and a future filled with possibilities to make lives and our world better.

For four years we marched with a shared values, and an understanding that the systems have failed. Yet, we persisted knowing the people and our planet matter. Caring matters. Making sure we are all well matters. And on November 3rd, we loudly proclaimed, in historic proportions, that VOTING MATTERS.

Another soul sister often says, “everything Trump touches turns to shit.” It really does. He’s been shitting on Democracy for decades. Shitting on black and brown people his whole life. Shitting on contractors who he’s stiffed. Shitting on a gold toilet as if his shit is the best shit of all. And now, he’s spending his last days of a vengeful Presidency shitting on the peaceful transition of power.

His refusal to concede is dangerous and unprecedented, yet predictable and desperate. It’s a disgrace. And, while he is a bumbling, lazy, unfocused attempt at a dictator, his actions decay trust in systems that, while imperfect, still have an organizing function. Some may say the systemic demise is for the best. I subscribed to a remodel ideology rather than a tear down and rebuild.

All the while, I remind myself that his constituents, our fellow American citizens, are behaving much in the same way we behaved four years ago. We did everything in our might to reject his win. We funded a Wisconsin recount sponsored by Jill Stein. We bombarded electors with pleas to be faithless. The difference was that Hillary Clinton conceded and Barack Obama followed the transfer of power protocols. 

Today members of the GOP and right wing media participating in Trump’s dangerous charade. They joined trump in shitting on Democracy. So what are we going to do in this moment? Are we going to laugh it off, become numb, wait for the transition to happen on Jan 20? Are we going to rant about it on social media? Are we going lean on the media to report the truth? Are we ready to keep fighting for our Democracy?

The Georgia runoff is 46 days away. Winning those two seats takes McConnell out of power. McConnell who is still confirming unqualified judges to the courts as I type. McConnell who is on another recess, with hundreds of unsigned bills + the Heroes Act on his desk, which would prevent millions of Americans from poverty. McConnell who vowed to make Obama a one term president. McConnell who refused Merrick Garland a hearing before the Senate Judicial Committee. McConnell who laughingly jammed through Amy Coney Barrett when millions of people had already voted.

This isn’t McConnell’s Government, it’s our Government. This land is our land. Listen to the lyrics Sharon Jones sings and understand that there is a breakage in the dam and an attempt to prevent Biden from entering office. They will lose, already have, and yet what they are doing is dangerous. For our future, for national security, and for the well-being of all us.

Civic engagement is like brushing your teeth,  you may not always want to do and good dental hygiene is a life saver. 

Here’s the actions I recommend taking. Please note, I’m done saying Easy Activism. From here on out, it’s more like healthy habit activism.

VOLUNTEER FOR GEORGIA RUNOFF.

Covid relief, immigrants, healthcare, wages, the environment are all depending upon this. Some people believe a divided Government is good for Democracy. Not with McConnell at the helm. He will block appointments and jam the system so that the Biden administration fails. We are too fragile for that to happen.

• Phone Bank. Common Power based here in Seattle is an excellent organization quite fun to phone bank with. It feels really good helping Jon Ossoff and Reverend Warnock. I’m serious. DO IT!

• Donate. I don’t typically donate to candidates directly. I recommend donating to Fair Fight who has the best ground game in town.

STAY VIGILANT

Reverend Warnock’s response to a man shouting “Lock Him Up” is something to consider. He said, “we’re not going to become that which we resist.”  It’s challenging to not wish ill and want trump and klan to know the pain they cause and yet, our work is to protect and safeguard all we hold sacred. Others will punish the misdeeds. And when it’s time for punishment, when those hurting our Democracy are no longer in office, we can rise our voices and call for justice. Until then, keep posting, keep resisting and keep the faith.

With love and endless gratitude -

:: Genessa

Vote in Love.

I love this photo of my wife and me. It sits on my desk where I write and work. No matter how hurried, frustrated, task-oriented (or procrastinating), agitated or excited I feel, when I look at it I pause into a state of whole-heartedness.

I see Wolf's heart on her face exuding genuine and pure love. I see me, my expression so different than hers. Where The Wolf's is all heart, mine is whimsy. It's true to who we are.

The archetype of marriage never appealed to me. The idea of being somebody's wife. As a young girl I never dreamed in wedding, white dresses or bridal parties. Just wasn't part of my make-up. Wolf knew this about me and yet, to her, nothing is more significant than committing to love. She is right. Where all I could see was the aged construct, she saw the value of commitment and reconstructing the original design.

We got engaged as I read her mind while embracing on the beach in Moloka'i Hawaii. I lifted my head off her shoulder and said 'yes'. She hadn't asked me the question. She'd been thinking about it. If you've been Moloka'i, you know the power of that island. If you haven't been and plan on going, be prepared. Moloka'i delivers what you need ready or not. It scares me to think about.

I share this not because I want to trip down memory lane, which is fun for me, but more because of what happens when we give ourselves permission to sink into to our truths. When we turn off the banter and bluster of social media and the news, and drop into the times we're living in.

In this time we are awake to all that is sacred - facts, black and brown lives, women's rights, immigrants rights, Orcas, ice-caps, grizzlies, wolves, federal employees, all sentient beings. 

We are awake to record corporate profits and record heat waves. Everything feels accelerated. It's challenging to stay grounded when corruption gets attention but not attended to, when judicial nominees are changing the landscape for our foresee-able future and where it's easier not to look because holy hell, I can't bear to see all the despicable and blatant disregard. 

And then there's those faces, like Wolf's does for me, that stand out as they stand up for human rights, civil rights, social and environmental justice. The faces of love, caring, compassion. The faces who are running for office and being elected in primaries all over our country. The faces advocating for our earth and our children and our immigrants and all of us.

We are those faces.

Since it's easier to not look at the destruction of this GOP and administration, the destruction of greed, let's look at each other and remember why we vote. Why we march. Why we show up and committed to reconstructing the original design.

When I vote, I'm voting for you, for your children, for our Orcas and bears and wolves and teachers and federal employees and clean energy and opportunity and graciousness and respect and humanity. I'm voting for love. 

Next week, we will feel bamboozled again with the hearings of Brett Kavanaugh. It's important that we look at the faces of love and make phone calls to Senators (click here for phone numbers). And on November 6, the anniversary of my first date with my wife, nothing is more important than voting and encouraging others to vote.  

Remember love is stronger than fear. Love floats. Fear sinks. 

Together we can.

Wishing you a happy holiday weekend.

In love and gratitude -

:: Genessa

Love Activists.

#Day 82

My wife and I run an Experience and Space Design business. She is an artist, designer and empath. I am a communicator, connector and cultural tuner.

We both are love activists.

Together our mission is to heal environments by designing meaningful, memorable and connecting experiences that make people and place feel uplifted.

Our shared purpose is to elevate spirit.

One of the most challenging aspects of our business is helping clients understand the impact that design has on our wellness. We help them visualize and understand how design affects the lives of their employees, partners, customers, student, essentially whoever enters their space.

Some people get it immediately.

Others don’t notice or understand how lighting, furnishings, layout or colors effects mood, productivity and collaboration.  

Others simply look at the price tag and think they can do it themselves.

Truth is they can. It won’t be the same as what we would deliver and yet, we encourage people to express themselves fully.

There is liberation in creating connective beauty.

There is joy in experiencing connective beauty.

There is a sense of optimism and possibility when immersed in beautiful, thoughtful and intentional design.

Every place I go lately, last night at our friends Passover Seder, over the weekend at coffee with a friend, in a Lyft on our way to a party, everybody I encounter is agitated, worried, not fully embodied.

We are living in a time where beauty, not just aesthetic beauty, but the beauty of hope, optimism and spirit is under attack.

The mere idea of diminishing the arts to beef up the military apparatus robs us of our spiritual fuel.

Creativity, possibility and hope are intrinsically linked.  We see it everyday. When environments are transformed from thoughtlessness into intentionality, people are liberated.

My wife has taken to not watching, listening or reading the news. It’s simply too bleak. It always slanted bleak but now everything is overwhelming.

Yesterday a man walked into a school and shot and killed his wife, a 9-year student, injured another young student and then killed himself. This news has overshadowed by the absurdity and vulgarity of United Airlines.

Are we simply too exhausted by the lack of beauty in our lives that we can’t look at the bleak anymore? The truly bleak and not just the bizarrely bleak.

Last week I watched the Newtown documentary. The parents and the aid workers shared their never-ending heartbreak and activism since the Sandy Hook shooting. The parents of murdered children want us to know what happened that day and need us to be active in what didn’t happen in the aftermath.

Yet, I don’t know any parents who can stomach the idea of watching that documentary as it hits too close to home, it is simply too painful and scary to endure.

Somehow we have to create more beauty so that we can have the ability to face the ugly head on. We can’t turn away from the hard truths as when we stop having the ability to look at what’s happening, they win.

They want to wear us down. They want us to go back to normal, to shopping therapy and the daily actions of our normal lives.

They want us to bury our heads in compliancy or paralysis, as the lack of beauty is so overwhelming.

I know from transforming spaces, that our work changes people lives. Humans are so adaptable that we grow numb to the fluorescent lights and windowless rooms and uncomfortable furnishings. We grow numb to the chipped paint and the randomly placed photos, plants and nick knacks. We will eventually grow numb to the overwhelming abuse of power.

We cannot grow numb. Or too sorrowful to act. Or so angry that nobody can hear us.

We must grow more beautiful. More in love with our brothers and sisters. More in love with mother earth. More in love with our freedoms. More in love with clean water. More in love with equal rights. More in love with truth. More in love with science.  More in love with people loving and being who they are.

We must see the beauty, or create it where it’s missing, in all that we hold sacred and dear.

The beauty keeps us revitalized, engaged, connected, in joy, in hope, in optimism, in possibility, in peace, in community.

Our beauty is our salvation.

You are our beauty.

TODAY’S LATE TO THE GAME EASY ACTIVISM –

1.     Phone bank for Jon Ossoff. Let’s win this one. There will be great beauty in this win. 10 minutes of your day until next Tuesday. I know it’s intimidating and typically people don’t answer. If they do though, we stand a chance of winning this one.

2.     Remind your elected officials that we need to know the truth about the following – trump’s taxes, Jeff Sessions meetings with Russia, plan for Syria, Russia’s involvement in our elections.

3.     And, while it is late, a woman in Seattle is spearheading activism in solidarity with out Muslim community – Headscarf Tuesday. Here are the details. There are still many hours left in Tuesday if you wish to participate.

Lastly, I keep forgetting to mention this AND my website is live – easyactivism.us. It’s now quite simple for people to subscribe. Please share if so inspired.

In love, in light, in beauty and in gratitude –

:: genessa