Greetings from "war-ravaged" Portland!
Where all is somewhat calm and hella bright! At least for the next half hour or so when the sun begins to set.
Last night, I went out for Karaoke. Karaoke nights are more sporadic now and I do not stay for the entire time. I always say two songs and I'm out (last night, it was three). I know we should not give up our joy in these times, but I'm finding joy in other things in my moments of solitude. Last night I was at the bar for Karaoke night. As is often the case, I was the first to sing.
As the first song, I chose Edelweiss from The Sound of Music. I'm not certain that my buddies or fellow barflies knew why I would choose such a sweet song (not my description of it). But if you remember the context in which Christopher Plummer as Baron von Trapp and his family sing that song, then you know. If not, prepare for a spoiler, or look away. This video isn't really the spoiler.
To really spoil this - apologies! - the von Trapp family is at the Salzburg concert. Before they arrive, the family attempts to leave the country because the Baron is ordered to report to the German Naval Base where he is to accept a commission in the Navy of Nazi Germany (Kriegsmarine). The Baron despises Nazi ideology, so the family attempt an escape but are stopped by Nazi militia (Brownshirts). von Trapp uses the Salzburg Concert as an "excuse," and the regional leader of the party offers to escort them all there, which leads to the clip above. The song becomes much more than a soppy tribute to the homeland. There is grief, and mourning in that pause, when Maria takes over.
I choked up a bit myself, but managed to regain my composure almost immediately. I sang this for all of us who are dealing with fascism right now who have either been forced to leave their homeland as they'd seen it destroyed, or who want to exit but cannot, or even those of us fighting against it in the ways we can.
And this was before I knew that the Puppet Dictator was sending military troops to Portland.
. . . .
I woke up this morning to various "Notes" on Substack that the Dictatorship was sending military troops to Portland to "protect ICE facilities" from "domestic terrorists."
As my homepage was flooded with the same tweet from the Dictator, and various longer posts, which usually happens as soon as he makes some ridiculous announcement, I spent a chunk of my day online and keeping an ear out for anything out of the ordinary outside my window. Note: quite a bit is out of the ordinary, outside my window, when people scream and howl for reasons many of us don't bother to understand. A friend of mine wrote about Portland as the Dictator's (he uses his name. I won't) "Reichstage" I mistook it for Reichstag, as in the parliament fire that cemented Hitler's dictatorship, but I suppose they're related, given that some of us understand that his deep dislike for our city might have led him to pick us, as the moment he decides there must be Martial Law. He has not forgotten Portland 2020, and even if he has, he has people like Kristi Noem to remind him of it.
This is why just as a number of us are trying to be flip about it, I know this is serious. I believe our senators, our city leaders know what this moment means. Which is why they've been emphasizing "do not take the bait," do not provoke, do not respond to provocation. This doesn't mean we should stop speaking up. They already have a broad definition of those who speak up and protest against the administration. They don't need much provocation. We just might be the tipping point, my friends.
We are not war-ravaged. They want to ravage America. Important to remember.
In the immortal words of Sergeant Esterhaus from Hill Street Blues, at the end of every morning roll call: Let's be careful out there.
. . . . .
Housekeeping: I will return to posting EVERYTHING at Substack. I know. I know they keep changing the interface, Andreesen is going to be involved, which makes Substack so suspect (try saying those two words and an adverb together numerous times). But I feel more ghosted at Ghost, if that makes sense. I didn't join either one of these platforms to be an echo chamber but I suppose that's what happens when you don't advertise yourself beyond your posts being out there. Or allow for comments (although I do, when my posts here go to Substack)
Anyway, this is my last post at Ghost. I still have a bit of time left before my subscription ends, but much as I like this platform, c'est fini, ça.
It's been dark for a while after sunset. Tomorrow is another day, insha'allah!
As we say in Urdu (or I do, it could be wrong): Jadd-o-jèh'd jārī hai.
In English: The struggle continues.
P.S. Disregard some of what I said. Not all of it, of course. But I totally did not factor in the fact that the City wants to revoke the land use permit for ICE because of their violations, and that may be why Noem went to the Dictator, and he was only too happy to oblige. Better yet, here's this.
Dissent in Bloom🌼