Still Not Broken

(Photo of me in Junior High... photo by one of my teachers) The results of the election took me by surprise...    I haven’t known what to say about the election. So I haven't said much yet.  I have had some time to think and process and write… I stayed up late on Tuesday and saw the numbers coming in… it seemed like the projected ‘winners’ in each state were announced quickly… it was surprising. I kept my tv on but decided to try to sleep after midnight. I woke up at some point to Trump Announcing his victory… I assumed he was doing so preemptively…. And went back to sleep. I woke up when my alarm went off and couldn’t fathom what I was seeing… that overnight millions of Americans, some of whom I love…some with whom there had been a mutual understanding of respect…. Had voted for Trump.  I support democracy and support people voting for the person of their choice. That’s what I was fighting for… but seeing the choices to support Trump as our next president did someth...

  My explanation of the art of Kintsugi does not do it justice.  It is a Japanese method in which broken pottery is not just repaired, but repaired to a state that is better than its original... gold is used to fill and glue the cracks back together- adding beauty to the original piece... adding strength and value by emphasizing its imperfections...."Embracing the brokenness"...  I am enamored... Pieces are put back together... it is now unlike any other... and  it will not again break in the same way... Years ago I saw a beautiful video on tiktok about Kintsugi; it was the first time I had heard that word.  Sadly I cannot find the video that was so beautiful and poetic in its explanation, but the idea of it was imprinted on me.   As I struggle with the results of the 2024 presidential election... I felt something that was hard for me to articulate.  The closest word was "broken..." But it was not accurate... perhaps I was shattered... but I refus...