Have ‘ya ever seen the workers in the California fields?
Fields that stretch in places as far as the eye can see,
that go on for a hundred miles, two hundred. Vast.
It feeds a nation.
The workers there bent over
to the task.
It must be hard on the back,
after a while.
They’re Mexican though….
It must be damn hot in the summer sun,
Not much shade.
They’re Mexican though….
So,
Have ‘ya ever seen?
Editor: Also called Emancipation Day, Freedom Day or Jubilee Day, Juneteenth is the commemoration of June 19, 1865, the day enslaved African Americans in Galveston, TX, learned that they were free.
Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, but it only applied to people in Confederate states, not those enslaved in Union-held territories (they were not freed until the proclamation of the 13th Amendment). In Texas, a Confederate state where there was little Union Army presence, slavery continued years after the Emancipation Proclamation — and even after the 13th Amendment was passed by Congress on January 31, 1865 —most enslaved people in Texas were not aware of the news. Finally, in June of 1865, Major General Gordon Granger and a contingent of Union troops landed in Galveston, Texas to tell the enslaved peoples that the Civil War had ended and that they were now free. Something worth celebrating, I’d say.
By Cate Rees-Hessel
Thanks to President Joe Biden, Juneteenth is now a national holiday, as it long should have been. Here are some meaningful ways to celebrate this historic holiday with loved ones:
Darlene, John, Vajra, and I arrived at the NO Kings protest at 9:55 for the 10 o’clock start. There was already a huge crowd of loud and noisy citizens. John was pushing my wheelchair, while Darlene, Vajra, and I, carried our signs, musical instruments and water.
The Josephine County Courthouse, just happens to be directly across 6th Street from the Republican Party headquarters. During the three previous protests, the Trumpers could only marshal 3 or 4 pro Trumpers to yell insults in our direction. Today, however, the Trump supporters, numbered as many as a dozen, carrying American flags and Trump Won Signs.
There wasn’t an inch of sidewalk space to be had on either side of the street due to NO Kings protesters crowding even the area in front of the Republican Headquarters. As we thought through our options Darlene noticed a shady spot with an unoccupied bench a block down 6th Street on the Republican side of the street, not exactly in the middle of the action but the location made us a visible commodity, quite visible in fact.
I grabbed my trusty 8647 sign, my goat horn, and then rolled out onto the sidewalk where my sign could be easily seen by the slow moving and horn honking traffic. I could hear John and Vajra drumming while Darlene rang her cow bell. We were basically a block down the street from the biggest part of the crowd when a dour looking Trumper made his way through the densest part of the crowd, heading in my direction. When he got close he said with a sneer, “Your sign is disgusting.”
I replied, “What’s disgusting are cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, and Veteran’s benefits.”
After several minutes of harassing a disabled veteran in a wheelchair he bent down close to my face and repeated, “your sign is still disgusting,” before retreating south toward the Wunder Bar.
The next Trumpers came in a gang of three, walking through the same crowd of protesters, without saying a word, making a bee line straight for me, apparently my 8647 sign really ticked them off. The first man, suggested quite irritably, that I “should go back to (my) pathetic life.” Before I could answer, I was interrupted by the second Trumper in the group, who was seemingly a decent person. He asked me why I was protesting and I told him that the cuts to all the safety net programs were going to force me to sleep in the street or on his couch. “Ok, well, I can understand that might be a problem,” he said, before he walked on. The third person in the group was a nicely dressed woman who suggested she liked “ice in (her) soda,” to Darlene who was waving a sign that said, “I.C.E. is best C-R-U-S-H-E-D. After their interaction with us, the three simply got in a car and drove away.
While I was eagerly blowing my goat horn, another Trumper ran up in front of me and whipped out a megaphone from behind his back, and began chanting, “GO TRUMP, GO TRUMP, GO TRUMP” to which I yelled, “and you go with him.” From behind me I heard a chorus of voices, led by Darlene, chanting, “8647, 8647, 8647.” The volume of the chant grew and the increasing furor sent the megaphone master retreating back to the safety of the six remaining Trumpers securing the Republican headquarters.
An old white guy, in a battered pickup slowed down to yell “fuck you,” as he passed.
“Is that the only word you know?” I demanded at the top of my lungs.
He again repeated the “fuck you” insult.
And I repeated, “is that the only word you know?”
The third time he said, “fuck you,” I again repeated my question, “is that the only word you know?”
The frustrated old fart, gunned his truck engine, and headed down the street, after tossing, “asshole,” in my direction; at last proving, even Trumpers know more than two words.
Another Trump friendly driver, waved his two middle fingers in my direction before causing his rig to belch a huge cloud of black diesel smoke, leading protestors close by to cough, sputter, and spit. I ignored him.
The middle finger salutes, the cursing, the belching trucks, the negativity, the insults, all came from the MAGA crowd. Not one person on the No Kings protestors side was rude or insulting to anyone, certainly not to the first wheelchair bound person they could find.
By Karen Tate
Observed Experience
Who hasn’t confided to their most trusted friends their amazement at how different some people are in terms of what seems to be clearly black and white issues: Truth vs Misinformation, Democracy vs. Authoritarianism, Science vs Lack of Knowledge, Domination vs Partnership, Equality vs Inequality, Patriarchy vs Egalitarianism, Cruelty vs Compassion, Critical Thinking and NOT. Well, it turns out there is some science behind our general differences, but we have to realize there are exceptions to the ideas compiled in this writing about liberal and conservative brain construction and thinking styles. What’s being presented is group differences, not individual differences so this isn’t absolute, but I think you’ll find this concurs with much of what you’ve probably observed and experienced.
Meaningful and Non-Threatening
And I’ll jump to one important final conclusion before we dive in: Each side is going to have to recognize that not everyone thinks like them, processes information like them or values the same types of things because of their brain structure and thinking style. This is important as we move forward and attempt to find common ground because we want to be able to share information so that it comes across in a meaningful and non-threatening way. We have to be able to listen and hear each other.
Does Size Matter?
So, it turns out there are physical differences in the brains of liberals and conservatives. Studies have shown liberals have more gray matter in their anterior cingulated cortex (ACC) and they have a smaller amygdala. Conservatives have a larger amygdala. Why is this important? It means the two groups process facts and ideas differently. For instance, during a study of risk-taking behavior, it was found that Democrats showed significantly greater activity in the left insula, while Republicans showed significantly greater activity in the right amygdala. Similarly, it was found that greater liberalism was associated with increased gray matter volume in the anterior cingulate cortex, whereas greater conservatism was associated with increased volume of the right amygdala.
Processing Facts
Translated into non-brain structure talk: The psychological studies document differences in how liberals and conservatives process facts, interpret situations, feel fear and disgust, and even how well they sleep. Conservatives are less likely than liberals to be able to distinguish between facts and falsehoods, while also apportioning a similar amount of legitimacy to scientific and non-scientific viewpoints. Liberals show greater cognitive flexibility than conservatives, think more analytically, and use more effortful and deliberate reasoning, meaning they can more easily adapt to a changing situation and are more tolerant of ambiguity. Conservatives are more risk-averse than liberals and are more likely to respond to, and remember, negative stimuli.
Well, it looked like my chimp Charley was leading the charge, as he’d just slipped his leash and was racing on ahead toward where all the people were already gathering on the Courthouse lawn. It was the Protest, and me and my people were following up behind, me pushing Dave in his wheelchair and Darlene and Vajra carrying the signs and cowbells.
I was trying to keep an eye on Charley, my chimp. He’s a pretty good chimp, but he’s a chimp, in a world of humans. But like I said, he’s a cool chimp. I see him over there. He’s gone right over to that shady patch of lawn where two weeks before me ‘n some other fellas had had a drum circle going. That had been at Protest 2. We were now at Protest 3, and it must be said that at Protest 2 we had sat right there where Charley was now and we banged on our bongos and everything had been fine.
Charley hadn’t been at Protest 2, we’d left him at the ranch, he’d thought he was in love with the neighbor chimp. Now he knew better but that’s another story. Now he was here with us and amazingly enough having gone on ahead with my bongo and his bag full of ping pong balls and was now sitting in the very spot where we’d sat for our bongo party.
And then I saw it all. Charley hadn’t been there ten seconds when up walks this uniformed big white dude acting like Security, saying no one was allowed there buddy, you gotta go in front of the wall like everybody else was suddenly being told they had to do. Well, Charley wasn’t having it and went into full on bad chimp mode. He’s a pretty good actor Charley is and when he puts on this one I gotta say, he’s pretty damn convincing. Anyway you shoulda seen that Security guy step back one time and back his big butt slowly, away from Charley. If he’d had a gun he probably woulda’ drawn it.
Anyway, he hooks up with some other ‘Security’ guys down at the far end ‘n they all come up in a bunch but by that time Charley’s gone right up the nearest tree and he’s throwing ping pong balls down on these guys. I decide at this point I better step in here and declare myself. Well, they told me I could probably be charged. I said, “yeah, I know,” that much I know. They were really kinda’ alright though, we all had a laugh, and Charley came down and acted like he was sorry. Very convincing too, was Charley.
And later, nine days exactly, it was reported in our local newspaper that what the ‘Security’ had been doing telling people (and chimps) that they couldn’t sit on the Courthouse grass had been illegal. I showed it to Charley and he just laughed; as if he had known it all along. Pretty convincing ‘n, I ain’t lying, maybe sometimes even a little scary, in that way. I mean, what is really going on, Charley?
Editor: Flag Day, celebrated on June 14th, commemorates the adoption of the American flag by the Continental Congress in 1777. While the day was first observed nationally in 1877 and celebrated by various communities earlier, it wasn’t until 1949 that President Harry Truman signed a congressional resolution officially designating June 14th as Flag Day.
By Cate Rees-Hessel
June 14th, Flag Day, is not a day for fake kings, it is a day to honor our flag, which stands for freedom and those who fought for it. Trump is 35 count convicted felon. He incited January 6th. He is a traitor to everything our flag stands for. Here are ways to celebrate Flag Day, un-MAGA style:
“God bless America, my home sweet home.”
By Cate Rees-Hessel
More and more, day by day, “The Donald” is trying to destroy our nation with his selfish, chaotic and self-serving behavior. Below are more of his narcissistic actions:
“OUR COUNTRY THROUGH WARPED RADICAL LEFT MINDS, WHO ALLOWED 21,000,000 MILLION PEOPLE TO ILLEGALLY ENTER OUR COUNTRY, MANY OF THEM BEING CRIMINALS AND THE MENTALLY INSANE THROUGH AN OPEN BORDER THAT ONLY AN INCOMPETENT PRESIDENT WOULD APPROVE, AND THROUGH JUDGES WHO ARE ON A MISSION TO KEEP MURDERERS, DRUG DEALERS, RAPISTS GANG MEMBERS, AND RELEASED PRISONERS FROM ALL OVER THE WORLD, IN OUR COUNTRY SO THEY CAN ROB MURDER, AND RAPE AGAIN-ALL PROTECTED BY THESE USA HATING JUDGES WHO SUFFER FROM AN IDEOLOGY THAT IS SICK, AND VERY DANGEROUS FOR OUR COUNTRY HOPEFULLY THE UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT, AND OTHER GOOD AND COMPASSIONATE JUDGES THROUGHOUT THE LAND. WILL SAVE US FROM THE DECISIONS OF THE MONSTERS WHO WANT OUR COUNTRY TO GO TO HELL, BUT FEAR NOT, WE HAVE MADE GREAT PROGRESS OVER THE LAST 4 MONTHS AND AMERICA WILL SOON BE SAFE AND GREAT AGAIN and HAPPY AGAIN MEMORIAL DAY, AND GOD BLESS AMERICA”
We must resist and impeach Trump…
By Cate Rees-Hessel
"If puppies and kittens don't make you smile, you might consider therapy." D. S. Mitchell 2015.
Self-isolating has forced us to turn even more to telecommunication and social media.
The Major Cause Of Sex Trafficking Is Poverty
Many great charities, here are a couple that I support: Sierra Club, World Wildlife Fund, ACLU, and Planned Parenthood.
