My daughter, Anna Benvenue, has met Fidel Castro, and now the Pope.
But neither of these occurrences have given me anything near the thrill I had when she met Jane Goodall, while she was a kid in school (I don't remember the year).
I woke late last night with an urgent message to send you about what's happening in our country. I am horrified at what I'm seeing and I feel powerless to do anything about it.
This is not that message, because I couldn't write it.
I'm responding to fascism in several ways. I make monthly donations to a variety of organizations such as...
- Trans Rescue
- Palestinian Children's Relief Fund
- The Sogorea Te’ Land Trust
- The Ahimsa Collective
- Alameda County Immigration Legal Education Partnership
- Anti Police Terror Project
- and several others
I'm making anti-fascist music...
I'm making stickers and plastering them everywhere I go (and also giving them to others to do the same). A few samples...
I've attended a few protests (which feels pointless), attended a Direct Action workshop, and have joined a Bay Area Resistance pod (we have two main focuses: helping a local international high school with a high population of immigrants, and patrolling locations where Day Laborers gather to keep an eye out for ICE).
And yet... I feel powerless, helpless, entitled, privileged, and that I'm not doing nearly enough.
I woke late last night with an urgent message to send you about what's happening in our country. I am horrified at what I'm seeing and I feel powerless to do anything about it.
This is not that message, because I couldn't write it. You don't need to hear it from me. Unless you're dead, you're also horrified.
This is where Jane Goodall comes in.
I was just browsing my Mastodon timeline and saw a video that moved me to tears. I immediately tried to share it via text message but it was too large. I wanted to send it to everyone I know.
I learned about Jane's death on Mastodon, and for the past day or two I've seen a shit ton of inspiring quotes, pictures, and video clips about and from her. I responded to a few of them. She was a giant. Every time I see her face, I melt a little. It's been incredibly comforting and heartwarming to see her so much these last many hours. I imagine you've also seen or heard from Jane during this time.
But this new vid, shocked me. It was like a slap against the side of my head saying, "You aint seen nothin yet!"
Pretty awesome, right? She's more than a giant, she's a fucking saint.
But she's even more than that to me, now. Because what I see in her face in this video, what I hear in her words, gives me a taste of something I never thought I'd feel. I thought to myself, and this is when the tears came, "this must be what it feels like to have the unconditional loving advice of a mother."
