listing towards bethlehem

worn roads to stop taking in 2023

imagine the good work we could do as a society if we just re-mapped ourselves & stopped taking those roads most traveled. imagine getting off of those worn paths where we weary commuters carry the cargo of tired tropes & waning hopes on our backs. you can’t fill a rut in & call it a new path. you can’t put up a road block & hope it will convince people not to stay the course. you have to scrape away, level the field, create new surface. we have to unroad.

& so, may these overused paths fade away forever in 2023:

1. the died suddenly hashtag. anyone taking advantage of someone’s loss to peddle their qanon qrap about the covid vaccination is sick & exists in a movement i truly hope dies suddenly.
2. mass shootings. nobody is shocked anymore, & nothing is changing. i can’t be the only one who thinks asshat & assault look like the same word. assault rifles (& asshats) need to go bye bye.
3. male politicians saying crazy things about abortion & birth. the things these men say about the female reproductive system proves they don’t know squat about bodies. most of them don’t even know the basics about where babies come from or how. they probably think it’s called an em-bro.
4. human beings fighting for basic respect & recognition. don’t say gay bills & the banning of african american studies classes is the next step in abusive legislation by obtuse legislators. they are afraid of history, & future me is too.
5. voter suppression. this is america, for crying out loud, the democracy to end all democracies (knock on wood). we should be able to vote as easily as someone can get legally ordained (like 5 minutes online) to perform weddings. by the power vested in me by the united states of america, a ballot for all & for all a good night.
6. the billionaires. pay your fair share of taxes like the rest of us, or take your rockets & stick them up uranus.
7. virgin river. amiright?
8. twitter. disinformation is king, queen & definitely court jester. stopping it is like trying to box with a gnat; if we could just slightly concuss it then it would need to avoid screens for at least a little while.
9. trump for president signs. let’s not go back there. the red hats need to be retired — the rest of us deserve coherency & some peace.
10. scary division (not the math). we should be able to have differing opinions (this doesn’t include hate, like racism & transphobia) & not fear for our lives.
11. father knows best culture. even the woke men are still hitting snooze on destroying the patriarchy. (yep, not afraid to be woke.)
12. police getting away with murder. adjacently, if you say all lives matter when i say black lives matter, you’re a knee-jerk racist, emphasis on jerk.
13. florida. the only thing that this state says that’s of value is in its name: rid.