SERENITY WITHIN THE SHITSHOW

What a year this last week was, huh?

Hi, friends! Does your brain also feel like a bowl of Campbell’s Chunky Sirloin Burger Soup right about now?

Then you probably watched the Republican National Convention, or at least saw the clips of Felonious Trump cosplaying as Massive Headwould Harry with that dumb fucking MAGA Maxi Pad attached to the side of his dumb molting orange head.

The MAGA Cult Freaks just accepted it all. In fact, they started wearing MAGA Maxi Pads too, I guess to further accessorize all of the body padding they’re fine with because THEY’RE IN A FUCKING CULT.

Why can’t people think for themselves anymore? That’s a real photo from the RNC. Just like this is a real Trump supporter.

If those images are making you roll your eyes and shake your head, be gentle with yourself, because they’re not going to get any smarter.

But WE are. Oh boy, are we getting smarter by the day down here on Earth One, where we keep finding out a lot of things about the effort to push Joe Biden out of his job so they can also get rid of The Scary Black Woman One Heartbeat From the Oval.

We’re not even talking about the fake assassination attempt, but you can read what I wrote about it.

It’s exhausting, but I’m here for you. I wrote A LOT OF THINGS this week over at HillReporter.com shining the truth on a lot of manufacturing MSM bullshittery.

Aside from the embarrassment that was the RNC—yes, JD “Hillbilly Effigy” Vance, we know how terrified you are to debate VP Harris, you pathetic cravenly ambitious fake MAGAt. Future VP Pete Buttigieg (I said what I said, let’s circle back to this 2028) shut down Trump’s favorite new beard on Bill Maher’s show.

He’s just so, so good at this. And I’m so, so grateful for our deep bench of adults in the Democratic Party and Biden’s Cabinet.

BTW, Bill Maher both sucks AND blows. Because even after that Masterclass on shutting down shitfaced scaredypants JD Vance, Maher still tried to get Secretary Pete to violate the Hatch Act by calling for Joe Biden to step aside.

That brings me to the screamingly obvious push from a lot of very rich white tech Bros to push out Joe Biden because they don’t like his tax plan. They think removing Joe also means getting to push Kamala out of the way. And that’s not happening on our watch, Whitey McWhitersons.

You’ll notice it’s ONLY white men who make millions calling for a change in Democratic leadership. That’s because it’s not coming from Democrats, but from Steve “Not Actually A Never Trumper” Schmidt, who failed with his Dean Phillips fuckery and is now trying to scare people with a pretend climate group and a fake “Pass the Torch” media blitz funded by MOTHERFUCKING PETER THIEL.

Steve Schmidthead is owned by Hitler stan and slave owner Harlan “Jim” Crow, y’all. Seriously, you need to listen to your friend Tara here.

They’re not even hiding it anymore. Please pay attention.

White the fuck is going on?

I told an entire July 4th party full of my closest friends that they were freaking out over the debate for no reason. I told them the RNC would be a huge embarrassment for Republicans and that there was going to be plenty of shit going down between now and November.

But hey, what do I know? Go ahead and unfriend me on Facebook if you think I would ever lead you astray.

Thankfully, I can not only write about it for HillReporter, but everything I publish is syndicated via MSN.com, so even if my own friends don’t want to believe me, maybe the public at large will.

Real Democrats DO NOT WANT Joe Biden to step aside. Rich assholes who won’t be at all impacted by Project2025 do. I’m not living in that Hellscape just so they can all die with the most toys. And I hope you feel the same way.

We lost one of the most powerful voices in the House yesterday. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee died after undergoing treatment for pancreatic cancer. Our Shero was on her deathbed and still sent out a final message of solidarity for Democrats to heed.

We’re going to re-elect Biden and Harris in a landslide. Black women especially are leading the charge, and we win when we vote like Black women. Which is another thing I said at that July 4th party, but hey, why listen to the cute little lady who’s very right when she’s right?

*CLEANSING YOGA BREATH BREAK TO TRANSITION*

Now that I have all of those truths to bolster my resolve to keep going, we can talk about the incredibly beautiful thing that happened this week.

Portland photographer Eric Patton has a project he’s been working on for a while, a series about Portland writers that will eventually be a show. His photos are just amazing. I hate having my picture taken, but I also set an intention for this Summer where I was going to make myself do new things to challenge myself. To get outside more, to do more, to say yes to more things that I would otherwise say no to.

So I reached out to Eric via Facebook and we immediately clicked. Thanks to a last-minute cancellation, we met on Wednesday and drove out to Sauvie Island, an oasis in the middle of Portland. I didn’t have time to get my nails done, or go shopping for some perfect outfit, or build it all up in my brain to psych myself out. Ten years ago, I might’ve tried too hard to look “sexy” and I would’ve been in my head the whole time worrying about my skin or what my body looked like. The results would’ve been very different. I would’ve looked uptight thanks to being too aware of the camera’s gaze.

Now, at 55 and post-menopausal, I couldn’t give less of a fuck about anyone thinking I’m sexy.

Which is why I think Eric took the sexiest photos of me I’ve ever seen.

I was fully comfortable with him the entire time, even though I’d just met him. I didn’t feel objectified and I wasn’t concerned about a man being overly critical about my appearance (hello, my father and my Wasband). We just went for it.

So far I’ve only seen a handful of the 830 (!!!) digital shots Eric took with his fancy camera and 1950s lens. It’s always been hard for me to be objective about pictures of myself, but as we sat and looked through some of them, I was delighted again and again by what Eric had captured.

I found the light, both literally and figuratively. When the shitshow gets to be too much, I’m going to think about the serenity I found by the Columbia River on Wednesday.

When I finally get my book deal for The Sound of Settling, that’s going to be my author photo. I love it so, so much.

This feeling from the wind, the sun, the sand between my toes.

This looks like an outtake from Don Henley’s “Boys of Summer” video. I love it.

“The wind loves your hair,” Eric said about this one.

Find your light. Find your serenity.

We’re going to win in November, because we are.