Social Work

As a case worker, I have intentionally absorbed a very stoic worldview, and rely heavily on a dark/absurd sense of humor to navigate this environment. I care for my clients and work as hard as I can to help them succeed, but the human condition and our society is unpredictable, so I make it a point to stand outside of any given situation, and to focus on celebrating the small successes.

Today a client of mine who has had a lot of anxiety over her situation got matched with housing, and when I showed her the e-mail about her match, she cried with joy. Her whole spirit changed. It was infectious and inspiring, and it cracked my demeanor and made my heart swell. This job can be very hard, but when it’s good it is very good. I’m going to allow myself to enjoy this moment of euphoria.

Fundamentalism and Happiness

It doesn’t matter how much one thing seems to naturally follow another, how clear-cut causes and effects are made, or how straightforward the rules for success are made to appear by the eyes given to you by your fundamentalist faith; you will never be happy, no matter how closely you adhere to the tenets of your church, or how often you pray, or how many times you read the Bible. The reason is the eyes. The eyes your church gave you control you by making you see God where God is not. With those eyes, you learn to not look for what is true, but rather what confirms the lies of your church about your holy book. A book of truth doesn’t create the truth. It conveys the truth. Therefore you can’t prove the truth of something by saying ‘because the Bible says’. If the Bible says something is true, then you should be able to arrive at the truth in dialogue without reference to the Bible. Like the math teacher in school said, ‘Show your work!’

You will never be happy deforming your body and soul in attempt to conform to the doctrines and values your eyes have been trained to seek out, because they aren’t of God, and they aren’t even human. They are constructed to maintain power for certain people and oppress others.

You have been given lying eyes, and you need to pluck them out and replace them with your own eyes.

What Happens When You Show Up Early

As is my tendency, I showed up way too early to pick my kids up from camp. My days in college working at a bank informed me: if you’re 15 minutes early, you’re 15 minutes late. I pulled into the only parking lot in this predominantly farm area. It turned out to be a biker bar. A guy and his girlfriend pulled up beside me  on a Harley Davidson as I smoked and read a book. He struck up a conversation with me. His name was Curly, and his girlfriend was called Half-Pint. He seemed very impressed by the fact that I was a social worker. We joked, exchanged stories, and he ended up inviting me into the biker bar, where he introduced me enthusiastically to his friends Violator, Roman, Gator, and Tito. We all talked and laughed and joked, and they seemed to appreciate the idea that a ‘city guy’ wasn’t afraid of them or uncomfortable in their environment. We ended up singing ‘Keep on Rocking in the Free World’ with the band on stage. Everyone had liquor on their breath. Now I’m outside of the boys’ camp—that has a very rave like feel—waiting for their end of camp dance to end so we can get home and get enough sleep to get up early for the pride parade tomorrow. What an unexpected night.

Don’t Wait For History to Set You Straight!

I look forward to hearing this child tell their story as an adult. I look forward to it, and also feel anxiety about it. They are going to tell us something important one day, but what will the message be? To me, this photo is the same as the naked Vietnamese girl running away from her village with her skin burned by napalm. It’s also the famous photo of the little black girl being escorted to her newly de-segregated school by the national guard. Let me ask you this: where do you fall on this photo now? To me, your answer to this question now tells me so much more than your answer 50 years from now ever will.

Credit Where It Is Due

PS, I’m not giving Trump props for signing an executive order ending his own fascist policy that separated families and put kids in cages because he realized it was ‘bad optics’. And to the person who responds, ‘See! They don’t even give him credit for doing the right thing!’, I respond, ‘Fuck you too. You don’t get credit for doing the bare minimum to pass as a human being’. No props for creating an unnecessary disaster and then choosing to end it.

Trump’s Patriotism

You know that whenever Donald Trump speaks reverently about ‘our flag’ he doesn’t even comprehend the basic conservative 101 idea of what ‘our flag’ is supposed to represent in an ideological way. To Trump, loving ‘our flag’ is essentially the same as rooting for your local sports team. Trump doesn’t know the constitution or the history of this country (even the version embraced by the most conservative folks among us). He just knows ‘our team’, and maybe doesn’t even know that; he just knows rooting for the team that embraces ‘our flag’ will make him more popular amongst a certain portion of his electoral demographic. In a way, he’s like the sudden fan of a team that is going to the super bowl, and he likes the excitement of the event and wants to cash in on the cultural momentum. He’s the guy that only started liking Nirvana after Target started selling Nirvana onesies in their stores, and even now the only song he recognizes is ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’.