The Longest Night

Yesterday, I was more Facebook vulnerable than is usual for me. I shared, “I don’t love Christmastime.” (I’ll get to the rest of the post in a minute.) Admitting this feels vulnerable because Christmastime is lights, parties, gifts. It is joy, goodwill, peace. What’s not to love? And lots of people do love it...look forward to it all year even. I felt like Debbie Downer.

Except 71 people engaged with the post, some of them admitting their own, as my mom called it, “Grinchiness.”

For many people Christmastime triggers a bout of the blues if not depression. In one study 45% of North Americans surveyed “dreaded the festive season.” Suicides and attempted and suicides are higher at Christmas.

I won’t parse what generally gives, though I expect it has to do with reminiscence. For me, Christmas has been difficult since the death of my husband’s father, Jim. Then, family alcoholism/recovery from alcoholism. Google “alcoholism and “Christmas” sometime.

In part two of the Facebook post, I shared what I’d just found while on a moody walk in Gulley Park with my dog. (I probably shouldn’t listen to Sufjan Stevens on a cold, drizzly, Sunday afternoon at Christmastime.) As Baron and I walked past a big rock at the top of the hill looking down on the pavilion, from where Summer concerts still echo warmth and ease, I noticed a small, ice cube-looking object sitting in a puddle on the top of the rock. I almost walked by it. But I didn’t. And here’s what I found.

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I wept. And while there are lots of ways to read, “Look within. You are the world,” in that moment the world wept with me, and I wasn’t alone.

I am so grateful to those who recognize the importance of small acts of kindness, who offer a hand from out of and through the longest night. What you do matters. It is my warmest Christmas wish that some would see LFP that way, too.


 

Crime to Be Broke in America

On December 15, 1791, the first ten Amendments to the Constitution, later known as the Bill of Rights, were ratified. During 150th anniversary commemorations in 1941, Congress passed a joint resolution authorizing FDR, “to issue a proclamation designating December 15, 1941, as Bill of Rights Day." Today is that day. I wouldn't have known except I had cause to Google "Bill of Rights" earlier this week after reading a particular Facebook thread. How's that for timing? Here's the story. 

My daughter, Grier, has a friend who graduated from high school last year. Right before he moved into the dorm, he told her he hoped he didn't get a weird roommate. She said, "You are the weird roommate."

I've mentioned my BFF, Autumn, before. She was my weird roommate. I rolled 7s with that crap shoot because she's not only my kind of weird; she's also brilliant and passionate and caring. For years she was a public defender. Now, she is an attorney in private practice with her own Arkansas Times byline and the most awesome little girls ever. (I'm definitely biased when it comes to Autumn, but this is an objective truth.) Autumn has a platform, and people listen to her because, like I said, she's brilliant and passionate and caring.

This week she started a Facebook discussion about court fines and payment plans. Here are some takeaways.

  • Arkansas law (and presumably other state law) allows for installment fees ($10/mo/court in addition to fine/s), so people who cannot pay up front pay more for the same infraction.

  • People cannot be jailed for attempting to pay or if they are too poor to pay. The $10 fee accrues regardless.

  • In states across America, people who can't pay their court fines and fees can have their drivers' licenses suspended.

  • Some cannot afford things like a safe home/auto and health insurance because of large monthly payments toward a ballooning balance.

  • Costs, fines, and fees often fund our court system.

The 8th Amendment seems to apply: "Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted;" however, the Supreme "Court has elected to deal with the issue of fines levied upon indigents, resulting in imprisonment upon inability to pay, in terms of the equal protection clause, thus obviating any necessity to develop the meaning of 'excessive fines' in relation to ability to pay." 14th Amendment due process and equal protection promises make debtor's prisons unlawful, but are poor people really getting equal protection? If poor people end up paying more for the same charge, is that not excessive? Because millions of American adults and children struggle with debt stemming from economic sanctions issued by the criminal and juvenile courts, some are calling for a revival of the excessive fines clause. Read more here.

On this Bill of Rights Day, see if you can pass a Bill of Rights quiz. Read the Bill of Rights. Spend more time with Amendments 4-8, which address the rights of the accused. Really dig in and read Peter Edelman's Not A Crime to Be Poor: The Criminalization of Poverty in America. 

Hanukkah and Hamilton

The festival of Chanukah, or Hanukkah, begins today and commemorates miracles that occurred in the second century BCE after the Maccabees defeated the Seleucids. The Maccabees were "a small band of faithful Jews," the Seleucids "one of the mightiest armies on Earth." When the Maccabees reclaimed the Holy Temple in Jerusalem, they kept its menorah lit for eight days off a single day's oil supply. Modern day festival celebration occurs over eight nights and centers menorah lighting, accompanied by blessings, song, foods fried in oil (latkes), and Hanukkah gelt (gifts, traditionally money). 

The fact a single night's oil supply lasted eight nights is miraculous; however, it seems the greater miracle of Hanukkah occurred when the little Maccabees defeated the big Seleucids. During Hanukkah, the V’Al HaNissim gets added to daily prayer "to offer praise and thanksgiving to G‑d for 'delivering the strong into the hands of the weak, the many into the hands of the few ... the wicked into the hands of the righteous.'" The sound of candle flicker whispers, "Never be afraid to stand up for what's right." Beautiful.

I hear Hanukkah whispers echoing through LFP. Over a year and a half later, I experience an already-stocked pantry as miraculous, that first stock at project launch lasting more than 579 days. I recognize a force beyond ourselves at work through the project, that work done by and for the weak, the few. And while I wouldn't presume to claim righteousness, to me what we do feels right at a time when much feels wrong. 

Be the light.

Happy Hanukkah to those celebrating. 

Please enjoy The Maccabeats' "Hasmonean," a parody of Hamilton. It's an informative and fun way to learn more about those long ago events with a story for tonight. For Hamilton fans "My Shot's" call to "Rise up" even echoes the lesson, "Never be afraid to stand up for what's right."