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I am blogging, along with the entire Daisybrain staff, at Medium.

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Want to read about why the filibuster must be destroyed? Read this post.

Want to find out who is to blame for anti-Asian violence in America? Read all about it here.

Have a burning desire to get rich off the pandemic? Just click this link.

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Yes, all your Daisybrain needs can be met at Daisybrain.Medium.com. And some of your leftover Daisybrain needs can be satiated at my other Medium blog, OCD-Free.Medium.com.

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See you there!*

*Just an expression

Tearing Families Apart: An American Tradition

Tearing babies from the arms of their mothers is nothing new in America. 

We are all still sickened by the state-sanctioned child abuse on our Southern border, where children, including babies, have been ripped from their parents’ arms and put into cages.

But this practice of breaking up families of color has its roots in the very foundation of the nation. It was common practice to tear apart African American families during slavery and sell off children and other family members.

Obsessive-Compulsive People Everywhere are like, “Yeah — not so crazy now, am I???

If you just woke up from a one month coma and decided to go out shopping in April, 2020, the only logical conclusion would be that the entire world had become wildly OCD. Signs everywhere telling you to stay six feet apart. People wearing facemarks. Cartoon memes imploring you to wash your hand for 20 seconds at a time at every possible opportunity. All surfaces constantly being re-sanitized. It’s a germaphobe’s dream come true.

Justice

Nearly every aspect of the criminal justice system of the United States is designed to perpetually punish, demoralize and dehumanize, abolish autonomy and to crush successful reintegration into society.

Flow and OCD

Living in the flow of life means being OK with where you are right now. It doesn’t mean you’re not going anywhere, it is just a release from the anxiety that swells up when you believe you are  not where of when you are supposed to be. And it feels really good.

Your Next Band, Named (and other random things)

I misplaced my last list of band name ideas, so just pretend that you read it, it was very clever & you loved it. In the meantime, here are some more:

The Spazmatics

Hellevator

Crunch

Whipscream

How to Easily Avoid Perpetuating Micro-Aggressions Toward Customers

What Micro-Aggressions are:

Micro-Aggressions are those common slights that people can perceive throughout the day and that appear to be the result of racial or other bias. For example, a Black, Indigenous or Person of Color may notice that they are being singled out for extra scrutiny while shopping, or that a salesperson is making assumptions about them based on their race, ethnicity or religion. Each slight may seem small, but they add up and cause great harm to an individual.

No one is immune! Even if you self-identify as the same race, ethnicity or any other descriptor of the customer, you still might be perpetuating micro-aggressions. This is true regardless of what’s in your heart and conscious mind.

Luckily, there are some simple habits that we can all develop to help avoid unintentionally inflicting pain on others.

Annoyed and Enlightened

That’s a little cartoon I call, “People, shut the fuck up for a minute!” I mean, it’s hard to think of any other animal that just constantly jabbers: talk, talk, talk. Give it a rest! The other animals on the planet have told me that they are annoyed, so quiet the fuck down. The trees, too… they can’t take it anymore. The greatest thing about the original Planet of the Apes movies was that humans had lost the ability to speak. Thank fucking God.

I walked around in a labyrinth and came up with this poem:

I create my life’s story

I live my life’s story

I create stories with my life.

I am both in the center of my labyrinth

And on the path of my labyrinth

I don’t have to wait around for anything to happen

I am happening

Subcultures are Icky

I have trouble immersing myself in subcultures. It always seems like the participants are avoiding richer life experiences. There are 12-step subcultures, where people go to several 12-step programs a week plus individual and group therapy plus social events with folks they meet at these meetings. It becomes their whole world. I assume that some people need to be engulfed in it in order to survive their addiction, but I just can’t let the recovery part of it take over my entire life experience.

I’ve recently noticed an online subculture where straight CIS women identify as queer and diss straight CIS folks. While everyone has a right to define themselves, it’s clear to me that these people are presenting what they think of as a hip & cool online facade that doesn’t reflect their offline lives at all.