A Parade of Snacks

When I turn 79

In case you missed it. Today is the 250th Anniversary of the United States Army, and also Donald Trump’s 79th Birthday. Festivities are planned at the United States Capitol, which include a military parade. You can find out all about it here. Beth has written a poem for us this weekend, reflecting on the occasion.

Photo by Marcus Wallis on Unsplash

When I turn 79
Let there be a parade
Of snacks
Let me celebrate my mistakes

My regrets, my weaknesses,
Let me celebrate, at last,
My ability to face it all and smile,
To know that every lesson

Led me here,
At home
In this one little life
That at its conclusion

(let that be a while, still, please!)
Will leave the place better than I found it.
Let me sense that I still have time
And therefore I still have hope

And questions
And patience
And wonder.
Let me still have work to do

And the capacity to do it
Let me know what is not mine to do
Let me know who is mine to lead
And who is mine to follow.

When I turn 79
Let me open my arms to the world
Let me say, come, have some cake,
Or don’t

I’m not the boss of anything or anyone.
I’m just doing my best over here
And wishing for your best, too.
Life is hard enough without command performances

So I’ve decided to ditch all the commands
And all the performances.
Let me share all the lessons
I’ve learned about being at peace

With my neighbors
With my soul
With the universe
With the cake.

When I turn 79
Let me have hands to hold
Faces to memorize
Poems to recite.

Let me commemorate the sweetness of life
Let there be a contagion of grace
Let it spread wildly and swirl around until
At last, it carries me to the next chapter.

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Pantsuit Politics Flashback

We’re two episodes into our Flashback series, looking back on the lessons we’ve learned and the ways we and America have changed over the past 10 years that Sarah and Beth have been making Pantsuit Politics. We are finding that looking back is helping us move forward with clearer eyes and purpose, and we hope that you find these episodes useful in the midst of everything else that is going on.

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Reimagining Citizenship

It’s not too late to join us for Reimagining Citizenship. This has been a turbulent week in America and the World, and this series is both a grounding practice and a soft landing place for how we want to show up in the world.

This week, we’re considering our rights and responsibilities as citizens, and we know many of you are attending No Kings Day protests today, and, as Sarah often says on knocking on doors when she ran for office, a march has a lot of the things that are good for our well being: we’re doing something, in community, outside. We wish you all the best protest available to you.

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Something Nice to Take You Into the Weekend

We are so grateful that we have each other, and believe that the treats will get us through, so I’ve tried to come up with a buffet of treats for you. Please take what feels good and leave the rest¹.

• If you’re protesting this weekend, let us know how it goes in our chat:

• If you’re in our film club, be sure to follow along with Norma’s guidance about what it means to appreciate film as art in our book (and film) club Facebook group. And don’t forget that our meeting for the Spice Cabinet to discuss 12 Angry Men and Women Talking is coming up on Tuesday, June 24.

• Sarah and Beth discussed this opinion essay: There’s a Link Between Therapy Culture and Childlessness from the New York Times in our Spicy Bonus episode this week, and their conversation was characteristically wide ranging, but your comments, insight, vulnerability and additions are proving, once again, that this is the best community on the internet. Thank you all for trusting us with hard things.

• As part of our Reimagining Citizenship series, Beth and

  Bethaney Wilkinson
  had a live chat yesterday going deeper into Bethaney’s guest meditation on Friday about Generous Curiosity.

• Lastly, if you’re joining us (live or virtually) for our 10th Birthday Party in Cincinnati on July 19th, we’ve added some special anniversary merchandise to our store and brought back all our limited-edition merchandise in honor of our birthday.

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What We’re Reading and Listening To This Week

• Sarah: Extremely Lifelike Dolls Cause a Frenzy in Brazil (The New York Time)

• Beth: Validation: How the Skill Set that Revolutionized Psychology will Transform Your Relationships, Increase Your Influence, and Change Your Life by Caroline Fleck

• Alise: I'm watching The Studio on Apple TV

  And this article:

  Your job used to impress people. That era just ended.

• Maggie:

  • For my nightmares: They Asked an A.I. Chatbot Questions. The Answers Sent Them Spiraling. (The New York Times)

  • For my soapbox: The Cowardice of Live-Action Remakes (The Atlantic)

  • Lessons I have to learn over and over again:

    Everything takes longer than you think

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1. I see and respect the A+ students in our audience and assure you that none of this is homework.