The Magpies we have on our property has left the nest. Hedgehog is expecting any day now. She has nest close to our front door. It’s the height of Summer & next week we leave for vacay. I am soo excited to get out of town for a little bit.

Due to COVID 19 we’re staying within the border this year. Something I thought would suck but it doesn’t to be in Norway this year.

I’ve also done two mixes on Spotify that I am pretty proud of. I listened to the same tracks during the lockdown & realized I needed new music to listen to. I listened to Sarah Maclahnan without crying. Something I have not done in 25 years.

I also found some music from the mid 1990’s that I really liked. A dash of INXS & some old No Doubt & Peter Gabriel from the 1980’s. I got a compliment on it which is Awesome.

It’s interesting with music & how many lyrics you can remember. Till next time. Be kind Always.

It dismays me to write that things are not changing in Seattle, that the racial bias & police brutality is alive well there. I am glad that protesters have forced the police out of their precinct on Capital Hill, it should’ve happened long ago. The city has become a battle ground between peaceful protesters & violent police, something I have first hand knowledge of as it happened to me in the mid 2000.

I think it’s overdue that police departments lose their funding & are forced to restructure, it may the only way forward. If that’s even possible? The SPD has been notoriously biased & racist & they don’t have the training to deal with the population that suffers from mental illness. There’s a laundry list of things wrong with them. However, that kind of biased doesn’t seem to fall far from the tree, as here in Norway they have also been accused of being it towards minority groups & asylum seekers. Something that has come to the forefront with the protests here.

I think bad policing is a global problem, not just an American problem. You shouldn’t feel uncomfortable walking down the street in your own neighborhood or waiting for the bus. I saw man at the bus stop the other morning who took off his headphones when the teenagers arrived. The look on his face was one of trepidation, although there was plenty of us at the bus stop who would’ve stepped in if something happened. This is sad, that’s not how our world is supposed to be.

I think that’s sad & society needs to make a change, but I don’t have the answers. I only have questions. How can we act this way in the 21st Century, when we all know better. I think the hardest part is putting into practice, everyday. Like during the lockdown when I helped an elderly woman off the bus, when know one else would. The same goes for our judgements of others & stereotypes. There’s a man in Bergen who has the most amazing dreads & I have told him that. Pay compliments & be kinder. Maybe that’s the answer, a gentle way forward. Till next time remember we all have feelings & we all have rights, even when corrupt authority tries to take it away from us.

I have been at a loss as to what to write the last few weeks, but the first word that came to mind was Guilt. I’ve experienced harassment & bullying because of where I lived as a child in the US. It’s nowhere near what is happening to the minority population all over the world. Hence, I feel white Guilt, guilt for not being discriminated against in housing or in the work place.

In college over 20 years ago I took a class that focused on Afro American fiction & it was eye opener. My professor was white but knew what he was talking about. I took the class where I was the minority as a white person & I learned so much. We talked about all types of discrimination & racism both in what we read but also in the class.

The University where I was a student had the highest minority population in the mid 1990’s to 2000. Part of the reason I picked the school. I had grown up in a very white town & felt that I wanted to experience more than I had grown up in. I dated a Chinese guy, a black football player & many others; my goal was to learn about how other cultures functioned.

Today, I still feel guilty because we left before it came to what it did in the US. However, I feel that we made the Right choice 4 years ago. We saw that that things would go bad & they did. Do I have any solutions to the current turbulent global crisis we are facing, No; but I think if we can be open & honest with ourselves about our fears & our joy with Everyone we meet then we can get somewhere.

I will try to be more open & judge less, something I think we all should do. The only thing that should matter is that we are all Human & we all deserve Equal Rights. Period.