Let’s Talk: Racism and Mental Health
How are you, friend?
Ok, now how are you really?
The past 2-3 months have been trying for many reasons. A global pandemic, financial insecurity, job loss or change of work routine, and most recently we are fighting literally and mentally to end police brutality and breakdown systems of oppressions and white privilege. That’s a lot to unpack. We’re gonna need more than a bubble bath to battle this one.
Racism in the United States exists on every level of our society. From where funding in education goes and doesn’t go, to who is more likely to be screened, pulled over, questioned, incarcerated, or killed by authorities, and also in the accessibility and affordability of health care.
Right now, more than ever, we have a job to do. We (white folx) gotta do the work. We benefit from the systems in place and they were built by us, so we need to be the ones to tear it down and move us forward with equity. A Hmoob friend of mine once shared in an antiracism training something that will always stick with me. He said white people are not allies to people of color. People of color are allies to white people. The systems were built by white people and so white people need to reform them. It cannot be left upon the minority to reform the majority.
Don’t mistake me, we need to be listening to POC right now and amplify their voices so we can learn about their experiences and what to address, but we can’t place the burden of fixing *waves at a broken country* on them alone. It is not enough to like their posts. We have to do the work too. Every day that it takes. There is no finish line. We have to keep learning and unlearning and learning.
Scene from a local protest in Wisconsin.
Now, I’ve been involved in social justice work off and on (and I recognize my privilege to step away) for fifteen years. I’ve led an entire week’s worth of diversity events and a peace march to combat an anti-muslim group, I’ve worked to promote nonprofit partnerships that made the store I worked for a safe space for LGBTQ folks to shop and hired the most diverse team as my staff, I’ve been a community health educator that worked in schools and juvenile detention centers tackling the ways we talk to men about consent, I’ve used my power of press to share stories about people of color in my community, and I helped to found our local Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ) chapter. I have done the work, but I have also ignored it when it got to be too much. The number one reason I’ve stepped away each time is burnout.
This work is hard for everyone. And white folx, we have to deal with our own guilt when it comes to tackling it. So what I don’t want to happen to my white friends who are now “fired up, ready to go” (to quote my favorite president), is to see them march and use their social media to share so much that they disappear a month later.
And what I don’t want to happen to my friends of color who are dealing with their own trauma and being infiltrated and triggered by many of their white friends’ adding some of theirs on top of it, is for them to be disappointed yet again by white folx fizzling out.
So I think it needs to be said again. There is no finish line. We do the work together, or it doesn’t get done.
I also know that we need to take care of our mental health for that to happen.
I am not a licensed therapist, I have no magic solutions. I will be honest with you that I myself admitted to needing counseling just before the virus hit and everything closed. (Oh, the irony of making the difficult decision to seek help and having your options shut down.)
So, I stepped up my use of the following and found some new resources. These won’t cure your anxiety or depression. I am still battling mine. My hope is that if you are struggling right now, for any reason, they offer you some respite.
Resources to Help with Mental Health Management
Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn has been leading a live meditation series every weekday at 1pm CST for two m
onths now and continues to offer this global connection. Jon is the founder of mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) and his livestreams with Wisdom2.0 have shared parables, poetry, and pause as he guides thousands of people around the world. Past meditations can be viewed on youtube. One of the best parts of his livestream is at the very end when all attendees are unmuted and you can hear thank you’s and goodbyes in a multitude of languages. In a country where politics and media has divided us so greatly, this has made me feel connected in a very isolated time. Every country is facing this pandemic, and every country faces racism.
The Calm app. With resources offering mood check-ins, daily meditations, masterclass series, and sleep stories, I’ve used this app for years. You can use a free version to start, which I did for months before subscribing, and still access many meditations and a few sleep stories. I typically use this for sleep stories or meditations to help me turn off my anxiety brain, but I’ve also used the music selections more while working from home. Some famous sleep storytellers include: Eva Green, Danai Gurira, Lucy Liu, Stephen Fry, LeVar Burton, Laura Dern, and even Matthew McConaughey.
Additionally in the realm of sound, I’ve discovered Sara Auster, the author of the new book Sound Bath. She has been offering free sound bath sessions via her instagram live every tuesday and thursday, which are then available for 24 hours to listen to, they are about a half hour long. Sound baths are a meditative practice that focuses on breathing and listening to the sounds around you, granting you a moment of pause. Sara uses a mixture of singing bowls, tuning forks, chimes and more and leads listeners in and out of the meditation with breathing exercises. She has also been raising funds for NY area hospitals and food banks throughout the pandemic.
Phenomenal joy maker, actress, vegan chef, and self-proclaimed “World’s Favorite Mom” (it’s true), Tabitha Brown is someone I started following a couple months ago. Her instagram account is full of messages of love and self care, hilarious vegan cooking demos, picture book reading (which is a form of self care in itself, yes, for adults too), and she does a series of chats on marriage with her husband, Chance, too. Tabitha is walking color therapy in her dress; I LOVE IT. She’s a champion, a light, and a healer in these times.
Kojo Nnamdi, the host of The Kojo Nnamdi Show, is a Guyanan American journalist and radio interviewer. This is more educational than therapeutic, but his conversations are so dynamic I find I learn a lot and appreciate the questions he asks. If you’re looking for a place to start, I recommend where I did, which is his Kojo for Kids program, in an interview with YA author Jason Reynolds, answering kids’ questions about the protests. This is a resource because it will give you hope. We need hope more than ever.
Lastly, for sleep, I am secretly in love with ASMR videos and have used them to help me relax and/or fall asleep for about a year. ASMR stands for autonomous sensory meridian response, which occurs in the form of a slight tingling sensation along the crown of the head and can go down one’s back. It’s created by various triggers which ASMRtists provide through whispered talking as well as tapping, brushing, and stirring sounds, mostly, but not always, filmed in a role play style. My three go to ASMRtists are Chynaunique, Latte, and my absolute fave, TingTing. Check out a sample of her ASMR videos below.
These are the resources I have found particularly helpful during this time period. I am also journaling and reading more, but did not highlight them as they are known, available resources to most. If you have additional resources you’re using, please share in the comments.
I also hope, if you’re able, you’ll pay it forward. Black mental health matters. I have often forgone professional help because I’ve been uninsured or under-insured. Access to therapists in general can be a struggle, but in particular finding ones who are well-trained in antiracism and can best support POC makes a difference too. If you’re looking for ways to support black people and help dismantle systemic issues like accessibility to health care, I hope you’ll join me in donating to one or more of the following:
The Gathered Fight is an initiative launched by Bree Jenkins, a black woman and licensed marriage and family therapist, who is asking white allies to support black women’s mental health. Show your support by donating to White Women for Black Women Therapy, offering 4-6 sessions to a black woman who needs it and covering outstanding bills for black women patients so they can continue sessions.
BEAM, or Black Emotional and Mental Health Collective, provides advocacy, teachers, lawyers, therapists, artists, religious leaders and more to black communities. Their nonprofit supports black trans rights, education about toxic masculinity, and numerous mental health initiatives that help provide therapy, wellness, and advocacy coaching.
Black Mental Health Alliance is a nonprofit that offers in school mental health services and after school programs, workshops and forums for the community, and partnerships with clinicians to provide easier referrals and access for black community members.
You can learn more and find additional organizations doing this important work by visiting NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness and their list of organizations that support black health and wellness.
Be well, friends. Your mental health matters.
A Year of Reading: Crazy Brave by Joy Harjo
“We need to give each other the space to grow, to be ourselves, to exercise our diversity. We need to give each other space so that we may both give and receive such beautiful things as ideas, openness, dignity, joy, healing, and inclusion.”
— Max de Pree
I’ve been selecting a book to read each month from A Year of Reading, a nifty little guide that provides five options every month based on a theme. The books included are diverse in author and in genre, so I’m challenging myself to read more out of the box. Now, I’m a fairly eclectic reader anyway, but this challenge helps me to read more books by authors of color, and in different formats than I would normally pick up. January’s The Principles of Uncertainty for example, is mostly artwork, such as paintings and photography, with written musings along the way.
February featured comedian, Aziz Ansari, and his take on Modern Romance.
March was a particular favorite read of mine on the topic of justice with Bryan Stevenson’s Just Mercy.
Playing catch up, this month’s review features the theme from April: Creative Spirit.
Crazy Brave by Joy Harjo
I am at my core, a lover of memoir. I am in awe of fiction writers as I personally find it difficult to write fiction. I often think the truth is stranger than fiction and many of the craziest scenes or details in fiction books come from truth. For example, in Sara Gruen’s Water for Elephants, there’s a bit about a dead hippo the ringmaster keeps parading about during the circus, pretending the hippo is swimming in its tank. The hippo was in formaldehyde, and Gruen learned about the trick from a past employee of a real, traveling circus.
What Harjo has done with her memoir, Crazy Brave, is phenomenal, and as A Year of Reading suggests, it should be read aloud.
A well recognized poet, Harjo’s memoir encompasses story, lyric, and poem.
Overview from Goodreads:
In this transcendent memoir, grounded in tribal myth and ancestry, music and poetry, Joy Harjo, one of our leading Native American voices, details her journey to becoming a poet. Born in Oklahoma, the end place of the Trail of Tears, Harjo grew up learning to dodge an abusive stepfather by finding shelter in her imagination, a deep spiritual life, and connection with the natural world. She attended an Indian arts boarding school, where she nourished an appreciation for painting, music, and poetry; gave birth while still a teenager; and struggled on her own as a single mother, eventually finding her poetic voice. Narrating the complexities of betrayal and love, Crazy Brave is a memoir about family and the breaking apart necessary in finding a voice. Harjo’s tale of a hardscrabble youth, young adulthood, and transformation into an award-winning poet and musician is haunting, unique, and visionary.
***
I’m discovering more and more lyric novels lately. Books that tell a story, but do so partially, or completely, in poetry format. Rising authors like Jason Reynolds are doing so, using spoken word to communicate his tale. And in my own neck of the woods, artist and author Mai Chao shared the story of her Hmoob parents fleeing the Secret War, living in a refugee camp, and immigrating to America, in her beautiful lyric novel, Gathering Fireflies.
Harjo’s work is partially written in verse, and part traditional storytelling. It is beautifully oriented around directions (north, south, east, west), and place (her home of Oklahoma).
This book was a decadent treat for the wordsmith in me. Harjo’s writing comes from a place of loss, misdirection, and unknowing followed by the grace of time, perspective, and truth. In her own words:
“A story matrix connects all of us.
There are rules, processes, and circles of responsibility in this world. And the story begins exactly where it is supposed to begin. We cannot skip any part.”
― Joy Harjo, Crazy Brave
I recommend Crazy Brave for any artists out there. Harjo’s story, and her work, is utmost about resilience, and it inspired me. And for bookworms, if you haven’t yet checked out a lyric novel or memoir, consider this a jewel of an introduction to the craft.
It really should be read aloud.
Have you ever checked out a lyric piece of work?
What did you think of the genre?
What other books for artists, or on creativity, do you recommend?
A Year of Reading: Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson
I’m behind on blogging about my reading challenge.
Ok, let’s be honest, I’m behind on blogging in general. Transitions, yo. I’m taking it easy.
Something I’ve enjoyed so far this year has been picking a title each month from the book A Year of Reading, a nifty little guide that provides five options every month based on a theme. The books included are diverse in author and in genre, so I’m challenging myself to read more out of the box. Now, I’m a fairly eclectic reader anyway, but this challenge helps me to read more books by authors of color, and in different formats than I would normally pick up. January’s The Principles of Uncertainty for example, is mostly artwork, such as paintings and photography, with written musings along the way.
Playing catch up, this month’s review features the theme from March: Justice.
Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson
Here’s the blurb from Goodreads:
Bryan Stevenson was a young lawyer when he founded the Equal Justice Initiative, a legal practice dedicated to defending those most desperate and in need: the poor, the wrongly condemned, and women and children trapped in the farthest reaches of our criminal justice system. One of his first cases was that of Walter McMillian, a young man who was sentenced to die for a notorious murder he insisted he didn’t commit. The case drew Bryan into a tangle of conspiracy, political machination, and legal brinksmanship—and transformed his understanding of mercy and justice forever.
Just Mercy is at once an unforgettable account of an idealistic, gifted young lawyer’s coming of age, a moving window into the lives of those he has defended, and an inspiring argument for compassion in the pursuit of true justice.
***
I listened to this while traveling to the Writers Institute.
I’m a big nonfiction reading fan. I love memoirs and biographies, so I was gripped right away by Stevenson’s writing. Threaded throughout the book is Stevenson’s involvement with the Walter McMillian case, meetings they had, court appearances and processes, interviews with family and witnesses, and police involvement. Intertwined amongst this case are stories of many cases Stevenson worked on that portray how he got his start into the battle of death row cases, and how his work would shape his path from then on. The writing kept my attention because you learn more about Stevenson and his work in chunks of casework, but there’s also this ongoing saga of what’s happening with Walter.
Stevenson began his own nonprofit practice that focuses on helping minorities and underage victims of the criminal justice system, specifically those placed on death row. His book is an intimate look at capital punishment law and how many people, guilty or not, end up on death row. He uncovers all kinds of issues within the system, such as tampering with evidence, tampering with jury selection, and larger social issues of racism and economic status.
I was first made aware of racism in the justice system after attending a local talk led by my city’s League of Women Voters chapter. In the talk, we looked at racial disparities in our court system in my own city of La Crosse, Wisconsin, as well as nationally and internationally. Once you see those numbers, it’s kind of hard to ‘unsee’ them. You’ve got to know there’s a problem.
I witnessed it myself during my months working as a public health educator and teaching at the juvenile detention center. For the percentage of minority populations in my city, there’s a disproportionate amount of teens of color (mainly black and biracial teens) being sent to juvie.
As a country, we are largely punishing people of color in more violent manners than we are their white counterparts. Since that eye opening talk several years ago, I’ve been active in starting up a local chapter of SURJ (Showing Up for Racial Justice), where white folks put in the time and work and energy of educating themselves on the issues, partnering and learning from people of color led organizations, and working to create change.
It’s upsetting to me that so many people are still (color) blind to the issue, or simply unwilling to discuss it. Today, for example, a (white) friend of mine is in court contesting a fine she and her daughter each received for writing messages of inclusivity and peace in SIDEWALK CHALK outside a public space. The city fined her almost $1000 between the original fine and restitution saying they spent seven hours washing off SIDEWALK CHALK that took her less than an hour to write. ???
You can read about her case here, but it’s clear from the way the city alderman addressed the issue, that the problem wasn’t really with the chalk (though that is what they fined her for, however there are chalk messages all around the city now that have not been washed away). The problem was with her messages.
Messages that were written were, “Black Lives Matter,” “You Are Standing On Ho-Chunk Land,” “I Stand For Love,” “Peace Be Unto You: As-Salaam-Alaikum,” “You Are Welcome Here,” “The Time For Racial Justice is Now” and “There is Enough For Everyone.”
I stand with my friend and her messages of inclusivity and diversity as strength. I highly encourage everyone to read more about systemic racism, as we all play a role in it when we don’t actively unlearn and fight against it.
Just Mercy is a phenomenal book that tackles racism in the judicial system. And the most powerful part of the whole read are Stevenson’s thoughts on mercy. Given the many examples of hate we can see every day on the news, or right in our own hometowns, it’s more important than ever to question our own biases. I hope you’ll grab a copy of Stevenson’s work as I found it incredibly thought provoking, emotional, and timely.
A few of my favorite quotes:
“Each of us is more than the worst thing we’ve ever done.”
“I’ve come to believe that the true measure of our commitment to justice, the character of our society, our commitment to the rule of law, fairness, and equality cannot be measured by how we treat the rich, the powerful, the privileged, and the respected among us. The true measure of our character is how we treat the poor, the disfavored, the accused, the incarcerated, and the condemned.”
“We are all implicated when we allow other people to be mistreated. An absence of compassion can corrupt the decency of a community, a state, a nation. Fear and anger can make us vindictive and abusive, unjust and unfair, until we all suffer from the absence of mercy and we condemn ourselves as much as we victimize others. The closer we get to mass incarceration and extreme levels of punishment, the more I believe it’s necessary to recognize that we all need mercy, we all need justice, and-perhaps-we all need some measure of unmerited grace.”
Have you read Just Mercy yet? Or perhaps another title about racial justice?
What are your thoughts?
What I’m Reading for #BlackHistoryMonth
Here’s the deal, folks. It’s hard to be excited about being an American right now. Our country is in turmoil. Step into the world of Facebook for a minute and you’ll feel it. Our people are torn. We’re hungry for change, but it’s clear that these changes aren’t in the best interest of us all. Instead of breaking barriers, we’re building walls, literally and figuratively.
It’s heartbreaking.
But you know what does make me feel good about being an American? (Besides our freedom of speech, right to protest, freedom of press, local and national chapters of SURJ, the ACLU, and feminists everywhere…)
Reading.
I’m serious. It is a gift to live in a country where access to books from places like libraries, schools, independent book stores, chain bookstores with coffeeshops inside them, second hand stores, little free libraries, and websites with 2 day shipping are all willing to put BOOKS in your HANDS!
Have I mentioned I love reading? Because I DO.
It is a gift to have a book in your hand. Books make us think. Books make us learn. Books teach us empathy. Books allow us to walk in the shoes of a character who is different than us. Stories – whether told in person, on paper, with numbers, on TV, over the radio, by a child, or by an adult – help us make sense of our world. It is how we learn to care about one another. How we relate to the people around us.
Here is something I learned and can’t remember where. I probably read it somewhere. 😉
It takes several generations of a family to unlearn a prejudice.
Think about that. That’s multiple LIFETIMES to actively unlearn bias.
So if we don’t have a lot of interaction with folks who are different than us, we maintain the same biased views about them – their race, their culture, their religion, their way of dress, their sexual orientation, their gender identity, etc.
If we want to, we can change that. And one easy way is to pick up a book.
READ about characters who are different than you. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve read a book and had it CHANGE MY MIND about a topic.
The Cider House Rules changed my mind about abortion.
Bamboo Among the Oaks made me cry learning about Hmoob history.
The Mayflower taught me about my own ancestors’ struggles and prejudices coming to a new world while trying to pave THEIR OWN WAY.
Perhaps I’m rambling. My point is, books have power. Books teach us. And February is Black History Month, so it’s a great time to read books about Black people and by Black people. And you know, learn a thing or two.
Here’s What I’ve Been Reading:
Currently, I’m working on this audiobook I picked up from my local library. It’s called The Firebrand and the First Lady by Patricia Bell-Scott. It’s a new in-depth look at the relationship between writer, activist, and priest, Pauli Murray, and First Lady, Eleanor Roosevelt. The author, Bell-Scott, diligently researched archives of Murray’s and Roosevelt’s, including letters they sent back and forth for years. She studies how this unique friendship shaped many of the political projects the First Lady advocated for.
You might recall the name Pauli Murray on this blog before when I featured her in 9 Women Who Made History You Probably Didn’t Know About.
>>>
I recently finished reading A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest J. Gaines as part of a Big City Read initiative my town hosted (and still is) after a City Hall presentation regarding La Crosse, WI’s history as a “Sundown Town.”
A Lesson Before Dying is the fictional story of a 1940s court case where a Black man is convicted of a crime he did not commit and sentenced to death by an all white jury. While on death row, he is visited by a Black school teacher who has been asked by the man’s family to educate him so he can “die like a man.”
There are still several community book discussions on this title for my local friends, as well as several guest speakers talking about racism, the justice system, and inequality. View all the events at La Crosse Reads.
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A book I read in 2 days time last year was I’m Judging You by Luvvie Ajayi. A “Do Better Manual” for the masses, phenomenal blogger, Awesomely Luvvie, shared stories on everything from feminism, racism, social media etiquette, dating, and more. It’s your all in one, be a better person guide, as told to you by a sassy, pop culture loving, side-eye queen.
This book is a compilation of essays, making it easy for anyone to pick it up and read a few pages at a time. You don’t have to read it chronologically if you don’t want to. Every chapter has a healthy dose of love and petty judgment.
If you want a teaser, I shared an excerpt from a hilarious chapter called When Baehood Goes Bad in a challenge Luvvie gave to bloggers to share their favorite parts.
What’s next on my to read list? Part of my 2017 Reading Challenge is one book per month from A Year of Reading and March’s pick (the theme is justice) is Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson. “Bryan Stevenson was a young lawyer when he founded the Equal Justice Initiative, a legal practice dedicated to defending those most desperate and in need: the poor, the wrongly condemned, and women and children trapped in the farthest reaches of our criminal justice system.”
I’m a fan of nonfiction books, so my recommendations tend to lean that way. But there are plenty of other great book lists for Black History Month. Just google suggestions. Or see what’s shelved on Goodreads.
I hope you pick up one of these titles. Or find another interesting book about Black America that catches your eye. Maybe you already have a few you love. Tell me what they are in the comments! I’m always looking for new books to read.
Happy reading everyone!
Reading Challenges: A Year of Reading, and more!
How many of you have a stack of books you’re planning to read? Someday, right? And how many of you add to that list every year? I’m with you! I needed to know what happened in the Lunar Chronicles too!
That’s why I love the reading challenge created by Estella’s Revenge called #ReadMyOwnDamnBooks. I joined up last year and read 38 out of 131 books. I think I started with double that amount on the shelves (and floor), but one of the books I read was The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up and I sold/gave away 125 books.
I’ve created my current bookshelf list for 2017, should you wish to peruse my shelves.
(And it’s safe to say I’ll be doing this reading challenge for years to come, because let’s face it, I will keep buying books. But now, I do read more that I currently own versus buying QUITE so many.)
***
I’m also using the book A Year of Reading to diversify what I read this year. This guidebook separates each month with a theme and gives six different book ideas for that theme. I love its diversity in authors and in genre.
It’s inclusive of authors of color, something I was looking to include more of this year in my reading, and the genre options include fiction and nonfiction, but also more marginalized categories like graphic novels, poetry, and short story anthologies.
The themes range from serious to fun, with a mix of genre styles within them. January was all about happiness, so very timely for that new year, new you vibe.
This month, I completed The Principles of Uncertainty by Maira Kalman.
Kalman’s book is different than most books I’ve read because it is also an art book. The pages are her colorful paintings and photography of people, places, and things that catch her eye – whether passing by on the street or musing over a historical figure.
This is a book you could read in a day. But I chose not to. I wanted to savor it.
On a surface level, it’s an easy book to read for reading’s sake. But I wanted to muse along with her. Sometimes I learned about a historical figure, or a family member of hers, or even the intricacy of a tassel on a chair. So what you really get out of Kalman’s book is that happiness is found in the little things. The day to day moments where we stop. And just look. Just listen.
What reading challenges are you doing this year, formal or otherwise?
What books have you read recently that made you think?
Are You Manly Enough to Wear Pom-Poms on Your Shoes?
By Deanne M. Schultz, @DMSwriter
*****
Now that Jess is gone for a couple weeks, it’s a good time to talk about pom-poms. Specifically the kind worn on the ends of shoes. If your grandma knitted her own slippers, she may have stuck pom-poms on the toes just for a sassy affectation, happy about the way they bobbled around as she did her housework.
For those of you who don’t know, Joe and Jess are on their honeymoon in Greece, and if they hit the right part of Athens, they’ll see men wearing pom-poms on their shoes. These guys goose-step around, too, which only adds to their allure. Thankfully there’s no ouzo involved.
When we were in Athens a few years ago, we spotted these guys at Syntagma Square. Our tour guide told us that they were Evzones, members of an elite force that guarded the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. And man, were they serious about their duty. They marched back and forth with such ramrod precision that I felt slouchy and undignified in their presence. When they met at the top of the stairs and executed an abrupt turn and marched down, a lady in our group grabbed her camera and started snapping away.
Woe be unto her, because the Evzones kept goose-stepping rigidly forward, plowing right past Camera Lady, who almost bit the dust in her zeal to get a good shot. I imagined her, limp and bloodied on the sidewalk, a fuzzy pom-pom sticking out of her nose.
Really, what was the deal with those things? They seemed frivolous and unnecessary, almost humorous when compared with the semi-automatics the Evzones carried. Now those babies I took seriously. They elevated the goose-stepping to a don’t-mess-with-me meanness that made me gulp.
And when I found out that the Evzones’ shoes weigh seven pounds and have nails under their soles?
Boy, Camera Lady was just lucky to be alive, is what I thought.
Our tour guide told us that in the 1800s, when the Evzones prepared for combat, they would hide knives under the pom-poms. If they were captured in battle – fwip! – out came the knife, ready for action.
Cool, I thought, mentally elevating the status of the lowly pom-pom to Fuzzy Defender of the Faith. Someone else in our group, a Mr. Historical Know-It-All, challenged our tour guide, saying he heard the pom-poms were used to keep water from leaking in the seams of the shoes. Sorry, buddy, I thought. Water leaking in?? What a yawner. Knives were much more interesting, and gave the soldiers a sinister presence. Water leaking in made them sound like practical gardeners.
So, Jess and Joe, if you’re reading this, head on over to Syntagma Square and check out the Evzones. Hoist an ouzo in their honor, and if you’re secure in your manhood, stick some pom-poms on your shoes when you get home.
Just don’t goose-step around the front yard.
*****
Deanne M. Schultz is currently working on The Green Hornet Suit and Other Musings, a book that takes a wry look at life as she sees it. Her hope is that her writing inspires and helps others, moving them to connect with those around them. She blogs at dmswriter – witty weekly writing to inform and entertain.
Jess Witkins' Happiness Project 