10 Comments

Jody, good gawd. This is a brilliant piece of writing doing some REALLY heavy, understated lifting.

I mean: "Just about anything can come to stand for something more than itself."

Also, I have a maybe impossible question: How do we encourage self-curiosity about those out-of-proportion reactions? How do we encourage people to be more curious about their internal-emotional scope? (Asking for a friend / country.)

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Thanks, Sarah. <3 That is such a good question. I find myself connecting it to an article I read recently about emotional intelligence. I'm sure some great teachers are trying to cultivate it every day... I wish every school would offer 10 minutes of guided meditation to help kids become more aware of their feelings and thoughts...to encourage them to take some slow breaths and notice, "Oh, I'm me, separate from all that." My intuition is that that would help more than rational analysis.

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Hi Jody! Thank you for your column.

I feel like a blue dot in a very red hurricane.

I voted for Kamala Harris and will NEVER understand Donald's voters!

I hope you are doing Ok.

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Hi Caroline, it's good to hear from you. I was thinking of you the other day! America has such challenging days ahead...I hope we'll find ways to take care of each other and bring out the good in each other.

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Both my kids voted in their first presidential election! My hope is that they are among MANY, MANY new young people who can now vote. I'm happy the blue house survived! May our nation be as strong tomorrow.

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Wow! So glad that they got to vote this time around. I'm hoping for the best.

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Hi Jody! I also voted and made sure my kids did as well. (We all voted early together as a family.) Now I just have to stay calm and make it through tomorrow and the aftermath, whatever it may be. Thank you for the well-timed little blue house story! Your writing is always interesting and beautiful in ways I don't expect.🩵

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Hey, Susan! (I typed a comment earlier but somehow lost it.) It's so great that you vote together as a family. I'll be walking to the neighborhood elementary school early in the morning. Thanks for reading...I'm glad the post was meaningful. <3

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Jody, I'm so glad Sandy is not here to see the shit show that will be the next 4 years. Trying to hold it together, but it is even harder than last time. Hugs to you ❤️

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Me too, Susan. These are unimaginable times. I'm going to channel my inner Sandy this weekend and start paring down, getting rid of stuff I don't need. We will find ways to get through this. Hugs back to you. ❤️

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