The other day, as I was passing through a toll booth on the way to DC, it hit me with such overwhelming clarity… as I was greeted by a patient, kind, and smiling man with an
accent from southeast Asia… that what the US would be without the awesomeness of each and every immigrant is beyond horrible to imagine. This past weekend, I talked with beautiful souls from Kenya, Eritrea, Morocco, and many other unnamed countries while at a wedding, and I really enjoyed taking the time to be present with each person beyond the passing formality of business. I felt warmth, kindness, and joyfulness in our exchanges, and know that my own heart’s warmth, kindness, and joyfulness was so happily reflected back to those people, and I know for sure that my days were better because of those moments of rich, meaningful connection.

At 18, I left the very much white-bred, conservative, dominantly-Christian area of my birth and upbringing, and found myself in Baltimore in music school. I was SO green ~ I’d never knowingly encountered much diversity, and in the first weeks of my new life in Baltimore, I had friends who were from ALL over the world. People who spoke many languages other than English, who practiced many faiths or none at all, who were exploring and identifying their genders and sexual orientations in ways that I’d never even imagined, and whose ethnicities were beyond my capacity to name. Somehow, the closed-ness of the land and people of my birth did not infect me, and I was open, eager, and excited to be among so many interesting, creative, amazing people. And my life has only become MORE diverse, colorful, and expansive from there. What a gift.


And the America that is scratching and screaming and flailing about right now ~ the ones who perceive that they have so much to lose by allowing others to simply exist as they feel is best for them ~ if THAT is the essence of America that would remain without all of the amazing beings of all colors, all nationalities, all languages, all sexual orientations and gender identities, all belief ways ~ that whitewashed America is NOT worth saving. It is a painful and sick dream, with no basis in reality or the true values upon which this nation was founded. I stand for the dismantling of that America today and for the rest of my life.
Dismantling America