Tiny Desk

Many of you know that back in the late 90's I performed in a duo with my daughter under her name, Alexis d, mostly around the Hudson & Pioneer Valleys in upstate NY & Massachusetts.  It was one of the most musically satisfying times of my life.

Life goes on and things change but Alexis and I still perform occasionally and still write every now and then.  This year, we have submitted a song to the NPR Tiny Desk Contest. 

Check it out...

Here are the lyrics...

V.

Don't know where I'm going

Not sure where I've been

It's the biggest hot mess

This thing I'm in

I call up experience

My blessings and my sins

But I still don't know,

The next step or when.

Chorus

We can talk about the future,

We can wish about the past

But all I want

Is the gift I know'll last

V2

I've traveled around the world

I've sure seen a lot

I've been granted riches

So others envy what i've got.

But all I know,

Is when I look at you,

That's got to be the best thing

I could ever choose.

Chorus

Bridge

Let's spend a little time

Just us two

That's the present,

I'll give to you.

V3

I might be lost

I might get found,

I may be up

I've certainly been down,

Truth be told,

Only one way to be,

Only one place,

That's where you're with me.

Chorus

Bridge

Tag

Trump, Streep, and what happened

Most of us have heard at least exerpts from Meryl Streep's Golden Globe speech where she reamed the president elect for mocking a disabled reporter. 

Here's the referenced video from Trump...

So, here's the argument we're hearing from the right wing... "Trump makes these same movements when he is making fun of people who are not disable, like Ted Cruz.  Therefore, he is not mocking the disabled reporter."  They often go on to acknowledge that Trump is rude, but state emphatically he is not guilty of mocking a disability.

I find that one of the most ridiculous defenses I have ever heard.  Let me give a parallel example.  If I called someone a "retard" who did not have a mental deficiency and then turned around and called someone who was intellectually challenged a "retard" would that mean I wasn't making fun of their disability?  No.  Indeed it would be worse because in the first instance, where I used that slur against someone without a disability, I was holding up the disabled person's condition as a slur.  The intellectually challenged person becomes the living embodiment of the slur.  

That is precisely what Trump was doing when he used the same movements in mocking Cruz.  He was saying "Cruz is comparable to one of those people who are worthy of disdain and mockery."  That he used the same movements when mocking someone who actually has a disability does not make it less offensive.  Indeed, it is more offensive.

There are no excuses. That behavior clearly sets an example for others and normalizes behaviors that are despicable.