Tuesdays w/TJae: Snow Day

​​​​

​Share this, and previous newsletters.​

↓

Hey there, Reader, Happy Tuesday!

In Houston, we're having a snow day . . .

No matter where you are in the world, I hope you are safe and warm today. I live in a city that is not readily prepared for temperatures below freezing. So, when the predication calls for precipitation that has a chance to stick, the entire city shuts down.

Our roads and tires aren't prepared for snow. We don't have many opportunities to practice driving in the snow, so drivers aren't prepared either. Our buildings, plumbing and power grids - ALSO - aren't built for the snow. Things often go sideways, so we try our best to do nothing and let it pass. We all - everyone except most essential workers - rest and return when it's safe.

Maybe it's irony. Maybe it's kismet, that the first such day of 2025 coincided with MLK Day - a day of reflection and also with Inauguration Day - a day that we're not necessarily prepared for. I tried not to watch the Inauguration. I really wanted to give my energy to other things yesterday. However, I sheltered in place for the snow day with a friend who was determined to hear every word of yesterday's speech as to stay informed. Much of what I heard arose in me a sense of dread, nausea and frustration. Part of that I can attribute to my own biases. Part of it I can attach to a more clear idea of the impact these words will have on vulnerable populations.

For balance - although balance I did not realize I would need - I listened to a reading of Dr. King's Letter from Birmingham Jail which was staged by The Jung Center and facilitated by The Center for the Healing of Racism.​

In Dr. King's letter, he reminds us:

“How can you advocate breaking some laws and obeying others?” The answer lies in the fact that there are two types of laws: just and unjust. I would be the Brat to advocate obeying just laws. One has not only a legal but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws. I would agree with St. Augustine that “an unjust law is no law at all.”

We are faced with a moment, perhaps more than recent history, to discern which laws are just and which are unjust - and given such - which we will quietly obey regardless of whom is harmed by our decisions. Systems are built through active or passive consent. When we think about systemic problems, we have to remember that they are results of decisions made by people, and people will be responsible for upholding, or dismantling them. We the people . . .

​

When you have an hour, please take time to listen to this episode of Insight with Justin Cobb: Our Civic Duty in Times of Hardship.

​

Join us on Patreon We have a really great line-up of upcoming programming for 2025 and monthly contributors to Patreon are automatically invited at low, or no, additional cost. We're incrementally and organically building community which is unencumbered by billionaires. We hope you'll join us. Join Here!

We're wrapping up Wicked-Ish Wednesdays next week and our next offering will be Fables in February in collaboration with Alisa Magallon. Stay tuned for more information.

In case you're new to Tuesdays w/ TJae, you should know that you won't receive emails from me every Tuesday, or on any particular Tuesday - but always (well, normally) on a Tuesday. As a child, whenever we'd visit my Grandpa James, he'd end the visit by saying "See you Tuesday," no matter when we were scheduled to see him again. So this newsletter is part nod to James Rivers, and part nod to my love of alliteration.

See you Tuesday!
TJae