WORDS

I’m not entirely sure where we were, but it was north of the river. North of the river is how the people of Kansas City refer to anything north of the Missouri River. This is an area that has gone largely unexplored during my time here. I know where the roller rink is and maybe a couple of casinos. I can get myself to Michael’s school and the airport, but don’t ask me for restaurant recommendations. Unless you’re into Indian food, then Swagat’s out by the airport is a solid choice. We happened to be in a completely unrecognizable area on this day because Michael was buying a used exercise bike. On our way home, we passed a billboard for a layer that read in large, yellow lettering “Winningest!” and I lost my mind.

At first, I couldn’t stop saying the word out loud over and over. I found the sound of the word to be ridiculously hilarious. It’s not like I haven’t heard someone use the word before, but it is always been used in jest around me. Seeing the word spelled out on the billboard just reiterated how stupid this word is. I was almost over my minor turrets moment when we passed the same advertisement on a different billboard. Then I exploded. This is an advertisement for a law office. Do you really want someone you cannot even use grammatically correct language in their advertisement to defend you in a court of law?!? Yeah, I know that my house is made of glass. My posts are the Swiss cheese of poorly written navel gazings, but I didn’t major in English. This dude is a lawyer; His job revolves around language. Besides, my editor is dead. What’s that lawyer’s excuse?

Lately, well ever since the “winningest” incident, I’ve found myself increasingly ranting about language. I will see a turn of words that makes my brain itch and I will go off in a ten minute rant. Yesterday, Michael had the TV on and it was all day coverage of concussion ball. There was a story about Brock Purdy (I didn’t know who this person was before this story) and the day he was drafted for the 49rs. They were showing footage of the draft and there was a woman standing on stage, holding up a jersey the read “Mr. Irrelevant”. I said “Why are they calling that guy Mr. Irrelevant?” and Michael replied “It’s because he is the last person to be drafted.” Disgust and rage instantly boiled up out of my body. Before they showed that footage, the sportscaster was talking about how Purdy has a “chip on this shoulder.” Of course he has a chip on his shoulder! He was just called ‘irrelevant’! That is just mean and uncalled for. As if I didn’t already think poorly about the capitalism and exploitation of athletes that is the NFL, now I think even less of them because they are bullies. Mean, hazing Frat boy, bullies.

And while everyone was speculating about Kelce proposing to Taylor and/or the Chiefs Super Bowl win being a government rig so that Taylor and Kelce could use that platform to endorse Biden (people are fucking crazy), actual genocide was/is happening in Gaza. I know many of you are sitting there thinking ‘But I can’t do anything about the genocide in Gaza’. Yeah, well, you can’t do anything about the whole Taylor/Kelce relationship either but it doesn’t keep you from chattering on and on about it. And if you can chatter and on and on about that, surely you can do some chattering to your representatives about demanding a cease fire and shifting our funding from weapons to humanitarian efforts.

Maybe now that we don’t have football to scream about, we can be the winningest by raising our voices against genocide.

THANKFUL FRIDAY

I don’t know how to start this dialogue. I was going to talk about prying open my washing machine to get the clothes out and having to buy a new washer. But I found it difficult to write about my washing machine woes while seeing and hearing about the horrific acts of violence happening in Israel and Gaza.

First of all I support my local Jewish communities and friends. The attacks by Hamas have sparked an extra fierce round of antisemitism in this country with far right agencies praising attacks on Jewish people. This country has never been good at supporting our fellow Americans of races other than white, religions not Christian based, and ethnoreligious groups. While I can’t change the whole country, I can do my part as an American in protecting and supporting these groups. Our Jewish friends need to know we have their backs and will do what we can to protect them form racism.

Secondly reacting to violence with more violence will never fix any situation. The counter attack on Gaza by Israel has left more than 300,000 innocent people homeless, not to mention the deaths of hundreds of thousands of women and children. Their announcement of a total blockade to Gaza is considered to be a humanitarian crime by the UN. Women and children are in the most danger. Israeli missiles have hit schools and places of worship, both of which have been filled with women and children seeking shelter from violence. There is no where for these people to go to be safe.

Here are some ways to send help to the victims of the horrific acts of violence brought on by Israel and Hamas:

• Doctors Without Borders

• International Committee of the Red Cross

• International Rescue Committe

Feel free to share other resources in the comments.