Today I woke up to a plane crash that Donald Trump quickly politicized by suggesting that DEI hires had some part to play in the catastrophe, but I'm just trying to hold it together. I am so tired of DJT, and all of his hateful rhetoric, his lies, and his school yard swagger. I don't care who knows it; I am a proud "never Trumper." My students are holding the lines too by trying to appear unafraid, like their lives won't be changed forever by fascism, this disease that slowly crept up on us, this disease that used the Republican party as a vessel, much like any other virus or bacteria will invade a cell.

Today I woke up to a smile on my dog's face and the warmth of his tail that he wags like a stick everywhere he goes. Sometimes I wish I could be a dog too, just playing around and sniffing the earth, looking for tasty treats and receiving affection. But I'm part of the problem; I'm one of those species that invade the earth and spoil its waters, hoard resources, and create bags and bags of trash that will never mold away. I drive an hour to work each way with other people like me that should work from home, or closer to home. Of course, DJT with all his hateful ideology believes that work from home is "woke" and that no one should do it, but he works from one of his many homes every day.

My son is dark and exotic looking with long, straight black hair. He plays the guitar professionally and works during the day as a carpenter. He is beautiful and kind. I am worried he will be casually harassed by ICE because of DJT and his hateful ethnic cleansing of our working class people. I worry that my son will be questioned about his identity and heritage and that he will fail the test and be confiscated and stored like some subhuman until we can present his birth certificate and his social security card; how else can my son prove he is an American? Must all dark complected people carry all of their paperwork now, whether they are American citizens or not?

I am afraid for all of us, even the stupid people that voted Trump. I am afraid for our children and our vulnerable adults, and I am afraid for our visitors, the people that come here for a better life. I don't care how they arrived, legally or not. All I care is that they appreciate their stay and obey the laws of decency and fair play--most of them do.

I want my old society back, the one before the Tea Party, before Trump, before Project 2025, before abortion bans and book bans and people bans and Muslim bans. I want my beautiful pluralistic society where I could go out and meet people from around the world and learn from them, and they learn from me. I want to return to a time when teaching was a safe job, before school shootings and random violence. I want to return to a time when road rage was incredibly rare, like never. I want a ban on automatic rifles because no one that I know needs one.

I want peace and safety, not turmoil and chaos, not DJT. Fascism always ends the same ugly way, with massive amounts of dead people.