Day - 1269

Thursday, July 2, 2020

Not as slow at work as I would have liked. 

We heard back from Fred today and will meet sometime next week on Zoom to discuss his thoughts and suggestions.  Fred has many connections in the industry and is putting together a list to send the script and seek advice.  Fred wants to play John and he'd actually be excellent in the role.  He used to play along side Brian Taylor on a Canadian program called Jake and the Kid back in the 90s.  He thought Brian would make a great Bert. 

One thing Chris and I will need to do is place Grandudes into one of the screenplay software programs like Final Draft.  The font in Word is not the correct Courier font, only Courier New.

Aside from script stuff, I responded to a message from my cousin Lisa on Facebook.  She sent me a video by Candace Owens, who I've really really listened to before.  I listened, then responded.

Here's what I said to my cousin Lisa:

Well that was quite a month, June 2020.  I'll reflect upon the past 30 days for the rest of my life.  I may need all of July just to process all the news, reactions, protests, outrage, conversations and newfound commitments that played out, both in my own life and around the country.  I'm still listening to all perspectives and taking everything in, but every now and then I will articulate my perspective as an American white male.  I don't speak for American white males, only as an American white male.  There's a difference.  But because my life experience is as a white male, I find myself compelled to push against my fellow white males from time to time.  I want to challenge my fellow white males to become better white males, starting first with listening.  White males, by and large, and not good listeners.  In fact, we're often the worst listeners you'll ever find on the planet.  I know this because I'm often a horrible listener.  I'm trying to become a better listener, and oftentimes I succeed, but there are also days when I'm just really bad at listening and really good at talking.  Oh, white males are great talkers.  OMG, white males can talk.  We know things, we have answers, and the best part of all is we're rarely if ever called out for anything when we're talking out of sheer ignorance or stupidity.  Just look at Trump, the greatest example of white male talking without consequence in modern American history.  I challenge my fellow white males to do this one thing for the month of July.  Listen.  Just listen.  Listen to your friends of color without debate, judgment or rebuttal.  Listen and acknowledge what you've heard, but don't talk.  Don't add your two cents.  For one month.  Give it a try and see if you can do it.  White males are not trained to do this, which is too bad, because conversations about race, racism, white privilege, white entitlement, white arrogance and white supremacy demand good listening skills from my fellow white males.  They demand it.

One last thing about Black Lives Matter:  for my fellow white males who love to respond with "All Lives Matter," you're missing the point.  You're not getting it.  "Black Lives Matter" is a phrase that draws attention to the feelings and realities in America that "Black Lives Don't Matter".  They mean the same thing.  That's how the movement came about in the first place.  It's an example of the beauty and power of language.   "Black Lives Matter" and "Black Lives Don't Matter" are linguistic twins, and yet, there is a certain poetic majesty that comes from dropping the "Don't".  Nearly every person of color gets this.  Some white males get this.  Many white males are not getting this.  The entire history of America is inundated with examples of "Black Lives Don't Matter," so we now have a movement to confront this, called "Black Lives Matter."  Make sense, white males?

Okay, I said my piece for the moment.  Back to listening...

We had our regular Thursday night Petty Zoom chat for an hour.  It was fine but a little boring tonight.  After that, it was off to bed.