The Seeger Family Christmas Letter (1st Draft)

Dear friends, family, Romans, and countrypersons,

What a year it has been, eh?  Or what a decade - or month (hour?)?  I don't have a good sense of time...

Allow me to introduce myself: My name is Keks, and I was born on 11 December 2018, so I've just recently turned 14 years old.  I am the smallest Grand-Dog of Donald and Hope Seeger (P.O. Box 304, Clinton, WI, 53525), and I currently reside in Milwaukee, Wisconsin - near the lake (which is awesome if you haven't been!!).

As most of you know, this year - 2020 - especially since mid-March has been unlike any in all of our lifetimes.  Hasn't it been great!!??  Humans at home ALL THE TIME!!!  They never leave, never have to put you in the kennel, are around to take you for walks all day long!

Anyway, it's been quite the wild ride has 2020.  As I mentioned, I live in Milwaukee with my humans, Joel and Brooke.  Since coming to live with them in February 2019, I've also spent a good deal of time visiting Don and Hope - who I get a real kick out of.  

*  *  *

the next morning...

I've been told - numerous times today already - that after making the request last evening that Keks draft the annual Seeger Christmas letter that Hope herself has started a draft of a letter, so we'll have a letter full of greetings and introductions* (beginnings are the best!) with the following uber-intro...

*  *  *

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God"

"The Gospel according to Saint John (1:1)" 

"My line comes down from Queen Ada, the sister of Malcolm IV, descended from King Duff, the first king of Scotland."

from Cash: The Autobiography of Johnny Cash, by Johnny Cash

"The terror that would not end for another 28 years, if it ever did, began so far as I can know or tell, with a boat made from a sheet of newspaper floating down a gutter swollen with rain."

- Stephen King, It

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope..."

- Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities

    The beginnings are always the moments with all of the promise, indeed, all of the hope.  As we enter in to the start of a brand new year, 2021, which we may all remember best as the first year after 2020!, I thought we might do something a bit different, and offer you a sampling of beginnings of Seeger Christmas letters (we all know the beginnings of letters are the best part anyway!).  So without further ado: 

(submitted by Joel Seeger)

* If you would like to submit an introduction to be considered for the annual Seeger Christmas letter you can submit it to the comments below by 5:00pm CST on Saturday, December 19th, 2020.

State of Shame

Source: jsonline.com (feat. 11/11 when Mr. Stoli* & I
represent 2 of the 7,048 cases in WI)

I received a positive COVID-19 test result a little while ago.  As of this writing, I am only experience a couple of very minor symptoms (knock on wood), and I am now quarantined and have alerted everyone who has come within my zone of monstrosity in the 72 hours prior to first showing any symptoms at all.  I've done, in other words, everything I'm supposed to as far as I know (thus far without a promised call from a contact tracer, although I know they're quite busy). In fact, I've done pretty much everything I am supposed to the whole time - stayed home, kept our bubble limited, worn a mask when I do go out - and still contracted it...  

I only got a test on Monday because we were told that afternoon that my dad had tested positive when he was admitted to the hospital that afternoon (for non-COVID reasons).  My symptoms didn't develop until the subsequent day Tue (11/10), and I immediately started putting the timeline/storyline together in my head:

1. I contracted COVID from Brooke who picked it up from Papa when we were there a month ago when Andy went to Omaha.
2. My dad, who I now suspect is in the midst of a case of Long Covid, has had it for at least 6 - 8 weeks, thus leading to some of his underlying problems of late. 

My mom has been working the phones since Monday, talking to anyone and everyone who has been in contact with them (again, they've been limited in their contact, but with a more old people approach of people occasionally dropping off baked goods or casseroles, etc.). Her experience in making these calls, and my own as well in sharing with people my test result, has been one of immediate concern (with a pinch of accidental self-concern in the cases where there might have been minimal contact wit the callee) and then interrogation of blame (where did you get it / did you give it to _____?). In fact in Clinton there seems to be social phenomenon going on of people expressing some surprise when they learn of a case, because, it seems, so many who get a positive test tend to keep it under wraps if they can. It's better, it seems, to avoid becoming known as a spreader than to, in fact, limit any possible spreading you've done. 

In addition to my positive test, I am also currently unemployed - another badge of cultural shame I am wearing at this moment. It's not surprising, given the fact that I have either been fired or asked to quit by this boss in each of the past four presidential election years, but it is a condition I have had recommended to me that I mask, lest it make me undesirable. And so, Seeger Enterprises, Inc. (SEI) was born in October 2020 to little fanfare. Although it's activities are quite varied, if you want a free stock, you can sign up for Robinhood using this link, and support SEI's investments arm while getting yourself some free money (no deposit required, you just have to link a bank account).

To be clear, I am not actually ashamed of either of these current status, but it has made me painfully aware of my underperforming in the vast game of Anti-Shame that we are requested to take part in. As an active job seeker, I spend an inordinate amount of time on LinkedIn these days, and it is appalling (at least meinetwegen).  I realize not every working person is living their Office Space endless nightmare, and yes... somepeoplereallyliketheirjobs... but the performative nature of people singing the praises of aspects of their workplaces or their companies achievements is gross. It has close parallels to the toxicity of Facebook's personal vacation posts, etc. and yes this is all well discoursed (a la The Social Dilemma etc.), but when it gets to (semi-)forced fawning over your workplace it's borderline Corporate Fascism territory.

We need to work to decouple shame from status, but the capitalist social fabric we are all born into today makes that very difficult. There is no shame in being sick or poor or unemployed; no shame in being anything, really. Shame should come from actions (or inactions) - I do not want to dismiss the redeeming societal qualities of shame. If you actively work to 'cut labor costs' in your work or industry (i.e. work to pay people less): you should be ashamed of yourself. If you knowingly (or suspectingly) promote false narratives (e.g. herd immunity, voter fraud, etc.), which will result in more folks in your community getting sick and dying, you should be ashamed of yourself. When you (inadvertently or intentionally) perpetrate an act of dehumanization (and honestly, I think we all can be guilty of this from time to time - with folks of differing political or cultural views on Twitter or service employees irl) small or large, you should be ashamed of yourself.  

But that's what's so great about shame, when properly administered. When it targets an action and not a status (or a being), even our own, we can learn from it and adjust our behaviors in future. The political chant of repeating "Shame! Shame! Shame!" at legislators (or any action-takers who need to be held to account) works because it is objects to the action and not the actor (we chanted this at them not because they were Republicans, but because they were working to take collective bargaining rights away from unions {which is, like, what unions do!}, or forcibly separating children from their parents because they were attempting to cross a border, or trying to take away health insurance protections for pre-existing conditions from our nations most vulnerable). If they simply cease the shameful action, and take on another course, their shaming could end.

That's it, do good, be better, that's the post...

* I've long followed Mr. Stoli's Twitter feed without ever knowing who it was that I was following. Not, I assume, someone I know personally, but a kindred Milwaukee spirit who shares many of the same views and interests and haunts. So similar, in some ways, that when we were diagnosed on the same day i briefly suspected that he actually was me, and my anonymous Twitter account (then I shamefully remembered that my anonymous Twitter account has only managed 17 followers to date, while my friend here hovers around 1,000) 

Oh no, Joe...

Updated Democratic Primary Contenders List:
(7/30/19 - after night one of Debate II)
Candidates Who Would Defeat Trump Handily

1. Cory Booker
2. Pete Buttigieg
3. Julián Castro
4. Tulsi Gabbard
5. Kamala Harris
6. Amy Klobuchar
7. Bernie Sanders 
8. Elizabeth Warren
9. Andrew Yang

Candidates Who Very Likely Would Win Vs. Trump

1. Bill de Blasio
2. Beto O'Rourke
3. Tim Ryan
4. Marianne Williamson

I Don't Quite Know

1. Mike Gravel
2. Wayne Messam
3. Seth Moulton
4. Joe Sestak

May Well Lose to Trump

1. Michael Bennett
2. Joe Biden
3. Steve Bullock
4. John Delaney
5. Kristen Gillibrand
6. Jay John Hickenlooper
7. Jay Inslee
8. Eric Swalwell

Updated Democratic Primary Contenders List:
(circa early June 2019)
Candidates Who Would Defeat Trump Handily

1. Cory Booker
2. Pete Buttigieg
3. Julián Castro
4. Tulsi Gabbard
5. Kamala Harris
6. Amy Klobuchar
7. Tim Ryan
8. Bernie Sanders 
9. Elizabeth Warren
10. Andrew Yang

Candidates Who Very Likely Would Win Vs. Trump

1. Michael Bennett
2. Bill de Blasio
3. Steve Bullock
4. Mike Gravel
5. Wayne Messam
6. Seth Moulton
7. Beto O'Rourke

I Don't Quite Know

1. Joe Sestak

May Well Lose to Trump

1. Joe Biden
2. John Delaney
3. Kristen Gillibrand
4. Jay John Hickenlooper
5. Jay Inslee
6. Eric Swalwell
7. Marianne Williamson

So, i like Joe Biden.  I'm not going to vote for him in the Democratic Primary, but i would vote for him of course in a general election in 2020 as i did Hillary Clinton.

But please understand this, blue-leaning, honest-broker, patriotic Americans... Joe Biden will lose a general election run against Donald Trump.  Well, not for sure, but he is is on my list of candidates who I'm not quite sure about, but will likely lose.

Mainstream media outlets all (from CNN to MSNBC to Fox News to Real Time to everywhere) continue to misunderstand presidential elections.  The prevailing wisdom is that American voters care about where someone stands on the right/left political spectrum and the danger of nominating a candidate who is TOO LIBERAL.

The reality is that the big middle of the electorate is suffering, miserable and angry.  Americans have elected disruptive change at every opportunity since the 1980s (at least as much disruptive change as they were permitted with the two major parties).  "The middle" is not interested in the right/left spectrum.  While the parties are, the middle is largely a-political.  The middle just wants to raise their middle finger to the powers that be and wind up electing as much change as we are permitted.

For this reason, the biggest primary electoral blunder that Democrats can make is to nominate someone like Joe Biden - not because Joe is a bad guy, but because it's exactly the kind of "Stability Candidate" that the major parties have nominated since losing a first term since 1996.

Joe Biden is the latest in the line of Bob Dole, John Kerry, Mitt Romney future likely losers.  A candidate whose primary characteristic for electoral consideration is their seriousness and appropriateness for office.  These candidates scream stability (which is a strange thing to scream).

Since 1988, each American presidential election chose the change candidate.  The reason every president has been re-elected since that time is not because we as Americans dislike firing people, it's because the major parties chose someone even more establishment than a sitting president with 4 years of experience under his belt:

• 1992 - Bill Clinton, a governor of a small southern state defeats the sitting president who was vice president for the 8 years before that.
• 1996 - Bill Clinton defeats Bob Dole, a senator from an older generation and a throwback gesture to 'bringing the grown-ups' back to power.
• 2000 - W "wins" an election over Al Gore, a sitting vice president of 8 years.  Interesting to note, is that if McCain had won this primary, i think Gore wins in November.
• 2004 - W still seems new to this job 4 years in, and he defeats John Kerry, who looks and acts as if his chiseled jaw was formed from the stone of Mt. Rushmore.
• 2008 - Obama's hope and change defeats John McCain's trust us... except for Sarah Palin.  She's just for fun.
• 2012 - Obama beats everyone's boss, Mitt Romney.
• 2016 - You didn't want another Bush?, how about another Clinton!

The mistake always made by both parties has been that America wants re-assuring in their candidates.  The "trust us, we are experienced" hasn't won in more than 30 years...

One caveat is needed here, because we are living in such strange times.  It may be that anyone who the democrats nominate will win.  Despite the fact it was before "Smells Like Teen Spirit" was released that we last elected the more stable, normal, institutional choice for president, I do have some modicum of trust in the American electorate to not do this to us again.  I was vocal amongst my peers that I thought Trump would win in 2016.  I am not as concerned that he will win again in 2020.  Thus, in my classification below of current 2020 Democratic Candidates for President the most dangerous category is "May Well Lose to Trump".  The worst possible choice for the Dems in 2020 would be to once again nominate Hillary Clinton to run against Trump, and I would put her in that category, which means a fair chance to win, but "May Well Lose to Trump".

Original List (e.g. keeping myself honest)

Candidates Who Would Defeat Trump Handily

1. Bernie Sanders 
2. Elizabeth Warren
3. Cory Booker
4. Pete Buttigieg
5. Julián Castro
6. Andrew Yang

Candidates Who Very Likely Would Win Vs. Trump

1. Amy Klobuchar
2. Beto O'Rourke
3. Tim Ryan
4. Tulsi Gabbard
5. Wayne Messam
6. Steve Bullock
7. Mike Gravel
8. Seth Moulton

I Don't Quite Know

1. Jay Inslee
2. Marianne Williamson

May Well Lose to Trump

1. Joe Biden
2. Kamala Harris
3. Kristen Gillibrand
4. Eric Swalwell
5. Michael Bennett
6. Bill de Blasio
7. Jay John Hickenlooper
8. John Delaney

*  *  *

May 2019

I've had to update the list given the additional passage of time, so I think it makes sense to explain a bit of my thinking.  I'll keep the list current (mostly moving people out of "I Don't Quite Know" to another category as I get a better sense of who they are).

My troublesome "May Well Lose to Trump" category are there for two reasons, the first is the one I outline above, namely that they seem to primarily be running as a "stability candidate" - and stability always loses the presidency in American (at least since 1988 and arguably since 1972).  

Biden and Bennett fall into this category.

The other folks who may lose to Trump are 'coastal elites', candidates who are in large part defined by where they are from (these will mainly be New Yorkers and Californians).  Even though de Blasio has true progressive cred, he may lose to Trump because he is TOO New York.  The others on that list have 'not Trump' as their main selling point rather than an over-riding message to their campaign.

And then there's Hickenlooper, who I thought I had heard described as a "radical centrist", which I liked... just saw him on The Rachel Maddow Show this evening, and he is just a centrist centrist...  and may well lose because of it.


*  *  *

June 2019
And John Delaney's performance at the California Democratic Convention solidifies him in the "May Well Lose" camp.

We should be able to finalize this list, and remove the "I Don't Know" category in a few weeks with the first debates (unless Jay Inslee doesn't make it and I still have never heard him talk...).  Marianne Williamson seems confirmed to make the first debates, which will make things more interesting.

Setting the Stage

... remember when we thought Donald Trump was unqualified and unelectable for the Presidency because he wanted to deport 11 million people and have a religious test as part of entry into the United States?

Oh that we could go back to that simpler time...

Linda Tirado wrote an article about Trump's speech yesterday, and it rightly identifies some of the fascist elements of Trump's campaign, and in particular the appeals to the sovereign-citizen set.  What Tirado only implicitly points to, is the fact that it doesn't actually matter all that much that Donald Trump will now most likely lose this election in November. 

Way back when, in the Summer and Fall of 2015, I was opining to anyone who would listen that Bernie was going to surprise everyone and come out of the Democratic primaries as the nominee and the Trump phenomenon would fade and we'd have a nice boring candidate like Jeb or Kasich on the Republican side.  At first glance, it seems I was wrong twice - but I think the actual case is that I was right, just in the wrong way. 

I've long thought that America was ripe for a fascist uprising.  And that said fascist movement could be either a leftist or rightist one (or both/neither, as this one seems to be).  It has always been the great danger of the right and left media as cottage industries, that intelligent, critical, political thought would be a casualty of our time.  Fascism, in whatever form, was always going to be a possible result.

The Right may well have started this media war with the explosion of talk radio in the 1980s, but it has been a boon to Democrats, because it's sated their base, while fundamentally undermining all that they hold dear.  It feels/felt so good to sit watching Jon Stewart & Stephen Colbert, and knowing that we were laughing with them from the right side of history or learn from John Oliver what some of the most egregious and offensive offenses are of our time - but all the watching and the reading can stagnate a drive to action. 

My favorite podcaster, Dan Carlin, dropped a new episode of his politics and current events show, Common Sense, yesterday.  And he reiterated an idea that he said months and months ago, before we knew how the primaries were going to turn out, which was, essentially: "you think 2016 is interesting/terrifying... just wait for 2020."

American Fascism isn't going away any time soon.  Because the wealth inequality (which is so much more important an issue than income inequality) isn't going away.  Nor is a culture of ressentiment, nor the anger and the know-nothing-ness, nor any of a cadre of issues that culminate in present-day America being a great place to fulminate fascism.

We're going to be very good at this, and that's not a little bit scary.  Hillary Clinton, it now seems, will win in November - and hopefully by a surprising margin and with a new Senate majority (and dream of dreams a newly-democratic House as well!).  If all that happens, we may even have some progress - baby steps, but progress - toward starting to fix some of the edge problems (adding a public option to a massive insurance-company-backed health care program, finding a way to make Medicare and Social Security not go broke in the immediate future, starting to think about actually taking a few steps toward beginning to slow our contribution to global warning, etc.).

However, the ready-to-be fascist angry folks out there will still be out there.  And they're not all right-wing nuts (some of them are left wing nuts like me!).  The Anger Election of 2016 will not have gotten what it really wanted (an outsider who doesn't care about how we've done things up until now) - it will still want to be fed.

So, America, let's talk... before it's too late.

I was shot with a nail-gun, and it wasn't that bad

Today, as i was continuing to assist in the clintonSeeger's basement project, i was unexpectedly shot in the back. It had little to do with my aces over eights, Russ (my Jedi-Master-Contractor) assured me it was an accident. It hurt for a moment, didn't break the skin (it hit me flat - i was 5 yards away, or so). After being shot, verifying that the nail, in fact, didn't go in, and deciding i was alright, i started reflecting on my summer a bit.

During the past four weeks I have forgone (for the most part, sorry Lane, sorry Peter) my life of the mind in favor of a life of the hand... of the back. Familial obligation has dictated my summer, thus far, in a direction of hard labor... After flooding for the first time in 25 years, my parents' basement is going through a fundamental remodel. After installing a couple of sump pumps and a tile drainage system, the whole space is being re-created and I've been allowed to play along. I've framed walls (almost shooting a nail through my finger in the process), built soffits, and installed wiring. The day Rick shot a nail through Russ' finger (i know, it seems like a theme) i stood amazed as we neglected to call an ambulance or bring someone to the Emergency Room, and instead watched Russ tape paper towels around his finger with electrical tape and "call it good" (that night, he hit 4 home runs in his softball league).

This series of events got me to thinking about relative genetic makeups... (which might have brought me to a reminiscence of a certain trip to Alabama {not to mention a certain day of SeegerOlympic Events, which inexplicably occurred}, but that's the story for another day). I am, decidedly, not of 'tough breeding', but i think there is something to me that makes me a good sufferer (historically, some of the best sufferers i can think of {people who really don't seem to take it too bad when things go wrong} are Dave Wake, Walter Benjamin, and, well, i dunno, someone else.)

Clearly, my breed are not good sufferers, but somehow, i feel myself to be an adequate sufferer... not only in terms of actual suck-i-ness endured, but also the idea of physical pain... I'm not sure, but somehow, i feel myself 'greater than the sum of my parts.' I don't want it to seem arrogant, and i'm sure there are 'pain-factors' that will equalize this thinking, but just generally, when i picture myself in a time of true calling (any time other than now, other than a time of true reclination is a time of 'calling')...

I guess what i'm seeing is a lack of 'now' in anyone's time. Before now... there was always a possibility of something else... something that meant something... Nazis or Racists or... well... Communists... Now there are Terrorists... but they look like anyone (except they don't, right), but no longer are there real terrorists... as we know...

The Problem is that we call them "Slower Traffic"

As i've been driving back & forth between Clinton & Milwaukee over the past few weeks (I'm helping re-do my parent's basement), i've noticed the

*   *   *

December 2017
This was planned to a post that i am still somewhat interested in.  "Slower Traffic Keep Right" signs are a challenge, an affront really to drivers, particularly those who are pre-disposed to take umbrage.

Driving is an interesting social phenomenon.  It's a daily interaction we have with hundreds (or sometimes even thousands) of people each day, but we never meet them and most of the time never see them.

I read a comment by Elon Musk lately about why people hate mass transit (this in relation to his Boring Company) where he said that being together in a common space with a bunch of strangers was weird and also someone could be a serial killer sitting next to you and you wouldn't know it.  Of course, this is also true of public spaces in general, and generally mitigated by the fact that we have a civilization.

Traffic, though - it's like steampunk Twitter...  Anonymous interaction with many strangers per day.  People behave badly - in ways they likely wouldn't if they had to actually look the people in the eyes when they cut them off or assumed right of way dubiously.

I remember driving through Kentucky once, and seeing a sign that said the left lane was for passing only, which i really liked.  Rather than challenge a driver - "pshaw, you're not fast enough to be in the left lane" - they restrict why you can be in the left lane.  In Europe, they don't have to tell driver's these things, because there is a mutual recognition and appreciation for the humanity of others...
Here in the States, we still need these friendly reminders, because while were trying to have a civilization here... it's a work in progress.

on the Pathologist to success...

It's been a lovely last several days... Since Saturday aftereve much has happened. We've not been without houseguests, we met the house we think we might LOVE, and we made an offer (and had said offer rejected) on said house.

Saturday we discovered a lovely 2-story colonial... that's just about perfect... and we think we'd like to buy it. Then, Saturday, andy flew in from Atlanta, after a conference presentation, and good times were had... Dinner at Lulu's, then some drinks at At Random... He stayed long enough to watch the Bears lose and for us to put an offer in on the house and headed to Clinton Monday morning... at which time, the wheels of houseguest fate spun joel miron in our direction. Miron is interviewing pathological programs for his residency coming up next year and one of his possibilities was here in the greater Milwaukee area.

We explored a bit of Milwaukee - drinking, seeing the lake on a cold, sleety, rainy afternoon, drinking old school cocktails (Bourbon Old Fashioned - Sour, Tom Collins, & a Harvey Wallbanger) at Comet Cafe, revelry, drinks at Paddy's, sleeping.

Our alleged new house is in the Tippacanoe neighborhood (seriously) of southern Milwaukee... Theme party's abound - then, it's also a two-story colonial, opening up even another realm... So, start your theme engines now... and get ready to visit real soon...

Paper Man

Today is the 4th of July. As you likely know. Today is America's birthday. a la

...

Brooke, Andy & i headed over to daveT's family picnic. They're a total pyro family. I am really regretting that this is the first year in perhaps 6 years that i've not been in Brookings, SoDak for the 4th of July.

I'm sorry to be missing it, friends of Brookings, and i wish i could be there hitting up Jim's Tap (home of the strongest drinks this side of the Rio Grande), but c'est la vie, eh? It's hard to miss you all, but i'm sure it'd be even harder not to miss you all (given the fact that i leave for a 3-day Las Vegas bachelor party in less than 60 hours).

Hope all is right in america. And hope you all feel 'proud to be an american... where at least you know you're free', because, you know, america... it's awesome.

beis-buru

Last night, i went to a really spectacular baseball game. The trip started, boringly enough, in Clinton, and felt a little like a middle school flash-back with our carload being just myself, Shane & my parents (shane even spiked his hair up & wore his Rude Dog t-shirt), but instead of shane & me in the back seat, being all punk-kid-y, we tossed my parents back there and cruised up (a good 3-hours before game time) to Milwaukee. I am slowly acclimating myself to the fact that things happen a whole lot slower, but with a great deal more production, nowadays when they involve my parents than they used to. So, our early arrival was fortuitous, not only since we got to see a little BP, but also because a food/beer run became quite the ordeal, changing levels, fretting over bobble-heads & convincing my parents that indeed there are condiment stations on the next level up... But, i think i've come to the point where i can relax & enjoy what a big show seemingly small events become when involving my parents...

The game itself was fantastic. Though the Brewers lost, it came down to the last batter & about 3" (the distance by which Corey Koskie missed a game-tying double). The 8th inning, when the Brewers were down by 4 runs, featured back to back home runs by Koskie & (i wanna say) Damian Miller, tying the game & leading to a lot of strangers slapping hi-fives, me jumping up & down and screaming. And the Brewers aren't even my team... We were way up in the upper deck, with the plebs, and the crowd was riled up something fierce. In the 9th, though, Turnbow (the Brewer's superb closer), who was also the guy who's bobble-head was being given away, gave up a home run to the first batter & the Brewers lost by 1. Heartbreaking, but a damn good game. Even though i love baseball, so often, you go to a game and you know who's going to win by like the 3rd inning, and you stick around, sort of getting your money's worth & hoping it gets interesting, but the game stays as you expect & you walk away unsatisfied... Here, though the game did end on a called strike three, it was all up in the air until the very last pitch. Good stuff.