Why I can’t put a Golden Rule sign up…yet.

There is a sign in my yard that says:

We believe Black Lives matter

No human is illegal

Love is Love

Women’s rights are human rights

Science is real

Water is Life

Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.

I have this sign in my yard because I DO believe all of these things, and have worked consistently to live accordingly.

My beliefs and my actions are in accordance with the things this sign says.

I do NOT have a Golden Rule sign in my yard.  This is why.  To date, I have not attained the standard of the Golden Rule. It would be hypocritical to claim I have. I don’t even know if I can honestly say I am trying to “Be Golden”.

Don’t get me wrong;  I am nice to people on the street. I smile at them.  I listen to others’ viewpoints and not only “tolerate” them, but invite understanding and respect in these relationships and conversations.  If I were a child, this would qualify me to say that I was doing all I was capable of to live by the Golden Rule.  The rule resonates for children, is easy to talk about and read books about and is simple enough for children to attain, in their very simple, basic, small worlds.

But if I am honest with myself, I must admit that, in adult standards, I simply do NOT live by The Golden Rule. As an adult, my world becomes far too complex a world to say that I am doing so.

As an adult, I am too aware, constantly, of the ways that I fall short, and the complications of the way that Golden Rule becomes slightly myopic and can even be trite, when we are adults. 

It starts with a question of who the “others” are that I am treating the way I want to be treated.  

If they are the next door neighbors who are very similar to myself, that’s often an easy ask.  I could probably say I live by the Golden Rule in that smaller realm.  

Although admittedly, when a neighbor painstakingly cares for their grass, and I like my yard a bit more organic, and then my dandelions float over onto their lawn, and wreck their beautiful grass, and they don’t like that…how do we reconcile that with the Golden Rule?   Or when I would like the Wild and Scenic River nearby to be protected from overuse, pollution and too many boats and people…but someone else might think it is a good idea to double the size of the boat launch, the Golden Rule is simply too shallow to address this situation.  

I may be tempted to look at MY viewpoint as the “right” one, and then I get caught up in thinking about how to apply the Golden Rule, but then I question why I should listen to YOU when you clearly are not listening to me!?  Who becomes marginalized?

But THEN it becomes infinitely and exponentially more complex when I begin to look at the “others” in this “Do Unto” requirement as people in larger communities that I belong to.  

Then I KNOW that I am falling WOEFULLY short on the Golden Rule. 

When I open up my world to include brothers and sisters in my city, state, my country, the world…then I have to admit that I do NOT live by the Golden Rule.  

I have a house.  Two+ cars. Food in amounts so plentiful I sometimes throw some of it away. Clean water, so plentiful I can water my lawn with it, even on a rainy day!  More clothes than I could ever wear and more furniture than I could possibly actually need. I drive too much. I buy single-use plastics.  I like my comforts.  

And I know full well that others don’t have what I have.  And that my choices disproportionately affect those who already live in poverty.  If I were in their position, I would be desperate for people in MY position to help. To make changes.  But THERE IS SO MUCH TO BE DONE THAT I DO NOT DO.

I sometimes think about what I would do if Jesus came to my door.  Or any of our doors.  If he looked at what we have, and how we live, and in his omniscient manner, compare all of this to how other people in the world were living?  He’d throw down some SERIOUS shit.  Have you ever watched Jesus Christ Superstar?  It would be that scene where the money-changers were in the temple…yikes.  

I can aspire to the Golden Rule. There is NOTHING wrong with that. And if a sign or a bookmark reminds me daily to do that, then it would benefit me to have those around. 

Unfortunately for me, the constant presence of a sign that says I am doing something that I don’t actually do, might lull me into a false sense of belief that it’s true. 

But it’s not. YET.  

To TRULY live by the Golden Rule will mean to continue to educate myself about what other people from different backgrounds and experiences are struggling with.  To face what the effects my choices in lifestyle and consumption have on the world at large. 

And if I do so, I will HAVE to change the way I am living.  

I am working on it.  But I am sure not there yet. 

On Political signs…

Oh, they are EVERYWHERE. Straight up, I just want to say to people do not panic. You are seeing the political sign army in action. Big signs, well entrenched signs…these signs will not tilt when the snow melts. It is an art form to some who wait for these two year cycles. It’s what they do.

You will see FAR more signs from the other candidate than you will from me. I know it feels slightly desperate; like walking into a Super Bowl party and seeing a greater number of jerseys for the other team than for yours. Louder voices, louder chants. Do these mean the other team will win? (Doesn’t it feel sort of good to be the underdog?)

Signs play an increasingly less influential part in who wins. People are watching, listening and informing themselves. It is not a popularity contest in whose name is “recognized”. Adult human beings who are engaged, civic-minded citizens do not look for how many signs a candidate has. They recognize what the candidate has wrought, or will bring to a community. Sometime a sign goes up, and it is a house divided…one person says yes, put a sign in our yard! (The other secretly votes the opposite of that.)

I have a strict limit on what I have chosen to spend on this campaign. I am eternally grateful to those of you who have offered me money. If I took it all, we’d also have signs everywhere, because people have also offered many yards and corners to me as well. We would have SO. MANY. SIGNS.

But that really isn’t the measure of a candidate.

We have been told it is. We have been manipulated to think that more signs, and bigger signs are necessary to win. It is a money game. A “deep pockets” game. And they want us to keep playing it. It benefits them. Quit playing their game. Everyone does NOT have money.

You want your country back? This is about US.

I want a change. I want money out of politics entirely actually. A looooooong endgame. So I have to stick to that belief.

I apologize to all of you who want to see me put signs everywhere. We are your team, and you want us to be winning. We don’t like to look like we are not on the winning side. It makes that little burning feeling…flames coming out the sides of your head…when you see those big signs : ) HOW? WHY?

It is the status quo. Don’t be afraid of it.

I am DEEPLY grateful to all of you who have offered to pay to help me make more signs. When I say no, is NOT an insult to you, and it is not dismissive! It is simply true to my own heart. To even spend what I have already have spent has created a pit in my stomach, when there are people in this world who literally have nothing. What sort of weird self-importance am I engaging in? Do ALL political candidates go through this soul searching? How do you reconcile spending hundreds and thousands and hundreds of thousands of dollars on signs and a campaign, when every 8 seconds a child dies from lack of access to clean water? WHAT?

I understand that it might be what people think it takes to win. But when you are trying to shift a paradigm, you sometimes have to throw yourself under the bus. If I do not win this election, MAYBE it is because I didn’t put up enough signs.

But if I stuck to what my heart and head said, and that is a victory in and of itself. And maybe the next person who chooses to turn away from the money will fare a little better, and the next and the next….and MAYBE we will grassroots our way right into a victory. And THEN, what does that say to the deep pockets?

I do not despair when I see the signs everywhere! It is an interesting sociological study to me. Who are the people putting them up…at businesses (?), or on property ready for development, or on empty lots? Does that feel like winning to them?

My 30 signs are mostly small, and stuck in yards of people who really care. Sometimes they are not even in the strategic spots, but in the yards of people whose values I love and honor. They are slightly crooked and I have put most of them in the snow banks myself. I do not have forces of people calling and placing them. There are zero Liz signs on any sort of For Sale properties, or empty lots.

They are all connected directly to me.

And I have more faith in our voters, and our citizens than to think that they are swayed by the size and numbers of signs they see. As an adult, I can think of very few people who say “I think I will vote for that candidate…they have more bigger signs!”

I inform myself. I vote accordingly. And I know you do too.

A pause and a peace

The pendulum swing of the two party system is not serving us well. Our Democracy seems dysfunctional at best, but appears more toxic and broken than anything. The people benefitting most from this two party system are perhaps are those two parties themselves, as we are made to feel desperate and alarmist about the “other” party gaining ground. No third or fourth or fifth party can even make headway, we are so desperate. Few people even want to be part of any sort of government right now, especially local government, which is perhaps the best and most effective way and place to ensure that our voices our heard. The words of Abraham Lincoln ring in collective minds and hearts “…so that government OF the people, BY the people and FOR the people shall not perish from this earth.” It seems like we are on a path to that, if we don’t get our act together. We are exhausted.

I feel sheepish and apologetic when I talk to young people these days; as my son and his friends approach the first election they will get to vote in. Apologetic because we are ruining this for them. We are making enemies of the other side, we are dismissing civil discourse, we are filling them with dread and fear and anxiety because Democracy does not look noble to them. It looks like a playground football game, where the winners gloat and the losers scream “cheaters!” We have been reduced to petulant children in this endeavor. And it does NOT honor those who have gone before us and fought and died for Democracy, and it does not honor our parents and grandparents, who sometimes watched their candidates win or lose, but the next day, always pushed up their sleeves, got back in the game, and worked to make the best lives they could. We were humans above all, before we were Democrats or Republicans.

And so, the reason I am running for mayor. The position of mayor is non-partisan. When done effectively, if you ask the citizens of a city, they may not even know what political affiliation their mayor aligns with! I think of it this way; as parents, we create our home spaces so that ourselves, our children, our families and guests can feel safe and welcome, no matter what the day in the outside world may bring. At home, we can rest, and think and be ready to face another day. As a mayor, or other elected city officials, the responsibility is the same. We do not adhere to what the political game of the day is (which is usually all sorts of spiteful). We are in these positions to make sure that ALL our citizens all feel like they can contribute, like they have a voice and a place, like they are valued. Does our current environment feel that way to you?

We desperately need a pause and a peace to bring us back to who we are, why our country is great, and why we are so much better together. I am committed to that.

The creative process

Let me first say that I am not formally trained as an artist, and hesitate to call myself an artist, as I know MANY people infinitely more talented than myself. People who are actually genius in their abilities to create moving, compelling, thoughtful and inspiring works. But as I have helped guide the creation of 10+ community projects that are centered around art, I suppose people may think I am an artist : ) I consider the “art” within these projects as the actual weaving together of people from the community, and empowering them to find THEIR inner artist, and therein lies what my strength is likely to be.

That being said, how is an artist qualified to be a mayor, you may ask? And you’d be wise to ask that! I have asked myself that. And I have decided:

For one, and most obvious, in recent history, our presidential elections have confirmed that you need absolutely NO political experience to be elected.
But more importantly, an artist has a unique qualification to lead, which is knowledge and employment of the Creative Process.

The creative process is five steps. Preparation (or idea generation), incubation, illumination, evaluation, and verification. When in the preparation stage, the ability to brainstorm is required. And in order to properly brainstorm, there is a period of time where all ideas need to be considered, as many ideas as possible need to be generated (ideally engaging diverse groups of people, rather than like-minded peers, for variety) and the number one rule…nobody gets to shut it down by saying NO to an idea. Nobody is the boss of the creative process.
There is time, later in the process, to evaluate which ideas may fit best with the needs of the project or issue. But to start with, there must be a general respect and trust, in order to find solutions.

AND THIS IS WHERE OUR POLITICAL SYSTEM IS TERRIBLY BROKEN. Not only do we not listen to good ideas from the “other” side…sometimes, just to spite the other side, we try to throw away a good idea, so it does not succeed!

The creative process, on the other hand, is not binary. That is to say, artists do not look at things as “right” or “wrong”, and the creative process itself explores all points of view. Sometimes in the exploration, you discover a perspective you had not initially know about.
In a world where things are BLACK AND WHITE, and RIGHT AND WRONG, and US AND THEM, this is a refreshing change. There is not an ending to this process, mostly just twists and turns, as things are learned. Sometimes you “finish” a project, but you will always learn from it, and it will inform your next endeavor. A work of art almost always gives way to another work of art, inspired by the lessons learned from the previous experience. We learn from mistakes, and grow and change and evolve as needed.

Those engaged in art, and the process are also uniquely vulnerable. Their very heart and soul are shared openly for the whole world to see, and critique. The practice of art is not for the faint of heart. But there is a tremendous freedom in admitting your vulnerability, and letting people know you need them and are willing to learn from them.

All of the linear, factual, administrative things necessary to run a municipality can be learned, or can be gleaned from those experienced professionals who are serving as administrators, councilors, lawyers. I am now reading 45 pages of the state law in regards to running a city. It is not hard to understand, just a matter of reading and remembering.

But if you are an adult, and have not come up in the creative process, and are not well versed in it…well, it is a much harder thing to learn, especially if you do not see the value in the very
fluid, forgiving, enriching and engaging nature of it.
We’d be hard pressed to find a politician right now who does, and we desperately need it.

So…Artists for President! (And Liz M for Mayor)

The Fall Fest 1998

What have I done?

Well, I did it. That thing of putting something out into the universe, and watching for signs to see if it is the right thing to do. This time, it was the mayoral campaign in question. I have said, many times over the years, that if nobody else was challenging an incumbent, I would do it. Thankfully we have had many great challengers; the legendary John Hoggatt, the honorable Joyce Hall, but this election is different. It’s a different time. A polarized and cruel time in politics. A time where people take themselves WAY too seriously, and spend way too much money on the trimmings and trappings of campaigns, when there is SO much other need in the world.

So I said I’d run. If nobody else did…and then held my breath and hoped someone else would! But no other candidates emerged. And democracy is better served when there is more than one candidate.
I went about getting those signatures. 100 of them. Of course I procrastinate like none other, and this was all late in the game already, so I put that out to the universe…if I could get the signatures, I would do it. And I had to be gone for the week of Christmas. So there, universe. It is never going to happen and I’m off the hook…except that some AMAZING people stepped up for me, and I came back to Hudson to find 130+ signatures. And so, here I am.

Let me tell you how I hope this goes. It will be slightly unconventional, I am not taking campaign donations, and I am not taking myself too seriously. I hope to tread lightly on the earth while campaigning so you will not see your mailbox fill up with shit from me. Nor will you see many signs, (and especially not in obscure open spaces where nobody knows who actually owns the land…). And it will be fun. I will come out of this, win or lose, having had conversations, and having met people who will enrich my life. Hopefully I will do the same for them.