All God’s Critters Got a Place in the Choir
All God’s critters got a place in the choir Some sing low, some sing higher Some sing out loud on the telephone wire Some just clap their hands, or paws, or anything they got now. --Bill Staines
Hey, everyone. Wendy and I were on vacation in Northern California from late March through mid April. Our trip was a mix of social time with friends old and new, family, and local folks we met, and riding bikes to explore the natural beauty in and around the towns we stayed in.
Kinda weird to be on a wonderful vacation, while a hostile coup is going on in your government and trusted social institutions are under attack! The juxtaposition made for a very rich experience, let me tell you.
For example, at Point Lobos State Natural Reserve, we rode our bikes out to a bluff overlooking a protected cove “nursery.” There, we witnessed an annual gathering: a dozen mother harbor seals were on the beach nursing their newborn pups, or about to give birth. One mother-baby pair was just hanging out in the water, bobbing and swimming maybe 20 feet off the beach. It was magic.
By contrast, in another coastal location, we visited our cousin, a scientist who monitors seawater and marine life. Our cousin told us their team had to remove DEI language from their educational program documents, because they didn’t want to jeopardize their interns’ federal financial support, given Trump’s anti-DEI executive orders. I learned from this story the horrible dilemma educators face, torn between extending a welcome to all stakeholders in their written documents, vs. censoring themselves about their values, in order to protect funding for vulnerable students.
Meanwhile, in this same rural, impoverished area, local leadership were planning how to continue to serve the community, expecting to lose federal funding that makes up a third of local government’s budget for basic needs including housing, healthcare, mental health and substance abuse treatment, and food programs.
Later we visited Point Reyes National Seashore, another beautiful and magnificent coastal environment. We cycled to beaches in the park where we watched another species of seals, elephant seals, also ashore for pupping season. At Point Reyes I spoke with a ranger about how things were going, and asked how they expected Trump’s executive orders to affect the park. This ranger shared that Point Reyes has been understaffed for years, and whereas they hadn’t had ranger staff cuts yet, remote central office administrative cuts were already having a negative impact on day-to-day operations.
Northern California is a fragile natural environment far from where I live. But in many ways that area is so similar to our communities here in the Southern Appalachian mountains of Western North Carolina. Our trip highlighted for me that we are a large, environmentally and socioeconomically diverse, complicated nation. But we are one nation. We need our federal government to use our federal taxes wisely, to provide physical and administrative infrastructures, as well as program funding, so we can take care of our communities and our beautiful natural resources. Government is there to help it all work. Everything and everyone is connected. And so, so much is at stake if our federal government fails.
I titled my essay with the refrain from a song by Bill Staines. During and after our vacation, the song frequently came to my mind. In this crazy, confusing time, the simple chorus nourished me. “All us critters got a place in the choir.” These words express my core values. This is what motivates me to resist the Trump/MAGA coup. It is my vision to be part of the choir, to welcome folks in, to encourage and join with the community that is working for a democratic society where everyone belongs, in proper relationship to our natural environment. In recent weeks, this simple song sustained, and continues to sustain my resilience and focus.
Three Ways to Resist Authoritarianism Today:
1. What songs, poems, slogans, images, or personal experiences capture your core values? Can keeping these resources close at hand help nourish you, motivate you, keep you focused, during this troubled time in our society? Click on the link below to listen to a recording of Bill Staines singing his song “Place in the Choir:”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3pR5nyeFgmA
2. I’m excited to see more and more folks organizing themselves and creating strategies to address specific problems and to make our voices heard. “We Are Higher Ed” is organizing students and workers in higher education, alumni, and also K-12 educators and families. Find out the actions this organization is taking. Sign a letter fighting for higher education, here:
3. Rise Up Legal Defense Network is offering free legal defense to federal workers who have lost their jobs. They are seeking federal workers who need legal advocacy, volunteer attorneys, and volunteer HR specialists. The rest of us can support this important work by passing this information along to those who need it, or through financial donations:
Thanks for a small break in a sometimes dark and crazy world.
Thanks for sharing this Mary Ellen. Amid the current chaos and trampling on the rule of law, it was nice to "hear" your measured voice. As an aside, Point Reyes will always have a special place in my heart - my first date with my wife of nearly 52 years.