Parents Visit and Sibling Visit, Getting Sick Under Stress, and Writers and Artists Dumped by the NEA

Three siblings and Glenn – My brothers Chuck and Mike and me and Glenn

Parents Visit, Sibling Visit, and Getting Sick Under Stress

A few days into my visit with my parents, which I posted about last week, and after a somewhat stressful few weeks (heat, emergency dental work, a cancer scare, and family stuff)—I started to feel terrible, and sure enough, my immune system was down, and I’d caught another virus. Still, we got in one last visit to a farm—this time, Bob’s Corn and Pumpkin Farm in Snohomish—which was fun even if it was too early for pumpkins and even apples. Then the rest of the time the folks and I rested.

Then, the day the parents flew out, we had a surprise (but welcome) visit from my older brother, also from Cincinnati, who’s helping my little brother fix up his house for sale. Having three of us Hall siblings in the same place at the same time is practically like a meteor sighting it’s so rare, so I enjoyed the hang-out time, even if I was a bit under the weather the first few days of the visit. That’s the pic at the top of the post. I know I am lucky to have good relationships with my brothers, and I felt very lucky to be able to spend some time with them.

The NEA Has Decided to Terminate NEA Grants to Artist and Writers

Another piece of bad news (which has to be read through the filter of even worse news, of course) came through—people who applied for the NEA got the notice that their applications would not be read and NEA grants to writers and artists were cancelled. America just keeps getting greater, right?

I have never won an NEA grant—but it seems like another chip at the arts and academia and anyone that might not tow the party line from the Republicans. Writers and artists are notoriously not easy to control, and that’s not okay in Trump’s fascist government, as it hasn’t been with many dictators—Chairman Mao, Lenin, Hitler, Pol Pot. I had a friend post on Facebook that her lecture at an Air Force academy was cancelled after someone looked up her work online—although the people who invited her were apologetic, they were not in control. So, this government really is afraid of artists’ speech. Standing up to power has always been our job, but now there are more consequences. I posted on Facebook that Trump’s government is going to make all the talent with the means and energy to move leave the country, and someone commented that that was the point. Trump doesn’t want anyone here who dares to criticize.

Even though I’ve been fighting my health problems, I also feel like I’m fighting the anti-art forces as well, like a video game where you fight one boss, and six more appear. You know, writers and artists are already struggling to earn a living in a society that wants its art for free (or created by AI). Every little bit that’s taken away is a little bit of a chance for an artist to breathe easy, financially, for a little bit. I am struggling with how to earn a living as a writer and survive in a society that doesn’t value the sickly, or the disabled, and I am both. I mean, almost all of our writing heroes were sickly—not all, but a lot. I hope to keep writing, keep publishing, keep teaching and reading and mentoring. Maybe my body and my country throw up obstacles that sometimes feel insurmountable. As we head into a new season (though it’s still in the nineties here for some reason), I am looking for hope.