Smoked In

Backyard denizen. They like to hang out here in the summer.

With fires surrounding our entire valley, this summer seemed like a bizarro version of cabin fever. The dystopian kind. The air in town was tinted brown on some days, often coupled with a creepy, thrashing wind. People went about with N-95 masks, myself included for several days. Even though Hayleyanne’s Hideaway is up in the hills a bit, this was the first summer we’ve ever had to run air conditioning steadily for an entire month.

So we stayed indoors a lot. I ripped up my office and painted it True Peach. It’s still in the finishing stages, as I am planning for the first time ever in this location, to display a good portion of my fabulous chicken collection.

I wasn’t completely idle as regards writing during this time. I’m (finally) getting close to the first draft of Meteor Falls, honing my skills writing letters to the editor of our local paper. I’ve compiled a number of them, so here are a few of my favorites as collected from the Medford Mail Tribune archives:
 
May 10, 2017
Adjust tinfoil hats
After reading the Point/Counterpoint article in Sunday, April 30 paper, I respectfully suggest that authors Haskins and Burnett have their tinfoil hats readjusted.
“The number of workers employed full-time has risen by 1.3 million since Trump was elected in November” bears some review. What happened between Nov. 9, 2016 and Jan. 20, 2017 cannot be attributed to the current sitting president. Also, bear in mind that the holiday season accounts for temporary jobs being added to the workforce. Trump had little to do with that, either.
Trump’s recent, somewhat fanciful claim that he “created 600,000 jobs” since taking office can also be dismissed by a few simple facts from the U.S. Labor Department: A total of 219,000 jobs were created in February and 98,000 in March. That makes a total of 317,000 new jobs.
L.J. Zinkand
Medford
 
July 19, 2017
Trump supporters puzzling
After reading Bill Hartley’s letter of July 15, I would like to suggest that he and his fellow Trump supporters re-acquaint themselves with some basic concepts most Americans share:

• Democracy
• The Bill of Rights
• The Constitution

I find it puzzling that Trump’s supporters can continue to bolster his well-documented lies, multiple cases of adultery and his willingness to reduce taxes for the wealthiest over decent health care, all while pointing a finger of hatred at the rest of us. I also have to wonder how the rights of the unborn can so greatly outweigh those of his fellow citizens.
L.J. Zinkand
Medford
 
October 30, 2017
Please stop bickering
Yes, sexual predators are creepy and need to be confronted. And I respect the recent national conversation that has ensued. What I find annoying is the attempt to politicize it. One thing to remember is this: Politicians do not always behave the way we want them to, whether they’re Democrat or Republican.
So could we please stop arguing about which one of them did what? This endless bickering does not serve in any way other than to divide us.
Do you have children? Grandchildren? What’s really important to you? The environment they will inhabit as adults? Making sure everyone’s educated enough to be a contributing member of our society? Working together to maintain a strong, intelligent, prosperous country? Or are we bound to descend into interminable disagreement and chaos? We have a choice.
L.J. Zinkand
Medford
 
December 16, 2017
Had us going
Regarding Doug Dusenberry’s letter of Saturday, Dec. 9, our household wants to thank him for his attempt at comic relief. Gosh — he really had us going for a moment there. At first we thought he was threatening many of us in a public forum.
L.J. Zinkand
Medford
 
February 20, 2018
Yes, we'll rant
In response to Marilyn Hermant’s letter of Feb. 8, yes, we will continue to rant as long as there is a racist in the White House, thank you very much.
Many of us listened, with a fair degree of distaste, to your heroic leader conducting his endlessly absurd “birther” campaign during the Obama years. And if anyone happened to have missed any State of the Union speeches during that time, with many Republicans behaving like sourpusses, we can supply a number of them.
L.J. Zinkand
Medford
Note: In line 3, my original letter read, "...to your heroic leader..." Somehow, the "y" was removed, so I reinserted it. 
 
May 27, 2018
Trump’s tweets
In the MT’s May 21 issue, Doug Dusenberry suggests not only that you publish our president’s tweets, but that you “try harder” and “dig deeper.”
Although we do not subscribe to cable TV or Twitter, we would have to bury our heads in sand to avoid Trump’s tweets. We see several of them a day on network news and on the internet. On Monday mornings it’s hard to avoid the torrent of puerile weekend “tweet storms” we’d rather not have to revisit in the paper.
But, as a faithful subscriber to the MT, I thought I’d put in my 2 cents and dig deeper on your behalf, to better understand the person who is currently acting as our President. What I found was a profusion of Trump endeavors prior to his presidency: Trump Airlines, Trump Vodka, Trump Mortgage, Trump Casinos, Trump Steak, Trump Magazine, and Trump University. All ended in failure, some with continuing litigation.
When I add to these the more than 3,000 documented lies he’s told our country since his inauguration, I have to ask Mr. Dusenberry, have I dug deep enough?
L.J. Zinkand
Medford
 
July 7, 2018
Lake of fire awaiting?
I’ve been noticing a tendency for some of our more deeply devoted Christian brethren to threaten us liberals with a “burning lake of fire” if we don’t conform to their ideology. In the small Lutheran church I attended as a child, I cannot remember feeling constrained by this kind of wrath. My most vivid memory is a banner that read “God is Love” hanging next to the altar. So I consulted a King James Version Bible and found that indeed, in Revelation 21:8, such a lake imperils the very worst of us (as in “whoremongers”… ahem-hem?).
Considering we have a leader with the apparent emotional maturity of an 8-year-old who excels in glorifying despots, alienating our closest allies, ginning up his base with falsehoods and emboldening hateful extremists, with no real plan to recover several thousands of missing children, I have to wonder if we’re already hovering dangerously over that burning lake of fire.
LJ Zinkand
Medford
 

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