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Written by John Michael Thornton

Category: Work

Saying Black Lives Matter doesn't discount all other lives any more than saying "Save the Rainforest" means burn the redwood forest instead or "Save the Whales" suggest f*ck the dolphins. It calls attention to the way that black lives and black people have been treated as less important than white people. It calls to attention the systemic racism of our justice system. It shines a light on the racism of so many American citizens and it does it in a way that many people, even people who are not racist (or don't like to think of themselves as racist), find uncomfortable.  
We should be uncomfortable. When we who would be allies to the oppressed and mistreated step back from language that makes racists uncomfortable, even something as simple as saying all lives matter, when it is incredibly obvious that all lives do not matter equally in our society, we are giving aid and comfort to the racists. We are letting the "mildly" racist feel smugly self justified in their better and more inclusive phrasing.

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Written by John Michael Thornton

Category: magic

The last few days I’ve felt called to take walks in the cemetery.  

Yesterday I was overcome with joy and gratitude at the beauty of that quiet space and I gathered those feelings in my chest for a moment and then released them outward in a burst of energy.  A few moments later I felt a response rush back to me with the feeling of dozens of feather-light hands on my low back and under my arms lifting me up.  My feet never left the ground but my step was light and my stride was long.  It only lasted a few moments, but I ran effortlessly until I crossed through the front gates of Tod Cemetery and came back to the regular world.

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Written by John Michael Thornton

Category: family

I am celebrating Pride this year by caring for my husband as he recovers from neck surgery and I am extremely grateful for what the LGBTQ+ Pride movement has achieved.  When Joe and I met it was still illegal for us to marry.  If he had needed surgery or ended up in the hospital when only family was allowed to visit, I would have been denied entry.  I would have had to hope some caring soul would break the rules for me – risking their job – to let me see, comfort, and care for the man I love.

Blessedly, the rules have changed.  We can marry.  We are legally a family.  Change and progress keeps happening; just this month the Supreme Court ruled that employees cannot be fired for their sexual orientation.  We are still fighting for equality, but it keeps getting better.

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Written by John Michael Thornton

Category: magic

Psychometry is a strange ability that can take you by surprise.  I rarely practice psychometry, and I don’t think I have ever used it professionally, but sometimes it gives you unexpected glimpses.  Today I was repacking a box of stuff from my grandmother – old recipes, family pictures, a partial genealogy and a few of my Grandfather’s personal effects and an old pocketknife caught my eye and I thought I’d toss it in my desk drawer, for those times I need a knife and can’t find mine. I was stopped in mid movement by a rush of warmth and strength, a feeling of hands wearing the handle smooth with routine tasks and the warmth of rattling in a pocket.  Layered over that was my grandmother opening letters and packages before putting the knife away.

I barely knew my maternal grandfather, he died when I was four, but It was an unexpectedly perfect moment to feel his presence again.