July 1, 2018

SMCDFA members and friends,

My heart is breaking as I report the very sad news that our beloved Carole Dorshkind, one of the founding members of San Mateo County Democracy for America, passed away at about 1:00 this afternoon.

She had been receiving palliative care for the past few weeks at a wonderful hospice facility, Mission House, in San Mateo.  She was surrounded at the end by her loving family -- her husband Larry, and her children, Julie and Craig.  

While her passing was not sudden or unexpected, it is devastating nonetheless.

Carole had many visitors over the past few months, as she continued her valiant battle against cancer, and she appreciated each and every visit, and every message of love and support.

The family soon will be announcing plans for a memorial to celebrate her amazing life.

Ashleigh Evans

They say this vision will come to be:

Our coasts engulfed by rising sea,

A sea bereft of fish and fowl,

Against whose storms we can but howl.

While inland, raised by high degree,

Fire rages far as eye can see,

The fire a mirror of hell itself,

No refuge found, not even wealth.

What will they say, those left in pain,

Their lives destroyed by greedy gain?

Will they curse our care belied,

Or is there time to turn the tide?

~

Ashleigh Evans - December, 2017

***

“Final Analysis”

 ‘Twas the night before finals and all through my head

 Danced a random assortment of all I had read:

 Photolyze, hydrolyze, pH and redox

 Primary substrate, microbial detox

 Sine, log, exponent, quadratic equation

 Hormone and enzyme, gene complementation

 Ribosome, lysosome, phagocytosis

 Must I really know what shape deoxyribose is?

 Though this cognitive processing trashed my night’s rest

I wished good grades to all! May we all pass this test!

~

Deborah Meckler - December, 2017

***

Trumped up Climate change -

We need some climate change,
Don’t complain.
The storm in D.C. is out of control.

It’s not in reasonable range,
I do maintain.
The storm in D.C. is very strange.

But narcissists that be in charge,
Doubled by sociopathic needs,
Will trip up, surely, very large.

And he who shall not be named,
His disasters we should heed.
He surely can be blamed.

We follow the money,
That’s for sure.
Five hundred billion’s a lot of honey.

End the sanctions
So his buddy Putin
Happy he’ll be putting.

And to the scaffold of impeachment
It must surely lead,
Get the Twitter fool on that barge.

~

Marshall Dinowitz - December, 2017

 ***

 We, The People

On January 21^st, we gathered from wherever we dwell,

And with our hats and signs, our crowds did swell.

At the airports, we denounced the travel ban as controversial,

And we pushed in California to get healthcare universal.

We cheered as the caucus grew on Climate Solutions,

And marched for science against greenhouse gas pollutions.

Our hopes grew with every resignation,

Because it got us closer to fascism’s ruination.

We labored to articulate our Democratic Values,

So as to avoid more electoral snafus.

As we rise to defend the constitution,

We are thankful for the warriors in Our Revolution.

So say – We, the People.

~

Flavia Franco - December, 2017