5/3/2023

My Dear Friend & POTUS, JRB,

            Does hosting folks at the WH ever get old? Do you ever wish you could just spend a few weeks eating stir fry with Jill in your sweatpants?

            I am asking because last night I went to the Chancellor’s House for dinner. It’s not the WH, but it’s not my house either. We had about 24 people at the dinner table, served by wait staff. Chancellor May (GSM) & his wife were gracious hosts, even though GSM had spent the day getting briefed by the FBI & deciding to close down the campus from 6PM – 6AM. BTW, he assured me that the police had a person under surveillance as gathered evidence in order to charge him in the murders of our Davis neighbors.

            The dinner was to honor Barbara Brandon-Croft (BBC), 1st Black woman to have a nationally syndicated comic, Where I’m Coming From. My colleague, Darnell Degand, who studies the potential of comics as an educational resource, engineered BBC’s visit to campus. He invited me as one of his guests to the event. I felt honored.

            I hope you are in your best form for tonight’s WH dinner with the Combatant Commanders & that the debt situation does not preoccupy you too much. Please take the opportunity to ask Admiral John C. Aquilino of the Indo-Pacific Command about the situation in Burma.

            He may tell you about the Kason Festival aka Vesak, which marks the birth, enlightenment & death of Gotama Buddha. In more peaceful times, people would assemble at the local Maha-Bodhi tree at the pagoda & engage in a water ritual to keep their faith alive. As is the custom on this day, the junta released 2,135 prisoners, far fewer than the more than 23,000 they released in 2021.

Let’s hope that Gen Min Aung Hlaing heeds Antonio Guterres’ message for Vesak to “reach out to bridge differences, rise above narrow self-interest, & work together in solidarity for a more peaceful world for all.”

BYBS,