Angst, staying vigilant, doing something

Donald L. Hammen is a longtime south Minneapolis resident, and serves on the All Elders United for Justice steering committee.

It is becoming important for me to ground myself before I write. At the end of the day, Stories and Journeys is me paying attention to my internal knowing, being still and true to myself. With this as my base line there are other things that ground me that I listed in the March Stories and Journeys. This month I have added another item to my list. That item is a daily meditation called Body Scan that I learned years ago at Common Ground Meditation Center located at 2700 East 26th Street. It is a community meditation center dedicated to the practice of mindfulness.

ANGST
March 28. My feet along with a ride from neighbor Judith take me to the Elder Voices (Telling Our Stories/Sharing Our Journeys) meet up at Turtle Bread. Everyone (Judith, Randy, Jim, myself and Silvia) agreed on one word to describe how we are feeling/experiencing our lives in Trump's America. That word is angst. Especially so when it comes to one important question.
Did you receive your Social Security check/deposit this month? Increasingly as I interact with other elders this is the question that gets asked. I feel like my very existence is under attack for working hard and earning that benefit. Where Social Security is concerned I have identified five sources of information that I receive. One word I'm starting to see with greater frequency is COLLAPSE in reference Social Security due to the hostile take over of the Social Security Administration by Elon Musk.
Recently my feet along with a ride from my friend and former co-worker Samuel enabled me to make my way to the Social Security Administration field office at 1811 Chicago Ave. I went there just to see if it's still open. The last time I called the Social Security Administration I was on hold for so long I decided to make my way to the field office. Every time I have gone there I have always been helped. Since I made that stop I have learned that there was a protest outside that office. As in protesting the closure of field offices in general.
The executive director of Social Security Works is now saying the collapse is inevitable. He is recommending that people get paper copies of their file in case they have to document their benefits. The secretaries of Arizona and Michigan have created one-page forms on their websites for people to register their complaints coming from their experiences with the current Social Security Administration.
This is where I get to state that the next gathering of Elder Voices (Telling Our Stories/Sharing Our Journeys) will be Friday, April 25, 10-11 a.m. at Turtle Bread, 4205 E.34th Street. Look for the table with the Elder Voices sign.

STAY VIGILANT
Everyone seemed to leave the March Elder Voices gathering with a sense of needing to stay vigilant in these uncertain times. Staying vigilant to ways, subtle and obvious, the Trump/Musk regime is impacting our lives. For me, I am staying focused on what's happening with Social Security, efforts to privatize the postal service, and the Minnehaha Food Shelf in light of Trump's immigration policies. So, dear reader, what changes have you noticed in your daily life as a result of the Trump/Musk regime impacting your lives? Tell yourself, tell others or tell me via tesha@tmcpub.com. And if you have read this far you have taken the plunge into the river (flow) of life experiences that is Stories and Journeys.

DO SOMETHING
Southwest High School grad, designer of the Minneapolis flag, and labor activist Louise Sundin showed up at the monthly meeting of the Minneapolis Regional Retirees Council (AFL-CIO) recently with a list events/actions that people could participate in to resist/push back against the actions of the Trump/Musk regime. I have been able to participate in two protests at the State Capitol thanks to transportation supplied by my feet and Seward residents Tom Beer and Rita Doucet. One was protesting the proposed privatization of the postal service. The other was the massive Hands Off protest. And I contributed financially to the Minnehaha Food Shelf.

A WELCOME EMAIL FROM SOUTHWEST
CONNECTOR READER CHRISTIAN NEWMAN
Somewhere in the Southwest Connector archives, there exists a photo of me at Tao Organics in Uptown handing a copy of the Southwest Connector to Christian Newman while he was working behind the counter. He is responding to an email I wrote to him on Jan. 6, 2023 at the time of his last day of employment. In this email, he celebrates what he calls our friendship at Tao. He tells me that the Southwest Connector gets delivered to the building where he lives and that he enjoys reading Stories and Journeys. There is more, but those are a couple of highlights. Christian is 20 something. I am 80. Interesting.
In gratitude for your readership.
Donald L. Hammen is a longtime south Minneapolis resident, and serves on the All Elders United for Justice Board of Directors.