Dear Dean Magazine: November 2022
Dear Dean Magazine - Vol. 11, Nov. 22, 2022 by Myron J. Clifton www.deardeanpublishing.com/subscribe
Dear Dean Magazine - Vol. 11, Nov. 22, 2022
by Myron J. Clifton
www.deardeanpublishing.com/subscribe
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DEAR DEAN FEATURED BLOGS<br />
"Democrats Kicked Ass" &<br />
"Thanksgiving Dinner"<br />
BLUE WAVE<br />
WWW.DEARDEANPUBLISHING.COM<br />
GUEST SPOTLIGHTS<br />
"Seven Things Progressives and Moderates<br />
Need to Learn from Each Other"<br />
& "Colorful Communication"
THE GOODS<br />
3<br />
8<br />
11<br />
16<br />
Hello from Myron<br />
<strong>Dear</strong> <strong>Dean</strong> Featured Blog:<br />
"Thanksgiving Dinner"<br />
by Myron J. Clifton<br />
<strong>Dear</strong> <strong>Dean</strong> Featured Blog:<br />
"Democrats Kicked Ass"<br />
by Myron J. Clifton<br />
Myron's HIT or MISS<br />
19<br />
24<br />
Featured Spotlight<br />
Colorful Communication<br />
by Katya Juliet Lerner<br />
Featured Spotlight<br />
Seven Things Progressives<br />
and Moderates Need to<br />
Learn from Each Other<br />
by Rich Boatti<br />
29<br />
TOTM<br />
by Portia McGonagal<br />
32<br />
Movie Review: Black<br />
Panther: Wakanda Forever<br />
& My Favorite Things<br />
Streaming Right Now
WELCOME!<br />
Happy <strong>November</strong>, dear readers!<br />
As we enter into the final few months of the year, we<br />
are as busy as every trying to make this magazine<br />
worthy of your eyes and attention.<br />
We just passed 800 Subscribers and should pass 1,000<br />
by end of year. We’re only a few months old so we are<br />
extremely excited you have joined us here in this space<br />
for thoughtful essays, hot topics, and voices and<br />
opinions from across the political, racial, and gender<br />
perspectives.<br />
FROM<br />
MYRON J. CLIFTON<br />
<strong>Dear</strong> <strong>Dean</strong>, the magazine continues to grow, and with<br />
our growth comes exciting opportunities for novice<br />
writers just starting out, people with something to say,<br />
and professional writers who want to expand their<br />
audience and perhaps write something different than<br />
what they normally write.<br />
This month’s Guest Spotlight showcases the broad tent<br />
of the democratic party and how progressives and<br />
moderates are more aligned than it can seem.<br />
Submitted by Rich Biotti who outlines 7 Ways<br />
Progressives and Moderates are Alike. It is a thoughtful<br />
piece that we believe you will enjoy.<br />
Our featured blogs this month are Democrats Kicked<br />
Ass - A look at the recently concluded Midterms, and<br />
Thanksgiving Dinner. Also - a deep dive review of the<br />
outstanding new movie, Black Panther: Wakanda<br />
Forever.<br />
All your other favorites are here – Hit/Miss, What’s<br />
Streaming, and Book and podcast recommendations<br />
and more.<br />
We will continue to publish articles written by<br />
contributors from a wide spectrum voices, and cover<br />
domestic politics, entertainment, sports, family,<br />
travel, and other topics contributors want to share.<br />
If you want to contribute, please do!<br />
We require contributions to be between 500 – 1k<br />
words and be fully edited. Include a 1–2-line bio,<br />
photo of yourself/headshot, email address and/or<br />
social media handle, as well as any photos<br />
appropriate to your article. Please send via WORD<br />
or Goggle Doc to: myronclifton@gmail.com<br />
No “not safe for work” articles will be accepted<br />
In addition, if you wish to place an ad – also free – for<br />
my ad page, please send to same email above.<br />
Advertise your new book, podcast, or your business.<br />
We appreciate you as a reader and we thank you for<br />
From Twitter, our Thread of the Month comes from<br />
sharing the magazine to your social media network,<br />
Portia McGonagall, who dives into the Angry Black<br />
friends, and family.<br />
woman trope, the damage it does, and how it is far too<br />
often weaponized by white women toward Black<br />
And we look forward to seeing YOUR contribution<br />
women. Portia’s thread is heartfelt, incredibly<br />
soon.<br />
informative, and doesn’t mince words. Give a read,<br />
you’ll be glad you did.<br />
~ Myron<br />
DEAR DEAN MAGAZINE | p.3
DEAR DEAN MAGAZINE | p.4
Website | Bookshop | Twitter<br />
Myron J. Clifton is an author of novels Jamaal’s Incredible<br />
Adventures in the Black Church; Monuments: A Deadly<br />
Day at Jefferson Park; BLM-PD: Revenge was Inevitable;<br />
Her Legend Lives in You: The Untold Story Honoring the<br />
Goddess & Our Daughters; and short story collection, We<br />
Couldn’t Be Heroes, and Other Stories. Also check out his<br />
weekly podcast, Voice Memos, his FREE digital magazine,<br />
<strong>Dear</strong> <strong>Dean</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong>, and his weekly blog at both Medium<br />
and <strong>Dear</strong><strong>Dean</strong>.com. Myron lives in Sacramento, California,<br />
and is an avid Bay Area sports fan. He likes comic books,<br />
telling stories about his late mom to his beloved daughter<br />
Leah, and talking to his friends.<br />
Advertising / Contributions<br />
words@deardeanpublishing.com<br />
Loving Myron J. Clifton's Content?<br />
D E A R D E A N M A G A Z I N E , W E B S I T E ,<br />
B L O G S A N D B O O K S A R E D E S I G N E D B Y<br />
K A T Y A J U L I E T L E R N E R<br />
S H O W Y O U R S U P P O R T W I T H<br />
A C O N T R I B U T I O N T O D E A R D E A N !<br />
DEAR DEAN MAGAZINE | p.5
You’ll discover:<br />
How to have difficult conversations<br />
about white supremacy, racism, and<br />
white privilege<br />
How to listen to criticism without<br />
defensiveness<br />
Why it’s harmful to ignore race or<br />
claim to be colorblind<br />
How to expand your racial justice<br />
circle by joining groups led by Black<br />
women and cultivating a group of<br />
like-minded allies<br />
Racism can only be defeated if white<br />
people educate themselves and actively<br />
engage in antiracism work, especially in<br />
their inner circles.<br />
With this book, you’ll learn how to<br />
change from someone who defends and<br />
protects racism to someone who fights<br />
against it. And you’ll become an example<br />
to others that true allies are made, not<br />
born.<br />
LECIA MICHELLE<br />
Lecia Michelle has been a librarian for over 15 years, working in both universities and<br />
public libraries. She is also the founder and leader of “Real Talk: WOC and Allies for<br />
Racial Justice and Anti-Oppression.” Lecia is a writer w, an avid reader, and pursuer of all<br />
things related to anti-racist work and activism.<br />
DEAR DEAN MAGAZINE | p.7
D E A R D E A N B L O G<br />
Author’s note: I am sharing a Thanksgiving story from<br />
my youth when my mom cooked a full meal for the<br />
family, forgoing our traditional visit to our<br />
grandparents. In thinking about her meal that day I<br />
mostly recall the delicious basics – turkey, stuffing,<br />
mashed potatoes and gravy, potato salad, green<br />
beans, etc.<br />
New and or experimental dishes are good… for a<br />
family meal in April, but not Thanksgiving, when the<br />
tried and true are needed to settle our stomachs and<br />
warm our memories of family, love, sharing, and<br />
giving thanks.<br />
Mom decided that she would prepare the entire<br />
Thanksgiving meal herself, stay home with her own<br />
family, and relax on the holiday for once.<br />
Up to this point Mom and our family visited her inlaws<br />
for Thanksgiving every year. And it wasn’t just<br />
Thanksgiving. It was Christmas, Easter, the 4th of<br />
July, birthdays, and various church related<br />
anniversaries and special occasions.<br />
This year was going to be different.<br />
It was the 1970’s and Mom wanted to do her own<br />
thing and stay home. She said the in-laws and others<br />
were invited, of course, and that this was a chance<br />
for them to be the guests and to relax while Mom did<br />
all the preparation, cooking, and clean-up. She was<br />
I am thankful for my mom all those years ago ending a<br />
tradition of visiting grandparents and continuing<br />
tradition by preparing exactly what we were<br />
expecting.<br />
I am thankful for my daughter, Leah <strong>Dean</strong>, who is<br />
with her own grandparents this Thanksgiving, and I<br />
am thankful for my friends who are enjoying their<br />
own families.<br />
Finally, I am thankful for my readers of my blog –<br />
whether you read from WordPress, Twitter,<br />
Facebook, or Instagram – thank you for traveling<br />
along with me as we create our own traditions.<br />
Happy Thanksgiving to you!<br />
-M<br />
DEAR DEAN MAGAZINE | p.8
M Y R O N J . C L I F T O N<br />
when we were together, but this seemed different<br />
somehow.<br />
excited, she said, because she was a good cook and<br />
knew how to prepare all the dishes – some with her<br />
own twist – but most others in the traditional sense.<br />
After a few weeks of back and forth Mom’s idea was<br />
shot down and plans were being made to do what we<br />
always did and go to her in-laws/our grandparent’s<br />
home as we always did.<br />
But a day or so later Mom came home from grocery<br />
shopping and as I started helping her put food away<br />
she calmly said, “We are staying home for<br />
Thanksgiving; I’m cooking the Thanksgiving meal.”<br />
“You are?!? Do you know how to cook all those things?<br />
And the desserts? The turkey? Dressing? Potato<br />
salad!?”<br />
She made small talk and asked me to help do small<br />
tasks but mostly she asked me to go outside and play. I<br />
didn’t want to, though, preferring to just sit and watch<br />
her. Most of the time she’d let me but not this time.<br />
She kicked me out and she continued preparing<br />
through the night and after our family went to bed.<br />
It was now Thanksgiving and Mom was up early and<br />
cooking all day, while we played outside building up<br />
our appetites and eagerly waiting for dinner. By now<br />
there was no more talk of missing out on our<br />
grandparent’s meals because the house smelled like<br />
Thanksgiving.<br />
Mom was happy that her favorite uncle and his wife<br />
came over. Mom loved him most of all her uncles and<br />
he loved her. They came dressed up – suit and hat for<br />
him, beautiful dress and hat for her. They stayed a<br />
“Yes, yes, yes, yes, and of course. I make the potato<br />
salad anyway, she said, and I make all the other dishes<br />
all year long. Child, please,” she ended with laugh.<br />
There were more disagreements but Mom had made<br />
up her mind and that was that. I was excited and didn’t<br />
hesitate to say so, combatting some of the comments<br />
made around the house by my brothers that they<br />
wanted to still go to our grandparents and that they<br />
were gonna miss all the good stuff.<br />
Undeterred by the comments, Mom just kept planning<br />
and getting ready. She even said she’d invited some of<br />
her family and that she’d hoped they’d show up.<br />
The day before Thanksgiving Mom was busy in the<br />
kitchen chopping vegetables and working hard. She<br />
had that look of determination that looked good on<br />
her. She was beautiful, as always, and her body was in<br />
a state of constant movement that was hard to look<br />
away from. I never looked away from her anyway<br />
DEAR DEAN MAGAZINE | p.9
D E A R D E A N B L O G<br />
she just laughed and smiled.<br />
while but said they couldn’t stay long, or even eat<br />
much, since they had to go home for their own<br />
Thanksgiving dinner for their kids, Mom’s cousins.<br />
Mom was happy they’d come and she and her uncle<br />
and aunt had a good long hug before they left.<br />
It was late-afternoon when Mom came outside to tell<br />
us dinner was ready.<br />
Finally.<br />
Mom was having a moment and her smile was bright<br />
and magnetic. She didn’t gloat though, preferring to let<br />
her three hungry boys who were devouring every<br />
morsel tell the story for her.<br />
There were few leftovers that Thanksgiving.<br />
In the years that followed we’d spend more<br />
Thanksgivings at our grandparents and they were<br />
wonderful, though none matched that one perfect<br />
Thanksgiving when Mom prepared every dish by<br />
herself.<br />
All the friends dispersed and my brothers and I went<br />
inside.<br />
The meal was laid out on the table. All the dishes here<br />
there: Beautiful golden brown turkey, dressing that<br />
smelled delightful, greens that were steaming hot,<br />
mashed potatoes that were creamy and just lumpy<br />
enough, green beans, that I would ignore, dirty rice<br />
that would taste as good as grandma’s, her famous<br />
potato salad, and of course macaroni and cheese that<br />
had the crust that was required.<br />
There was sweet potato pie, and a bunt cake of some<br />
sort.<br />
And more.<br />
But mostly it was a golden brown turkey that looked<br />
and smelled wonderful that set the whole table off and<br />
drew the most attention.<br />
Mom asked us to clean our hands up and we did and<br />
once we got around the table, Mom said a very brief<br />
blessing and we started eating.<br />
It was a beautiful meal. Every part of it was delicious. I<br />
asked Mom if she could cook like this every day and<br />
DEAR DEAN MAGAZINE | p.10
DEAR DEAN<br />
featured<br />
B L O G
F E A T U R E D B L O G<br />
You read it right.<br />
Despite consistently incorrect polling and<br />
pontificating by Nate Silver and his Five-Thirty-Eight<br />
polls, CNN and MSNBC talking heads, and by your<br />
least favorite neighbor, the Democratic Party kicked<br />
ass in President Biden’s and Vice President Kamala<br />
Harris’ first midterms.<br />
It is looking to be one of the most progressive and<br />
successful midterms for Democrats in generations,<br />
and it solidifies the dynamic duo as good for<br />
Democrats, good for the nation, and good for<br />
international allies.<br />
They did better than every democratic president since<br />
maybe the 1930’s or so. The Blue wave overwhelmed<br />
the red wave that barely reared its ugly head.<br />
Of course there were seemingly winnable races that<br />
were lost — Cheri Beasley comes to mind — and there<br />
are other races that got national attention but were<br />
not competitive — Stacey Abrams, Val Demings, Charli<br />
Crist, and Beto O’Rourke comes to mind, and that will<br />
always be the case when there are swing states and<br />
targeted states.<br />
But those losses, as much as they hurt today, should<br />
not be what defines this midterm election.<br />
What can be used to define the <strong>2022</strong> midterm election<br />
is this:<br />
Candidates who embraced President Biden and Vice<br />
President Harris won, and those who shunned them,<br />
lost. It was just that simple.<br />
Gretchen Whitmer each embraced the President and<br />
Vice President and won. And dozens of House<br />
candidates loudly embraced the successes and<br />
Biden/Harris and also find themselves celebrating<br />
today.<br />
Tim Ryan shunned them and lost. And others who<br />
seemed to be lukewarm to the team lost as well.<br />
Running away from the Biden administration and its<br />
two years of success was a dumb move and proved<br />
fatal to those candidates. They learned a lesson but<br />
selfishly did so at the expense of democratic voters in<br />
those states who stand to lose rights, voting access,<br />
additional healthcare, and more.<br />
We are looking at two more years of progressive<br />
policies, strengthened protections for women,<br />
children, elder, workers, unions, immigrants, students,<br />
and small businesses. We are looking at dozens more<br />
judges, more focus on energy, jobs, and the economy.<br />
We are looking at two years of growing successes that<br />
will lead to the President and Vice President heading<br />
into reelection stronger than any prior democratic<br />
president in generations.<br />
There will be plenty of time to interrogate all the<br />
results, losses, and missed opportunities so that the<br />
party can re-tool for 2024.<br />
But for now, it is a moment to celebrate and embrace<br />
John Fetterman, Maggie Hassan, and Mark Kelley<br />
the fact that democrats have what many consider the<br />
embraced them and won. Tony Evers, Jared Polis,<br />
best team, the most progressive team, and now the<br />
Michelle Lujan, Josh Shapiro, Kathy Hochul, Ned<br />
most successful midterm team that it has ever had.<br />
lamont, Maura Healey, Wes Moore, Tim Waltz, and<br />
DEAR DEAN MAGAZINE | p.12
M Y R O N J . C L I F T O N<br />
Mass media will try to spin democratic wins into<br />
losses and tell you why winning is bad for democrats<br />
and President Biden, but good for republicans.<br />
But ignore them just like voters ignored them telling<br />
us for months how republicans would win..<br />
everything. They promoted republican talking points<br />
ad nauseam, and then expressed shock as results<br />
started coming in favorably for democrats.<br />
The republican-owned network and cable news<br />
companies, and the republican-owned mass media,<br />
newspapers, and social media sites tried so hard to<br />
effect (infect?) the election by elevating republicans<br />
and downplaying democrats look like the fools they<br />
are now. Had they all listened to Christopher Bouzy<br />
and his Bot Sentinel https://botsentinel.com/ they<br />
would have known what we all knew — Democrats<br />
were poised to win.<br />
Bloop.<br />
Again and louder for those who believe polls that<br />
overwhelmingly favor older white voters while<br />
ignoring, well, everyone else: President Biden and<br />
Vice President Kamala Harris are successful,<br />
respected, celebrated and, based on midterm results<br />
— continue to be the most successful president and<br />
vice president ever.<br />
Celebrate it today, and get to work tomorrow,<br />
democrats. You earned it, and your candidates earned<br />
it.<br />
By Myron J. Clifton. Blog originally published on<br />
Medium & www.deardean.com, <strong>November</strong> 8, <strong>2022</strong>.<br />
DEAR DEAN MAGAZINE | p.13
CLICK TO MEET<br />
THE HOSTS!<br />
MYRON<br />
JENN<br />
Two longtime friends have informative, yet<br />
brief discussions about multitudinous topics.<br />
NEW EPISODES ON FRIDAYS!<br />
DEAR DEAN MAGAZINE | p.14
MYRON J. CLIFTON & JENNIFER VANLAANEN'S PODCAST<br />
VOICE MEMOS REVIEWS<br />
Listen Now!<br />
Stay<br />
Shallow!<br />
Like listening to your BFFs<br />
June 2, <strong>2022</strong> <br />
kjlerner
MISSlist<br />
MYRON'S<br />
HIT OR<br />
HIT<br />
Democrats national strategy during the midterms.<br />
Chairman Jaime Harrison took over the moribund<br />
organization and despite the networks refusing to have<br />
him on their shows, was able to rally democratic voters<br />
to give record money which allowed candidates to<br />
compete all of the country, flip republican seats, gain 4<br />
governorships, and hold the House and gain a majority in<br />
the Senate.<br />
MISS<br />
Network, cable news, and major newspapers all loudly<br />
predicted a “red wave” during the midterms and basing<br />
their predictions on… nothing. They were creating<br />
stories and polls that were obviously biased and<br />
wrong. Once again they all look like the fools they are.<br />
DEAR DEAN MAGAZINE | p.16
MISS<br />
Elon Musk. Lol, that clown overpaid for Twitter,<br />
spending $46b, including $13b of his own money<br />
in Tesla stock, and immediately proved, again, he<br />
doesn’t have a clue on how to run a company. The<br />
CEO fired half the employees, then asked some to<br />
return the very next day as advertisers fled. Then<br />
he implemented paid for service, paid for<br />
verification, and then pulled those back after tens<br />
of thousands fake accounts that impersonated<br />
famous people, large corporations, and government<br />
officials – including the president – took over the<br />
service.<br />
MISS<br />
The Justice Department continues to beg, cajole,<br />
and politely ask that former president Donald<br />
trump return stolen documents.<br />
MISS<br />
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis inept handling of the<br />
latest hurricane in Florida lead to 125 deaths (and<br />
counting). The deplorable governor momentarily lost<br />
his faux bluster and antagonistic approach to the<br />
President who visited and showed the governor,<br />
Florida residents, and the nation how a real leader<br />
acts during times of natural disaster.<br />
HIT<br />
Dusty Baker’s Houston Astros hit the ball often and<br />
hard enough to win their second World Series<br />
championship. And this time without cheating (Dusty<br />
wasn’t part of their cheating team in 2017). Dusty<br />
becomes the oldest manager, 73, to win a title.<br />
MISS<br />
Netflix, HBO, and other streaming services glorifying<br />
serial killer Jeffry Dahmer. They need to stop and<br />
give the family peace and relief.<br />
DEAR DEAN MAGAZINE | p.17
COLORFUL<br />
COMMUNICATION:<br />
Extending Your Emotional Vocabulary<br />
by Katya Juliet Lerner<br />
Words have been wired in our brain to trigger both<br />
emotions and memories. When we hear a certain word or<br />
series of words, our brains reference from the knowledge<br />
we understand about that word, as well as any past<br />
experiences we may have had with those words.<br />
Yes, words have their "official" definitions. But more<br />
importantly, they hold personal meanings -- personal<br />
definitions which can be exceptionally difficult to escape<br />
over time.<br />
From a neurological perspective, the "voice in our head"<br />
repeats what we hear back to ourselves over and over on<br />
a subconscious level in our brain. So while we might have<br />
only heard something once, for example, we feel like we<br />
have heard it more often as we begin to feel the affects of<br />
those words hundreds of thousands of times over. This<br />
begins the cycle of negative self talk.<br />
DEAR DEAN MAGAZINE | p.19<br />
You're not good enough. Not smart enough. Too fat. Too thin.<br />
So annoying. So stubborn. Not funny... the list goes on.<br />
Why is this important? What may have been a one-time<br />
meaningless comment on a Tuesday afternoon from your<br />
old co-worker, could have been the trigger that initiated<br />
a cycle of depression, anxiety, self-consciousness and<br />
self-doubt because our human tendency for negative<br />
self-talk amplified that one instance into thousands and<br />
thousands.<br />
To add to that mess, our understanding of words may be<br />
interpreted differently than intended by the speaker as<br />
context and delivery play a major role in how words are<br />
experienced by the receiver.<br />
These are some of the reasons why people begin to argue<br />
in relationships. People misinterpret information<br />
exchanged, and while it could be tone or context related,<br />
many times it can simply be because that individual has
had a previous experience with those words and<br />
already decided that they are either positive or<br />
negative and reacts accordingly - or because their own<br />
neurological "echo" has made a word or comment hold<br />
significantly more weight than it should.<br />
The idea is to grow and evolve in your relationships<br />
and have a better understanding of yourself and<br />
feelings along the way. If you can communicate more<br />
clearly, you may be able to stop future arguments all<br />
together and save relationships from deterioration.<br />
I believe this initially helped us remember threats and<br />
danger in historical times, but now it tends to<br />
contribute to poor mental health and arguments as<br />
opposed to keeping us from touching a hot fire as<br />
children, for example. So - what can you do?<br />
The best way to lessen the risk of miscommunication or<br />
falling victim to the cycle of perpetual negative selftalk<br />
in your own life is to expand your own emotional<br />
vocabulary. Start learning how to communicate with<br />
clarity and intention by widening your own emotional<br />
vocabulary and using words that most accurately<br />
represent your feelings.<br />
There are many resources available online to improve<br />
and extend your emotional vocabulary.<br />
Here is a link to start.<br />
Begin using more descriptive words in your<br />
relationships for faster resolution and see if it makes<br />
a positive difference for you!<br />
Think of words as crayons and communication as art –<br />
we are limiting what we can draw by only using a few<br />
colors out of our complete colorful crayon box.<br />
When two people in a relationship are arguing, they<br />
may use common words like “I feel angry, hurt or sad.”<br />
But those are actually very broad top-level terms that<br />
often don’t begin to scratch the surface of the emotion<br />
you are truly feeling at that moment. If you dig deeper<br />
– by using more colorful communication – you realize<br />
that you are not actually feeling angry and sad, but<br />
rather rejected and afraid - and this can open up new<br />
potential for resolution and understanding.<br />
The more emotional / colorful vocabulary words you<br />
begin to use, the better you can communicate with<br />
others and receive feedback without feeling the need<br />
to respond defensively.<br />
By using more of the colors in your crayon box, it can<br />
cause you to ask others to also use more of theirs, as<br />
you begin to notice how often the same are words are<br />
used over and over around you. Together, you may get<br />
to the root cause of your issue faster by using more<br />
accurate and descriptive emotional words. Hooray!<br />
DEAR DEAN MAGAZINE | p.19
BLM-PD<br />
BLM-PD<br />
BLM-PD<br />
BLM-PD. BLM-PD. BLM-PD. BLM-PD<br />
BLM-PD<br />
In the not too distant future, the US has been taken over by white nationalists, and<br />
the institutionalized racism that has underscored the country’s entire history has<br />
once again been codified. California has seceded from the US, and a band of strong<br />
women plan to start the next civil war following the death of their friend at the hands<br />
of the police. This is BLM-PD.
LIFE, LIBERTY,<br />
& SOMETHING<br />
LIKE HAPPINESS<br />
Rory Dexter looks for love in all<br />
the wrong places, will working on<br />
a Presidential campaign change<br />
his luck or is all fair in love and<br />
politics?<br />
GREG HOWARD JR<br />
Comedian, podcast presenter, author, actor, entrepreneur, and political commentator,<br />
Greg Howard Jr, is best known as the host and creator of the hit podcasts DON'T MAKE<br />
THIS WEIRD, THIS IS NOTANENDORSEMENT, 30 Questions With..., and Your Life the<br />
Mixtape. Greg's forays into the world of writing include the best-selling memoirs HI, I'M<br />
THE UGLY FRIEND and DON'T MAKE THIS WEIRD: A YEAR IN THE LIFE, and the<br />
recently released work of fiction: LIFE, LIBERTY, & SOMETHING LIKE HAPPINESS.<br />
DEAR DEAN MAGAZINE | p.22
FOOD + POLITICS<br />
BY CLAUDIA RENEE WALTERS<br />
This recipe journal is a short collection of dishes that helped Claudia cope with unbearable<br />
grief, American politics, and personal radical change during an unexpected pandemic. Each<br />
chapter features one recipe and personal story designed to warm the heart, provoke<br />
thought, and invite the reader to recall their special memories with food.<br />
Claudia Renee Walters is an independent consultant living in California. Before becoming selfemployed,<br />
she worked as an administrator within some of the nation's largest institutions. She<br />
holds a Bachelor's Degree in Theatre and a Master's Degree from NYU in Education &<br />
Theatre.<br />
Follow<br />
Renee<br />
Order Online
G U E S T S P O T L I G H T<br />
Seven Things Progressives and Moderates<br />
Need to Learn from Each Other<br />
<br />
by Rich Boatti<br />
In American politics, there is one basic elemental fact<br />
that defines the political landscape more than anything<br />
else: there are more of us than there are of them.<br />
Democrats have won the popular vote in seven out the<br />
last eight presidential elections. Democrats have a very<br />
broad coalition and much more popular policies than<br />
Republicans. The only reasons Republicans are even<br />
competitive are because of anti-democratic flaws in the<br />
American political system like the Electoral College and<br />
gerrymandering, and because the Democrats’ big tent is<br />
too susceptible to internal division.<br />
In this article, I hope to argue against the division of<br />
Progressives and Moderates so we can keep the big<br />
tent united going into the <strong>2022</strong> midterm elections and<br />
2024 Presidential election. Democrats are the last and<br />
best hope of stopping fascism from taking over<br />
America, so this is deadly serious. Without further<br />
adieu, here are seven things Progressives and<br />
Moderates need to know about the Democratic Party,<br />
and themselves.<br />
1. Progressive Ideas Are Good for the Country- and<br />
Popular<br />
The modern Democratic Party (since 1932) has<br />
historically done well when it enacted progressive<br />
policies. Even after the huge blue wave of 1932, the<br />
Democrats expanded their congressional majorities in<br />
the midterms of 1934 because of the popularity of the<br />
New Deal. People who disagree with this premise might<br />
point to the 1966 (after LBJ’s Great Society) and<br />
2010 (after Obamacare and Dodd-Frank) midterms,<br />
but 1966 was dominated by dissatisfaction with the<br />
Vietnam War and in 2010 the main pillars of<br />
Obamacare hadn’t yet taken effect.<br />
And furthermore, the polling data is clear. 70% of<br />
Americans are in favor of Medicare for All. 2/3 of<br />
Americans want to expand Social Security. 75% of<br />
Americans think wealthy people should pay higher<br />
taxes. 62% of Americans are in favor of raising the<br />
minimum wage. 69% of Americans think the US<br />
should switch to renewable energy. 55% of<br />
Americans support Black Lives Matter.<br />
All of this means that Democrats should reject the<br />
notion that they have to water down a bold,<br />
progressive agenda to appeal to the “center,” because<br />
with polling numbers like these, even “Centrists”<br />
support progressive ideas even if they don’t explicitly<br />
identify as progressive.<br />
And this is the perfect segue to the next point...<br />
2. The Biden-Harris Administration has been Damn<br />
Progressive<br />
Much like it took a nationalistic hawk like Nixon to<br />
open up China, Biden has used his moderate<br />
credentials to pass a very progressive agenda, and<br />
that has helped Democrats’ popularity. The American<br />
Rescue Plan saved the economy and drastically<br />
DEAR DEAN MAGAZINE | p.24
R I C H B O A T T I<br />
reduced child poverty. The Infrastructure Law<br />
invested heavily in rail, mass transit, electric charging<br />
infrastructure, and lead pipe removal while requiring<br />
good wages and union labor as a condition for a lot of<br />
its spending. Progressives have been relatively<br />
ambivalent about the CHIPS and Science Act, but the<br />
“Science” part of that law commits $200 billion to<br />
research and education over the next decade, which<br />
is a big deal. The Inflation Reduction Act is the largest<br />
climate law in American history and will basically<br />
ensure the United States meets its commitments<br />
under the Paris Accords; it also allows the federal<br />
government to negotiate drug prices covered by<br />
Medicare, which ends one of the worst greedy abuses<br />
of Big Pharma. The PACT Act is the biggest expansion<br />
of health benefits since Obamacare. Biden liberated<br />
millions of Americans from crushing loads of student<br />
debt.<br />
And the Biden-Harris Administration has had several<br />
other progressive wins that the media has essentially<br />
ignored:<br />
First and foremost, Biden freed the children from<br />
cages. Now families seeking entry to the United<br />
States have ankle remote tracking technology<br />
pending their immigration hearings, instead of being<br />
locked up and tortured by the fascists at ICE and CBP.<br />
Biden also essentially ended the US’s program of<br />
drone warfare. Biden ended the wars in Iraq and<br />
Afghanistan. Biden also removed all of the unionbusters<br />
Trump appointed to the National Labor<br />
Relations Board and thus removed a key roadblock to<br />
the expanded mass unionization we are now seeing.<br />
Essentially, Biden has been an incredibly progressive<br />
President and every Progressive and Leftist who “held<br />
their nose” while voting for him in 2020 should be<br />
proud of what that helped accomplish.<br />
(attribution: Twitter, @Perhapsalto)<br />
3. Centrists and Never-Trump Republicans are Fickle<br />
and Should not be Catered to<br />
One thing we have learned from the first 2 years of<br />
Biden’s Presidency is that Progressives are<br />
unquestionably more loyal Democrats than Centrists.<br />
Bernie and AOC might criticize elements of Democratic<br />
legislation, but their decisive votes are never in doubt.<br />
On the other hand, Manchin and Sinema are willing to<br />
and have tanked large portions of Build back Better,<br />
including raising the federal minimum wage and trillions<br />
of dollars in social spending like the child tax credit,<br />
universal pre-kindergarten, and free community college.<br />
Sinema in particular seems to think her constituency is<br />
Mitch McConnell instead of the Democratic voters who<br />
elected her. Representative Henry Cuellar is a centrist<br />
who makes disingenuous attacks on Kamala Harris and<br />
votes against major Democratic legislation.<br />
A lot of people think “moderate” and “centrist” are<br />
interchangeable terms, but they are vastly different.<br />
Moderates are within the middle of the Democratic<br />
Party, while Centrists are at the rightward fringe of the<br />
Democratic party and are essentially Republicans who<br />
are forced to identify as Democrats to get elected in<br />
their respective jurisdictions.<br />
Similarly, too many Moderates view never-Trumpers like<br />
Liz Cheney and Adam Kitzingberg as heroes. Let me<br />
state this unequivocally: they are not heroes. Yes, they<br />
have done the bare minimum in standing up to Trump’s<br />
fascism, but otherwise they have taken horrible<br />
DEAR DEAN MAGAZINE | p.25
G U E S T S P O T L I G H T<br />
positions like opposing voting rights legislation and<br />
the Inflation Reduction Act. They are also anti-choice,<br />
anti-immigration, anti- LGBTQ rights, and anti Black<br />
Lives Matter legislation. Despite their stance on<br />
Trump, they are still mostly terrible politicians.<br />
4. Moderates Need to Learn the Difference Between<br />
Progressives and Abstentationist “Leftists”<br />
In real life, Progressives want to move the Democratic<br />
Party to the left in primaries, but almost always support<br />
whoever the Democratic nominee is. On the contrary,<br />
Abstentionist Leftists do hate the Democratic Party and<br />
do not support Democrats in general elections.<br />
Examples of these types of people are trolls like Glenn<br />
Greenwald, Brihanna Joy Grey, and Ryan Knight. Even<br />
though they supported Bernie in 2016 and AOC in<br />
2018, they have now turned on them because Bernie<br />
and AOC are Progressives who strongly support the<br />
election of President Biden and other Democrats.<br />
Speaking from personal experience, when certain<br />
toxic elements of Moderate Democrat Twitter see<br />
that I identify as a progressive, they wrongly assume I<br />
hate the Democratic Party and don’t vote for<br />
Democrats in general elections, when in reality I have<br />
voted AND volunteered for every Democratic<br />
Presidential nominee since 2004. And I know I am not<br />
the only person this happens to.<br />
On a macro level, this same phenomenon often has<br />
Moderates and Progressives at war with each other<br />
more than with Republicans. Kamala Harris and<br />
Elizabeth Warren are not enemies. In fact they are<br />
good friends who highly respect each other: Harris<br />
refused to endorse Biden in the Primary until after<br />
Warren dropped out, and Warren was the first<br />
prominent Democrat to endorse Harris in her 2016<br />
Senate primary, even cutting an ad for her. Their<br />
respective fan bases should show themselves similar<br />
levels of respect that these two Democratic leaders<br />
do to each other.<br />
All of the hate Bernie, AOC, and other Progressives<br />
now get from Abstentationist Leftists should be<br />
counteracted by a similar measure of reduced hate from<br />
Moderate Democrats.<br />
5. Moderates are not Inherently more Electable than<br />
Progressives<br />
There is a groupthink phenomenon that in order to get<br />
elected in competitive elections, Democrats need to<br />
nominate Moderates. This is wrong. There are plenty of<br />
examples of Moderates losing winnable elections, like<br />
Terry McAuliffe in 2021, Hillary Clinton in 2016<br />
(although there were other reasons for this such as<br />
Russian interference and misogyny), Bill Nelson in<br />
2018, and John Kerry in 2004.<br />
Similarly, there are plenty of examples of Progressives<br />
winning competitive elections, like Reps Katie Porter<br />
and Antonio Delgado flipping competitive house seats<br />
in 2018, and New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy<br />
becoming the first Democratic New Jersey Governor to<br />
win re-election since 1977. On a related note, while he<br />
won re-election in 2018, Centrist Andrew Cuomo<br />
underperformed the other statewide dems on the same<br />
ballot, Kirsten Gillibrand, Leticia James, and Tom<br />
DiNapoli by about 10 points. Kathy Hochul’s polling<br />
struggles in New York also highlight this phenomenon.<br />
The reality is that general election voters value<br />
authenticity more than identification as a moderate or<br />
progressive, so Democrats shouldn’t be afraid of<br />
DEAR DEAN MAGAZINE | p.26
R I C H B O A T T I<br />
nominating Progressives as long as they are authentic<br />
candidates.<br />
6. Progressives Need to Remember the Black Voters<br />
are the Base of the Democratic Party<br />
There is no demographic group that is more loyal to<br />
Democrats than Black voters. With all due respect to<br />
college-educated white voters, who to their credit have<br />
largely chosen to reject electoral manifestations of white<br />
supremacy (A/KA the Republican Party), white<br />
Progressives need to remember and center the<br />
importance of Black voters with their policy agendas.<br />
This means not minimizing the importance of things like<br />
environmental justice, lead abatement, early childhood<br />
education, support for HBCU’s, and policing reform. This<br />
also means not rejecting the choices Black voters make<br />
in primaries with talk of “DNC conspiracies,” or writing<br />
all moderates off as wealthy, white suburbanites, and<br />
not referring to largely Black Southern Democrats with<br />
offensive terms like “low-information voters.”<br />
progressives to help craft his campaign promises and<br />
legislative agenda. We haven’t lost an election since<br />
2016 and we are poised to pull off an upset in the <strong>2022</strong><br />
midterms. If we stick together, we can hold the house<br />
and expand our Senate majority to pass the remaining<br />
components of Build Back Better. Vote Blue in <strong>2022</strong>!<br />
Rich Boatti is a Brooklyn-based Progressive activist,<br />
lawyer, and D-list internet basketball star who hates the<br />
GOP with every bone in his body. You can find him on<br />
Twitter, @Roatti.<br />
There is no progressive movement without Black voters<br />
and other voters of color. Full stop. The diversity of the<br />
Democratic coalition is what makes us superior to the<br />
Republicans, and Progressives need to always remember<br />
that.<br />
7. When Moderates and Progressives Stick Together,<br />
We are Unbeatable<br />
Due largely to Russian internet trolls spreading<br />
conspiracies about Hillary Clinton, just enough Leftists<br />
were peeled away from the Democratic coalition for<br />
Trump to squeak out his “victory” in 2016. Since then,<br />
the Democratic coalition has learned its lesson.<br />
Progressives and Leftists have been reminded of the<br />
horrors of Republican rule and Biden made a much<br />
better effort at reaching out to the left side of the<br />
coalition than Hillary did, by inviting prominent<br />
DEAR DEAN MAGAZINE | p.27
Jamaal's Incredible Adventures in the<br />
Black Church by Myron J. Clifton<br />
Before Jamaal's seventeenth birthday, he’s appointed as his preacher uncle’s<br />
designated driver and unwilling personal confidant. Behind the fine outfits and<br />
hats, behind the delicious cooking, Jamaal is exposed to crazy aunties, sexy church<br />
sisters, corrupt pastors, and predator deacons. A good kid who just wants time to<br />
finish his homework and kiss a girl his own age, Jamaal is dragged through the<br />
strange world of the Black church. You best pray for him.<br />
DEAR DEAN MAGAZINE | p.28
<strong>Dear</strong> <strong>Dean</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong> TOTM<br />
TWEET OF THE MONTH<br />
TOTM<br />
#notallwhitewomen<br />
@PortiaMcGonagal<br />
I'm tired. Exhausted, as I know so many are. In addition<br />
to midterm stress, I have #notallwhitewomen fatigue.<br />
It's a chronic condition. The last thing I planned to do<br />
today was another thread but...let's talk about niceness<br />
and some other things.<br />
Specifically, weaponized niceness and silencing tactics.<br />
I've said before that white women want to be liked.<br />
Black women want to be respected. Yes I'm prepared for<br />
the inevitable replies .<br />
The discussion of "niceness" goes hand in hand with this.<br />
Consistently, replies to posts by Black women and those<br />
who stand with us when we speak out are met with<br />
accusations of being "mean" when we are candid; being<br />
"angry" when we are firm; being hostile for speaking to<br />
other adults as adults.<br />
Inevitably the white fragility comes out.<br />
Demands to be "nicer" or "we're all in this together" or<br />
"stop being divisive" etc.<br />
These are all silencing tactics. For centuries, white<br />
women, whose agency and power so many want to erase<br />
or insist is doled out to them parsimoniously by the men<br />
in their lives, have held power over Black and other<br />
women of color.<br />
In parallel, they were praised for their femininity,<br />
treated as the idealized version of womanhood, and<br />
above all, expected to be nice, well-mannered, polite<br />
etc. There were "just things" that "weren't done" in<br />
polite company.<br />
Anger, justified, righteous, EARNED, from the same<br />
centuries of being dehumanized, belittled,<br />
discriminated against, de facto and de jure, is a normal<br />
human emotion, yet despite that, Black and other<br />
people of color have had to manage and contain it lest<br />
there be actual life or death consequences.<br />
I've been done with that for a while.<br />
But what happens when we point to truths, share the<br />
frustration that our lived experiences continue to be<br />
dismissed, and call out the root cause of current<br />
political realities? For Black women, here comes the<br />
Angry Black Woman express.<br />
It's the caboose to the Not All White Woman train.<br />
Always on time.<br />
Speaking for myself, I frankly work triple overtime to<br />
be dispassionate in most of my posts, exactly for this<br />
reason. Been there. Done that. Through school, social<br />
situations, my career.<br />
Expressly because I don't want to give white fragility<br />
any room to lob that accusation.<br />
Well, that ends now. I am angry.<br />
DEAR DEAN MAGAZINE | p.29
TWEET OF THE MONTH<br />
TOTM<br />
I will state that I'm angry. IDGAF if you think I'm angry.<br />
My question to white women who enable their<br />
DEMOGRAPHIC to keep holding ALL women back and<br />
creeping us closer to what the white male nationalists<br />
openly state they want to do to the country is, why<br />
aren't you angry?<br />
Instead, it reverts to "nice" or "kind" in these<br />
discussions. We see it every day. How is it weaponized?<br />
It's the Southern "bless your heart" while meaning "eff<br />
you." It's the erasure of the reasons for our anger. It's<br />
the "Fiddle Dee Dee" mentality of white women’s<br />
favorite movie. It's ultimately, "hush now" and<br />
conditional allyship predicated on white women’s egos<br />
and feelings being assuaged.<br />
It's a silencing tactic because if we persist, then we're<br />
the villains. And IDGAF.<br />
We're talking survival here. I'll fight for mine. The<br />
white women who do this shit?<br />
You're on your own.<br />
(Illustration by Nyanza D)<br />
@PortiaMcGonagal<br />
DEAR DEAN MAGAZINE | p.30
Her Legend Lives In You:<br />
The Untold Creation Story Honoring The<br />
Goddess And Our Daughters.<br />
by Myron J. Clifton<br />
Available on
MY FAVORITE THINGS<br />
streaming right<br />
now...
M O V I E R E V I E W<br />
Black Panther:<br />
Wakanda Forever<br />
It is everything it should be and everything fans want<br />
it to be. Director Ryan Coogler understands the<br />
genre, the audience, and the characters so as a result,<br />
the movie delivers on every level.<br />
Chadwick Boseman is honored appropriately, and we<br />
take the journey with his family and friends, and to<br />
remember the iconic actor and original Black Panther<br />
while trying to find a way forward.<br />
Letitia Write, Angela Bassett (who should be our<br />
Queen), Tenoch Huerta, Lupita Nyong’o, Danai<br />
Gurira, Mabel Cadena, Dominque Thorne, and<br />
Winston Duke matched each other's ability to carry<br />
every scene. This is truly an ensemble cast of stars<br />
and lead players. When each character was on the<br />
screen – they ate and left no crumbs.<br />
As the title character, Letitia Write as Suri met the<br />
moment and handled the pressure of following up the<br />
now legendary Chadwick Boseman with aplomb, care,<br />
and with so much love that by the end she, like<br />
Chadwick before her, was the Black Panther.<br />
A different Panther, but not a less Panther. She was<br />
like the Panther we were introduced to in Civil War<br />
when T’Challa was looking to avenge his father’s<br />
assassination. He was furious, he was deadly, and he<br />
wasn’t interested in negotiation, prisoners, or taking<br />
advice from Avengers.<br />
Likewise, the Suri we are introduced to has pushed<br />
down her grief until it expresses itself with deadly<br />
surety, like her brother.<br />
Her journey wasn’t his journey though, any more than<br />
any younger sibling follows the exact journey of their<br />
older sibling. It was refreshing to see a woman hero<br />
want to use her powers, not have to depend on a man<br />
to teach her to use her powers, and then have no regret<br />
she used her powers.<br />
Tenoch as Namor delivers the kind of performance the<br />
MCU always needs and there's no way he won't be<br />
*thee next marvel star of stars. He was emotionally<br />
powerful, engaging, magnetic, and oozing danger. The<br />
perfect anti-hero that MCU has missed and sorely<br />
needed. Tenoch captures the disdain Namor has for<br />
surface humans and carries the anger of the ancestors<br />
who were literally his family.<br />
He is confident in his powers and abilities as much as<br />
he is in his ability to negotiate with Queen Ramonda<br />
and then Suri. He is cocky because to our knowledge he<br />
hasn’t been tested by an equal. It seems he is quick to<br />
anger until we remember he has been alive hundreds of<br />
years after witnessing the horrors of colonization,<br />
pollution, and human oceanic wars.<br />
The culture and civilization of Namor / N'amor is as<br />
striking as Wakanda and beautifully imagined -from<br />
origin to its modern iteration that rivals the land-based<br />
Wakanda. I wanted more and I am certain Marvel will<br />
deliver more.<br />
The action is fantastic, and the reasons make sense<br />
even if as viewers you don't want it to happen - this is<br />
unique to the genre, but it not only works, but it takes<br />
us to uncomfortable and complex emotions because we<br />
want there to be other options.<br />
The team also honors women who are actualized and<br />
fully in charge of who they are, what they do, and what<br />
they do not do. I think Wakanda in particular goes deep<br />
in this area - beyond wonderful warrior women, and<br />
into intellectual diplomats, counselors, parents, friends.<br />
Watching it I felt tense, nervous, excited, angry, sad,<br />
DEAR DEAN MAGAZINE | p.33
M O V I E R E V I E W<br />
resigned, and full. They deliver it all.<br />
I won't speak for Indigenous Peoples on the depiction<br />
of Namor & his people, but I believe viewers will feel<br />
similar emotions to how Black people felt seeing<br />
Wakanda & its civilization on screen. And maybe more<br />
so since we have actual pre-American Indigenous<br />
history and current people/descendants of the very<br />
real culture. Huerta, who is Indigenous from Mexico<br />
believes Marvel’s adventure into Mesoamerican and<br />
the Aztecs to create the fictional kingdom of Talokan<br />
It resonates and my audience loved it and there was<br />
Oh’s and ah's as it was revealed<br />
Go see it. It is wonderful and you will love it. From the<br />
pre-opening to the very end. If there are kids in your<br />
theatre they will be excited and make noise and that's<br />
pretty cool. There are big scenes and small and they<br />
connect when they should and how they should.<br />
If you loved the first, you'll love this as much if not<br />
more because we get two dynamic cultures to dive<br />
into.<br />
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever ends Phase 4 of the<br />
Marvel Universe and it is fitting to revisit the land, the<br />
people, and loves, loss, and future of the indefatigable<br />
Wakandans.<br />
Fans will always hold a special place in their hearts for<br />
Chadwick Boseman and the original Black Panther<br />
and his iconic performance. And that is entirely<br />
appropriate and special.<br />
Fans will also now find that the new movie, new Black<br />
Panther and new Namor may also settle into that<br />
special place reserved for the best of the best.<br />
Go ahead of let the tears fall because they'll be real.<br />
Chadwick would be proud.<br />
DEAR DEAN MAGAZINE | p.34
What are you<br />
watching?<br />
Let me know!<br />
HULU: The Patient Season 1<br />
Steve Carrell plays a therapist kidnapped by a<br />
serial killer who decided to get help for his…<br />
problem. The thirty-minute episodes cover a<br />
lot of territory as we find out everything about<br />
the serial killer’s activities, fears, desires, and<br />
penchant for violence. It’s a drama but there<br />
are light moments that pulls viewers into the<br />
absurdity of the situation.<br />
AMAZON PRIME: The Peripheral<br />
This science-fiction series does time travel in a<br />
fun way by ruling out physical travel while<br />
allowing consciousness travel but only to the<br />
past. But future humans can “go into” just<br />
about anyone and “use” that person similar to<br />
how we use avatars while playing video games<br />
today. Episodes out weekly on Fridays.<br />
NETFLIX : Love is Blind Season 3<br />
The get engaged before ever seeing your<br />
partner show is back and as bonkers as<br />
ever. Young people interview each other<br />
while in pods that allow them to hear but<br />
not see one another. After a few rounds of<br />
getting to know one another, some of the<br />
men propose to some of the women. Once<br />
they do, they are allowed to see each other<br />
for the first time. Then over the course of a<br />
few weeks the couples get to know one<br />
another before finally attending a wedding<br />
ceremony that is attended by family and<br />
friends. Will they both say “I do” after<br />
saying their wedding vows? Oh boy, the<br />
drama of it all.<br />
DEAR DEAN MAGAZINE | p.35
We Couldn't Be Heroes<br />
Short Story Collection: We Couldn't Be Heroes And Other Stories What if a Black<br />
man could control the weather, God called 911, or aliens took our souls? Would<br />
we notice? Would we care?... Enjoy the entire collection, seven stories in all, on<br />
earth and in space and in any order.<br />
DEAR DEAN MAGAZINE | p.36
Robin Martin, Editorial<br />
The Joyful Warrior<br />
Podcast Network<br />
sayeYO App<br />
Buzzword Consulting<br />
Katya Juliet's Jewel Box<br />
Great Start Initiative
The cosmic chaos caused by a very young star has been captured in the latest<br />
enchanting image from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope. (NASA)