Heavy Anger, Scorn, Derision, & Love Sweet Love

Editor’s Note: Anna Caudill and I go way back. We met at Christ Presbyterian Academy. She was our art teacher. I mostly commandeered chunks of Sophomore and Senior English. Our students were and are a beautiful bunch of people which includes the kids of some very powerful elected officials who, in recent years, target their own constituents. We’ve had occasion to reconnect at various protests demanding that they stand down. The image above is something Anna described to me following a recent effort outside Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital. She had ideas for this logo:

I’m amazed by her courage. As readers of Dark Matter will know, Anna’s a Tennessean who steps into the fray when others steer clear of conflicts they can’t imagine engaging in a way they can work to their own personal advantage. Those others include people Anna and I have known personally for decades. In her public exchanges with John Rich, Dan Darling, David French, and more than one local pastor, I’ve sometimes gotten the impression that she has more respect and affection for them than they have for themselves. Before reading our interview, please read what she recently set down for The Tennessean. A preview:

Gov. Bill Lee, Senator Blackburn and state Sen. Jack Johnson, and Rep. William Lamberth know what happened to Boston Children’s Hospital…They know this is no responsible way to represent Tennesseans or the children who come from all over the world for care at one of America’s top ten pediatric hospitals…There is nothing helpful, moral, or remotely Christian about knowingly endangering over 100,000 children’s lives this year to debate the healthcare choices of five patients. What is the end goal of disrupting the relationship between disabled and sick children and healthcare providers?…Children’s hospitals are not a political battleground…I expect my elected officials to keep children safe from domestic terror threats, not to provoke them for the sake of winning a midterm election.

So Anna, what are we looking at here?

This is a block print I created over the course of a few days by way of expressing some heavy anger. It takes the main piece of the Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital logo, this sort of pair of figures that always reminds me of the paper doll chains my great-grandmother used to make when I was very young. And it adds defensive gear normally donned by children in times of war, namely, a gas mask & a protective helmet. I tried to evoke the child-like writing from the logo as well.

When did this idea first occur to you?

It flashed in my mind when I first heard Matt Walsh spout lies about Vandy’s gender affirming healthcare. The logo has a familiarity because I’m mother to two disabled young men, & we’ve spent a considerable chunk of time at Vandy Children’s Hospital. The other part—the war gear—has haunted me since one of my loved ones covered the Russian bombing of a children’s hospital in Ukraine. The thought of disabled children, in particular, trapped in the attack because they couldn’t independently leave, haunts me. At first, I was shocked to imagine that cruelty was the GOP vision for Tennessee. Then I realized domestic terror attacks on Children’s hospitals was what TN GOP was willing to risk for a midterm election.

It was a little easier to commit the image in my mind to paper, because it’s always easier to borrow an established visual language like a logo, and it goes farther toward understanding—when I start from a point that is understood visually by our community to signify a safe place for the most vulnerable children, then I can trust my community gets what I’m saying is in danger. It’s didactic, it’s on the nose, not much room for other interpretations…but in this instance, that’s vital. I didn’t want to leave room for avoiding the fact of terrorism here. I think as a medium, rough & ready block prints can do that, & the more visual agitation, the more I hope people are unsettled. 

What would you like to see happen? 

I would like to see more people who are not necessarily trans or LGBTQ+ adjacent to realize not only how disgusting it is that a group of people who live on our taxes & claim the blessings of a faith they refuse to engage meaningfully would harness the power of the disinformation industry and the state to endanger children in hospitals. I want people to consider that if this is the bar that is set for a midterm, there are few sacred spaces—I’m thinking perhaps family—that TN GOP has left to destabilize. 

I would like to see people speak out, and also to talk about this with their pastors & elders & doctors…what is to be the end of this diabolical alliance of “conservatism” with never ending disinformation? I’d like for people to call in to their lawmakers involved in this not to rant, but to ask for a meeting with staff & to get specific about the harm to constituents. I’m glad to help anyone interested prep for that or know where to start .I’d like to see people like Dr. Bill Frist & Bob Corker, who have benefited from their time in public service, to speak up. It’s wild to me that Marsha Blackburn publicly laments the passing of TN’s former 1st Lady Honey Alexander, who launched TN’s Healthy Children Initiative, out of one side of her mouth, while simultaneously dismantling safe healthcare for TN children out the other side.

What do we owe elected officials who target hospitals?

Scorn & derision, for starters. And organized response. They are using lies and outrage to consolidate power, undermining the most trusted community-based helpers we have. I’m reminded of a conversation I had once with a yak herder’s son in Tibetan region of Sichuan province. As we walked toward a monastery for a tour, a Buddhist monk ahead of us was talking on a cellphone, and he casually flicked a candy wrapper to the ground. It was so out of keeping with the faith, right? I looked sideways at our guide, afraid that to ask would embarrass him. With a sigh, he said, “When Chairman Mao ignited the Cultural Revolution, he destroyed the people’s trust in everything. Teachers, doctors, family, Buddha, each other…until the only thing left to trust was Mao. We forgot how to take care of each other.”

I don’t think snappy answers to the social media statements these officials have their team post is enough. Jack Johnson deserves to be voted out. He’s abused our trust far too long. Same for Bill Lee. They've attacked school teachers, librarians, now hospitals. To what end? I’m not interested in debating the details of any officials profession of faith. I know them by their fruits.

If you had the power to book anyone you want to play the Ryman auditorium this weekend (for yourself & anyone you care to invite) who would it be?

I think I’d want to book Emmylou Harris & Willie Nelson, & have them do the Wrecking Ball & Teatro albums. Of course Daniel Lanois would have to be there.