Sometime in the 1990s, we think, is when the previous owner of our house remodeled our kitchen. In their remodel, they decided to replace the floor with a white linoleum (free screams all around) and the sink with some kind of a composite plastic material–also white. Both have been a battle for us to keep decently clean since we moved in.
The kitchen sink, in particular, was starting to gnaw on the edges of my attention this past week. Both sides were was looking dirty and stained from our regular dish washing, cooking and daily living. I tried my first line of defense: a magic eraser. Well, Cinderella’s fairy godmother must’ve borrowed the magic because it did diddly squat. I tried soaking the ‘worse’ side with a dusting of leftover oxi-clean and the other, cleaner side with some Barkeeper’s Friend. Nadda. My husband and I then pulled out the big guns. We used several, full scoops of oxiclean and filled both sinks up with hot, steaming water. We let it soak for a few hours while we went about our day and took our doggo out for a winter, moonlit walk . Badda bing, badda boom–clean sinks!
In Studio Ghibli’s film, Spirited Away, the main character Chihiro works at a bath house for spirits to replenish themselves. In one of the rising action bits of the film, Chihiro helps a particularly odoriferous and slimy spirit to a private bath. The owner mistakenly calls it a ‘Stink Spirit’ and assigns Chihiro to deal with the unpleasant task. In Chihiro’s clumsy efforts, the room overfills with bath water and their most expensive herbal soak solution. She soon discovers, however, that the spirit needs greater help than just a bath: a ‘thorn’ is stuck in its side. Chihiro and the other bathhouse workers help to remove the thorn, which turns out to be a bicycle’s handle. Once the bicycle is removed, a pile of garbage erupts out of the spirit, overflowing into the bathhouse. The stink spirit was actually a river spirit, polluted by human garbage and litter. At the end of the scene, the river spirit floats above the debris and sighs, thanking Chihiro for her help. He flies at high speed out of the bath house, laughing–he is clean, wild and free again. As a river spirit should be.
This scene replayed in my mind while I looked at our now clean sinks that had soaked in a stronger solution of their own. It made me think of how dirty and polluted I have felt American society has become in recent years. About the murders I have been seeing replaying on the news from Minneapolis, the blatant disregard for human rights. The political treachery, the Epstein files, and all the other evil, long-hidden parasitic worms being yanked out of the ground and into the light. This administration is infested with them. And it is cowardly.
And I think, my gosh, I need to soak like the river spirit–this feels disgusting, wrong and abominable. How is our country going to recover from this–how do we keep sane and keep fighting while not becoming polluted by swimming around in this refuse, day in and day out? How do we effectively clean our spirits?
The next No Kings rally is March 28th. I think it may help me feel a little more sane, and help my soul feel a bit cleaner. Will you be there?
A.R. Clayton 