Votes and Veggies

I miss the Democratic convention.  We recorded the PBS version and watched it the next day, fast forwarding through some of the commentary to get to the good stuff.  It made for an exciting week.  There was a lot of good stuff. Michelle Obama, of course. As they say in French, “Elle n’a pas mis les gants.” I just love her, and her necklace. The role call of votes from delegates all over the country. That was my particular favorite. Mayor Pete. Governor Cuomo. Colin Powell. Al Franken was interviewed on PBS as part of the coverage.  We missed you Al. Jimmy Carter. President Obama.  And the nominee, not a gifted speaker by nature, did very, very well. Sincere and actually talked some about policy and issues.  Decent.  He’s made mistakes, but no one can have been in public life for so many years without making them. He will build a great team, of that I’m sure. He will begin the very long process of putting the pieces back together in this broken country if he gets a chance and a Congress he can work with. I know who I’m voting for.

Z has already said that he will not live in this country if the orange one is re-elected. I agree, though I don’t say it with as much conviction as he does.  I like the idea of living abroad, but in truth, being an expat would be hard for me.  I have always believed that it is possible to work within the system to make society better. I’ve tried to do this in various ways. Volunteering on campaigns, phone banking, going door to door to register voters, or help vote down a proposition (in California), or support a candidate, or to get out the vote. Now, I admit I’m not so active, but I did just sign up to assist one local candidate for the State Legislature in Maine whom I know personally and think would be great in government.  She’s a social worker who works at the local elementary school where I subbed. And a mom of two and a wife.  I taught her little 4-year old named after a hawk in Pre-K and the candidate, Lydia Crafts, was the first person in the lunchroom to talk to me, an outsider.  When I found out she was running for office as a Dem State Representative, I was thrilled. If only there were more like her. So I’m going to address envelopes for her. She has an idea that people might actually open hand-addressed envelopes. It’s a small town – it might be true. This effort on my part is not enough, but maybe I’ll gear up to do more.

So now it’s a new week.  The Republicans start their convention. I took a glance at the key note speakers. It’s dismal, to say the least. Family of the incumbent and members of the current administration’s inner circle.  I guess no one else had anything good to say.  I asked Z if he was going to watch any, and he said, he just couldn’t stand it. I agree – but I think I need to try. I need to try to understand what they are thinking. I believed that in acknowledging the darkness of the times in which we are living, that the Dem convention was actually hopeful. I’m more cynical than I have ever been, but I was inspired.

So depressing that all we heard from Washington was a Tweet that told us how “gloomy” the Dems are. I do not now have, nor will I ever have, a Twitter account.But I have to admit, the Trumpers are not gloomy.  When I drove by the county Republican headquarters on Saturday, there was a whole crew of people out waving Trump signs and banners on the side of the road. They looked excited. I was driving, so I forgot to check out if they were wearing masks.  Here in Maine, people are still really great about mask wearing, so I can’t say for sure.  But they were not socially distanced. There are signs galore in front of the building. When I passed the Dem headquarters, there was a discreet little sign, barely visible. My next door neighbor has put up a MAINE WOMAN FOR TRUMP sign. She’s not a bad person at all, though I don’t know her well.  She’s a nurse.  Maybe that means she’s part of a union?  Not sure here in Maine.  She takes in rescued dogs and trains them before they go to their “forever homes”.  She hikes and bike rides and goes cross-country skiing down the paths in our neighborhood in winter. I’d like to sit down with her, and ask her why, how can she support this man, but I know I won’t.

I myself have not put up a sign, just a Sara Gideon sticker on my car. I just didn’t want to alienate my Republican neighbors, of whom there are many.  I’ll try to watch a bit of their convention and be as cheerful as possible. 

As to the veggies.  The one good thing going on is that the garden is producing lots of them. Though for some reason, the tomatoes, while still tasty, are not delivering as much as last year.  Food for thought.