V-Day: Hopes and Fears Surrounding the November 5 Election
Introduction
The fall 2024 issue of Persimmon Tree is available to our readers around the world for three momentous months that include, in the United States, the last weeks of the long and stormy presidential election campaign, the presidential election, and the election’s immediate aftermath. When this issue went “live” on our website in mid-September, the race between the two major candidates was too close to call. Emotions continue to run high, rumors abound, and misinformation and disinformation cloud the issues and threaten to distort the election’s outcome.
We’ve asked our readers to share their hopes and fears surrounding this pivotal election—a contest whose outcome will reverberate globally. We received a host of responses, and we thank all those who took the time to send us their thoughts. We encourage all those whose submissions we were unable to include in the Forum—and all who wish to add to this important discussion—to send your contributions via the Comment window at the end of the Forum.
With thanks and appreciation,
Margaret Wagner
Editor-in-Chief
We’ve asked our readers to share their hopes and fears surrounding this pivotal election—a contest whose outcome will reverberate globally. We received a host of responses, and we thank all those who took the time to send us their thoughts. We encourage all those whose submissions we were unable to include in the Forum—and all who wish to add to this important discussion—to send your contributions via the Comment window at the end of the Forum.
With thanks and appreciation,
Margaret Wagner
Editor-in-Chief
Hope for a Changing World
I hope that the next President of the United States is someone with the inner strength to lead in a way that is without ego. Ego blinds people because they can be so focused on thinking about themselves rather than, in humility, thinking about others and what they can do to help their country and make worthwhile change.
A President who values truth, and gives this in full measure, even in the darkest hour, earns trust and respect and can perhaps motivate people to come together in these challenging times. I hope the next President will be a good judge of people so that those who will advise and support the Administration are given responsibilities that match their skills and experience as well as reflect the values and purpose of the President.
A President who is resilient and can adapt to change, with the central concern of helping and healing people and our planet, would be what I hope for in such a leader. Events are unfolding at increasing speed which may overtake policy at times. Coming together, nationally and internationally, to face challenges such as climate change, disease, food and water security, and thinking about nature and children’s education will be more important than ever. In the hands of the right leader, I would hope for strength and courage to enable positive actions and priorities that benefit all life.
Julia Griffin
Laxfield, Suffolk UK
I hope that the next President of the United States is someone with the inner strength to lead in a way that is without ego. Ego blinds people because they can be so focused on thinking about themselves rather than, in humility, thinking about others and what they can do to help their country and make worthwhile change.
A President who values truth, and gives this in full measure, even in the darkest hour, earns trust and respect and can perhaps motivate people to come together in these challenging times. I hope the next President will be a good judge of people so that those who will advise and support the Administration are given responsibilities that match their skills and experience as well as reflect the values and purpose of the President.
A President who is resilient and can adapt to change, with the central concern of helping and healing people and our planet, would be what I hope for in such a leader. Events are unfolding at increasing speed which may overtake policy at times. Coming together, nationally and internationally, to face challenges such as climate change, disease, food and water security, and thinking about nature and children’s education will be more important than ever. In the hands of the right leader, I would hope for strength and courage to enable positive actions and priorities that benefit all life.
Julia Griffin
Laxfield, Suffolk UK
Since the election of November 5, 2024, most Americans have been living in intense fear. What else is DT, the new president, going to do? How could a convicted felon be president? Why didn’t the law stop him? He’s already made guns a requirement for everyone who voted for him and forbade them for those of us who didn’t. He has given Vladimir Putin, Kim Jong Un, and Xi Jinping each a building in D.C. He has spoken about abolishing Congress and most likely the Department of Justice and the Supreme Court. He will replace them all with himself and loyalists such as his Vice President, J.D. Vance; Marjorie Taylor Greene; and Hulk Hogan. And all hate crime laws were immediately nullified.
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Whew! Wow! What a nightmare. Thankfully, we awoke (if we slept!) on November 6 to find most of the country in a state of euphoric relief as Kamala Harris and Tim Walz were elected. We’re hopeful this administration will pursue a progressive agenda designed to help us as individuals and the country as a whole. With a Democratic president – a woman who is Black and Asian (with a Jewish First Spouse) – progress is inevitable. This new administration, forged by memorable incumbent Joe Biden, reflects the greatness of our democracy and the principles upon which it was built. We are thrilled and so proud that the system works: Now when we claim, “in the U.S. any child can grow up to be President,” it is proven true!
Denise Beck-Clark
Yonkers NY
Denise Beck-Clark
Yonkers NY
Signs, from a suite of photographs by Pam Martin
On November 5, women and their allies break all turnout records across the country. By 11pm East Coast time, Harris/Waltz is declared the winner in a landslide that no one predicted. Rachel Maddow calls these votes “a collective shriek heard round the world of ‘We’re Not Going Back.’
North Carolina, Florida, Georgia, Texas, and Ohio all flip blue, along with the sunbelt and coastal states. Not only do Democrats re-take the House, but every Democratic Senate incumbent wins re-election.
Ted Cruz of Texas and Rick Scott of Florida are easily defeated, along with Marjorie Taylor Greene, Lauren Boebert, and Matt Gaetz.
They all scream fraud but the joyous dancing in the streets drowns them out.
In the first 100 days of the Harris administration, the Senate gets rid of the filibuster, and Congress passes bills restoring reproductive and voting rights in every state. It then enacts a series of guardrails on the Supreme Court, including an 18-year term limit and strict new ethics laws. In protest, Sam Alito, Clarence Thomas, and Neil Gorsuch resign, paving the way for Harris to appoint, and the Senate confirm, their three successors. This creates a 6-3 majority for the liberals, reversing the former configuration favoring conservatives.
Trump escapes to Russia in the dead of night, on the evening before he is scheduled to report to prison. J.D. Vance resigns his Senate seat to write a sequel to Hillbilly Elegy, featuring a childless cat lady. No publisher bites.
Johanna Wald
Dedham MA
North Carolina, Florida, Georgia, Texas, and Ohio all flip blue, along with the sunbelt and coastal states. Not only do Democrats re-take the House, but every Democratic Senate incumbent wins re-election.
Ted Cruz of Texas and Rick Scott of Florida are easily defeated, along with Marjorie Taylor Greene, Lauren Boebert, and Matt Gaetz.
They all scream fraud but the joyous dancing in the streets drowns them out.
In the first 100 days of the Harris administration, the Senate gets rid of the filibuster, and Congress passes bills restoring reproductive and voting rights in every state. It then enacts a series of guardrails on the Supreme Court, including an 18-year term limit and strict new ethics laws. In protest, Sam Alito, Clarence Thomas, and Neil Gorsuch resign, paving the way for Harris to appoint, and the Senate confirm, their three successors. This creates a 6-3 majority for the liberals, reversing the former configuration favoring conservatives.
Trump escapes to Russia in the dead of night, on the evening before he is scheduled to report to prison. J.D. Vance resigns his Senate seat to write a sequel to Hillbilly Elegy, featuring a childless cat lady. No publisher bites.
Johanna Wald
Dedham MA
Watching the film Fly Me To The Moon last month, I cried. Not just over the story of Apollo 11, but the images of Americans watching the trusted journalist, Cronkite, on TVs in living rooms and stores across the country. All sharing the same information. An America proud of her scientists and ingenuity, even as troubles and divisions had been pulling us apart. In 1969, we still had the ability to be civil, respectful, to stand united in awe of what our nation can accomplish when we come together with intention and purpose
As we approach the November election we are far from that 1969. Science and journalism are reviled. Women’s rights and bodies are under attack. The middle class is caught under the boot-heel of a dysfunctional Congress as our wealth shifts from the working/middle class to a handful of individuals and corporations while Supreme Court condones corporate autocracies purchasing our governance.
My hope for the November 5 election is that Americans will rush to vote for candidates of integrity and dignity, public servants who will fight. Fight to restore the rule of law in this country, fight for campaign reform, economic and social justice, fight to preserve our planet, and protect our government of the people, rather than a nation that serves only the Fortune 10.
Do I fear another 1/6 coup attempt? Very much. But I’m hoping that a massive turnout will make that impossible, that the activism of enthusiastic voters will inspire us to be more discriminating in our news consumption, to seek truth and vet opinions. I hope we will move beyond this election to mend the broken familial and community bridges as the infrastructure program mends those of brick and mortar.
Teresa Burns Gunther
Oakland CA
As we approach the November election we are far from that 1969. Science and journalism are reviled. Women’s rights and bodies are under attack. The middle class is caught under the boot-heel of a dysfunctional Congress as our wealth shifts from the working/middle class to a handful of individuals and corporations while Supreme Court condones corporate autocracies purchasing our governance.
My hope for the November 5 election is that Americans will rush to vote for candidates of integrity and dignity, public servants who will fight. Fight to restore the rule of law in this country, fight for campaign reform, economic and social justice, fight to preserve our planet, and protect our government of the people, rather than a nation that serves only the Fortune 10.
Do I fear another 1/6 coup attempt? Very much. But I’m hoping that a massive turnout will make that impossible, that the activism of enthusiastic voters will inspire us to be more discriminating in our news consumption, to seek truth and vet opinions. I hope we will move beyond this election to mend the broken familial and community bridges as the infrastructure program mends those of brick and mortar.
Teresa Burns Gunther
Oakland CA
Always At His Table, Brandon FL, photograph by Suzanne S. Austin-Hill
This election season has been a whirlwind of confusing and emotionally exhausting feelings. Anxiety fills my days and nights. There has not been a time in my 75 years when the stakes have been higher and the differences between candidates so stark. Listening to the acceptance speeches of the nominees for president, it stuns me that anyone, anyone would choose the one nominee over the other. Yet the pollsters predict a close race.
Hanging in the balance are: women’s rights in healthcare decisions, workplace equality, and representation in government. Healthcare equality for all. An end to inequities in schools, and the supplies for learning regardless of zip code, and the banning of books. Repeal of individual, institutional, and societal systems of oppression that impoverish racial and ethnic minorities, relegating them to society’s margins. A just system of taxation that enables the middle class to purchase the necessities of life, and empowers the poor to rise above poverty. The end of injustice in the court systems, racial profiling, and brutality by the police. Contributions by the U.S. to the continuation of war and genocide are anathema to our nation’s principles and values. An end to gun violence. This list is endless.
As an older woman. I long to leave my grandchildren and future generations a country and a world where justice reigns, individual rights matter, and kindness and compassion are the obvious choice over fear and despair. For the love of all we hold sacred, VOTE.
Linda F. Piotrowski
Green Valley AZ
Hanging in the balance are: women’s rights in healthcare decisions, workplace equality, and representation in government. Healthcare equality for all. An end to inequities in schools, and the supplies for learning regardless of zip code, and the banning of books. Repeal of individual, institutional, and societal systems of oppression that impoverish racial and ethnic minorities, relegating them to society’s margins. A just system of taxation that enables the middle class to purchase the necessities of life, and empowers the poor to rise above poverty. The end of injustice in the court systems, racial profiling, and brutality by the police. Contributions by the U.S. to the continuation of war and genocide are anathema to our nation’s principles and values. An end to gun violence. This list is endless.
As an older woman. I long to leave my grandchildren and future generations a country and a world where justice reigns, individual rights matter, and kindness and compassion are the obvious choice over fear and despair. For the love of all we hold sacred, VOTE.
Linda F. Piotrowski
Green Valley AZ
Where does hope go when it’s tired? Mine was born in another century. I was a college student in Buffalo, New York. Civil rights marches foretold a better day. My elders saw the 1950s and ‘60s as an erupting volcano, tearing apart their civil society. But my friends and I saw in those angry years a new possibility of freedom and rights for all people. We saw a new day coming. The President signed the Civil Rights Act. Then hope took a long nap through the ‘70s and ‘80s and ‘90s and we told each other “Two steps forward, one step back,” still believing in a better future, still hoping for it, waiting for it to arrive. We had families and careers, claiming our independence and equal rights. At last, a woman ran for President on a major party’s ticket. We marched and phoned and made signs and laughed, so sure a new day had come. She would fight for all Americans, excluding no one. The joy of election day left us when night came. She lost to a bully who denigrated women and minorities. In shock, we cried. Hope went back to bed. Last Thursday I watched another strong woman take up the mantle of hope. She spoke about making all our lives better, of making the rich pay their share, of letting women make their own choices. Hope drifted from the rafters in colorful balloons. I couldn’t sleep that night. My soul wanted to dance.
Linda C. Wisniewski
Doylestown PA
Linda C. Wisniewski
Doylestown PA
Signs, from a suite of photographs by Pam Martin
My daughters and I watched every moment of the Democratic National Convention. Not every moment of it was full of excitement. Rather, my excitement came from watching the interest the girls have developed in the election. Now, at 20 and 23, they are well-informed and they know the issues that are at risk. My older daughter plans to become a lawyer, advocating for women’s health. My younger daughter is ethnic Chinese and a Division 1 athlete. Racial and gender discrimination are regular challenges to her. As we made our way through hour after hour of the convention, I loved seeing my girls begin to hope that a principled woman might succeed. I loved the hint of their renewed faith in the U.S. I loved knowing that if our candidate wins, my girls might finally understand why I was proud to serve in the U.S. Army.
But what will I say to them if our candidate loses? Will we continue to fear shootings at their universities? Will my husband and I be able to continue funding the rising costs of higher education? Will the girls be able to afford living on their own after they graduate? Will my daughters always have to fear loss of their reproductive rights? If our candidate loses, will my daughters follow through on their threat to become expats? If they do, will I follow them?
Elizabeth Minihan
Woodbridge VA
But what will I say to them if our candidate loses? Will we continue to fear shootings at their universities? Will my husband and I be able to continue funding the rising costs of higher education? Will the girls be able to afford living on their own after they graduate? Will my daughters always have to fear loss of their reproductive rights? If our candidate loses, will my daughters follow through on their threat to become expats? If they do, will I follow them?
Elizabeth Minihan
Woodbridge VA
My mother had an ectopic pregnancy in the 1960s that almost killed her. She was denied critical medical care to remove the pregnancy until a male family member could be located to come down and sign the consent papers. Her signature was deemed insufficient, because she was a woman. If she had died, she would have left eight children under 18 at home without a mother, and a father who traveled for a living.
I’m voting Democratic in honor of my mother.
I have many young women in my family, who I won’t name here, but who needed D&Cs after miscarriages to go on to have the healthy and deeply loved children they currently mother. You probably have them in your family also – it’s not uncommon – it’s just something they haven’t talked about with you.
I’m voting Democratic in honor of the young women in my family.
These are issues that transcend politics: they’re about biology, and the various ways that women need medical care in pregnancy, and that Republican restrictions on abortion endanger. Doctors are afraid to lose their licenses or face criminal action as the price of giving needed care to women whose reproduction is not going the way they had hoped and prayed for.
We can’t go back.
Mom, this vote’s for you.
Linda Falcao
North Wales PA
I’m voting Democratic in honor of my mother.
I have many young women in my family, who I won’t name here, but who needed D&Cs after miscarriages to go on to have the healthy and deeply loved children they currently mother. You probably have them in your family also – it’s not uncommon – it’s just something they haven’t talked about with you.
I’m voting Democratic in honor of the young women in my family.
These are issues that transcend politics: they’re about biology, and the various ways that women need medical care in pregnancy, and that Republican restrictions on abortion endanger. Doctors are afraid to lose their licenses or face criminal action as the price of giving needed care to women whose reproduction is not going the way they had hoped and prayed for.
We can’t go back.
Mom, this vote’s for you.
Linda Falcao
North Wales PA
Dystopia. I’m terrified we might come to live forever in a red world devoid of all other colors. Joy, hope, cheering, and sign-waving do not elect candidates. Writing postcards, making phone calls, displaying yard signs, and putting bumper stickers on cars help, but do not elect candidates. Voting elects candidates. Voting in such numbers that, no matter the underhanded plans of those who would subvert the process, election results cannot be denied. In fifty-five years, I’ve never missed voting in an election. I believe my vote counted. I pray it still does. I pray my vote in this election speaks for those who cannot vote: children killed by gun violence, immigrants, neighbors in war-torn countries, Mother Earth herself.
Many years ago, I worked to elect a friend to the City Council in a nearby town. On election morning, as I drove to the polling place to which I’d been assigned to hold a sign, I cried. After months of campaigning, I realized I could not do the one task he most needed me to do: I could not vote for him. When the polls closed and the votes were tallied, my friend won by 28 votes. If I lived in his town, it would have been 29.
Deb Bowen
Surf City NC
Many years ago, I worked to elect a friend to the City Council in a nearby town. On election morning, as I drove to the polling place to which I’d been assigned to hold a sign, I cried. After months of campaigning, I realized I could not do the one task he most needed me to do: I could not vote for him. When the polls closed and the votes were tallied, my friend won by 28 votes. If I lived in his town, it would have been 29.
Deb Bowen
Surf City NC
This is the first United States presidential election in which I, a Democrat, will be voting intentionally against the Republican candidate! I will also be voting for Kamala Harris, not simply because I’m a Democrat, but because I think her plans are closer to my values about socio-economic justice for all people, and especially for the reproductive rights of women, including, and specifically, making decisions about their own bodies.
States are biased by the politics of their geography. Some decisions require broader consideration. We need federal legislation to ensure women’s legal rights, specifically a woman’s right to choose abortion with medical assistance as appropriate for her health and her circumstances. I appreciate Kamala Harris’s openness and honesty about her views—not simply because she is a woman herself, but because she respects and honors the pain of exclusion any human being of any gender, political party, geography, religion, race or ethnicity feels when robbed of personal freedom for any reason. Any reason.
I know all the pain of such decisions. I once sat with a young woman who took seriously her own right to life and freedom. We wept together, because this is a matter of personal wellbeing of mind, body, and soul. Either way one decides there is profound grief, and need for kind and compassionate guidance from an unbiased guide.
It is neither sin nor crime to choose one’s own good—as an individual or as a nation.
(Rev.) Lyn G. Brakeman
Simsbury CT
States are biased by the politics of their geography. Some decisions require broader consideration. We need federal legislation to ensure women’s legal rights, specifically a woman’s right to choose abortion with medical assistance as appropriate for her health and her circumstances. I appreciate Kamala Harris’s openness and honesty about her views—not simply because she is a woman herself, but because she respects and honors the pain of exclusion any human being of any gender, political party, geography, religion, race or ethnicity feels when robbed of personal freedom for any reason. Any reason.
I know all the pain of such decisions. I once sat with a young woman who took seriously her own right to life and freedom. We wept together, because this is a matter of personal wellbeing of mind, body, and soul. Either way one decides there is profound grief, and need for kind and compassionate guidance from an unbiased guide.
It is neither sin nor crime to choose one’s own good—as an individual or as a nation.
(Rev.) Lyn G. Brakeman
Simsbury CT
Signs, from a suite of photographs by Pam Martin
For me, the November 2024 election has very personal ramifications as a feminist since the 1970s in Berkeley, California. I’ve voted for two women presidential candidates, Shirley Chisholm in 1972, and Hillary Clinton in 2016, and was devastated when this highly qualified, experienced woman was not elected the first woman President of the U.S. The Electoral College vote went to the misogynistic, racist, bombastic billionaire businessman, Donald Trump.
In November, we could have a devastating repeat of 2016. However, I have high hopes Kamala Harris will defeat Trump. As Hillary Clinton said at the Democratic Convention, “What I see through those cracks in the ceiling is freedom, and Kamala Harris taking her oath as 47th President of the United States.”
I am concerned about women’s reproductive rights. During his presidency, Trump appointed three conservative judges to the Supreme Court, which speedily overturned Roe vs. Wade, resulting in devastating consequences for women. I believe women should be in charge of their own bodies, and so does Kamala.
Is America ready to elect a feminist woman, with Jamaican and South Indian roots, raised as a child in Berkeley, a fierce contender who can handle the responsibilities of presidential power, as well as the misogyny and racism that still infects America?
Bill Clinton said, “Politics is a brutal, tough business. You should never underestimate your adversary.” Kamala Harris is a tough, experienced fighter. Get out your checkbooks and credit cards if you want to see the first woman President in the White House!
Judy Wells
Berkeley CA
In November, we could have a devastating repeat of 2016. However, I have high hopes Kamala Harris will defeat Trump. As Hillary Clinton said at the Democratic Convention, “What I see through those cracks in the ceiling is freedom, and Kamala Harris taking her oath as 47th President of the United States.”
I am concerned about women’s reproductive rights. During his presidency, Trump appointed three conservative judges to the Supreme Court, which speedily overturned Roe vs. Wade, resulting in devastating consequences for women. I believe women should be in charge of their own bodies, and so does Kamala.
Is America ready to elect a feminist woman, with Jamaican and South Indian roots, raised as a child in Berkeley, a fierce contender who can handle the responsibilities of presidential power, as well as the misogyny and racism that still infects America?
Bill Clinton said, “Politics is a brutal, tough business. You should never underestimate your adversary.” Kamala Harris is a tough, experienced fighter. Get out your checkbooks and credit cards if you want to see the first woman President in the White House!
Judy Wells
Berkeley CA
The title for this forum says it all: V-Day. It’s World War II all over again. Yesterday a friend said to me: “I’m sitting here with my nails in my teeth like everybody else, hoping we don’t turn into Germany, 1933.”
Refusing to leave office. Launching an attack on the Capitol. Revoking Roe vs. Wade, in place for 50 years. Project 2025. Being deemed above the law by the Supreme Court in the face of numerous court cases. Followers threatening violence if the election is lost.
It all smacks of fascism pure and simple.
How did we come to such a pass in our country, with its many, much-touted freedoms?
A new book by Richard Beck, Homeland: The War on Terror in American Life, posits an answer. Our current horrifying predicament is a direct response to the militarism, xenophobia, and impunity that the war on terror unleashed. The fearsome possibility posed by the election is the price to be paid for our relentless and brutally unequal war on terrorists abroad with all the impunity that we enjoyed.
It seems our fascism actually started a long time ago. We just weren’t on the receiving end of it yet. But the pigeons may now be coming home to roost. One day we’ll find we can best protect our country by staying home and refraining from attacking others (or providing the weapons for those attacks).
Sally Mansfield Abbott
San Francisco CA
Refusing to leave office. Launching an attack on the Capitol. Revoking Roe vs. Wade, in place for 50 years. Project 2025. Being deemed above the law by the Supreme Court in the face of numerous court cases. Followers threatening violence if the election is lost.
It all smacks of fascism pure and simple.
How did we come to such a pass in our country, with its many, much-touted freedoms?
A new book by Richard Beck, Homeland: The War on Terror in American Life, posits an answer. Our current horrifying predicament is a direct response to the militarism, xenophobia, and impunity that the war on terror unleashed. The fearsome possibility posed by the election is the price to be paid for our relentless and brutally unequal war on terrorists abroad with all the impunity that we enjoyed.
It seems our fascism actually started a long time ago. We just weren’t on the receiving end of it yet. But the pigeons may now be coming home to roost. One day we’ll find we can best protect our country by staying home and refraining from attacking others (or providing the weapons for those attacks).
Sally Mansfield Abbott
San Francisco CA
Redundant, Historic Ybor, Tampa FL, photograph by Suzanne S. Austin-Hill
AGAIN?
Yesterday morning, I backspace-deleted my essay on housing costs because yesterday morning I wished with all my heart that I had no idea what AR stands for in front of the number 15 or what a bump stock is. Unfortunately, I do know these things. Unfortunately, I’m also aware of the arguments against passing legislation to strengthen limitations on gun ownership.
In America I cannot drive a car without a license. I cannot drink alcohol or vote until a certain age. I cannot enter stadiums and concert halls these days with anything but a crystal-clear handbag limited to a certain size. I do not have the right to dump my trash wherever I please, and I can be arrested for not paying my taxes whether I agree with them or not.
Still, “I’m proud to be an American.” I do consider myself free by just about every standard, but I also recognize that freedom without common sense limitation leads to chaos. Would it be so terrible to reinstate gun permits? Would it be so threatening to ban civilian ownership of military-style weapons capable of spraying a classroom with bullets in the blink of an eye? Hunted deer and pheasants don’t die that way, and students shouldn’t either
This morning, I use my words to urge candidates to prioritize the issue of school shootings and the culture that enables them, to put forth meaningful solutions for voters to endorse. Surely these recurring tragedies are not simply a fact of life.
Ruth Cook
Birmingham AL
Yesterday morning, I backspace-deleted my essay on housing costs because yesterday morning I wished with all my heart that I had no idea what AR stands for in front of the number 15 or what a bump stock is. Unfortunately, I do know these things. Unfortunately, I’m also aware of the arguments against passing legislation to strengthen limitations on gun ownership.
In America I cannot drive a car without a license. I cannot drink alcohol or vote until a certain age. I cannot enter stadiums and concert halls these days with anything but a crystal-clear handbag limited to a certain size. I do not have the right to dump my trash wherever I please, and I can be arrested for not paying my taxes whether I agree with them or not.
Still, “I’m proud to be an American.” I do consider myself free by just about every standard, but I also recognize that freedom without common sense limitation leads to chaos. Would it be so terrible to reinstate gun permits? Would it be so threatening to ban civilian ownership of military-style weapons capable of spraying a classroom with bullets in the blink of an eye? Hunted deer and pheasants don’t die that way, and students shouldn’t either
This morning, I use my words to urge candidates to prioritize the issue of school shootings and the culture that enables them, to put forth meaningful solutions for voters to endorse. Surely these recurring tragedies are not simply a fact of life.
Ruth Cook
Birmingham AL
JD, Meet My Friend Marisol
At the Republican Convention on July 24, in his fierce, fake-angry voice, J.D. Vance blamed illegal “aliens” for the housing crisis: “And then the Democrats flooded this country with millions of illegal aliens…So citizens had to compete with people who shouldn’t even be here for precious housing.”
I’d like J.D. to meet my friend from El Salvador, whom I shall call Marisol. I’d like J.D. to come with us on a tour of the dwellings Marisol has inhabited since immigrating to California almost nine years ago.
First Marisol lived in a small house with her sister’s family of seven.
Next, she moved into a room in the house of an acquaintance, where she paid steep rent for a bed and a shower.
Next Marisol bought a funky twenty-foot trailer, water-stained and a little leaky, but she managed through some Sierran winters without heat.
Next Marisol lived in a rental house maintained by her employer, where 11 single men coworkers also lived in a smelly, less-than-spotless, more-than-awful wreck.
Next Marisol lived with me for six months, when she waited on an apartment application to come true.
Next Marisol lived in an apartment. J.D., you would not like your wife living in the unkempt, littered, cement confines of this apartment complex, whose central courtyard looks like a cityscape in a bombed-out war zone and where children play among broken concrete, bricks, and shards of glass.
J.D., you are so pigheaded to think that Marisol is robbing housing from your kind of people. The dedicated, hardworking immigrants you are scapegoating live in habitations no American worker would accept.
When you’re in California, let Marisol and me take you on a tour. You need a refresher on how the real world works.
Anna Villegas
Nevada City CA
At the Republican Convention on July 24, in his fierce, fake-angry voice, J.D. Vance blamed illegal “aliens” for the housing crisis: “And then the Democrats flooded this country with millions of illegal aliens…So citizens had to compete with people who shouldn’t even be here for precious housing.”
I’d like J.D. to meet my friend from El Salvador, whom I shall call Marisol. I’d like J.D. to come with us on a tour of the dwellings Marisol has inhabited since immigrating to California almost nine years ago.
First Marisol lived in a small house with her sister’s family of seven.
Next, she moved into a room in the house of an acquaintance, where she paid steep rent for a bed and a shower.
Next Marisol bought a funky twenty-foot trailer, water-stained and a little leaky, but she managed through some Sierran winters without heat.
Next Marisol lived in a rental house maintained by her employer, where 11 single men coworkers also lived in a smelly, less-than-spotless, more-than-awful wreck.
Next Marisol lived with me for six months, when she waited on an apartment application to come true.
Next Marisol lived in an apartment. J.D., you would not like your wife living in the unkempt, littered, cement confines of this apartment complex, whose central courtyard looks like a cityscape in a bombed-out war zone and where children play among broken concrete, bricks, and shards of glass.
J.D., you are so pigheaded to think that Marisol is robbing housing from your kind of people. The dedicated, hardworking immigrants you are scapegoating live in habitations no American worker would accept.
When you’re in California, let Marisol and me take you on a tour. You need a refresher on how the real world works.
Anna Villegas
Nevada City CA
Signs, from a suite of photographs by Pam Martin
I’ve pondered Donald Trump’s psychological makeup since 2016, when I published an op ed in the Albany Times-Union labeling him a “malignant narcissist.” Erich Fromm coined the term, applying it to leaders like Hitler and Stalin and describing it as an extremely dangerous personality disorder, combining narcissism with paranoia, sociopathy, and sadism. Like cancer, it grows and metastasizes over time.
Trump fits the diagnostic criteria, but since Biden withdrew, he’s the oldest candidate ever to run for president. Increasingly Trump’s showing his age. He comes across as vigorous and energetic, convincing his millions of supporters that he’s fully qualified to Make America Great Again. But many observers have reported on his obvious cognitive decline. Examples abound, and they’re recorded for posterity: the way he wanders off message and spouts nonsense, fretting about sharks and praising the “great Hannibal Lecter.” No one can rein him in; this too is in keeping with his malignant narcissism, and it would make him incredibly dangerous as President.
In the weeks before he quit his campaign for reelection, Joe Biden seemed increasingly frail and feeble. His speech was sometimes halting, but I listened carefully to everything he said. He was thoughtful, brimming with ideas, totally capable of being leader of the free world. But in our superficial society, image is everything, and he couldn’t stand up to the bully who buddies around with professional wrestlers.
I’m all in for Kamala, but even before election day, I’m hoping the orange egomaniac will self-destruct in ignominious flames.
Julie Lomoe
Wynantskill NY
Trump fits the diagnostic criteria, but since Biden withdrew, he’s the oldest candidate ever to run for president. Increasingly Trump’s showing his age. He comes across as vigorous and energetic, convincing his millions of supporters that he’s fully qualified to Make America Great Again. But many observers have reported on his obvious cognitive decline. Examples abound, and they’re recorded for posterity: the way he wanders off message and spouts nonsense, fretting about sharks and praising the “great Hannibal Lecter.” No one can rein him in; this too is in keeping with his malignant narcissism, and it would make him incredibly dangerous as President.
In the weeks before he quit his campaign for reelection, Joe Biden seemed increasingly frail and feeble. His speech was sometimes halting, but I listened carefully to everything he said. He was thoughtful, brimming with ideas, totally capable of being leader of the free world. But in our superficial society, image is everything, and he couldn’t stand up to the bully who buddies around with professional wrestlers.
I’m all in for Kamala, but even before election day, I’m hoping the orange egomaniac will self-destruct in ignominious flames.
Julie Lomoe
Wynantskill NY
Is it America’s turn to fall?
I’ve worked for every presidential campaign since I can remember; even while living abroad, I worked to get absentee ballots for expat voters. My mother was the political junkie in our family, and it rubbed off on me. At 73, I’m still absorbing daily political information and consumed by my concern for America’s future.
The 20th century saw the collapse of many solid and illustrious empires: Mandarin China, Germany, Austria-Hungary, Ottoman Turkey, Japan, the British Empire, and Tsarist and Soviet Russia. One of the factors in these collapses was internal corruption. Rather than serving their people, the rulers and politicians became power-hungry, greedy, and self-serving.
When political greed, the thirst for power, and division supersede We the People, collapse is inevitable. For America, it began with the collapse of the Republican Party. The MAGA Republican Party has replaced Mr. President with Dear Leader. Historically, each great empire has fallen; is it our turn?
Or will we stop the erosion that one self-serving man has laid upon our great nation? It’s our decision, We the People.
Roxanne Lien
Roseville MN
I’ve worked for every presidential campaign since I can remember; even while living abroad, I worked to get absentee ballots for expat voters. My mother was the political junkie in our family, and it rubbed off on me. At 73, I’m still absorbing daily political information and consumed by my concern for America’s future.
The 20th century saw the collapse of many solid and illustrious empires: Mandarin China, Germany, Austria-Hungary, Ottoman Turkey, Japan, the British Empire, and Tsarist and Soviet Russia. One of the factors in these collapses was internal corruption. Rather than serving their people, the rulers and politicians became power-hungry, greedy, and self-serving.
When political greed, the thirst for power, and division supersede We the People, collapse is inevitable. For America, it began with the collapse of the Republican Party. The MAGA Republican Party has replaced Mr. President with Dear Leader. Historically, each great empire has fallen; is it our turn?
Or will we stop the erosion that one self-serving man has laid upon our great nation? It’s our decision, We the People.
Roxanne Lien
Roseville MN
My natural inclination is toward pessimism. When I was a kid I was convinced that nuclear war would annihilate us and I wouldn’t live past my 21st birthday. But here I am, dancing round the corner of my 71st.
I alternate between hope and fear as we lurch toward November 5. Will there be another attempt to overturn the election results, an uprising more horrific than in 2021? An agonizing, drawn-out process of ratifying a close election with all sorts of questionable tactics? Something old, something new?
We are stuck with this crazy present and a future we can’t predict. I think we can help ourselves, but not necessarily by turning toward hope. Hope is a fragile thing—always a breath away from being extinguished. Fear beats us down and stalks our nightmares. It requires something made of sterner stuff than mere hope. Love is a better antidote against fear. Love is strong and defiant. Of course, love strengthens hope.
We turn to face what the future throws at us by caring for ourselves and each other, and by nurturing our deep connection with our society. I know this can be hard and it looks different for every person. I haven’t quite figured out what it looks like for me because it’s so uncertain. Thus, my “hope” is that I can navigate whatever arises on November 5 with love. I don’t want to surrender to hopelessness.
Wendy Eisner
Covington KY
I alternate between hope and fear as we lurch toward November 5. Will there be another attempt to overturn the election results, an uprising more horrific than in 2021? An agonizing, drawn-out process of ratifying a close election with all sorts of questionable tactics? Something old, something new?
We are stuck with this crazy present and a future we can’t predict. I think we can help ourselves, but not necessarily by turning toward hope. Hope is a fragile thing—always a breath away from being extinguished. Fear beats us down and stalks our nightmares. It requires something made of sterner stuff than mere hope. Love is a better antidote against fear. Love is strong and defiant. Of course, love strengthens hope.
We turn to face what the future throws at us by caring for ourselves and each other, and by nurturing our deep connection with our society. I know this can be hard and it looks different for every person. I haven’t quite figured out what it looks like for me because it’s so uncertain. Thus, my “hope” is that I can navigate whatever arises on November 5 with love. I don’t want to surrender to hopelessness.
Wendy Eisner
Covington KY
Miami in Virgo
A Feminist, Mystical Novel
by Sally Mansfield Abbott
A disturbing encounter with a hermaphrodite at a county fair presages teenage Miami’s loss of innocence in 1970’s California. MIAMI IN VIRGO is a literary fiction coming-of-age novel narrated by precocious seventeen-year-old Miami.
She and her friends form a tight-knit circle practicing feminist Wiccan ritual, as her childhood fundamentalism casts a long shadow.
Conflicts with her friends over boys threaten their newfound feminist solidarity. An anticipated trip to a women’s demonstration devolves into a nightmarish questioning of her sexuality, further fracturing her friendships. An ill-fated romance at a Halloween party becomes thoroughly spooked when Miami winds up exiled in her new family after her mother’s remarriage.
Her peccadilloes take on a spiritual dimension and she goes through a soul-searing scrutiny which eventually leads to the resolution of her conflicts through the deepening of her character. The twists and turns of her fast-paced story make a compelling read.
Learn more about the book and its author: https://miamiinvirgo.com/
Available from Amazon or from your independent bookstore.
When Life Speaks Listen
by Linda Piotrowski
Our lives are filled with moments so fleeting that it can be easy to miss the great impact they may have on us. That is, unless we learn to listen when life speaks, even if only in a whisper.
Author Linda F. Piotrowski is a master of listening and learning from all life has to offer. She is a retired board certified chaplain with a master's degree in theological studies as well as advanced study in palliative care and being with the dying. She ministered as a chaplain for over 40 years. In her retirement she serves as a Stephen Minister.
Always an avid reader she loves reflecting on the rich gifts of ordinary life. She lives in Green Valley, Arizona with her Maine Coon cat, O'Malley. This is her first book. Through reflections, beautiful photographs, questions for reflection, and suggestions for journaling Linda unpacks many of life’s lessons, as learned through events from childhood through the adult years, and shows you how to do the same.
You will start with learning to honor your origins, teasing out the minute day-to-day moments as well as major events that have shaped you.From there you will explore what makes you all you are today—your little rituals, what feeds your soul, what makes you ache, and who or what guides you. Finally, you will explore what will move you forward and ready you for what lies ahead in your life. Learn to embrace what serves you, and release the rest.
As Piotrowski says, this book will guide you to, “Find your way to the ‘holy and hidden’ heart of your life.”
Available from Amazon.
Night at the Musée d’Orsay: Poems of Paris & Other Great European Cities
by Judy Wells
Night at the Musée d’Orsay: Poems of Paris & Other Great European Cities is a vibrant memoir of travel poems centering on Judy Wells’ appreciation of well-known European painters, architects, writers, and musicians associated with great European cities. Her poems explore artists in France, Italy, Austria, the Czech Republic, and Spain, from Van Gogh, Chagall, Matisse, and Balzac in Paris, to Velázquez and Goya in Madrid, and Gaudí in Barcelona.
Wells interweaves her own personal life into her poems, which illustrate her creative responses to her travels at different times—from young adult in France to older woman confronting aging in Barcelona. Her poetry encompasses various poetic styles—lyric, narrative, and surprisingly for a book on European travels, haiku.
Night at the Musée d’Orsay
If the curators knewI, a moth, was in the Van Gogh room
they’d be shocked!
But what do they expect—
I love light and I’m particularly
attracted to a painting
of stars—globs of light
reflected in a river.
I’ve sat on top of these yellow blobs
and survived though I can feel
the heat of these stars
right through the paint.
Light bulbs are cold by comparison
though I’m not singed by Van Gogh.
I’m transformed and waves of ecstasy
wander through my wings.
I rest on Van Gogh’s stars all night.
In the morning I flit to a cottage
and settle on a deep blue iris.
The tourists think I’m part of the painting.
I laugh. I’m just a moth
with grand taste.
Available from Amazon, Bookshop.org, and www.regentpress.net
Suzanne S. Austin-Hill, lives in a house built on what used to be a thriving tomato farm in Ruskin, a crowded suburb of Tampa FL. This retired mathematics professor successfully transitioned from technical endeavors to more soulful forms of expression as a photographer and as a poet published in a variety of literary venues.
Pam Martin is a retired therapist who enjoys reading, writing, photography, and walking in the woods with her chihuahua, Papi. She and her husband retired to Deep River ON Canada, having fallen in love with the area years ago due to the pine trees and the best grilled cheese sandwich ever.
I am amazed that there is only one political point of view shared by a group of supposedly diverse women. I will just offer a few thoughts of my own because I do not hear them from the above voices.
When Donald Trump was president, he closed the borders and had a program for asylum seekers remaining in Mexico while they waited for their cases to be heard. Laken Riley and numerous other women, children, and men would be alive today if their rapists and killers had been kept out of the country.
Kamala Harris helped bail out violent criminals during the 2020 riots of the so called “Summer of Love” when the BLM and Antifa riots and looting took place.
During President Trump’s four year tenure, there was peace in the middle east. The Abraham Accords were signed by Israel and several other countries. There was no brutal terror attack by Hamas on Israel’s innocent young people. There was also no war in Ukraine when Trump was president. A whole generation of young men in Ukraine are dead because of the current Biden/Harris administration. The USA is sending money that we do not have, that we must borrow, burdening our children and grandchildren with the debt, to keep that slaughter going.
There is now a discussion about abortion going on in each state. This is as it should be. There are different opinions about what is reasonable. Most people do not think it is right to abort a late term, fully formed fetus, a child that could live outside the womb. My youngest was born two months early and was a fully formed human being and never needed oxygen or life-support. Whether or not it should be legal to abort such a being is a viable discussion for a civilization to have. Another discussion that we should have concerns the use of the abortion pill from which some have tragically died. I do not trust people who use euphemisms for abortion. It makes me think they are hiding something.
And finally, I just really like Donald Trump. I like his love of country and his sense of humor. And I am suspicious of people who don’t understand that one of his leading characteristics is humor.
All best wishes.
I would like to hear responses to Vance’s comments on women without biological children. I have not children from my body, but have been intimately involved with my sister’s daughter and her sons.
These moving “essays” need to appear beyond this fantastic publication. They need to be seen by people not just in this age/sex segment of our population. They need to be in local papers, in national magazines, in online venues of all sorts. They are articulate, passionate, and real. They could, and hopefully will, make a difference.
You’re absolutely right.
Absolutely! I fully agree.It is heartening, uplifting, and empowering to read so many thoughtful opinions similar to my own.
Just remember, later, that you asked for her.
Thank you Johanna Wald, Dedham MA. “From your lips to God’s ears.”
Those who don’t want to vote should reconsider––Vote AGAINST rather than FOR. That is, against a monster man by voting for Kamala Harris.
Wow. Julie Lomoe’s term for Trump (malignant narcissist) rang true for me. Each essay was rich, filled with emotion and meaning.
Like many of my fellow writers, i am mixed with hope (go Kamala) and fear. What saddens me is the divisiveness among friends and families. Voting is our only antidote.
What concerns me most to the point of terrifying me is how close we are coming to voting for people who appeal to those more interested in revenge and bullying than in thoughtful and responsible consideration not only for the predominant issues but for our fellow human beings. To brag about sending millions of immigrants back to the countries where terrorism reigns is appalling to me. How do they think our country was born? It is repugnant to me to think that criminals can be exonerated, just because they have been elected to office. And by whom? That in itself is criminal, like being an accessory to a crime. I sincerely pray that the adults in this voting population can act like adults and vote for serious and compassionate adults.