I moved into my first apartment this past week! Which is exciting and nerve-wracking. I moved in with two of my closest friends from home, so I'm happy I'm in good company. They both lived in Harlem prior to the pandemic and moved out over the summer. They were trying to move to Brooklyn and wanted me to join them, so here I am. Moving during the pandemic wasn't that unusual, we wore masks and cleaned everything before we began unpacking. But in the five days since we've been here, and have all been working here since we're all working remotely (and all trying to find new/better jobs), rates have begun rising in the area. We joked about whether we were making a mistake, since this might be the darkest winter ever--everything closed and cold. But I'm taking comfort in the fact that if I'm stuck inside for the entire winter, I'm doing it with two people I love and enjoy spending time with. Truthfully, we would've never gotten this apartment if it hadn't been for the pandemic. The monthly rent we're paying was lowered from last year by over $500. We frankly wouldn't have been able to afford it. And it's beautiful. It's bright and airy, and I have a skylight (as does one of my friends) and it just feels right. So we'll figure it out. Whatever happens, I have faith we'll figure it out together.
October 7, 2020
The Coronavirus has profoundly affected my life in the past week. I found this sign in the woods. It’s the corrugated version of a flag I had ordered. So for a while we had both the lawn sign version and the banner version outside of our home. I should order a t-shirt version, too, because this small rectangle holds the basis for what I believe. I will not willingly interact with, or do business with, anyone who doesn’t believe—and vote—this way. Our country is so divided, and I’m feeling it. The Coronavirus is the hallmark of the dividing line. Mask it or casket. No one should have the right to willingly endanger other citizens, and I’m afraid that the leadership of this country has abdicated its position in the most dangerous possible way—all because the White House resident does not believe that lives of others matter. He — and his VP in last night’s debate — demonstrate an inability to listen to women. Their actions define those who do not have their income levels as illegal. They certainly are not listening to science. Love and kindness are not even part of their vocabularies. And it is causing me heartache, and probably affecting my blood pressure. I cannot believe we have come to this as a nation. Our Constitution does not seem to mean anything. I want to call someone, but there is no adult who is in charge at this time. My heart breaks for the career workers at the White House, who are not only exposed to this deadly virus, but are now bringing it home to their families. The utter selfish power grab of the GOP could kill us all. The covidiot-in-chief will stop at nothing. And so I helped get several hundred Reclaim the Vote postcards into the mail. I have made a countless number of masks. I have made political contributions. For every small thing that we have done from this household, this administration and its minyans put up more barriers to democracy. The governor of Texas has ordered just one ballot dropbox per county, meaning that more than one million people will have just one place to bring their early ballots. It isn’t fair, and it shouldn’t be legal. The lives of Americans, and the life of America depend on a Supreme Court that is no longer fair, nor balanced. There will be desperate people. There will be deaths. And I cannot do enough on my own. I don’t know whether I need to psychologically drop out of the news cycle, or jump in with two feet. Either way I am overwhelmed with a citizen’s smallness in the face of reality. I used to feel pride in my participation in the political process. As a woman facing open misogyny, a Jew in a time of rising anti-semitism, a compassionate person concerned with all human rights, I will vote for the policies that defined this country—and fear that the unity of these United States has been corrupted for generations.
October 8, 2020