10 January 2024

The warm, festive glow of my little 2023 Christmas tree is no more now that Twelfth Night has come and gone, and the tree rests, au naturale and snow covered, on the deck.  The library sans decoration now seems both larger and more desolate.  Some compensatory cheering arrived on Sunday the 7^th as we at last got our first sizable snow, and I took advantage of the midday lull between storms to find my snowshoes, suit up, and hit the woods, using the bend of the Oyster River tributary that defines our property to guide me now that the trail David and I blazed so many years ago with chainsaw and loppers (but never since groomed) is largely indistinguishable.  The two substantial boulders, Ralph Waldo and Henry David, remain just where the Ice Age left them, of course, durable landmarks however snowcapped.  So many large old trees are now down that skirting them requires more going ‘round than stepping over, but proving that I could still enjoy a snowy trek in our woods was both salutary and satisfying.  The afterglow made me feel it might be possible to (mostly) maintain my resolution to be more optimistic this year, despite all signs that signal disaster.  Last week I watched the new Netflix film Leave the World Behind with Julia Roberts in an uncharacteristically sour role and Ethan Hawke as an all-too-painfully-recognizable NPR-listening dweeb utterly lacking any of the survival skills necessary to cope with all the failing systems the plot offers.  A very dark comedy, that.  Guess it’s good to laugh at the scenarios I suspect any thinking person contemplates in our near future.

Better comfort came my way on Monday with a lunch for the “Write-In Biden” volunteers held at the Common Man restaurant in Concord with NH Congresswoman Annie Kuster and MD Congressman Jamie Raskin as guest speakers.

The gathering was more intimate than I was expecting, and the group was clearly both energized and a little star-struck by Raskin.  He went around to each table, and when I told him my little sister, now struggling with stage four cancer, was a Big Fan and would never forgive me if I didn’t get a picture with him, his immediate response was “Get her on the phone.  Maybe we can Face Time!”  Alas, I couldn’t reach her, but the offer was no less sincere and generous. 

Introducing Raskin, Kuster told of just-released security footage from the Capitol hallway down which she and other Congress members fled on January 6, 2021, ducking behind a door and locking it less than 30 seconds (the time stamp on the video reveals) before the mob, armed with zip ties, bear spray, and insurrectionist zeal, stormed by.  “That’s how close we came!” said Kuster.  She praised Liz Cheney for insisting that Congress return to the floor to finish certifying the election results, one of only 10 Republicans to do so.  Again, that’s how close we came.

Both Kuster and Congressman Raskin got a standing ovation as Raskin took the floor and so quickly revealed the eloquence, intelligence, and wit that prior to the devastating loss of his son Tommy on New Year’s Eve 2020 tagged Raskin with the epithet “funniest Rep in Congress.”  All of the audience knew well that the funeral of Tommy Raskin (named for patriot Thomas Paine) had taken place on 5 January 2021, just a day before the insurgents broke into the Capitol where Raskin was working with his daughter and son-in-law.  We all knew, too, of his long but finally successful battles with cancer.  But more than his ethos, it was his skill as an inspiring speaker that electrified our group.  From wittily calling out Republicans who seem not to know the difference between the adjective “Democratic” and the noun “Democrat” to so movingly quoting Paine’s Common Sense about the worthy struggle of preserving democracy, Raskin ruled the room. See and hear for yourself: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1WIoy-Igy-bAwr177TgEgAb1A5QiMlypV/preview .

So. I’ve volunteered to wave my “Write-In Biden” sign on New Hampshire Primary Day, and will practice my retorts for any heckling that might elicit. I hope Lee McIntyre’s On Democracy: How to Fight for Truth and Protect Democracy (MIT Press; 2023) will help with that, confrontation not being my forte.   The state of our nation (let alone the world) is NOT strong, and the aural doom scrolling of bad news remains a hazardous lure into the Slough of Despond.  One day’s announcement of the next school shooting (immediately preceding a report that the stock market is up) is followed by a judge seriously questioning if a former president’s claim of immunity extends to allowing him to authorize with impunity the assassination of a political opponent. How on earth did ALL of our infrastructure–ethical, legal, spiritual, and educational as well as physical–devolve to such an extent? The Earth itself has never seen a hotter year than 2023.  And the incandescently stupid support for Trump seems unassailable.

But!  There are Raskins, and volunteers who will participate to protect their democracy. Consider Boston Mayor Michelle Wu’s State of the City address on 9 January, which showcases what smart, humanist leadership can accomplish.  (Check it out at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1H1KQRj0430 .)

And besides, The New York Times (“Seven Keys to Living Longer and Healthier,” 9 January 2024) exhorts me to “cultivate a positive mind-set.”  Top healthy practice:  some version of physical activity.  And if you can’t do that, “focus on being positive.”

Resolved.