Just a quick post as New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut dig out of SuperStorm Sandy. Our family and homes are fine. William and I, as well as Adair and Nick, live in Harlem, Uptown Manhattan. The island gets higher as you go Uptown, plus we’re reasonably inland. As a result, we saw virtually no destruction — some downed branches, a couple of uprooted trees, some scaffolding blown down. As we watch TV and see what everybody is seeing, it’s as if we’re watching from Arizona or Oregon, not a mere four or five miles away. It’s unreal to look out my window and see normal life, and yet know that if the subways were operating and I were to run downtown for a great vegan meal or shopping at a chic boutique, the scene I’d find would be far, far different from “normal.”
Right now, the task at hand is to take care of what’s mine to do and try to do something to help those who’ve been affected by the storm. What’s “mine to do” right now is, first, finish moving back in after our own flood (our upstairs neighbors’ air-conditioner broke and we were out two weeks having our floors and ceilings replaced); and prepare for the Main Street Vegan Academy course slated to begin Tuesday of next week. Then I need to do something to help. Adair has been putting in extra hours at the Wild Bird Fund because most of their volunteers can’t get there without the subway.
I try hard to stay non-political because there are lots of ways to see things and when people are being civil to one another, I think the best decisions are often made when people are seeing things from myriad points of view. Seeing this storm — and the freak blizzard last Halloween and Hurricane Irene just before last — and knowing that weather events like these around the world are unlike anything I’ve seen ever — and I’ve been around a while! — makes me wants to implore you: please vote your conscience next Tuesday. And when you think of all the issues our country and planet are faced with, please include Climate Change among those issues, and give some thought to which candidates you believe are taking it seriously and are prepared to do something about it.