October 6--First day of early-in-person voting.

We just got back from voting. The polls opened at 8:30am and we got there about 8:40. We finally got out about 10am--just in time to avoid a parking ticket for exceeding the time limit on the space. It wasn't as bad as that might seem and we are tired with aching backs, knees, and feet. We are old ladies after all. It was a bit chilly and we had a brisk breeze. Most of us were a bit under dressed but almost everyone stayed. At one point the line was a block and a half long but they opened up another couple of machines to move things along.

Frida Berrigan on TomDispatch this morning. I suspected early on that the pandemic, before it was recognized as a pandemic, that the virus wouldn't be going away anytime soon. I didn't expect how much of an impact it would have on our normal life: the level of unemployment, the number of deaths, the number of "long-haulers" among the survivors, or the level of incompetence among our government leaders. I had an interesting thought at the point where Berrigan writes that we thought "They'll figure it out." In a book I like a lot (Michael Greer's Retrotopia) one of the characters noted, concerning a major collapse of a vital technology, that the situation didn't need to happen. There had been plenty of warning. But everyone at all levels ignored the warnings claiming that "They'll figure something out." Who ever "they" were they never did figure out the problem.

Another thought bouncing off Berrigan's post: When George W. first proposed his notion of an "ownership society" I translated it into "a you're on your ownership" society. Berrigan puts it very well when she says she suddenly realized that we are all on our own with what ever local resources we can cobble together. George W.'s dream has become our nightmare.

While on our drive to the polling place we noticed several houses already decked out for Halloween. Mom thinks those living there are trying to recapture something that feels "normal."