If This Isn’t Climate Change, What Is?: Snow in California and NYC Gets First Snowfall at the End of February

There is nothing so predictable as the change of the seasons. We know when it is time to switch out our wardrobes, take out the appropriate holiday decorations, etc. That is, until climate change.

Those of us who live in New York City (and the surrounding areas) know when it is time to take out our winter jackets and snow boots. It is a yearly ritual that is just a part of everyday life. Except for this year. 2023 broke a decades-long record. The first major snowfall of the year was on February 28th.

On the other side of the country, California has had several feet of the white stuff. Thousands are without power, homes have collapsed, and there is a shortage of both food and gas. Los Angeles, a city that is known for its warm weather, experienced an extremely rare blizzard.

This is no joke. Nor it is for political gain. The signs are there for a reason. Tornadoes struck both Texas and Louisiana earlier this week. While we cannot undo what has been done, there is still time to save the planet and all living creatures. But we must act fast and we must work together. The problem is that there are too many who put profit and their needs above all else.

I can only hope that they wake up before humanity destroys itself.

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You Know Who Wants to Throw Out the Constitution

The constitution is the backbone of everything that America represents and stands for. The basic political and human rights detailed in the document have been copied and quoted by other nations around the world as they have drafted their own constitutions.

Approximately a week ago, you know who put out a statement that the constitution should be thrown out. And then, after the blowback became too much, he claimed it was “fake news”. As expected, many Republicans have called him out, but refuse to say that this takes him out of the running for the 2024 Presidential election.

This is not how an official of a democratically elected government reacts. This is what an autocrat or demagogue says and does to get to power or to stay in power.

There is a lot of talk in this country these days about being a patriot and loving this country. If the sentiments underneath these words are true, then we had better stop this man before he does any more damage to this nation.

P.S. The guilty verdict coming out of New York was a long time coming. Justice was served.

It is a Sad Day in America: Roe V. Wade is No More

A few months ago, we celebrated the 49th anniversary of Roe v. Wade. When I wrote that post, I still had hope that the right of anyone with a uterus had the right to decide their own fate. That hope died this morning.

By lunchtime, the federal government had washed its hands of the issue. It is now illegal to have an abortion in America. Each state can now decide if the procedure will be allowed and to what degree. In many states, this means that will be either completely against the law or limited to saving the life of the pregnant person.

American women are officially back in the dark ages, depending on where they live. Thankfully, both my home state of New York and New Jersey are among the handful of states that put the life of the pregnant person over politics. But not everyone is so lucky.

How many women will die from back-alley abortions or putting foreign objects in their bodies? How many females of any age will be forced to give birth to their rapist’s child or carry a dead fetus to term? How many women of color who are already living under hard conditions will have another proverbial plate spinning in the air?

The overturning of Roe is the beginning of a slippery slope. According to Judge Clarence Thomas (who I loathe with a passion), this decision opens the door to taking a second look at other rulings.

Justice Clarence Thomas argued in a concurring opinion released on Friday that the Supreme Court “should reconsider” its past rulings codifying rights to contraception access, same-sex relationships and same-sex marriage.

In a similar vein, Loving v. Virginia could also be overturned. That means that his marriage to the equally loathsome Ginni Thomas could be viewed as illegal.

If they thought we would go quietly into the night, they have another thing coming.

Courtesy of Facebook

We can donate to pro-choice organizations (Planned Parenthood, NARAL, etc). We can march and let our voices be heard. We can vote in November and more importantly, vote blue. Though it is dark, the sun will rise again. We just need to fight for that sunrise.

P.S. Congress finally passed a gun control bill. It speaks volumes about this country that we confer more rights on a weapon than a living, breathing human being.

The Gilded Years: A Novel Book Review

Education is the one thing that should make us all equal in terms of future opportunities. But for that to happen, the type of schooling one receives should not be dependent on skin color or zip code.

In 2016, The Gilded Years: A Novel, by Karin Tanabe, hit bookshelves. In 1897, Anita Hemmings was a senior at Vassar College. She is popular, well liked, and on an academic track to do well post graduation. But Anita has a secret. She is African-American. Though she is light skinned enough to pass as Caucasian, there is the ever present danger of being outed for who she really is.

Her new roommate is Louise “Lottie” Taylor, the daughter of a wealthy and prominent New York family. The mask that Anita has been wearing for the last three years begins to crack as the girls become friends. Trouble, as it often does, comes in the form of romance and the opposite sex. Lottie starts crushing on Anita’s younger brother Frederick, who is as light skinned as his sister. In addition, Anita is spending her free time with a handsome and well to do white Harvard student.

With the end of the school year and her degree in sight, Anita’s secret is too close to be revealed. If it is, her entire future is possibly ruined before it has even started.

The narrative, based on a true story, is an interesting cross between School Ties (1992) and Imitation of Life (1959). It takes place in an era in which the idea of women being educated was only starting to become normalized. Add in race and you have a heady mix of social issues and the question of who is worthy of receiving an education. The book is like a powder keg, waiting to explode. It is only a question of when and what the damage will be.

Do I recommend it? Yes.

Mental Health + Racism=The Daniel Prude Case

If nothing else, the summer of 2020 will be known for the murders of innocent African-American men and women. It is not a distinction to be proud of. Though this is nothing new for Americans of color, the difference is that the country is waking up and taking notice.

Back in March, Daniel Prude was found naked on the streets of Rochester in upstate New York. As the story usually goes, Mr. Prude was restrained by the police to the point of where he lost consciousness. He died a week later.

But there is more to this story that the standard accusation of police brutality. The issue of mental illness also comes into play. The police were initially called because Joe Prude, Daniel’s brother called 911, worried about his brother who had just walked out of the house.

As of earlier today, the police officers accused of his murder were suspended from their jobs.

I wish I could say that this will be the last incident of this kind. But we all know that until we deal with racism as a whole, Mr. Prude will be just another name on a long list of Americans of color killed by police.

RIP.

Nursing Homes: A Stain on the NY & NJ Response to Covid-19

A few years before my late maternal grandmother passed away, my family made a decision that she could no longer take care of herself. The only option was to move to a nursing home. To say that it was not an easy process is a understatement.

Across the country, millions of families have repeated this process. The last thing anyone wanted was to make it more complicated via Covid-19.

After three months of sheltering in place and wearing protection when going outside, it appears that the virus’s hold on New York and New Jersey is starting to break. Those of us who live in New York and New Jersey should be congratulating ourselves, as should those in the halls of power. But there is one issue that must be overcome before we can say we are in the clear: nursing homes.

As of the end of May, 20% of all Covid-19 cases in New York were found in a nursing home or long term adult care facility. In New Jersey, just above 50% of those who died from the virus were either lived in and/or worked in one of these organizations.

It should be considered that back in March and early April, we did not have the information we have now. This led to doing the best that was able to be done at that point. However, that does not excuse the major miscalculations that were made and the loss of life that may have been prevented.

Governors Andrew Cuomo and Phil Murphy have done an admirable job in trying to control disease that takes no prisoners. However, the fact that far too many nursing home residents and employees died is a stain on their response to Covid-19.

Tainted Moonlight Book Review

The myth of the werewolf has been told by human beings by an untold number of generations. The question is, when a writer decides to use the werewolf myth as a plot device, can he or she create a story that stands out from the hundreds, if not thousands of stories about werewolves?

In the book Tainted Moonlight, Korban Diego is living in Syracuse, NY. By day, he looks as normal as you or I. But when the moon rises, he becomes a werewolf. He lives in an alternate universe where five years ago, there was an outbreak of werewolf attacks due to a virus. Korban was one of those bitten. Instead of dying from his wounds, he has become a werewolf. The city has implemented a series of rules and regulations to protect the lives of the citizens of Syracuse. Unfortunately, those rules and regulations keeps Korban from living a normal life.

One night, while visiting a bar with friends, Korban meets Sophie Bane. It’s love at first sight for Korban, but unfortunately, the feelings must be one-sided as Sophie is married to one of the wealthiest and most powerful men in Syracuse. Then Sophie is attacked and bitten at a party by a werewolf.  Korban takes it upon himself to help her heal and learn to live with her new reality as a werewolf. Now Korban must face the beast inside of him, otherwise it will control him and not the other way around.

I’m not a fan of the supernatural genre normally, but the book is well written. Ms. Kelly bring shades of light and dark to a character who in the past, has been immediately labelled as a villain without the audience knowing or understanding anything about the character beyond the 2D title.

I recommend it.

 

An American Bride In Kabul Book Review

Life is made up a variety of experiences. Sometimes these experiences take our lives into new directions previously not thought of.

In the early 1960’s, second wave feminist and author Phyllis Chesler was young and in love. Ms. Chesler was born into an Orthodox Jewish family from Brooklyn, New York. The man she fell in love with was the son of a devout Muslim family from Afghanistan.

Deciding to take a chance on love, she put aside her family and her ambitions to marry this man and live with him in his native country. Her experience is chronicle in her 2013 memoir, An American Bride In Kabul. When the plane landed in Kabul, her American passport was taken away from her. She was no longer an individual, but property that was part and parcel of her husband’s family.  The charming, educated, open minded man she fell in love was soon replaced by a traditional man who clung to the old traditions and expected his wife to do the same.

What I very much enjoyed about this book was that it opened my eyes to a world that I know really nothing of. Many of us who live in the West, unless we have visited countries like Afghanistan, truly have no understanding of what it is to live in that world.  One of the points that Ms. Chesler makes is that those of us in the West may pretend to understand what it is to live in Afghanistan and other countries in that region, but the truth is that we do not.

I highly recommend this book.

The Innocents Book Review

Edith Wharton’s Age Of Innocence is  a classic. Newland Archer’s inner struggle between personal desire and duty is timeless.

Francesca Segal’s debut novel, Innocence, moves the story from Gilded Age New York to a predominately Jewish suburb in North London. Newland Archer has become Adam Newman. Adam’s life is well ordered and perfect. He is living in the same community he was born into, newly engaged to Rachel Gilbert, his longtime girlfriend and working for Rachel’s father at his law firm.

His world and his decision making is turned when Ellie, Rachel’s independent, rebellious and headstrong cousin returns from New York, running from a scandal. When Adam takes on Ellie’s case, he begins to question if his well ordered and perfect life is really what he wants.

There are some fans who are so cannon (fanfiction term for original script or novel) that any reboot which removes the characters and story line from their original setting seems blasphemous. I am not one of those fans.

However, there is something to be said when a writer takes a risk and tells a new story, instead of retreading the path of another writer. It doesn’t take much to change Ellen Olenska, a woman trying to divorce her abusive European aristocratic husband to Ellie Schneider, a young woman escaping a sex scandal involving a prominent public figure.

Did I enjoy the novel? I can’t say I didn’t, but I look forward to her next novel when she tells a new story instead of re-writing an old one.