Distressed by the election rhetoric, I decided to campaign for my local congressman, Tim Bishop. Fivethirtyeight.com had listed NY1 as one of the safer districts, but I thought I should at least help a little. Bishop is a Southampton local and very popular here. I didn’t like his negative ads, but this year it’s hard to run on voting for health care and other things you’ve done. My first phone banking day I called senior citizens – got a lot of not-homes, a couple of dead people and a couple of angry voters. It was discouraging, but I said I would go back. The second time I called likely Tim Bishop voters, and they were enthusiastic, so that was more fun. The day before Election Day, I did “Get Out the Vote” campaigning, walking around Southampton and knocking on the doors of registered Democrats, encouraging them to vote; there, too, I met a lot of pro-Bishop people, and I saw nice houses and it was a crisp fall day. On Election Day, it seemed to have paid off – he was declared the winner, with 50.1 percent of the vote. Much closer than predicted! Then it got even closer – that total was based on precincts phoning in the tallies; the actual tallies showed a 300-vote lead for the opponent. That meant opening 10,000 absentee ballots – which they are still doing – and possibly a total recount. I have my fingers crossed! Overall, Election Day was pretty depressing for me. My Civil War books gave me some perspective – this country has been through a lot worse, and a lot of the same – but still, can’t we all just get along?
I went to a Restorative Yoga class at the Rogers Memorial Library and loved it! Restorative yoga has just a few poses in an hour, calculated to get you to completely relax. They also have classes at the Southampton Hospital Wellness Center; I might look into those. In the meantime, I signed up for a yoga retreat weekend! I felt inspired.
Went to a couple of exhibits – “Miro and the Dutch Interiors” at the Met and “American Still Life” here, at the Parrish; those were nice. The weather warmed up enough to take a couple of mid-November bike rides – that might be it though. On one of them, I passed a field that had some men with metal detectors; they were looking for objects for the Historical Museum. One showed me a Revolutionary War cuff button and some coins from the 1860s. There’s a rich history here! I did some fall foliage strolls in Southampton and in Central Park. I’ve been watching the gardeners around here prepare for winter – cutting back the hydrangeas and the Montauk daisies and the tall grasses. Makes everything look bare in a hurry! And last week I went to the Peace Corps office in downtown Manhattan; while I was in the neighborhood I walked down to the World Trade Center site. I haven’t been there in years – maybe once since 2001, or maybe not at all. The buildings there are really going up; there’s not that sense of the wide-open emptiness that I felt the last time I was there (whenever it was!). Now it’s an active construction site and when it’s finished, it will be a much denser space. Nearby there’s a 9/11 Memorial Preview Site – after seeing the HBO movie on September 11 this year, the emotions were still close to the surface, so I spent the barest amount of time looking at the part about the past events and more time looking at the plans for the future of the site and how they are coming along. I look forward to seeing it all finished. And to spending more time below Union Square!
Well, I’ve now told tales about many of my adventures since I arrived back East; I’m going to New Orleans for Thanksgiving weekend and will summarize that when I get back. And then I’ll pick up where I left off in summer 2009, with the Drive Across America. Then 2010’s Vietnam trip and Amtrak Across America, and I’ll be all caught up and ready for more adventures. Of course, I suppose I could always go back in time as well, chronicling adventures of the past – no shortage of stories to tell!
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