This quiz diagnosed me as a quintessential Boomer. It’s true, I like Boomers and connect with them better than any other generation. Zoomers are fine, too. Woke but sweet.

The yearly neighborhood festival is amazing. There’s a huge used book sale with some real treasures. Old cars from a century ago. Horses that kids can feed. Local arts and crafts. Microbreweries sell their beer. There’s shaved ice and hot dogs. Everybody is sober, sweet, and dauntingly polite even to the occasional town idiot in a mask.

Yesterday I met the local politician who went against the governor’s orders and reopened our county in June of 2020. It’s because of him that we had normal lives after the initial 10-week lockdown, businesses were saved, kids who weren’t in public schools had normal childhoods, and I never had to wear a mask while exercising at the gym. He’s also done an enormous amount of work to make it possible for the people of the county to get treated for COVID. (As an aside, what a bloody shame that this should even be addressed politically and that people won’t get treated unless there’s a politician who wants to fight for it).

The politician explained to me the principles behind his struggle against the tyranny. It’s a beautiful thing. He says we shouldn’t sit and wait for the national elections. A lot of things are in our hands and will be decided locally. The situation is the worst it’s been in this country for a very long time, he says. But there’s reason to be optimistic. Many things are in our hands. And that’s what I’ve been saying this whole time. This ends when we decide it ends. This politician wouldn’t have had any effect if the businesses chose not to reopen on 6/1/2020 or customers stayed away out of fear. He could have made monoclonal antibodies available but couldn’t have made people know what they are and seek them as treatment.

To be fair and balanced:

one thing that is a lot easier when you are a conservative is to make friends. It’s so much easier to talk and make genuine connections. And nobody acts weird around one because one is an immigrant. This last part I always knew, as long-time readers will remember. But the ease of making friends after a decade of making none is very unexpected.

I can absolutely 100% guess how a person votes by observing their reaction when I say “I’m an immigrant.” The more uncomfortable and weird people get, the likelier they are to vote D.