Helene, and Women in Government.
Wednesday, I made a brief post, essentially a map of the Middle East for your reference. October 7 is the one year anniversary of the attacks into Israel from Gaza.
Also, Wednesday, the DOJ brief on the events surrounding January 6, 2021, was released to the public. Heather Cox Richardson gives a very cogent summary, with link to the entire DOJ brief here.
The Port Strikes (apparently tentatively settled today) added to the news. Etc.
Then there’s Hurricane Helene, and its tragic aftermaths.
In my old days, we were essentially insulated from information about tragedies elsewhere. It was every town, every farm, for themselves, dependent on neighbors or local resources if they were available. The means of, and access to, communication and assistance were far less sophisticated than today, and unless the disaster happened in your own general vicinity the likelihood was you wouldn’t even learn of the crisis elsewhere till much later. Additionally, you would likely not know anyone in the area of the disaster. Crucial agencies like FEMA & NOAA didn’t exist.
Not so anymore.
In the instant case, September 26 at 5:30 p.m. I sent a brief e-mail to my friend, Michael, who lives in a large gulf-coast high-rise condo in the St. Petersburg FL area. I had visited him there one time, 11 years ago.
Helene was stoking up in the Gulf, but not yet wreaking havoc, and as we all know, the route and severity of hurricanes are never sure, except they seem to be getting worse and more frequent. My message was succinct: “I don’t see your town listed yet, but you’re sure in the close neighborhood. All best wishes to everyone. It looks like a bad one.”
Soon after my e-mail came a brief reply: Michael had already left town, anticipating possible problems.
Then came the hurricane, and another brief e-mail from me: “By now it’s passed, I guess”. Early on Sep. 28 another short e-mail from Michael: “All the cars at my condo were destroyed. Glad mine is at airport“.
All of a sudden, the Hurricane became very personal to me. A place I knew was directly affected. I knew his condo and the local environment from that single visit 11 years ago.
To my knowledge, there has been no news whatsoever here about damage in his city. His condos problem was probably due to the storm surge accompanying the hurricane, since the complex literally abuts the Gulf and the garage would be on the ground floor.
Meanwhile, as I write on October 3, the focus has shifted to the area of Asheville, North Carolina, where the bulk of the deaths and still-hundreds of missing persons, have become the focus, all due to the hurricane. Florida, Georgia, South and North Carolina and Tennessee and Kentucky seem to have been most affected. Asheville is hundreds of miles inland from the Gulf….
Helene was an unanticipated but nonetheless predictable national catastrophe. All that was unknown was the exact time, place and circumstance of its effects.
Of course, all of this happened in the middle of election season.
It is times like this when it becomes clear that the borders of our community of citizens extend far beyond our town, our state, even our nation.
We like to pretend that “leave me alone” works.
It never does. You just never know.
POSTNOTE: My sister sent me a tear sheet from the Sep 17, 2024, Wall Street Journal (p A15) with two Opinions “Harris is The Safer Economic Choice”; and “Lessons for Kamala Harris From the Women Who Won” (Margaret Thatcher, Angela Merkel, Giorgia Meloni). The essence of the latter argument seems that a woman executive doesn’t mean it will make much difference. (PDFs of the columns are here: WSJ Sep 17 2024 p. A15)
I responded: Ironically, today, Kamala Harris and Liz Cheney are appearing together in Ripon Wisconsin, considered the birthplace of the Republican Party in 1854.. It will doubtless be news.
Personally, I’ve worked with women teacher union presidents, executive directors, staff colleagues and managers, and other female leaders for over 50 years. They are individually and collectively no different than their male counterparts.
The only substantive difference – and it is a major one – is that women didn’t even have the right to vote until little over 100 years ago. As you know, you look at group photos of political leaders and until very recent years they were all men.
Currently, in my state, the Lieutenant Governor, both U.S. Senators, my Congresswoman, and both my state legislators are women; two of five of my county commissioners and four of five members of my city council are women.. Four of seven Minnesota Supreme Court Justices, including the chief justice are women. We don’t seem to have collapsed!
Leave a Reply
Want to join the discussion?Feel free to contribute!