Some random observations: 1) Our Japanese maple (Acer palmatum ‘Elizabeth’) is not very big, but it’s the star of our garden right now. For years we moved it around: one spot was too dark, one spot was too bright, but now it’s taken hold and has lots of room to grow. I can’t wait to see it in ten years. (This should give hope to the progressive elements of the Democratic Party.)
2) Now that daylight savings is over, there’s more light in the morning, but it’s less angled/striking in Fort Tryon Park. We’re heading into the winter season, when the twisted branches of the elms and the oaks grab our attention.
3) The ‘legacy’ imperiled by the election of Donald Trump does not belong to Barack Obama, but to Bill Clinton, who ran as an ‘outsider’ but was basically a moderate-to-severe Republican in most of his policies. (Hillary was unfortunately unable/unwilling to distance herself from this legacy, and so it was hers to bear, also.) That said, we should be relieved that the ‘fake liberal’ charade of the Clinton-era Democratic Party is coming to an end. As for Barack Obama, his legacy is intact. He will always be remembered as i) the first African-American president, the symbolic importance of which is hard to overstate and was the greatest loss in terms of Hillary (having leaders who are not straight white men is ipso facto critical to democracy in the twenty-first century and is surely a reason DT is doomed to fail quickly, and is also the reason the Democratic Party must choose Keith Ellison to lead it going forward and not a corporate sellout/lobbyist like Howard Dean *Howard Dean scream*); ii) the first president to take a legitimate stab at universal health care (even if he was forced to make compromises that ultimately made it increasingly dysfunctional (but demonstrates the need for a single-payer system, which will eventually happen), iii) the first president to oversee many advances on the LGBT front, including marriage equality, and iv) a president who by executive decree or other means helped to enact many other progressive measures (despite facing in incredibly hostile Congress) related to the environment and the fair treatment of minority and disabled segments of our society. President Obama’s legacy is therefore one of fairness and compassion, and I was never not proud to have him represent me. Less favorably, he is also part of a legacy of increased (and possibly unconstitutional) executive power, which will be used by our new president to horrifying effect, nor did Obama do much to steer the Democratic Party at large away from the rocky shoals in which it has now foundered. (I like to believe he would have done more if he had been able to; let’s see what he does after he leaves office.)
4) I feel very fortunate to live in a city where ninety percent of us voted for Hillary. Being a New Yorker, it goes without saying that eighty-nine percent of these people annoy and frustrate me — especially on the subways — but we are of one mind when it comes to certain important things.
5) Desperate for something to watch while we cook/eat dinner, we’ve been half-watching The Crown, which received a lot of great reviews, I guess because it cost a lot to make and features countless castle interiors. But it’s not a show I can endorse, unless you’re interested in the tribulations of rich, straight white people in the 1950s. We have some serious problems, but let’s be grateful that we don’t have a monarchy in this country. Is being a monarch difficult? Maybe! But the episode where the aging Winston Churchill is disappointed in his portrait is maybe the most boring premise for an hour of television ever imagined, and the episode delivers. In the same way I crave elected officials who are not straight, white men, I (still) crave shows about non-straight people (unless they’re psychotic, like Norma Bates <3). This election, in other words, should also be read as an indictment of Hollywood. Btw, another unwatchable show about straight, white ppl is HBO’s Divorce. Maybe Looking wasn’t perfect, but it was 100000000000000 (ten billion) times better than Divorce.
6) Running through the trees next to the Hudson is always magical.
7) One thing Donald Trump won’t be able to do is rewind time, and for that we should also be grateful.
