I didn't manage to get out in a boat last weekend, but I did join some friends and thousands of like-minded New York City folks for a great stroll across the Brooklyn Bridge. It actually would've been a really nice day for paddling, but one of my paddling friends suggested meeting up for the Families Belong Together march instead, and I thought that sounded like a good idea.
I've made some donations to groups that are working to give legal assistance to the immigrants who've been caught in this mess created by the Reality Show White House. I'm figuring that's a good practical response, since I'm sure there's a nightmare bureaucratic maze to negotiate for any child to be reunited with their parents and, for all people joke about lawyers and sharks, lawyers with good hearts are going to be best equipped to help. My largest donation went to Kid Lit Says No Kids In Cages, I work for Scholastic so I'm in that business, and when the company offered to match employee donations, I jumped on that. I also like the fact that they are splitting the donations among several organizations, that seems like an effective way to do things.
But these marches do make statements that I want to be part of - I'm not sure how much difference is made by those statements being made, but it's at least a satisfying way to express my frustration with the current administration.
It was hot, but we were able to find a shady place to stand while we waited in Foley Square for the march to start, and once we were on the Brooklyn Bridge there was a nice breeze and the crowd kept moving nicely. Marching across the bridge was great, that's a walk I always enjoy anyways, and there was such a good positive spirit among the marching crowd as we made our way to Brooklyn. Drivers in cars were tooting their horns and giving thumbs up and fist pumps as they drove by, and the crowds on the walkway whooped and cheered in response. Yes, New Yorkers really do care!
I did manage to get some good water time into the weekend too - I had an unplanned day on Sunday (hooray) and it actually ended up being too hot for pretty much anything but a swim (actually a falling-out-of-boats practice day would've been fun but that would've required organizing, plus after the heavy rains during the week I was a little suspicious of the water quality in Jamaica Bay, which is much more closed-off than Coney Island and Brighton Beach) so I ended up going out to Brighton Beach and found the CIBBOWS gang at Grimaldo's Chair. The water temperature was just beautiful and I ended up swimming almost a mile, really slowly, with frequent stops to just enjoy the coolness - then I just hung out at the beach for a couple more hours. An excellent place to be in a heat wave.
I've made some donations to groups that are working to give legal assistance to the immigrants who've been caught in this mess created by the Reality Show White House. I'm figuring that's a good practical response, since I'm sure there's a nightmare bureaucratic maze to negotiate for any child to be reunited with their parents and, for all people joke about lawyers and sharks, lawyers with good hearts are going to be best equipped to help. My largest donation went to Kid Lit Says No Kids In Cages, I work for Scholastic so I'm in that business, and when the company offered to match employee donations, I jumped on that. I also like the fact that they are splitting the donations among several organizations, that seems like an effective way to do things.
But these marches do make statements that I want to be part of - I'm not sure how much difference is made by those statements being made, but it's at least a satisfying way to express my frustration with the current administration.
It was hot, but we were able to find a shady place to stand while we waited in Foley Square for the march to start, and once we were on the Brooklyn Bridge there was a nice breeze and the crowd kept moving nicely. Marching across the bridge was great, that's a walk I always enjoy anyways, and there was such a good positive spirit among the marching crowd as we made our way to Brooklyn. Drivers in cars were tooting their horns and giving thumbs up and fist pumps as they drove by, and the crowds on the walkway whooped and cheered in response. Yes, New Yorkers really do care!
I did manage to get some good water time into the weekend too - I had an unplanned day on Sunday (hooray) and it actually ended up being too hot for pretty much anything but a swim (actually a falling-out-of-boats practice day would've been fun but that would've required organizing, plus after the heavy rains during the week I was a little suspicious of the water quality in Jamaica Bay, which is much more closed-off than Coney Island and Brighton Beach) so I ended up going out to Brighton Beach and found the CIBBOWS gang at Grimaldo's Chair. The water temperature was just beautiful and I ended up swimming almost a mile, really slowly, with frequent stops to just enjoy the coolness - then I just hung out at the beach for a couple more hours. An excellent place to be in a heat wave.
3 comments:
It's definitely something positive to do in all this insanity! Good for you!!!
Thank you for being there. I marched in Burbank. It's such a horrifying situation and I hope it gets resolved soon.
It's worth marching for, and yes, I hope things improve.
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