Early voting opened in Georgia Tuesday to long lines and record numbers. This may bode well for participation levels in this year’s critical election. As discussed yesterday, the polls indicate the race is so tight in battleground states like Georgia that a large turnout for either side could prove decisive.
As the only boy growing up in a family with three sisters, I always had my own room. It must have been pretty empty at first but it filled up over the years.
When I left home for college, my parents gave away or threw away most of my stuff and boxed up the rest. During four years in Ann Arbor, I acquired some new books and records and copies of my earliest newspaper articles.
Then I left for the Peace Corps in Afghanistan. Again my college stuff was boxed up and ended up back with my parents.
Almost everything I acquired during two years overseas stayed there when I returned to the states; I gave it to people in the village where we lived.
The few objects from Afghanistan that came back with me were lost when my Chevy van was burglarized one night. But a bunch of letters I wrote the folks back home were preserved by my sisters.
Once back in the U.S., I moved cross-country to San Francisco. I brought my old boxes along for the ride. Then time slowed down. In my 20s and 30s I acquired much more stuff.
Time passed. I left almost all of that stuff behind when I got divorced in my 40s. But those old boxes stuck with me.
Time slowed down again, and I acquired more stuff in my second marriage during the rest of my 40s and 50s.
Time passed. I left almost all of that stuff behind when my second divorce happened, though those old boxes again stuck with me.
Then, for the rest of my 50s and 60s and into my early 70s I acquired yet more stuff to fill up the flat where I lived for 17 years in the Mission.
Then, when I got very ill, had to retire and vacate that flat in 2020, virtually all of my possessions were placed at the curb, donated or recycled. Pretty much the only things left were — you guessed it — those old boxes.
Along the way over all those years I purchased thousands of items including 8 or 9 cars, 6 houses, a boat, bikes, some tents, one basketball backboard, a hammock, a BBQ grill, a picnic table, several file cabinets, many computers, cameras, sound systems, TVs, coffee makers, three-piece suits, fancy ties and so on, but not one of those possessions have stuck to me over the long term.
Now it’s pretty much down to just my boxes and me. We share a room. When every other distraction deserts me, I rummage through them. They contain my writings — published and unpublished — as well as letters, pictures, cards, reports, art, some old coins, stamps, baseball cards, rings, bottles and a few other random knick-knacks.
Plus a whole lifetime of memories, many of them bittersweet reminders of how much one gains and loses during a long life. Material possessions are the least of it, of course.
So I came into the world with a clean slate and it looks like I’ll be going out in damn near the same fashion. Then again, come to think of it, there are those roughly 5 million published words I’ll be leaving behind.
No doubt one of my last thoughts will be: “Should I place that comma here, there, or…”
HEADLINES:
Local board members in Georgia can't refuse to certify election results, judge rules (NPR)
Record number of early votes cast in Georgia as election gets underway in battleground state (CNN)
Trump Brags About His Math Skills and Economic Plans. Experts Say Both Are Shaky. (NYT)
Trump’s economic plans would worsen inflation, experts say (AP)
Harris defends ‘scripted’ style and agrees Trump is ‘about fascism’ in wide-ranging interview with Charlamagne tha God (CNN)
Harris campaign turns Trump's favorite weapon against him (Axios)
Kamala Harris dips in key states, making US election contest a toss-up (The Conversation)
The Evangelicals Calling for ‘Spiritual Warfare’ to Elect Trump (WSJ)
Anne Hathaway shares presidential endorsement choice of Harris weeks before 2024 election (Independent)
Trump's bizarre music session reignites questions about his mental acuity (NBC)
AP VoteCast: How Americans voted in 2020, and what it could mean for 2024 (AP)
Meteorologists Face Harassment and Death Threats Amid Hurricane Disinformation (NYT)
Israeli strikes kill 40 Palestinians in Gaza (Reuters)
US suggests military aid to Israel is at risk in letter demanding more aid for Gaza (CNN)
Dogs Are Entering a New Wave of Domestication (Atlantic)
‘Stunning’ hidden tomb found at Petra site featured in ‘Indiana Jones’ (WP)
NYT sends AI startup Perplexity 'cease and desist' notice over content use (Reuters)
The OpenAI Talent Exodus Gives Rivals an Opening (Wired)
Mayor Explains Why He Changed The Name Of His City To Salami Town (The Onion)
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