Summertime Blues
Not that there isn’t more to say about Andrew Cuomo, but why? Why dwell on the disappointment of how much things have not changed in the workplace in the last 50 years despite substantial changes in the law and apparent changes in cultural norms? My musings are simply that, my musings, and my railing about the absence of empathy in so many aspects of daily life, mask anyone?, is just my complaining into the ether.
Instead, I’d rather focus on the small pleasures in life, the things that bring me joy. It’s ninety degrees out today, and I had an iced tea with sherbet. It was delicious and refreshing. My granddaughters are visiting. Earlier in the day we watched my daughter run the Asbury Park/Sheehan 5K. Title IX made a real difference in her life. Female participation in high school sports has increased more than 1000 percent since the adoption of Title IX. My daughter played volleyball in high school, college and in the Maccabiah Games in Israel in the early 2000’s. Women volleyball players in this year’s summer Olympics finally began to gain some traction protesting the requirement they wear bikinis to play. Change comes slowly. I do get that.
But the frustration of my youth, often seems to turn to the resignation of my older years. So, I remind myself, the Vice-President of the United States is a woman. The Speaker of the House is a woman. Three justices of the Supreme Court are women. There are many more women in law school then when I went to law school and many more women in the legal profession. Their career opportunities are much less circumscribed. While I loved my public sector career, I was lucky that my interests and the options available to me largely coincided.
Maybe Andrew Cuomo is a dinosaur, and maybe his accountability is coming a little too late, and I do not pretend to have clue why Trump has not been held accountable. I wish our schools spent more time with our youngest learners to explore behaviors that can become harrassing or bullying as those students grow older. But I can’t do anything about any of that. Tomorrow is likely to be a beach day. That will have to suffice for me for now.
Enjoy these last few weeks of summer. With love from Jessica, Esther and Larry