On Tuesday, October 27th, I tried to find the back of the longest line I'd ever seen in Soho……….……for early voting.
My mom and I walked the entirety of the snaking line trying to find its end, or rather its start. We were ostensibly passing by our neighbors but the only face we recognized was my dad’s, who was already on Thompson Street because he’d arrived an hour before us. At the front of St. Anthony’s Church we were told in a manner that was equal parts enthusiastic and apologetic that the line began on 6th and Spring Street.
So, we walked to 6th Ave and took our place.
We inched up the Avenue, passed through MacDougal, a right on West Houston, down Thompson, up a block on Prince Street and right on Sullivan. At one point I went home to change my jacket because the morning's sun had been deceiving—as it always is this time of year—and I was chilly. By the time I got back 45 minutes later we were hardly a block closer.
Around 3 hours, they said at first. It ended up being exactly 4. Time well spent for the health of the poll workers, voters, our City and our democracy.
At some point, a person holding a pizza box started handing out cold slices—a delicacy—to determined voters.
A hip, mid-range senior citizen in white Dickies work pants and a white graphic t-shirt cut in front of us half a block away from the entrance. “Only in New York!” a tourist would say.
The steady sound of instructions and deeply felt “thank you’s” filled up the basement of St. Anthony’s Church. The efficient system inside made it abundantly clear how many people were out voting that day. No one took New York’s reputation as a blue state for granted this year.
Throughout the afternoon, as I surveyed us—the young, the middle-aged, the older, the much older—moving together slowly, I was very moved. The City known for being cold and busy was warm and patient. Though easy to forget, it’s in these elusive moments of unity that I’m reminded New York is just a really, really big village.
And as people celebrated and loved big on streets across the City yesterday, I was once again reminded of what community, a word seldom applied to this sprawling metropolis, means.
Joe Biden and Kamala Harris’s win is a big moment.
It’s not perfect. But the alternative is too grim to even consider or imagine.
The fact that there were still so many red states is hardly shocking at this point, but somehow still surprising. The work of not only reuniting this absurdly divided country but radically improving it is only beginning. While it’s impossible to know what that actually means right now, since yesterday I’ve felt a newfound sense of hope for better days ahead.
But since I still haven’t metabolized the preceding week or truly reflected on what lies ahead I offer instead a collection of the memes that got me through the longest four days of the past four years:
via @PAM_BOY
and also this one via @PAM_BOY
via @danielleprescod
definitely this video via @fakeroberts
whatever this was @sainthoax
video via @sainthoax
everything on @nymag
and also this @jeanettehayes
Take care, sending hugs, talk soon!