politics

Reflecting on 11/9 Election Aftermath

And to all the young people in particular, I want you to hear this. I’ve spent my entire adult life fighting for what I believe in. I’ve had successes and I’ve had setbacks—sometimes really painful ones. Many of you are at the beginning of your careers. You will have successes and setbacks, too.

This loss hurts. But please, please never stop believing that fighting for what’s right is worth it. It’s always worth it. And we need you keep up these fights now and for the rest of your lives.

To all the women, and especially the young women, who put their faith in this campaign and in me, I want you to know that nothing has made me prouder than to be your champion.

I know that we still have not shattered that highest glass ceiling. But some day someone will—hopefully sooner than we might think right now.

And to all the little girls watching right now, never doubt that you are valuable and powerful and deserving of every chance and opportunity in the world.
— HRC

I want to post this here because I never want to forget. I never want to forget how close we were to breaking the glass ceiling. I never want to forget if my little girl asks me why it took so long for America to have a female president. I never want to forget to have class and strength even when people want to knock me down. I never want to forget that there is still a lot of good in this country and that more than half of Americans wanted to make history.

After the political fray, we're still here. We're still getting up and going on with our daily routine. The sun is still rising and setting. Heck, even the markets closed higher. But today is a reminder that our country still has a long way to go, and we need to do our best as citizens to move this country forward. And the way to do that is to listen more, care more, and love more.

I wrote in my last post that optimism is at the heart of being American. I still have hope, and I am optimistic that our country will overcome.

Thank you Hillary Clinton for fighting so hard. Thank you for championing young women and girls everywhere. Thank you for being a class act and a model for so many of us. Thank you for sparking a national conversation and starting a fire that will continue to burn bright in me.

Photography 101 Exercise: Water

ben-1.jpg

This is my boss, Ben. He loves his oyster farm dearly, and I would argue probably as much as he loves his wife and kids. When I’m at our Boston shop, cooped up in the warehouse office sitting at a desk and reeking of fish, Ben is out on his boat harvesting oysters. I don’t know what’s worse: sitting at a desk for 8 hours a day or having to brave chilly winter winds and hauling heavy crates of oysters.

On special occasions, I make it down to Duxbury to capture the action on the farm. Today was one of those special days. When tides are super negative, the water recedes out of the bay and into the ocean, revealing the rich earth scattered with oysters. It’s mind-boggling to imagine the tide coming back in 12 feet higher and cloaking the oyster beds again until the next negative tide.

Today’s theme of “Water” and being on the farm was completely coincidental. It made me think of how we as humans rely on water in so many ways. People like my boss and I rely on water to support our livelihoods. Cities rely on water to flush sewage. Every single person on this planet relies on water to live. 783 million people in our world today do not have access to clean drinking water. We often take water for granted and never think twice about this precious resource, but when approached by a drought like the residents of central California, the importance of water really sinks in.

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Side note: The results of the midterm elections were in this morning, and it’s clear that we will have a Republican-controlled Congress. There was a very scary NY Times poll showing an overwhelming 83% of Republicans who do not think climate change is a serious problem. I’m typically not into politics, but climate change is one issue I am pretty passionate about, especially working in the seafood industry. I believe we’re already seeing some repercussions of climate change including the effects on our freshwater supply, and unless we make changes, it will only get worse.