Zip, Zap, Splash!

I. Zip, Zap!

Isn't it nice to wake up to some good election results?!
NYC's new mayor, Zohran Mamdani, with his verve and youth, is invigorating––someone who GETS ON THE BALL––and it's especially hopeful that oodles of people turned out to vote for him.

His artist wife, 28-year old Syrian-American Rama Duqaji (below), designed his logo. 
A touch of circus, a touch of Zabar's. And...
Clangy colors for the win! 

It'll be interesting to see what Mamdani will be able to do. . . 
At any rate, it's great to see a winning politician with energy and ideas--and someone who directly pushes back at Trump.
_______________

[II. thud daddy]

The mayoral candidate who had impressed me in my city, DeWayne Davis, had run an Old-Person's campaign. 
He won 14% of the vote. 
I hope his campaign positioned him for further public service, anyway.

His campaign never got back to my plea for engaged social media,  but they did soon after produce one (1) rather sweetly homemade video from his husband, following their dog--a rescue cocker spaniel.

They needed some better guidance though. 
A floppy dog saying--through the gay husband––Vote for my Daddy-- is not a winning message.

Daddy?
____________________

III. Splash!

What I learned from my first church search (failed) is:
Don't Quit.
I didn't like the church, but I see how much I loved meeting people. 
I've been too alone, or too focused only on the thrift store island.

And being annoyed by their theology and politics did me good: 
it spurred me to further action.

I decided to look more closely online at the church where Davis was a pastor--and BINGO:
they have a perfect Land Acknowledgement:
more than an acknowledgement, a 31-page research report: history, not browbeating.

I know this won’t make everyone's heart sing, but it does mine:
Plymouth Congregational Church: Pre-Treaty, Treaty & Parcel History.

So, I'll go to a service this Sunday and see what the vibe is.
Big, liberal, rich, white, I think. 
That's what gives them the resources (education & money) to commission a research report... 
and to have an Art Gallery, where...

...Starting in this month of Thanksgiving, they are featuring the art and stories of the Indigenous Women Water Protectors.
(The church I'd been visiting, with all its moaning, had posted no activities for this key month in the history of Indigenous/Colonial relations.)


Above from"North Dakota's 'Water Protectors' Bring Their Pipeline Story to Film"  

"Water protectors received global notoriety during the Dakota Access Pipeline protests [in 2016] as they were on the front lines of the resistance; but they have been a part of Indigenous culture since the beginning of time. 

Water Protectors may be selected at birth or very early in life, and live their life in getting to know and understand the water, river or lake that is closely associated with them."

--"Water is Life: We Should All Be Water Protectors ", Prof. Victoria Sutton, Native News Online, Aug. 11, 2024

It was terrific to walk all of six minutes to that first church.
 I'll have to bus (about 3 miles) to this church, since I'm still not biking. Though my pulled knee ligament is much, much better, every time I've biked I set it back.
And then my bike seat & post was stolen, so I thought--Just Quit.
I'll try biking again in spring.

Your closest Body of Water is your own body.