I read, with considerable interest, the appointment of Rachel Edens to the Hartford Selectboard (“New member joins Selectboard,” Nov. 26). Of even greater interest was learning that Edens actually stepped forward to serve. I applaud Dan Fraser and the other members of the Selectboard for their wisdom in selecting a person who sought out this opportunity. She surely has the educational background and experience to be an effective and successful board member.
In the article, she described some of the challenging experiences she has confronted since moving here from North Carolina. She acknowledges that racism is alive and well in Northern New England.
That notwithstanding, she had the fortitude to want to work for improvement in a community that has, at times, dished out hurt and disappointment.
If I were a betting woman, I would wager that Edens and the other members of the board (two of whom are also Black) will continue the hard work that will ultimately lead to both policy and social change around racial issues. Part of my confidence is based on the Selectboard, which has demonstrated by its composition that diversity matters. I wonder how many other boards and councils in the Upper Valley and beyond reflect such diversity, the existence of which suggests inclusion.
An argument can be made that, no matter our ethnicity, we take comfort in knowing there is someone in a leadership role in our community who looks like us. I remember how excited I was when Dartmouth College appointed the first woman to be its treasurer.
As I continue to see the diversity that President-elect Joe Biden is creating in his appointments — all extremely qualified, experienced and competent people — it fosters in me the same feelings of hope and commitment to change. I felt the same when I read of Edens’ appointment to the Hartford Selectboard.
We live in a richly diverse country and it is heartening to see that some of the leaders in our country are recognizing this and responding in ways that will truly promote diversity and lead to a more equitable society.
LINDA BARTON
West Lebanon
Recently I called our federal legislators to pass on a comment. I also asked for a contact number to reach the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies, which is chaired by U.S. Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., and includes Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., as a member. I called, but since President Donald Trump hadn’t yet authorized action to begin the transition for President-elect Joe Biden, nothing had been set up.
It was very distressing to observe the recent Trump protestors in Washington amid the ongoing pandemic. They may be denying the lethality of the novel coronavirus, but that doesn’t matter to the virus. They probably brought it home to spread in their local communities.
I am pretty certain that Biden will be certified the president-elect and inaugurated in January. Biden ran on trying to bring this country together. With so many people in our country hurting, this is not the time to be “partying” — celebrating yes, partying no. The president-elect needs to continue to show good role modeling. I hope the inaugural committee will plan to do the inauguration virtually and save the face-to-face stuff for when the pandemic is no longer a concern.
I think the optics of having a big bash after criticizing Trump for his rallies would be hypocritical. I know when Biden gave his acceptance speech a lot of the celebrations were spontaneous, but there was obviously no way for the people at the Delaware event to be physically distanced. We are needlessly losing too many lives and causing a lot of suffering to patients, their friends and families, not to mention essential front-line workers.
Please contact your federal legislators ask them to make the inaugural celebrations virtual, just like this year’s Democratic National Convention.
PAUL MANGANIELLO
Norwich
Although I applaud President-elect Joe Biden’s desire to unite the citizens of this country, I advise we keep at least one eye open when dealing in politics. Opinions and polls are the currency of the profession, and when recently asked to take a survey by openmedia.org on planning for 2021, I jumped at the opportunity to stand on my soapbox to decry the undermining of free expression, in particular, attempts to filter and censor the internet.
In response to the question of “our right to repair” our own devices, I noted that there’s very little literature on how to repair devices.
How many times have you searched for information about how to do something and the results are nothing but commercial services that hide the cost — but you know they aren’t free! Besides, troubleshooting is a pleasure to be savored, especially if it’s a chance to learn. My buddies and I used to work on our cars on weekends. If one of us had a problem that no one knew how to address, somebody would do research at the library (this was before the worldwide web). A couple of my friends had computers; we’d dial up the sysop and log on for adventure. At first we were naive users, but as we progressed, so did the infrastructure.
Since then, the worldwide web has become a clearinghouse dominated by thugs such as Amazon, Twitter and Facebook, peddling gewgaws and eye candy. Instead of fostering truth, knowledge, community and understanding, the internet promotes lies, divisiveness and misinformation. Freakin’ capitalists, they’d sell their own mothers. (Please read Zucked: Waking Up to the Facebook Catastrophe by Roger McNamee, or The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains, by Nicholas Carr.)
To me, it seems a liberal inoculation of skepticism (and perhaps a bit of Neo-Luddism) is in order: We may have dodged a bullet with the demise of the evil Trump regime; let’s see how long before we’ll need to monkey-wrench the system, given the latent power of anti-compassionate GOP leaders and their constituencies.
KEVIN McEVOY LEVERET
White River Junction
All of us feel compassion for the victims of the wildfires in the West, as well as those of the hurricanes in the Gulf region. Needless to say, the Democrats spare no opportunity to blame these phenomena on climate change, even to the point where California Gov. Gavin Newsom (related by marriage to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi) and Sen. Kamala Harris were accused of trespassing on a fire victim’s destroyed property for a photo opportunity. Pelosi went so far as to suggest that “Mother Earth is angry” and the conflagration is our just desserts for having elected Donald Trump.
I would like to offer an alternate explanation that requires going back into the Biblical account of the flood of Noah: Because the wickedness of man was great, God opted to destroy the world of that day by a flood, giving the rainbow as the seal of his promise not to destroy the Earth by flooding again. That does not rule out his use of fire, as occurred centuries later with the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah — as a result of, you guessed it, sodomy in those cities — and he could do it again.
Consider that the LGBTQ+ community has co-opted the rainbow as its symbol, and Newsom signed a bill giving judges greater discretion when sentencing young LGBTQ+ people who have sex with other young people older than 14 when the age difference is not more than 10 years. Could “Mother Earth” be enraged by violence being done to the natural order?
For example, Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, D-Hawaii, recently spoke out against the Netflix movie Cuties as sexualizing young girls. Actress Blake Lively, speaking at the Variety Awards, made an impassioned plea to stop the sexual exploitation and trafficking of children. If we as a society fail to see the cause-and-effect linkage between our perverse sexual proclivities and irreparable damage to young lives, maybe nature is rearing its own head in incendiary protest to get our attention.
That makes at least as much sense as using climate change as leverage to force a political agenda on Americans.
WILLIAM A. WITTIK
Hartford