Maura Elizabeth Cunningham

I thought about putting together a full post for today’s Weekly Wanderings, but let’s be honest: there’s only one big story this week. Everyone’s attention is trained on Tuesday’s U.S. presidential election. Most of us are either devouring every scrap of news about the latest shifts in polls, or doggedly avoiding social media and news feeds because it’s all just too much at this point. Or perhaps you’re like me and doing both, in the same day. I want to know and I don’t. I scroll and click and roll my eyes, then pick up a book because I know I can only spend so many hours in a day scrolling and clicking and rolling my eyes.

I voted yesterday. I hope that if you have not voted yet, you will do so on Tuesday. And I hope that by this time next week the worst of the election will have subsided. It will not go away: there will still be cruelty and racism and sexism and people intent on diminishing the humanity of others. Those in this country who spew such vitriol—and yes, they are mostly Republicans, though not exclusively—will not be eliminated in a single election. But one election can make a difference, and I am hopeful it will.

Thanks for joining me this week. 🗳

Featured image: Election signs outside the Traverwood Branch of the Ann Arbor District Library, November 2, 2024.