May 6, 2022

Took a spade to the largest growth of bamboo sprouts in memory. Three days and I have to hack away like a jungle guide. Many of the shoots were as tall as I.. 

Voted at the West Asheville Library. It was quick, easy, but also an interesting experience. The moment I left my car I was mobbed by progressive demonstrators with placards and pamphlets, surrounded by people with whom I agreed, all of them thanking me for voting. I accepted a candidate recommendation form from the Sierra Club, and actually (if incidentally) found myself voting for everyone they suggested. One of the candidates for DA (an attractive young woman) was herself there among her supporters. All candidates for DA are Democrats, so I asked what separates her from the other candidate whose supporters had handed me information. She crept close and whispered in my ear, “My opponent is endorsed by the Police Benevolent Association.” That was all she needed to say. I didn’t recall knowing anybody there in the library parking lot, and I didn’t understand how they could have guessed my political inclinations so accurately. As I exited, the people sitting under the CONSERVATIVE sign asked me about my T-shirt. That was it. I had, quite unconsciously, worn my most leftist T-shirt, the one that calls for remembrance of the Black Wall Street calamity of 1921. They read my shirt as it were–and as they should-- a political autobiography. 

Intermittent & necessary rain.