before the dark time

November 7 2024

In my time, my people have often lost elections in the first week of November, although none before have been this threatening to democracy itself. Hence I have rituals of comfort at this time, chief of which is a walk looking for milkweed, or harvey milkweed as I think of it. Also today I ordered two books by Dietrich Bonhoeffer for the library. On the way to the library this Thursday evening I noticed the lovely fade in the sky with a bright quarter moon and the first star. I thought of the songs of Chrys Matthews and of Amythyst Kiah's song Empire of Love: 

Concrete pillars, golden domes
There are kingdoms come and gone that we'll never know
My religion is none at all
I build my own cathedrals and let 'em fall
'Cause I don't want a theocracy
Or some idol ideology
We're all made from stars from above
I pledge allegiance to my soul
I'll follow where she needs to go
I'm a pilgrim for the empire of love

Numbness works for me in traumatic times as does staying busy. The stock market is happy that we didn't have violence and chaos and it will be ok until the end of Biden's term. My people revere the law and respect the peaceful transfer of power. Libraries will be so important in the coming dark time, both for building community and for providing uncensored access to information. The catalog of anticipated damage to the country and the world is long, with the loss of democracy and civil rights here and the loss of our NATO allies, and then there's climate change that will wreck everything.

A friend posted these statistics so that we can compare them to a year from now. 

1) Inflation rate:
“The current inflation rate in the United States is 2.4% as of September 2024”
2) Prime Rate:
As of September 19, 2024, the prime rate is 8.00%
3) Unemployment: 
 “As of October 2024, the unemployment rate in the United States was 4.1%.” 
4) Average national gas price:
“$3.102 per gallon”
5) Average national price of eggs:
“The national average price for a dozen eggs in the United States was $3.82 in September 2024.”
6) Average national price of milk:
September 2024: The average price of a gallon of whole fortified milk is $4.443
7) National Average Mortgage Rate:
“Nov 1, 2024
30-yr fixed 7.454%
15-yr fixed 6.427%
10 / 6 ARM 8.146%”
😎 National Average Rent on a One Bedroom Apartment:
“The national average rent for a one-bedroom apartment in the United States is $1,558 per month”