As the sun prepared to set last evening under a heavily clouded, not-blue sky, I walked down to the dock and sat there until the two turtles I was watching — one large, one teeny tiny — slipped sideways off the limb where they’d been perched and disappeared beneath the surface.

It was the first time all summer I’d taken the time to sit there. To do nothing. Even the bugs left me alone.

After last November, I swore I would not let the new administration take up so much space in my head, and yet here I am just 7 months in and I already feel like there’s been a coup (pun intended) between my ears. How to know enough about what’s happening without feeling suffocated by it? How to keep up with the news without feeling like I’ve been run over by Wile E. Coyote?

I do not have the same sense of alarm that many seem to be having about the Democrats or the Democratic Party, or maybe I’m just (see above) distracted by too much other political news.

Am I frustrated with the national Democratic party as a whole? Hell yes. All I could think when Ken Martin was chosen as DNC chair was that I could not be more underwhelmed by the choice. Nice guy, sure, but dull as dirty dishwater. Where is our courage, our sense of the future, our excitement? Where is our real leader, and when might he/she emerge?

Think what you will about Gavin Newsom — and having moved to Kentucky from California, I have many-a-thought about Newsom — but he is meeting the moment of today-today. He looks like a fighter; he’s keeping steady media attention on his antics; most importantly he’s shedding his slick persona and becoming funny. Many are focused on his Twitter posts and antics but I feel the biggest sense of relief that he’s willing to make fun of himself and the president to make all of us laugh.

Editor’s Note: Teri is a special writer. Her connections to our American lives and the changes it faces are inspiring, insightful, and deeply moving. Read her…

Continue/Read Original Article Here: Bye Bye, Blue Sky – by Teri Carter