The Census

when sanity reigned

I have worked at least peripherally with three different iterations of the Census. I have been going down memory lane recently because I decided I had to give up my delightful work of title searching because my eyesight and rapidly changing technology are doing me in. So then I started reminiscing about all the jobs I have had in the past, and the census came to mind because of its recent mention in the news about the illegal gerrymandering of the Texas districts. You see, all that stuff is related to the count of the number of people in the country. And that means every person as near as possible. The work is extremely detailed and actually probably takes all the years in between to sort out and get ready for the next one—which by the way, is supposed to occur every ten yers. Now that we can no longer rely on the data coming from the current regime, I wonder about all the lifetime civil servants whose careers have gone up in smoke (besides the ones who make the news which shocks us every day).

If memory serves me (and increasingly I’m not sure about that), I worked on the census in Brooklyn, New York, and Kingston, New York, and most recently back here in New London, Connecticut. I know for sure that I didn't complete my assignment this last time because I realized that I was a bit old to be traipsing the streets in all kinds of neighborhoods and probably annoying people to boot. But the reason for my mentioning all this is to impress on everyone how important it is to this democratic republic that we know how many people are residing here. All of the services provided by the government rely on such data. And of course the latest drama about redistricting is because it is occurring between the usual census periods. Some other Substackers have given us a great history of the word gerry mander and the legal issues involved. I won’t go into any more detail for the sake of time.

I’ve also decided that I have to give up driving even though I renewed my Real ID drivers license for another 6 years. I was sure that I would not be able to pass the eye test, but guess what—they didn't test my eyes. But my retinal specialist at our visit last year told me that I could drive until I was no longer comfortable. And I think that time has come.

Meanwhile, I finished E. Jean Carroll’s book Not My Type, and I was shocked that as part of her lawsuit against the dressing room pervert, she was asked to give her complete sexual history. Aside from the fact that I find it completely irrelevant, I was amazed that the number of her partners was small enough that she could name all the men. That led me to realize that my history is probably what is more commonly associated with the males in our species. My number is exponentially higher and quite frankly if I could put a first name to some of them I’d be lucky. [Sorry, darling daughter, in case you’re reading this.] I firmly believe that woman have every right to as robust a sex life as anyone else. It is definitely none of the public’s business and should have played no part in that legal case.

And I’ll end now, because I have actually cheered myself up by letting you all know what I am thinking. Oh, and by the way, I’m very thankful that my body has adjusted to the three vaccines and it reminds me how lucky I am to feel so well after my morning walkies and swinging in the park.

RESIST ALWAYS

TTFN