Life of Wry

This afternoon, I pulled out of the driveway in my rarely-used-during-the-pandemic car and within a few seconds realized there were some papers flapping on my windshield. I stopped, got out, retrieved the papers to find they were actually two magazines — a couple back issues of The Economist.

Huh.

I went about my business (a gorgeous late fall, late day walk with Janet in the North Davis ditch). But when I got back, Jim and I examined the blacked out address on the magazine label and found it belonged to a guy in Woodland.

I deduced that–not b/c of the Woodland address–whoever it was, was probably responding to the lawn signs which are still standing in our front yard even though the election is long over, and which, for the most part, convey liberal messaging. Not at all unusual hereabouts, but I never assume everyone agrees with them. I’m guessing this guy — whether it was the guy on the address label or not — does not. So he gifted us a pair of magazines that offer a slightly more centrist-leaning perspective on things. A radical notion in Davis.

Here are the magazines:

And here’s the note I sent Alan:

It’s definitely not the first time our lawn signs or our bumper stickers have attracted the attention of folks– both pro and con. (Definitely less the lawn signs and more the bumper stickers.) It’s one reason I’m not sporting bumper stickers any more. Really no need to stoke division. I even took down the Black Lives Matter and Love Your Neighbor lawn signs when we had crews coming and going during the remodel. Felt unnecessarily provocative then (when at least one of the crew was a known Trump supporter), and perhaps even now. Feeling anymore like I don’t want to do anything that calls attention to differences. I don’t really want to contribute to the pervasive tribalism that defines everything these days. Continuing to work fiendishly for the cause is still the plan, but I feel like quietly is a better way to do it for awhile.