If like me you had a perfectly pleasant Thanksgiving, it’s a good time to reflect on people who didn’t, and to remember how lucky we are most of the time.
I can’t imagine what Thanksgiving was like for this family in Utah, where one of three siblings died after being trapped upside-down in a cave for 28 hours. It’s difficult to think of a worse way to die, and I’m sure this is something that the whole family will live with for the rest of their lives.
Today when I picked up my car from the dealer, the rental-car guy and I rode through North Hollywood. I told him, as I tell at least one person every day, that one out of every eight people we see is out of work. And then I noticed all the boarded-up businesses. If you’ve got a job right now, this is something good to bear in mind.
And then a good friend called me today from out of town to tell me that her father had died on Tuesday.
Here’s how I spent my Thanksgiving: The kids washed my wife’s van and my son’s car while I read the paper and supervised, then I gave the dog a bath while they supervised, then we took the dog for a long walk before going to the Smokehouse for dinner (it was okay). Then we came home and watched “Survivorman,” then a DVD, then we played two board games (Monopoly, then the electronic Doctor Who board game), then the younger kids went to bad, then the wife went to bed, then my eldest and I watched the movie “A.I.” until 2 a.m. I shared all this with the rental guy. He told me that his girlfriend worked an afternoon shift at the hospital, so they celebrated Thanksgiving at 11 a.m., then he went to another Thanksgiving meal at 6 p.m. We agreed that, all things considered, we both felt lucky.
Jerry Brown just emailed me again. He didn’t ask me for money this time (for what, I can’t figure out, since he isn’t a declared candidate for anything). Here’s what he had to say:
Dear Lee
As Anne and I get ready for Thanksgiving tomorrow, many fond memories of past family gatherings come to mind. It is on these occasions that my father would often share stories of his family, particularly his grandfather who came across the plains and over the Sierras to Sacramento in 1852. In those days, the challenges were enormous and of a type we can barely imagine.
Today we face entirely different challenges. Whether they are bigger or smaller, I can’t say. But I do know that California is still a state of imagination and boundless possibility. Our pioneering spirit is very much alive and will enable us to handle any of our problems, however daunting they may now appear.
As you take time to enjoy Thanksgiving with your own family and reflect on the year that is drawing to a close, you can take renewed encouragement from the courage and achievements that have made California such a unique and wonderful place.
My best wishes to you and your family.
With respect,
Jerry Brown
I’ve always rather liked Jerry, and I appreciate these emails. So I responded thusly:
Jerry,
Are you running for something?
Because I might consider supporting you if I knew you were running for something.
Perhaps governor? Because there are no Democrats declared in that race. Kind of embarrassing.
I’d like to install a pet door downstairs to accommodate my dog so that she can chase that squirrel with abandon and without needing me to jump up let her out every other minute.
Yesterday when I went out to my car there was so much dirt layered atop it that I thought an undertaker had been by with a shovel. Before the paranoia could really get cranking, I crossed the street and looked at my neighbor’s car: same thing. Indeed, every car on the street looked like the victim of the latest Biblical plague: airborne dirt. Later, a service writer at the Ford dealership told me that it had been on the news: Some vicious wind had come whistling through the valley last night and deposited dirt everywhere. (And no, it wasn’t anyone at TMZ.com.)
Just now I took my dog for a bike ride. (Well, I pedal, she runs alongside.) There was so much grit in the air I felt like I was in one of those asteroid disaster movies. Since 1988, southern California has had earthquakes, mud slides, deluges, drought, riots, and Arnold Schwarzenegger. Now this.
This year, for the first time in a long time, I’m not cooking Thanksgiving dinner and neither is my wife. Some years I do the turkey and all the fixings, especially if the holiday falls between two of her graveyard shifts or if she’s out of town with our kids (in which case I invite strange assemblages of acquaintances, as in this episode recounted this time last year). Other years she does it. This year we’re going to a nice restaurant instead. It was her idea, and it’s one I like a lot.
Her other idea is that after our Thanksgiving dinner at the nice restaurant, the five of us can go to the movies. She scanned the listings to see what’s playing. “We can go see ‘The Fantastic Mr. Fox,'” she said. “Or, we can take the kids to see” and she named this movie. Given the subject matter, I’m not sure it’s the right choice for a feast holiday.
Forget “2012.” The true disaster epic set in California is the state budget. It’s already out of whack (again), it’s been out of whack, and it’s only going to get far, far worse.
Meanwhile, here’s how many Democrats are declared in the governor’s race: none. Jerry Brown is still asking for money, but he’s not running for anything. Of the three Republicans running, two are fantastically wealth, and as such can afford to be deluded about what would fix our state budget. Predictably, they’re vowing to balance the budget through cuts. News alert to them: If you cut all the discretionary spending out of the state budget, it won’t balance. The third Republican, Tom Campbell, is someone I’ve met several times and someone I respect, and his determination to balance the budget is serious. For one thing, he’s proposing some tax hikes. But there’s little likelihood the state GOP will nominate him, precisely because of those tax hikes.
Today at a political luncheon I wound up seated with an Assemblyman from Los Angeles County. (No, not the one I’ve often written about here.) I was bemoaning the lack of gubernatorial candidates — again, the Democrats have none declared — and he floated the notion of running. He figured he’d get 25% of the vote just for not being Jerry Brown. (I figure that number may be low.) I tried to talk him into it, but got nowhere, and then he tried to talk me into it, and got nowhere. And then we talked about all the other people who aren’t running and won’t run: the state controller, the former state superintendent of schools, either of our senators… oh, the list is endless.
Our projected deficit over the next two years is $41 billion. And almost no one will stand up and do something about it. That’s a sad statement. It makes me think that with similar leadership 230 years ago, we’d all still be subjects of the British crown.
I’m sorely tempted to get my name on the ballot. Just to be a nuisance.