Gratitude prayer

Election Day is upon us and it's well nigh impossible to ignore here in the swingiest of swing states, Pennsylvania. As anxiety is just creeping around everywhere, I've found myself feeling grateful for so many things pushing against despair, including an extremely cute South Philly Halloween. So this week, I'll keep it short and just offer up this pre-election prayer of gratitude.

  • to the two men who came to my Halloween Pilates class wearing matching orange and black socks, and one sporting an orange shirt with a black spider saying 'i eat men'
  • to the kind soul who offered me and my friend a shot of whiskey while we were taking in the neighborhood holiday ambience
  • to Machine Dazzle and the South Philly Voter Project for my window sign (see below) and to Machine for his Halloween costume photos
  • to dancers
  • to everyone making shows that are not too long
  • to Robert Caro and to journalists everywhere who dig deep, bring back what they find to the rest of us, and hold power to account (and to the 99% Invisible podcast for giving me the nudge I needed to read The Power Broker)
  • to those working for a free Palestine
  • to friends; friends who remember, friends who teach you new things, friends who listen
  • to public libraries (thank you for the Saturday hours Santore branch!)
  • to the family who made a smores station for trick-or-treaters
  • to new life, and these incredible photos from Irina Varina
  • to Carla Peterson and her decades of service to the performing arts field (and an auxiliary prayer that MANCC will continue to be an essential site for the support and creation of new work)
  • to everyone who brings in a dog or a baby to my polling place where I'll be working all day on Tuesday (thank you in advance)
Machine Dazzle voting poster

What's in your pre-election prayer? (besides, you know, the big obvious one) What's keeping you grounded during this wild time? Or do you want to just gush with me about how great Robert Caro is? Let me know at solidseam@gmail.com.