Getting in sync

at the pool and in politics

I took this video last Sunday, just before we left the Atlantis Lodge, our favorite little pet-friendly beach motel (we don’t take the cats, of course, but we enjoy everybody’s dogs while we’re there). After we got home I sent the video to my friend Krista, who exclaimed, “Those girls are in! sync!”

That’s true in the video, and maybe it’s even true most of the time. Bea and Harriet are great sisters who love a lot of the same things—animals, Taylor Swift, body surfing, inappropriate Cartoon Network shows. But they also disagree about twenty times a day. Harriet is still catching up to Bea, and she’s a big fan of things Bea now thinks are kind of lame: mermaids, anything pink and sparkly, My Little Pony. As our eight-year-old neighbor Miles once explained to Harriet, “Bea’s an old girl. Old girls don’t like My Little Pony.”

What the video doesn’t show is the previous days of Bea and Harriet jumping separately onto the raft, Bea and Harriet arguing over the raft, Bea and Harriet trying to jump at the same time, but not quite making it. Harriet jumping by herself for practice, or because Bea was busy playing pool games with other older kids. I have another video that I like almost as much of Bea jumping, followed by Harriet, then each crouching down as the raft spins in place.

It’s hard to be perfectly in sync with another person, nearly impossible when it’s a whole group of people. Some of us are faster, differently skilled, more or less cautious. I’ve been thinking a lot about these challenges this week as things fall apart in North Carolina: abortion, as of yesterday, is illegal after twelve weeks. Concealed carry permit holders can take their guns more places, including schools that house religious services. It’s easier to buy a handgun. The legislature approved a devastating ban on gender-affirming care for trans kids under the age of 18. I’m not exactly sure, but I think it’s now illegal for me to talk about race at work, at least in a hiring capacity. The Republican-controlled NC senate and house are still arguing about how little to pay teachers, and how quickly they can divert public school funding to unregulated (sometimes even nonexistent) private schools, but I’m sure they’ll get in sync on that and it’ll be terrible. Our own tiny public school is losing four beloved teachers, including our wonderful bus driver (who is also an assistant teacher).

I’m in two three different organizing groups, and we’re trying mightily to stick together, to jump onto the raft at the same time so we can combat the nefarious Republican organizing that is taking our state apart, piece by piece. Which is impossible because there are so many of us and all of this work is volunteer-driven, done at night after (or during) our kids’ bedtimes. Some of us have other challenges, including illness, caregiving, work stuff. Life keeps coming at us, as I always tell my novel writing students who are writing about a character’s singular challenge. There are no singular challenges—just look at North Carolina, where a teacher expecting a miniscule raise from the state government might have also learned this week, from the Supreme Court of the United States, that her student loans won’t be forgiven. All while inhaling smoke from Canadian wildfires.

But I do think it’s possible, maybe even preferable for leftists like us, to see our differences as strengths. We don’t all have to have the same comfort level with conflict or direct action. Some of us will jump first, some of us will fall off and get back on later. Maybe some of us are there to hold the raft steady.

My friend Monica and I are working on setting up a newsletter focused on local Chatham County Public Schools issues. I know, I know, another newsletter (!). But we need a way to grow our community and keep people informed about the challenges happening right here, and what we can each do to help. I think this will also make space for the FTT to get back to posts about animals and nature, which we’ve missed working on. So look for an invitation to sign up for that one in the next week or so. We’re thinking of calling it Moms for Literacy.

And here at the offices of the Frog Trouble Times: of course we’ve been reading a lot, and we’ve got some posts on seashells to share (the Seek app is really good at identifying shells, FYI!). Bea and I are looking forward to sharing some sneak peeks of Plant Pets, and I’ll have some other exciting news to share soon!

What have you been getting up to, Frog Troublers? Are you feeling these challenges? Is it hazy (smoky) where you are? I think last night’s storms cleared away some of our bad air, and we’ve been watching the fireflies every night. We’re planning to check out our neighbors’ mountain bike/hiking trails in a little while, and we might head to the pool later.

Love from us at the Frog Trouble Times.