You get it.

The key is knowing your authentic self. This is priority one when voting, knowing how you will spend your 81.5 years on this little green ball. What are your priorities from the time you get up optimistic and fresh in the morning to when you lay your beat-down, cynical, head on your pillow at night (maybe that’s just me?).   Money, power, fame, empathy, creativity, greed, acceptance, intolerance-that kind of thing. Do you play the short game or the long game? Profits over people or the other way around?

As I tell my students you can’t vote for what you believe in until you know what you believe in.

It’s a big and important election, you know that. If ever there was a time when we need our representatives to represent us, now is it. I won’t tell you who to vote for, you have to figure that one out for yourself but I will tell you that your vote matters, every election, every time. Especially now.

One of the greatest things about teaching in a small town for 20+ years is that I get to see growth. Everyone grows up eventually. Sure, it takes some longer than others, some need a traumatic event to grow, some need the right mentor for inspiration, and some just need a trip to the highest mountain to think about and make a plan for where their life is going. The common factor in growing-it takes work.

Since I’m teaching Biology this semester, I relate everything to cell growth and the most important thing about cell growth is a healthy environment. Wanna understand how ugly it can get? Think about the dinosaurs 66 million years ago as they saw the sky filling up with caustic gasses, soot and dust covering the earth for 2 years and killing off 75% of animal and plant species. While it’s doubtful we will experience another Chicxulub asteroid, did you see the wildfire induced orange sky a few weeks ago? Ominous.

But enough doom, let’s get back to voting. Please don’t listen to all the noise about fraud and intimidation at the poles and fake results. Yes, this election is different but life is different. Like I said in staff meeting the other day, you cannot use the same rubric to compare today to any other time.

This vote is just different. People are scared and nervous to go to the poles so we have made voting by mail or drop box easier than ever, election season instead of election day.  And if you are like me and really love to vote in person, election day is now election 4 days-Saturday through Tuesday and yes there are fewer locations ( FAHA on Verano for me and all my Springs peeps, Vets building and the Moose lodge for Sonoma and surrounding area residents) but with a four day window it shouldn’t be a problem.

Will we know the results on election night? Probably not but we will know soon after. Again, unprecedented times, different rubric.

And it’s not just the big race we are voting on. School boards, state representatives, and a whole lot of state and county measures. Some interesting, some not so much, but all important.

Again, know what you believe in and do the work. And if you have questions or need help: (707) 564-6800 or (800) 750-VOTE.

And please do everything you can to encourage others.