Hello, friends!
A short and simple one, today, to celebrate 325 posts on TWF: The four candidates for School Board will be part of a "Meet The Candidates" forum. If you have any questions, they may be able to provide answers! Feel free to ask whatever you'd like.
Thanks for reading! Jesse Pohlman is a Sci-Fi/Fantasy author born and raised in Freeport, New York, currently living in another LI town, with a website available at this link!
Hello, friends!
It's been a bit, and there's not too much for me to say at this time, but I did want to put what tiny extra light I can on an upcoming Board Of Education and School Budget vote on May 17th, plus provide a short editorial about school board elections in general, nationwide, and not specific to Freeport.
There are, as far as I am aware, two "slates" of candidates that are being voted for. As always, The Weekly Freeporter is a non-partisan endeavor and we will not be publishing any endorsements on the subject. I will link to their respective Facebook pages so you may read more about their perspectives and qualifications.
First up is the tag-team of BoE incumbent Maria Jordan-Awalom, who is running for (what I believe to be) her second term, and first-time candidate Shuron Jackson, himself an educator.
Next up, we've got the team of Ben Jackson (no relation to Shuron, I'm sure), President of the Freeport Chamber of Commerce, and Jacques Butler, Vice-President of Freeport PAL.
Voter turnout in school board elections is typically low. For example, it's hard to pin down exactly how many people voted in the 2019-2020 elections, since votes are permitted for any two candidates they choose, but the winning candidates had 659 and 714 votes, respectively. Freeport is a Village with over 40,000 residents, but it took the collective votes of less than 1/40th of that to win the election. The budget vote is rarely close, but I remember back when I was in elementary school that wasn't the case and the district went on an austerity budget that was impactful enough on my education that I remember it.
I highly encourage you to get out and vote in your School Board election, wherever you live.
Now for a brief editorial you may, or may not, want to read.
A Note On Creeping Fascism In School Board Elections
As I've stressed, school board elections are important. Right now, they are a significant "culture war" battleground. While The Weekly Freeporter is non-partisan, it is very Anti-Fascist. Let me stress up front that to my knowledge, none of the candidates running for election have tripped any of the red flags I'm about to point out, but I have seen some shameful Facebook comments that have helped inspire this commentary.
To that end, please be wary any time commentators (and especially candidates!) start talking about things like, for example, "We shouldn't be teaching students CRT" and "We shouldn't be teaching little kids about sexuality."
Those lines of "inquiry" are substantial red flags that the person in question is aligned with Fascist ideology, and they should immediately be challenged to explain what they are talking about, with evidence. These are dog-whistles (more like megaphones) for racism, homophobia, transphobia, and other bigotries of-that-like
There is no chance that these are things which are being taught in the way Fascists portray.
If you would like more education on these topics, or just if you've got about an hour to kill (Maybe you have some commuting to do, and you could use something to listen to?), I would recommend starting with Some More News' take on the so-called "CRT issue." Yes, it's halfway to being a comedy show, and halfway to being a tragedy as it covers real-life events quite accurately.
Hello, friends,
The below image is courtesy of the National Weather Service.
I mean, that says enough, doesn't it? Well, Accuweather says this:
That's...Honestly twice as bad as the 6-12 we were predicted to get as of a couple days ago, which is why I decided it deserved an article. That means it's time to review some of our usual winter weather tips! If you've got one you'd like to share, leave it in the comments and I'll credit you and add it to the list.
(Yes, this list seems to repeat year to year for a reason, but it's been tweaked here and there)Hello, friends.
April is Poetry Month for Long Island Arts Council at Freeport. I wish I had a direct link to a page specifically dedicated to the poetry contest they're running, but that's not available at present. What is available is information and registration for the seventh annual high school-oriented poetry contest!
I know, lots of alliteration, there. If you noticed, you oughta consider entering the contest!
As for me: I'm presently kicking back in CoVID-Positive quarantine; I'm feeling about 97% healthy, a fact which I'm crediting to my vaccination. If you haven't already gotten yours, please do.
Jesse Pohlman is an author from Long Island, New York; born and raised in Freeport. Well, maybe not "born" in Freeport - Freeport Hospital wasn't doing delivery in 1984.
Editorial note: Opinions ahead.
Hello, friends,
This is like the cliche freshman college essay: I want to start with giving credit to News 12 on the germ of this article, which some beta-readers have identified as a bit of a rant, but there are serious problems afoot in Long Island, and it's due to our old pal the Coronavirus. I'm opening with some data, I'm following that up with a personal story, and - at the end of this - I am calling upon Governor Hochul to take significant action to combat the Coronavirus pandemic.
Hospital overcrowding and overload has reached highs that honestly haven't really been seen, at least since the beginning of the pandemic. With the Omicron variant in town, U.S. Case Positivity rates have skyrocketed. NBC News reports that on January 3rd, over one million tests returned positive. Just think about that: 1/330 people in the country came down with CoVID. Child hospitalizations are at climbing rapidly, as reported by Reuters. Seems like Freeport Schools going remote for at least this week was a good idea, now, doesn't it?
Oh: And here's Nassau County's caseload.
Notice how it's kind of just going almost straight up?
News 12 is reporting that Nassau University Medical Center is overwhelmed. That's no surprise. 60% of the hospital's population is there specifically for CoVID, and - if I'm reading the first link in this post right - the other 40% was positive? That's, like, 100%. I think they could have been clearer with their reporting, there, honestly.
At any rate, other hospitals are increasing their requirements for in-patient emergency admission. Virtually anything that can be managed outpatient is being called upon to be handled outpatient, even if that's not exactly ideal for the patient. Then there's the case of the Florida hospital turning away pregnant people because they're overwhelmed with CoVID. You know, because that's a thing.
What's this all mean?
Well, dammit Jim, I'm not a doctor. I'm just a part-time journalist trying to interpret data. What it screams to me is that everyone is catching CoVID at this point, even though vaccinations are definitely keeping serious illness at bay for those of us who have paid attention to the science. (If you've got a problem with that sentiment, just leave now, because we're going deep.)
As to the concrete effects of this new wave of hospitalpolicy changes, I'm just not sure. They might mean that hospitals aren't going to accept non-life-threatening injuries, such as from moderate-to-severe car accidents. "Oh, your arm might be broken? Too bad, get it treated outpatient." It might not! I know people who have had serious surgeries postponed, and while they were non-specific with their reasoning, I'm betting they didn't need to be clear about it.
And the more I write, the more concretely an idea forms in my mind.
I have a story I'm ready to tell:
I know that, due to CoVID, hospitals have put in place a policy in place where, generally speaking, you can't have guests in an emergency room. There are limited exceptions, and this is where we get personal. When my dad was in his last month of life, we decided to take him to the emergency room to see if there was anything that could be done to help him. At that point, he was an immunocompromised cancer patient with suspected internal bleeding fresh off a first-time infusion of Cyramza, so he got in pretty quick - only, I wasn't allowed to go in with him. I stressed that I was his healthcare proxy and power of attorney, that he could not advocate for himself in any effective manner, and they still wouldn't budge. I was told to wait in the car.
Of course, being completely sick and disoriented, he was totally unable to provide a medical history for himself. Totally. I was called back within 10 minutes and sheepishly told they needed someone to help out with him. It was only a short period of torment for a dying man, but it was terrible nonetheless. I'm sure I'm not alone in this exemption regard, but I cannot imagine going to an ER when you're sick and being Goddess-damned alone. It's a horrifying thought, to imagine going through that - and infuriating to imagine my wife going through it. But people have to go through it, nonetheless?
And, in large part, people are going through that because other people are making selfish choices which damn them entirely?!
Enough.
No More.
A Call For Action From The Governor
The U.S. Supreme Court decided in the 1905 Jacobson Vs Massachusetts that states have the power to compel citizen vaccination in the face of a public health crisis. The relevant overview is down below:
I am calling upon New York Governor Kathy Hochul to implement mandatory vaccination, either directly through executive order mandates, legislative mandates, and vaccine passports; or - at least - through existing requirements for school admission and any other mechanisms like mandates for all state workers to be vaccinated. I am calling on all candidates for Governor, including Jumanne Williams and Tom Suozzi, to make this a part of their platform. I am furthermore calling on all legislators to back specific laws being written to compel vaccination.
Yes, we are at that point.
No, I don't care about your self-assigned "Freedoms" in this case, because by refusing to get vaccinated all you are doing is hurting the sick and defenseless out of pure, unbridled selfishness. Vaccines are safe, they will almost certainly not hurt you. The science is well tested and established since the 1990's. The disease is bad enough to warrant it, with one million cases in a day and overwhelmed hospitals. The legal authority was established over a century ago by the highest court in the country. I'm sorry, but you are not - and, unless you are 115 years or so old, have never even plausibly been - "Free" to kill, cripple, and traumatize innocent people by turning yourself into a vector for disease. You do, in fact, have a fundamental responsibility to protect your fellow Human being.
If you have a problem with this? Don't bother arguing, here. Give me an angry reaction and I'll tell you to kiss off. This was and is something of a factual review of our situation, something of a rant, and definitely a sad story.
And I've seen enough suffering.
I'm done.
Jesse Pohlman is an author and recovering teacher from Long Island, New York, born and raised in Freeport. He's currently furious at the state of affairs and the harm it's caused, both directly and indirectly.
Greetings, friends! And with another hat-tip to Jason Bass!
I hope you're enjoying the start to this new year! For me, it's the year of "Organization," meaning I'm trying to get my life in order. Which is good, since stability may well have arrived!
I'm truly sorry I'm coming a bit too late to help a lot of people, but I was just hat-tipped by my buddy and occasional co-conspirator for TWF that new the Nassau County Executive, Bruce Blakeman, is running another test kit giveaway both today and tomorrow. Newsday reports that the give-away will run from 8:30 AM to 1:00 PM both on 1/1/2022 and 1/2/2022, at the NYCB Nassau Coliseum. The article is both paywalled, buried under articles about Thursday's giveaway, and dated as of yesterday, so it wouldn't surprise me if information is slow to get out.
Unfortunately, it's too late to benefit from this today. I only just found out, after all. But tomorrow is another story!
Additionally, as reported by Long Island Business News, the county is operating a testing facility out of Christopher Morley Park. Monday through Friday, 8:00 AM to 6:00 PM, though appointments are required.
Take care and be safe!
Hello, friends,
Fresh off of yesterday's CoVID update comes news that the Freeport Public Schools are shifting to a week of online instruction/remote learning for Monday, Jan 3rd - Friday, Jan 7th. While there's a whole missive that was sent out, and is available on their webpage (I can't link to it for some archaic reason), I strongly urge you to check out this clip of the big bit of information:
I'm wishing everyone in the community well through these trying times.
Jesse Pohlman is an author from Long Island, New York, born and raised in Freeport.
