Here's a photo of a blue wave at sunrise

Women's health and bodily autonomy are directly on the line today. Please protect yours by voting for Kamala Harris then turning off the TV for the rest of the day.

Montauk, 2024 © Deborah Copaken

I’ve shied away from speaking directly about today’s election because everything I would ever want to say about it has been said better, faster, more intelligently, and with far greater historical nuance, every single day, by national treasure and historian Heather Cox Richardson. Also, just the idea of typing out the name of the misogynist, racist, lying, fascist, healthcare-stealing, criminally-indicted bully whose name begins with a T and ends in a rump makes me throw up a little bit in my mouth.

Look: I have four Harris/Walz T-shirts. I’ve been cycling through them every day for the past two months. My older son has been in Arizona for six weeks, knocking on doors every goddamned day to get out the vote. Last week, his car was egged by someone with whom he tried to speak rationally. But I will also admit that, last week, the stress of this election became too much, and I escaped to a shack in the woods with my love. We had to be out east anyway to scatter our friend’s wife’s ashes into the sea on Saturday—she died of early onset Alzheimer’s—so we made a week out of it. Aside from reading Heather Cox Richardson’s missives every morning, I spent my days writing, reading, and staring out at trees.

At this point, the only thing we can do is to vote, wait for the returns, hope for the best/no violence, then move on as a country so divided, it scares me and everyone else I know. I’ll probably turn on my TV around 8 pm tonight to watch the returns, but otherwise I plan to spend my day breathing deeply, avoiding the news, and praying for the two people who’ve never simulated oral sex on a microphone, called their opponent a hoe, incited a violent insurrection, or called for Liz Cheney to be shot to pull through and win because I know—and you know, if you’re reading this and are concerned about women’s health—what’s on the line today. Our bodily autonomy. Money to study women’s health. Money to study any science whatsoever. The environment. The economy. The frigging Department of Education! A plan for childcare, eldercare, and caregiving in general. The ACA. Decency. Truth. Democracy. I could go on and on and on. So could you.

Instead, I’ll simply say this: please vote. Then take care of your body by focusing on what you can control today: your breath, your state of mind, your sanity, and your emotional wellbeing. Life is way too short to spend one second of it worrying about things that are now completely out of our control. If the man with the rump at the end of his name wins, we will all do what we can to protect women going forward. If he loses, we will all do what we can to protect the sanctity of the election and the peaceful transfer of power. Today, I choose to believe Michael Moore’s predictions about what will happen. He’s been right every other election about blue waves when they’ve come.

Here’s another one for your viewing pleasure.