Back in New York this past weekend for something like 35 hours. It's turned into an incredibly busy time here at the Herriott house, so why not include a somewhat last minute trip? On top of that, Elliot and Saint Anne the Wife got Covid right before I left town while Housefire Two and I are still testing negative. Did I also mention it's the last week of their school year?
On Saturday, May 14th, there were abortion rights demonstrations happening across the country. According to BuzzFeed News, there were something like 10,000+ protesters out doing their thing in New York City and marching across the Brooklyn Bridge. Considering the historical significance of the leaked Supreme Court draft opinion and what's at stake, I thought it was important enough to be there with a camera and see things first hand. I'll be cutting a video from the event, but this fight isn't going away anytime soon.
Here's the actual journal entry I wrote the morning following the leak:
We're still reeling this AM following last night's leaked Supreme Court document laying out the overturning of Roe v. Wade... Neither Anne nor I are the same people we were in our younger days. Had this decision come in our late teens, early 20's, we'd be having a different conversation. I'm absolutely in favor of letting women decide what they do with their bodies. This is ridiculous. Again, the black and white lives we led have no doubt turned incredibly gray and we're better people because of it.
In the meantime, just know flights and hotels have gotten INCREDIBLY expensive the last few months. I'd gotten spoiled with $300 roundtrip flights from Oklahoma City to New York during the scary parts of the pandemic. Flights for this quick trip ended up costing $700+. I'd also found a groove with a $150/night Hilton in Long Island City that could've listed as my second address considering how often I was there. I 'bout puked when I saw those same rooms now going for $300-600/night. There's no way I was up to spend that kind of money, so crazy thanks to a DP buddy of mine, Jeremy McDaniel, for letting me crash at his place a couple nights.