An Antidote for Despair
To the editor:
Most of us know that America is deeply divided. We’ve seen it in our families and communities. It is not just the chasm between Republicans and Democrats, but is now seen in the ranks of Democrats due to the number of presidential candidates.
While there is much divisive rhetoric out there, Indivisible Outer Cape is rising above the fray with a more practical approach. Our main goal is to neutralize the threats posed by the current administration, not only to our democracy and rule of law, but to our health, welfare, and civil rights. Our plan can stop the slide into autocracy no matter what happens in the Democratic primary or the general election. Winning the House of Representatives in 2018 was the first step. Now keeping the House and winning the Senate is the key to defeating Trump and neutralizing the harm being done by his policies.
To do this, Indivisible Outer Cape is concentrating on the fight in other states: registering voters, fighting voter suppression, and getting out the vote in order to flip the U.S. Senate. Our tiny group has contacted Indivisible chapters in key states. We have chosen states that have multiple important elections — not just the presidential. They are heavily gerrymandered, employ shocking voter suppression tactics, and are Republican controlled, but by only the slimmest of margins.
Our “Do Something Sundays” activist evenings at Provincetown Brewing Co. include postcard and letter writing but will expand in the months to come. On March 1 we will hold a screening of the documentary Suppressed: The Fight to Vote about the Georgia gubernatorial election of 2018, followed by letter writing to underrepresented voters there.
If you despair about the current state of affairs, leave your TV and social media and join us. Action is the antidote to despair.
Laurie Veninger
North Truro
Inviting Moss to Grow
To the editor:
As a lover of bryophytes, I appreciated Kai Potter’s poetic essay about moss (“The Zen of Moss,” Feb. 13). He did not mention that it is possible to bring the vitality of moss into your own garden.
George H. Schenk’s 1997 book Moss Gardening is an excellent resource on everything from moss’s ancient history, to its role in Japanese gardens, to its many varieties. There are online sources, too.
As Kai writes, conditions on the Outer Cape are excellent for moss-growing. On a recent winter walk through the woods near Truro’s ponds, I spied one of the most beautiful lawns I’ve ever seen, and it was largely moss. A vibrant green at the New Year, I knew it must be equally beautiful over the rest of the year. With no need for fertilizer and no mowing, moss makes one of the most sustainable lawns imaginable. If you have moss growing in your yard, invite it to take hold.
It doesn’t transplant easily, but if you do move a piece, be sure you place it in a spot with nearly identical light and moisture as the spot you lifted it from. Some growers use buttermilk in strategic areas to encourage omnipresent moss spores to settle. Moss has few demands — little or no foot traffic, light shade, and a breeze (or a gentle sweeping or raking) to keep it clear of fallen leaves and pine needles — and it provides so much magic in exchange.
Dan Stephens
Boston
Counting the Votes
To the editor:
Thank you for your Feb. 13 editorial on new electronic vote-counting machines. The questions remain: Why have we done this? What problems are we solving? What have we given up?
How about the sense of pride in our paper ballots hand-counted by our citizens? How about the sense of community experienced by our counters?
And thank you for giving us the critical information that the process of transferring the counts may be vulnerable to hacking.
I’m not sure that congratulations are in order for buying into this technology.
Irene Daitch
Wellfleet
