Emily

My story (an urgent update, June 2025, because I see my previous update was a long time ago!)

I still do personal assistance...  which I love... although thanks to Trump I may have to get some horrible desk job fairly soon so that I can get health insurance. I don't want to think about it.

I still haven't started up my practice. But, I am taking singing lessons which I love. I've retired from the  Brooktondale Community Center board but still tend to the garden there and still assist with the tai chi class, and all the potlucks.

I utterly failed to cut back on the time I devote to politics. I left the Democratic committees and then got immediately recruited into the Working Families Party. And then, Trump was sworn in and everything went south and I helped start up a NEW political thing in Tompkins County: an Indivisible chapter. It absorbs almost all of my free time. But, we had 4000 people at our "No Kings Day" event. It's important and we are making an impact. Will it be enough of an impact? Will we be able to stop the insanity and recover some of what is being lost each day? I don't want to think about it.

My latest adventure is that I am forging a working relationship with a non-profit organization in Ithaca called Pathways to Equity. I reached out to them when it was becoming clear to me that our favorite little store and gathering place in Brooktondale, the Brookton's Market, was in danger of closing. I asked if there was any way they could help us, and the answer seems to be: yes! They are willing to help the business get back on stable ground and then help the community take over the business in the form of a cooperative or something similar. I am hopeful that it will all come together.

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My story (updated March 2024)

I earn my living as a personal assistant, which basically translates into me helping people feel great in their homes, which are tidy and organized. It's a lot more than "cleaning houses." This work suits me well -- I have great clients and I enjoy being physically active and seeing tangible results from my labor. I also like to get away from the computer screen. My business is called Help in a Handbasket.

I have training in alternative healing modalities, including aromatherapy and shiatsu, and a lot of intuitive / energetic forms of healing. I had a practice when we lived in Europe but I have not (yet) really gotten that going, here. But I do have a practice room set up, with a massage table and a far-infra-red sauna. Maybe I'll start treating clients in 2024? My practice is called Inner Fire Works.

I have been an active volunteer at the Brooktondale Community Center for many years. In the middle of the pandemic, I stopped editing the Old Mill newsletter, as Long Covid made it too difficult to keep up with it. Recently I've also stepped down from the Farmers Market co-manager position and off the board, but I am still active in particular projects that are important to me: the Music & Dance series, the World Kitchen Demonstration Garden, and the Wellness Space at the Farmers Market. 

I'm also getting more involved in the local dance scene, renewing my love for contra dancing, taking lessons in West Coast Swing, etc. It's exhausting but in a good way. After dancing, I sleep very well.

I am still on the Brookton Cemetery board and also on the Town of Caroline Agriculture Committee, which don't meet so often or demand so much from me. Likewise the NYS Democratic Committee, an unpaid elected statewide position that requires my presence at roughly 2 meetings per year, where they serve lunch.

I am cutting back on my political activities. For some years, I was chair of the Caroline Democratic Committee, vice chair of the Tompkins County Democratic Committee, field organizer for Senator Lea Webb's first election campaign, paid staff for Zephyr Teachout, Jumaane Williams, Cynthia Nixon, Deirdre Hay and more. I've given up all those positions. No more campaigns for me! They are exhausting, even when one has perfect health.

Since my first involvement in politics as a Bernie Sanders delegate, I've been on the board of the New York Progressive Action Network, and I am still active in that organization, where we are currently focused heavily on pushing for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza. Seeing that much death and destruction on my social media has changed me, and helped me let go of things that are just not so important.

I volunteer with the Working Families Party (co-chairing their Tompkins County club) and I'm still the chair of the Tompkins County Progressives (because we haven't had a reorganizational meeting in years) and I'm not sure what my involvement with those organizations will be, in the future.

The links at the right also go to some writing I've done on different topics. Not that what I've written has much meaning for anyone else... most of it does not even have much meaning for me, a few years after I wrote it. I will be cleaning it up, slowly. I'm just trying to get this "home page" in some kind of shape....