October 23. BBQ bar on the Hudson. We feel surrounded by conservatives and are glad about every face, every couple we see that doesn’t fit the mold. The way everyone feels when they are the only black, the only white, the only left, the only right.

Bill Gates documentary on Netflix. Knowing you can seriously solve a problem – eradicating polio, for example – and failing at a messy world. Compared to having no such prospect, and doing something you know won’t solve the problem. Doing something for the sake of having done something, no matter how futile.