Even in Kyoto

The local paper has been reporting some interesting stuff happening lately in this region with regards to immigration. One relevant background element: there have been predictions of a 'demographic decline' in upstate New York due to younger people seeking their fortunes elsewhere, because hey, it's dreary here, the taxes are high along with the cost of living, and the job prospects are dismal. (or so the narrative go) The demographic decline has a lot of people wringing their hands over the economic consequences.

Meanwhile, you've probably been at least roughly keeping up with the national narratives surrounding immigrants arriving in the US. The majority of the influx arrives along the southern border these days. People in charge of large southern states have taken to using the arriving people as political pawns, shipping them on to the bigger cities in the north/northeastern US. "Here, you deal with this." This has created some short-term challenges for New York City, which is having to try and figure out what to do with 47,000 extra people who need food to eat, somewhere to sleep, and eventually, some sort of longer-term permanence and plans.

Meanwhile meanwhile, some of the more politically conservative counties in upstate New York are now taking to declaring preemptive States of Emergencies over anticipated influxes of migrants. Note, there aren't actually any people yet arriving in these counties; this is a political move to get access to money and resources, but also to try and somehow appease and/or appeal to the demographic bases in those counties who are Scairt of Strangers.

It sounds like the real underlying challenge here is more of a legal and logistical one; there are constraints around how and how quickly migrants can settle in to a new place and start working.

It will probably never cease to amaze me just how racist and bigoted some people are. The County Executive for the neighboring (Republican) county here where there was recent actual voter fraud was quoted in a newspaper article saying, after a meeting with NY's governor, "She keeps pushing the 'we need jobs filled' B.S. while pushing policies that let people do nothing and get paid."

Interestingly, it even sounds like the state is working to figure out how to provide extensive financial support for individuals willing to move upstate, such that they should not pose a direct financial burden to counties that accept them. What an amazing deal! And yes, there will almost certainly be graft and fraud, just as happened with all of the emergency pandemic funds. Does that obviate the need for a plan?

On a related note, yesterday I found myself watching an absolutely wonderful video produced by the NYT about the one man who, every day, hand-rolls THOUSANDS of those bagels that New Yorkers are so fond and proud of. He's a Mexican immigrant, and I do recommend watching the video if you want to observe an insane work ethic plus also the expertise and skill involved. I will never look at a bagel the same way again.

At our house, according to our lease, we are not allowed to display political signs of any kind. Otherwise I would absolutely have an "Immigrants welcome" sign up. It's fun to think of New York as a border state. Which, on the whole, it very proudly is and has been. But the border state mentality in this state seems different from the border state mentalities I experienced in Arizona, Texas, and California.

I'm not a huge fan of tulips, but I did find this tulip bed at the entrance to the park to be thoughtfully laid out and enchanting. Maybe also the sun was hitting it just right, and the tulips were just reaching that ephemeral stage right before they totally wither and die where they're slightly translucent.





Lots of trees were still in bloom. I love it when the flower petals fall to the ground. Natural confetti!


It might be hard to tell from this photo, but I don't know what type of tree is producing these white flowers and I'm curious.

Another fun element in the above photo: that fenced-off area just ahead of where my mother is walking is some kind of archeaological site.

We were there during peak redbud blossom. I fell in love with redbuds during that year in Lincoln. They give off a defiant air: "It is now SPRING, dammit!"




Fabulous stuff.