Susan Slotnick: Do we know each other?
Because of a promise I made to myself — inspired by the current polarized political climate, as well as Covid causing so much social separation — to reach out to people different than me.
All posts by Susan Slotnick
Susan Slotnick: Both sides now
Why does almost half the U.S. populace still support a person with such heinous character traits? Why did more black people vote for him in 2020 than in 2016 in spite of the rallying cry on the left about police conduct and racism?
Hot issues in a Tucson hot tub
Because mingling our sweat, half naked, in a small space reeking of warm bleach is societally acceptable, sharing intimacies with a stranger seemed alright. My curiosity, which I often blame on this column, led me to interview the gentleman who was sheltering his child from the sun with his hand as she leaned tenderly on his shoulder.
Susan Slotnick: Cuomo’s troubles
Between the ages of 13 and 20, I was the target of five felonious sexual assaults of varying severity and
Susan Slotnick: The old woman in the snow
Several years ago while cross-country skiing with my 18-year-old daughter, we came upon an icy patch next to a ledge. My prudent daughter removed her skis. I kept mine on, sat on them and proceeded to slide down the hill on my derriere. My impudent “devil may care” behavior precipitated loud screams of, “Mommy! Mommy! Take off your skis.”
Susan Slotnick: Vaccines for prisoners
The question concerning prisoner’s rights to vaccinations is one of medical ethics. Who has the right to decide whose life is more valuable and deserves to be saved? Should a person who committed terrible acts of violence be prioritized before a taxpaying law-abiding citizen? What also of the people in prison, and there are many, who should not have been imprisoned at all? If it was up to you to choose, what would you do?
A change in fortune
I met him when he joined a program I was facilitating in an Ulster County prison. Although he was younger than me, he looked ancient — an old man, old before his time. He hobbled into the room, in pain from sciatica with his 55 years locked up in airless spaces, with minimal good food and health care, bad teeth showing through a wane smile, sparse gray hair falling on his shoulders. Resignation and abdication were the expressions he wore, a surrender born of hopelessness.
Susan Slotnick: What was to come
How could I have known what was to come the day the drive over the mountain, through the Hudson Valley
Womens’ history changed forever by the Weinstein verdict
The old attitude, that women were responsible for what happened to them at the hands of men, was prevalent among men, women, the law and society at large. That belief has prevailed to varying degrees until recently.
Changes in New Paltz
New Paltz is much more diverse than it was decades ago, has more traffic and tourism. How do residents feel about these changes?