Thursday Ramble: Out for a Think

Having time, and being able to get out and about, I find myself walking and thinking, and taking photos - at the rate I am going I will to take 1,000 photos this month.  

I never know what is going to walk by, or when I pause for a moment's rest in the sun, sit down next to me.  On this walk I started at the subway station at Arlington National Cemetery, and walked into DC.  

Several members of the "Old Guard" were out for a run, they live just west of the Cemetery on a small Army Base.  Two were recently charged with vandalism and theft, for ripping down and stealing rainbow flags in front of home near the base.  Five flags were ripped down in one week, all captured on video doorbell cameras.  The neighborhood responded by most of the homes posting rainbow flags, and sending the police more video from security cameras.  The comment from the "Old Guard" was at this point the soldiers have been suspended pending the criminal process, the behaviour is not in accordance with our high standards of conduct. If not court martialed, they will spend the rest of their enlistment hauling trash at some remote base in North Dakota.  

Alabama has ruled that frozen embryos are people.  The next day the news was that IVF, in vitro fertilization clinics had suspended operations in the state. This hits close to home.  Like many young people today, a dear family member didn't marry until mid-30's, they desperately want a baby, and the normal way of conceiving just didn't cut it. They have used IVF, and are expecting in the spring.  It is exciting.  If they lived in Alabama, they would now need to travel to another state, adding an additional layer of stress onto a process that is fraught with stress - and expense.  A new car would have cost less.  For a policy that is pro-life, it is not pro-baby, or pro-family.  IVF often results in more fertilized eggs than can be used, we don't need more Octo-Moms. Classifying the fertilized eggs as humans, causes all kinds of legal traps that no health care professional, and no couple desperately trying to have a family should have to consider.   

I have had a couple of long walks around Amazon's developing east coast headquarters, as they call it HQ2.  Several new office buildings have been built, several older buildings remodeled with people actually working there. Several new apartment buildings have been built. Some of the buildings from the late 1960s and 1970s have been torn down and replaced with new buildings.  There is a thriving restaurant and bar scene, with wonderful new offerings that appear to be busy.  With the exception of grocery stores (including an Amazon Fresh) what is missing is retail.  There is very little retail in the neighborhood.  There is a major shopping mall a few blocks away - and it is doing well.  Stores that went empty during COVID are being filled, some local one off shops are going it a try, new national and international retailers are filling in the space.  But I was surprised in the neighborhood where people are living and working, there are lots of new places to live, and restaurants and bars, but next to no places to shop.  It is not a truly walkable neighborhood, if there is no place buy a new pair of shoes.