In letters: Why so many dead-of-night business closures in SLO County? | Opinion
No goodbyes?
It is shocking to read about the coffee shops, restaurants and retail establishments closing without warning. One day open, the next day closed. No goodbyes, no farewells with longtime clients. A brief signage on the door announcing “no longer in business.” I think common courtesy and good manners left when COVID arrived.
The virus seems to have made people take leave of whatever their good senses might have been. How sad is that?
Victoria Grostick
San Luis Obispo
Comfort in numbers
The musical Hadestown came to Cal Poly, filling the Performing Arts Center almost to capacity. For many in the audience, just two days after an election that left many of us feeling unsettled, the final song of the night resonated deeply and offered a sense of comfort:
“Some birds sing when the sun shines bright; our praise is not for them.But the ones who sing in the dead of night—we raise our cups to them.”
The PAC was not only full, but recently, I’ve noticed something extraordinary: whether at church choir practice or in my hiking group, people have been coming together in large numbers, seeking and offering support. This sense of solidarity is unsurprising. From reproductive rights to climate change, and even the very fabric of our democracy, there is a shared sense of foreboding among many of my friends about the future of our country.
Yet, if we continue to “sing in the dead of the night,” standing by one another, offering emotional support, and working toward a future that protects our children and our planet, there is hope that we can usher in a brighter day.
Don Gaede
San Luis Obispo
Taking a national news break
And so goes our last chance to mitigate climate change and bring a better level of equality to LGBTQ and brown folks.
Spending a few weeks in the five stages of grieving over what we’re losing, what my grandchild’s future will look like and how stupid my fellow Americans really are.
Everything TFG (the former guy) did over the last nine years was all OK, I guess. If none of what he’s done already disqualifies him in the minds of voters, imaging what he and his Xtian theocratic Supreme Court can do in the next four years.
There was always an unspoken hope that, no matter what he did, we could always reverse it later. That’s done. We will never come back from this.
Goodbye department of education, hello weaponized DOJ, goodbye personal liberties, hello future pandemics (under Kennedy), goodbye NATO, hello Putin getting his way in the US, goodbye Ukraine, so long free press.
Going to try to isolate from national news for a few years, don’t know any other way to get through this. Just have to hope California can resist a bit.
Thomas Bringle
Grover Beach
Big oil CEO speaks out
ExxonMobil CEO Darren Woods’ encouragement of Donald Trump to stay in the Paris Agreement highlights the dangers the world faces from climate change. When oil company execs are (finally) speaking out strongly in favor of climate action, we should listen.
Woods told Politico, “I don’t think the challenge or the need to address global emissions is going to go away... Anything that happens in the short term would just make the longer term that much more challenging.”
In other words, we can’t afford a four-year delay in climate action or a rollback of the progress we’ve already made.
The U.S. is a net exporter of fossil fuels and produces more oil and gas than any country. We need to transition away from fossil fuels — as the world agreed to do last year — to ensure a stable climate for our children and grandchildren.
Lisa Howard
Rocklin