November 27, 2020
Hello Everyone,
The last thing I said in my previous letter was:
The two Senate races in Georgia on January 5th are critical for the success of the Biden administration. The Lincoln Project had a podcast that thoroughly explains the Georgia Senate runoff elections. Listen to it here.
Given the raging surge of the pandemic I decided against traveling to Georgia because of concerns for my safety. I decided, instead, to support the Georgia locals. How to support them from a distance? One way is to simply send money. But to whom? And how will that money be used?
One can send money directly to the candidates' campaigns: Jon Ossoff and Rev. Raphael Warnock. Or to the organization headed by Stacey Abrams called Fair Fight to register voters before the December 7th deadline.
There's an excellent article in the New York Times about all the cash (hundreds of millions of dollars!) flowing into Georgia. It is entitled "With Senate Control Hanging in Balance, 'Crazytown' Cash Floods Georgia". I copied it to my site here so you don't need a subscription. Here are some quotes from it:
The commercials are running nonstop 24/7 on all the stations.
... ad rates are soaring ... One 30-second prime-time ad on Thursday on the ABC affiliate in Atlanta was sold for $22,900 to a super PAC.
When I was considering a trip to Georgia to help out I did some research on hostels and restaurants. Since my diet is vegan I went to HappyCow.com to find: Vegan Restaurants in Atlanta area.
Here's a screenshot of restaurants in a 14 mile radius around Atlanta:
I was impressed. 37 vegan restaurants! It seems that Georgia (and Atlanta) is a vegan hotspot, a vegan 'mecca'.
So, given all this, and given my previous unorthodox political acts of 'riding the Davis Bike Loop' and the 'circumnavigations in DC' (operating on a vibrational level on the causal plane) perhaps maybe you can understand how and why I came up with:
How many and how much? Of the 37 I chose 8 or 9 and then that expanded to 12 because others looked good. Then I chose 3 others in Columbus, Athens, and Decatur. So 15 restaurants and somehow I decided that $50 was a good amount. Can I afford $750? Yes. You can see the websites for the 15 restaurants here.
I got a nice set of cards with Georgia O'Keefe art works, wrote a message by hand, inserted a small sheet of paper with a printed political message, and also included a self-addressed stamped postcard for them to send back to me. And got some beautiful stamps. Some images:
Here is what the handwritten message on the card says:
I'm a California vegan. I found your restaurant on Happy Cow when I was researching a possible trip to Georgia. I have decided against traveling in part due to The Virus.
Still, wanting to support vegans everywhere (it's like we're all family!) I decided to simply send you some money directly. I'm sure you'll find a way (in these uncertain economic times) to put it to good use.
I include a self-addressed stamped postcard. Please send it back to me to confirm that you got this message.
Be well,
Stay safe,
Jon
P.S. I checked out your menu. I'd choose Eggplant Lasagna, Artichoke and spinach dip, and Raspberry Chocolate Mousse. All sound yummy. Good and good for you!
I'll make it to Georgia and the Atlanta area some day now that I know it has become (thanks to you!) a vegan hotspot!
Here is what the inserted printed sheet says:
As you know, Georgia has become the center of the U.S. political universe. The runoff elections on January 5th for the two Senate seats will determine who has control of the agenda. I find it odd that the majority, however slim, has tremendous power over what happens in the committees and on the Senate floor. I wonder if this would be the case if there were more than two parties...
Tens (or hundreds or thousands!) of millions of dollars will flow into Georgia trying to influence the two runoff elections.
Rather than fund the campaigns I decided to fund vegan restaurants! Surely, the money will be spent more fruitfully.
I don't know what side of the political spectrum you are on but in a way it doesn't matter. Even if we're on different sides politically, I'm happy to give the vegans in Georgia a boost!
Jon
415-246-6499 call/text
jon.bjornstad@gmail.com
Be well,
Stay safe,
Jon
P.S. All of the letters are archived here.