Two nights ago I stood on the roof of my building with my husband to look at the moon. It was a pinkish orange color. It was the first time in my life that I saw the moon look like a basketball that I could pluck from the sky. My husband thought it looked like a balloon. On every other night that I have seen the moon it is like a flat disc cut out of paper and placed on the sky. Two nights ago, you could see that it was round and full and three dimensional. I was also lucky enough to see a shooting star for the first time in over ten years.

Climate change is a threat to us all. We need to work together to lessen our impact on the environment. We need to pollute less, plant more trees, practice sustainable agriculture, walk more, drive less, stop buying, buying, buying.

There are wars in various parts of the world. People are frightened. People are dying. People are running to save their lives. We need to teach children about peace, harmony and tolerance. We need to curb power hungry people, greed, and extremism.

In the United States the stock market has been falling for over a month. The government may shut down again in a few short days. We owe billions of dollars to other nations. People live in the streets. Children go hungry. We imprison more people than any other country. People don’t have access to the health care they need.

In California there is a drought. There are wildfires. There is supposed to be a heavy rainy season that will bring floods and mudslides. There is always the risk of sink holes and earthquakes.

My mother has leukemia. My husband has an autoimmune disease.

I have schizophrenia.