At 2:30 pm, on Friday, January 29, 2021, I became a COVD-19 statistic.

That day, my name was entered into two databases: New York State’s and the CDC’s national registry. The CDC tracks  individuals who have received one of the 29 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine administered across the U.S. since December 14, 2020. I count myself unbelievably lucky and grateful.

First of all, let me be frank. I’m acutely aware that I’m lucky on a host of fronts. First, I live in New York State – a state that’s been at the forefront of the urgent effort to coherently respond to the chaos of the Trump administration’s botched response to this once-in-a-lifetime national emergency. True to form, on January 12, 2021, New York’s Governor Andrew Cuomo, responding almost immediately to updated directives for vaccination eligibility prescribed by President Biden’s newly organized CDC, opened up the state’s vaccination distribution to New Yorkers aged 65 and over.

Being a New Yorker is just the beginning of my luck. I also count myself lucky because, unlike the majority of Americans in my demographic group of 65 and over, I was contacted by a tech-savvy friend who offered to help my spouse and myself lock in appointments on New York State’s COVID-19 online vaccination sign-up site. That friend, motivated by a well-founded sense of urgency and a desire to help not only my spouse and myself but also our community at large, was invaluable in our securing appointments. After some false starts, when tips about potential vaccination availability at two independent pharmacies didn’t pan out, our friend’s determination and around-the-clock monitoring of the state’s website enabled us to capture two of the 250,000 doses per week that New York State currently receives as its allotment from the federal government.

Forgive me if I repeat the word lucky yet again. But there’s no other way to describe the experience of moving swiftly from non-vaccinated to vaccinated status. I was lucky, too, to be vaccinated at one of the thirteen official New York State-operated vaccination sites. The site I visited is located at SUNY Albany, just a thirty-minute drive from my home. Contrary to the myth of government ineptitude versus private-sector competence, the state-run facility was extremely well organized, efficient, and surprisingly pleasant. But beyond the obvious organizational wizardry at the site, what I found most impressive were the staff – many of whom were state employees or private citizens who had generously volunteered their time and skills to help accomplish the complex and necessary task of vaccinating as many New Yorkers as possible. They, along with the medical personnel, exuded a palpable sense of common purpose and a quiet awareness of their participation in an historic moment.

A Quick and Efficient Process

Located in the university’s parking lot, the site looked less like an emergency-response facility and more like a touring tent show for Cirque du Soleil. Unlike in other states, there were no  lines snaking around the parking lot. Upon entering the first tent, future vaccinees were greeted by uniformed members of New York’s National Guard whose job was to confirm our appointments. Our temperatures were then monitored, after which we were ushered into the first of several interconnected, heated tents. A greeter directed each of us to the first of the four stations we would be required to visit.

At the first station, we were given a medical-history questionnaire. Yet another greeter’s job was to offer assistance answering questions and walk us over to a table where we filled out the three-page document. Upon completing the document, we were accompanied to the second station where a staff member asked each of us to confirm that we had not been exposed to anyone diagnosed with Covid-19 nor had we traveled outside of New York State. Finally, we were asked to sanitize our hands before being shown into the tent where we would receive our vaccinations.

The third station was located in the vaccination tent, which contained a multitude of cubicles curtained off for privacy. Inside sat three individuals: two whose job was to review the paperwork and solicit confirmation that the information visible on a computer screen was accurate. The third staff member was a friendly, chatty nurse who was there to administer the vaccine. A second supervising nurse was on call to confirm that vaccination was appropriate in circumstances where there might be any pre-existing medical conditions. Within five minutes, my Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine was quickly and painlessly administered, and a follow-up appointment twenty-one days later for the second vaccine confirmed.

Before leaving the cubicle, each vaccinee was given a time slip that indicated when they might leave the facility following a thirty-minute observation period. The fourth and final station was the observation area where not more than thirty, socially distanced individuals, including myself, sat, while waiting out our time. A nurse walked back and forth down the aisles, smiling and asking each of us how we were feeling. From start to finish, the process took just forty-five minutes.

Two Days Later

As I write this, it’s two days since I received my COVID vaccination. Once again, I have to acknowledge that I’ve been extremely lucky. Unlike some individuals, I have experienced no adverse reactions beyond a tolerable soreness on my upper arm at the point of vaccination,  which, as of now, has completely subsided.

The post My COVID-19 Vaccination: How it worked in New York State appeared first on Occasional Planet.

On March 1, 2020, New York State’s Bag Waste Reduction Law will go into effect. As of that date, all businesses collecting sales tax will be banned from handing out plastic carryout bags—with some exceptions, like produce bags for bulk purchases of fruits and vegetables and bags given out by pharmacies for prescriptions. This is a major step toward New York making good on its commitment to waste reduction. After all, New York State’s retailers currently hand out a mind-boggling 23 billion plastic carryout bags a year. As we all know, those bags don’t magically disappear. They end up in landfill where they take from ten to one hundred years to decompose. They end up littering streets and highways. Caught in the branches of trees, littering the landscape, and floating in waterways and oceans, they pose a serious hazard to wildlife.

Here’s the thing. This new paradigm calls for behavior modification and creative problem solving that calls on the adaptability of 19.54 million New Yorkers. Will this change prove to be too burdensome? Will New Yorkers pull their kids out of schools, quit their jobs, put their houses or apartments up for sale, and flee to more plastic-tolerant states? Probably not — even though they’d have the choice of resettling in one of the forty-two states that have yet to jump on the “ban” wagon.

Chances are New Yorkers are going to be just fine, just like their adaptable counterparts in California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Maine, Oregon, and Vermont. The truth is that New York’s food shoppers have been voluntarily making the switch on their own for a few years now. They’ve been showing up in increasing numbers in grocery stores with their own quirky collections of reusable bags. If the grocery store experience proves true for the rest of the retail economy, it’s safe to say that protests by consumers or producers demanding the restoration of our constitutional right to create plastic-bag waste will be few and far between.

Still, there may be challenges ahead when home stockpiles of plastic shopping bags disappear. Here are some not-so-serious ones I can think of.

• What will we use to pick up and dispose of various household menaces, like mouse carcasses, cockroaches, and stink bugs?
• How will we keep paint brushes from drying out?
• How will dog walkers tie their poop bags to fences?
• How will we keep fresh bread from tasting like onions stored in the refrigerator?
• How will we prevent clothing from getting soiled by sneakers in our gym bags or suitcases?
• How will we carry home our Chinese take-out?
• How will we clean out our cars?
• How can we be certain we’re in New York City if overflowing waste receptacles disappear?

The solution to some of these conundrums might be to use a paper bag. Under the new law, paper bags will still be available at retailers for a fee if a city or county decides to adopt a state-authorized, five-cent paper bag reduction fee. If, however, paper bags aren’t your thing, don’t worry, New Yorkers. We’ll adapt.

The post New York State bags plastic bags appeared first on Occasional Planet.

Elections matter. If there’s any doubt about why, take a look at what’s happening right now in New York State. In the 2018 election, Democrats took control of the New York State Senate for the first time in a decade. This long sought-after victory means that New Yorkers can now boast of having unified government—with a Democratic governor, Senate, and Assembly.

Taking full advantage of their overwhelming mandate, New York State Democrats are barreling ahead with legislative priorities on hot-button issues like reproductive rights and gun control. Stalled for years by the Republican majority in the Senate, these are previously drafted progressive reforms that were ready to go once Democrats took back the Senate. Even Governor Andrew Cuomo appears to be unpacking his more progressive instincts.

We’re just at the beginning of New York’s new political adventure but already the Democratic majority has demonstrated that they can get their act together and pass major pieces of legislation that are sure to make progressives giddy, while making New York State a healthier, safer, and more just place to live for everyone. On the red side of the aisle, I imagine that conservative pols and their constituencies must be seething. If anything can be said with certainty in the world of politics, it’s that New York’s Democrats and progressives should savor the moment and make the most out of the next two years because the backlash is surely waiting in the wings.

Reproductive rights

After passing easily through the state’s Senate and Assembly, on January 22^nd, marking the 46^th anniversary of the Supreme Court’s ruling on Roe v. Wade, Governor Cuomo signed into law The Reproductive Health Act (RHA). RHA protects New Yorkers’ right to choose no matter what happens on the federal level as legal challenges to Roe v. Wade make their way to the new conservative majority now sitting on the Supreme Court.

The Reproductive Health Act, which takes effect immediately, updates and codifies New York State law with federal case law and puts New York’s reproductive laws (not updated since 1970) in accordance with the original decision in Roe v. Wade (1973). The bill maintains the legality of abortion within twenty-four weeks of a pregnancy or at “any time when necessary to protect a woman’s life or health.” Breaking with past precedent and breaking new ground, the bill expands access to abortion by authorizing healthcare professionals besides physicians—like nurse practitioners and physicians’ assistants—to legally perform the procedure.

Gun control

An astounding six gun-control bills passed in the state’s Senate and Assembly since the swearing in of the new Democratic majorities. Praising New York State’s legislators, Sandy Hook Promise, a non-profit organization founded and led by parents and family members whose loved ones were killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School in December 2012, called the legislation “monumental gun violence prevention measures.” Those measures include:

• Extreme-Risk Protection Orders. Allows law enforcement, family and household members, and school officials to seek a court order that requires an individual to relinquish firearms in their possession if they are deemed likely to harm themselves or others.
• Effective Background Check Act. Extends national in-state background checks to up to thirty days.
• Bump Stock Ban. Prohibits possession of devices that accelerate the rate of fire of a firearm.
• Preventing School Districts from Allowing Teachers to be Armed. Prevents schools from authorizing anyone other than a security officer, school resource officer, or law enforcement to carry a firearm on school property.
• Gun Buy-Backs. Authorizes state police to write regulations for gun buy-back programs so that all buy-back programs are consistent across the state.
• Out of State Mental Health Records. Allows New York State permitting authorities to review out-of-state mental-health records for out-of-state applicants for gun permits.

The post New York votes in unified government and goes full-on progressive appeared first on Occasional Planet.

The Keep Hope Alive Project, founded in 2016 in Hudson, New York, provides an outlet for those opposed to the divisiveness and rightward drift of the Trump era to express publicly their hope and commitment for a more inclusive, progressive, and just future for all Americans.

The concept to create an advocacy network of artists, businesses, nonprofits, and communities originated with Hudson Valley resident Cheryl Roberts. Roberts initially sought to create a symbol that would signal support for a positive vision for the future rather than the frighteningly negative and destructive one emanating from Trump, his administration, and his Republican enablers. A rectangular field of violet and white emerged as the subtle, yet powerful, graphic Roberts came up with to encourage public statements of solidarity for a wide-ranging and ambitious agenda. That list of issues includes support for the arts; racial and gender equality; universal health care; environmental sustainability; a free and independent press; freedom of religion; immigration and criminal justice reform; support for local businesses; and workers’ rights.

The project rolled out on inauguration day, January 20, 2017, when the first Keep Hope Alive flag was proudly hoisted in the City of Hudson, an upstate community located approximately two and one-half hours north of New York City.

Since that first roll out, Hope flags, banners, and signs have cropped up along Warren Street, the commercial drag in Hudson, as well as on the facades of private homes along Hudson’s side streets. The second upstate community to join the project was Chatham, New York, just a twenty-minute drive from Hudson, where residents and visitors are greeted by an impressive show of violet and white along Main Street. 

Of course, the organizers of this project have much larger ambitions than just flying the flags in small villages and towns in Upstate New York. The project seeks to expand across the country and internationally.

According to Linda Mussmann, co-director of Time and Space Limited, an arts space in Hudson and co-sponsor of the project, outreach to communities in other states is beginning to bear fruit.  This summer Asheville, North Carolina, becomes the first community outside of New York State to proudly fly the Hope flags and banners at twenty locations throughout the town.

If you’d like more information, would like to purchase a flag or banner, or find out how to organize your community to join in, go to www.keephopealiveinternational.org/about.

The post Upstate New Yorkers want to Keep Hope Alive appeared first on Occasional Planet.

Last week, Concerned Health Professionals of New York released a major new compilation – a compendium – of the scientific, medical and media findings demonstrating the risks and harms of fracking (read it online at ConcernedHealthNY.org/Compendium).

Based on the results of hundreds of studies nationwide where fracking already exists, it’s clear that permitting fracking in New York could harm the air, water, health and safety of residents statewide.

In January, for instance, an Associated Press investigation analyzed state records from Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia and Texas that documented many cases where fracking activities are linked to water contamination. Such records build on multiple studies from Duke University finding risks of nearby groundwater contamination from fracking and a University of Missouri School of Medicine study documenting dangerous hormone-disrupting chemicals in ground and surface water near fracking sites.

The fracking process also has given rise to concerns about increased air pollution. A Colorado School of Public Health study found air pollutants near fracking sites at levels that can raise risks for cancer, neurological deficits and respiratory problems. It’s noteworthy that the American Lung Association in New York also supports a moratorium on fracking in New York. In Utah, fracking has grown rapidly in the past few years, and the once immaculately clean Uintah Basin now ranks as one of the 25 most-polluted counties in the country. There is a continuing investigation into the cause of elevated rates of stillbirth and infant death in that region.

The significant body of compelling findings is why I recently joined more than 250 medical organizations and health professionals in urging Gov. Andrew Cuomo and acting Department of Health Commissioner Howard Zucker to enact at least a three- to five-year moratorium on fracking in New York to allow time for the results of continuing scientific and medical research to emerge. New Yorkers should not be placed in the crosshairs of these public health threats. We need to prioritize the health of all of our residents. It’s inexcusable to consider a pilot project that brings fracking into any part of our state, putting some of our residents immediately in harm’s way and releasing contaminants that do not stop at municipal boundaries drawn on a map.

The Assembly listened to scientists and medical experts June 16 by overwhelmingly passing a three-year moratorium on fracking in New York. Unfortunately, the state Senate refused to schedule a vote. Ultimately, however, the responsibility rests with Gov. Cuomo, who can – and must – protect New Yorkers by implementing a three- to five-year moratorium.
Though a growing number of studies point to serious potential health risks related to fracking, there is quite a lot we still don’t know. The U.S. Government Accountability Office reports that drilling and fracking clearly pose “inherent environmental and public health risks” and that the full extent of those risks is not yet known. Countless prominent researchers have called for more studies, especially of the cumulative, long-term health impacts.

The gas industry has been secretive with information – limiting disclosure and keeping crucial data out of researchers’ hands. As a result, the pace of scientific research has been impeded. Yet, results of a number of important studies tracking short- and long-term health effects of fracking are due to come out in the next few years.

That is why my colleagues and I think a three- to five-year moratorium – at minimum – is prudent.

Clean water, clean air and a safe home and community are not privileges; they are rights. It’s up to Gov. Cuomo to ensure the health of all New Yorkers and enact a statewide moratorium on fracking.

[Editor’s note: This article first appeared on 8/02/2014 in the Poughkeepsie Journal. It is reposted by permission of the author.]

The post Health risks demand a moratorium on fracking appeared first on Occasional Planet.

It’s been a long hard winter here in the Northeast.

Extreme cold fatigue set in months ago. Roadside piles of once-pristine snow have turned to filthy gray sludge. Heating oil and propane costs are exploding household budgets. Electricity rates are on the rise and hovering somewhere in the stratosphere. After digging out twice from snow dumps of up to two feet, Northeasterners recently endured an overnight coating of ice that froze doors shut and left surfaces more suited for the ice skate than the boot.

It’s been tough. Even winter-sports enthusiasts, standing knee-deep in crusty snow, are screaming “Enough!” In short, as we crawl toward the official first day of spring and continue to endure the vagaries of this transitional season, the misery index is off the charts.

Not surprisingly, there’s much talk of the Sunshine State. It seems the balmier clime has become the new Promised Land. The longing is intoned with almost religious fervor. “Next Year in Florida” embraces a nearly universal fantasy. I can imagine the scene next autumn: a massive muster of snowbirds in an open field the morning after Turkey Day. Amongst them might be more than a few of my neighbors, gingerly trying out the lift capability of their newly acquired wings and testing the nascent navigational skills they’ll need to keep them tracking south toward the Florida border.

Not for me that fantasy. I say to those who gaze longingly south and imagine life perfection as a Floridian, think carefully about the easy seductions of eternal sunshine and warmth.

Yes, it gets tiresome shoveling driveways and sidewalks and worrying about the heating system. And yes, more often than not the bite of cold gusts of wind leaves one begging for mercy. But everything changes eventually. Seasons follow upon one another with comforting predictability. The seasons mark the passage of time and help us discover how complex and adaptable we are as individuals when we are forced to change not only our clothing but also our habits and our thought processes. Living with the wrenching drama of distinct seasons, we northerners fine-tune our emotions to each one: the bitterness of winter, the ecstasies of spring, the mellowness of summer, and the splendor of fall. Even as I write this, the snow piles are receding in the nearly spring light. Patches of grass are emerging. And as the gloom of winter begins to lift, so do my spirits.

Unlike those who dream of their sunny Shangri-La, I chart the difference between our northern climes and Florida in ways other than what can be measured by the heat or cold index. Comfort, after all, is not solely measured by the thermometer’s gauge.

As a political creature, I see comfort more as a function of the social contract than of how many days there may be of temperatures above 60 degrees. True comfort resides in the belief that my rights are as important as my neighbors’ and that our responsibilities to one another and for one other’s safety are expressed through the conception and writing of commonsense laws. And so I must admit that I am more comfortable in the cold climes of New York than I am in the heat of Florida.

With apologies to the sensibilities and beliefs of socially conscious Floridians, let’s remember that Florida is the poster child for elevating the unfettered rights of some—that is, the right of the minority to bear arms—above the right of the majority to be safe. It is in sunny Florida that there are no registration or licensing requirements for owners of rifles and shotguns. No permits nor registration papers are required to purchase and own handguns. Want to purchase and own a semi-automatic assault rifle, or two or three or fifteen? Florida welcomes you with open arms. Want to buy from an online dealer an arsenal of ammunition worthy of a war zone and stash it in your open-air garage? The Sunshine State couldn’t care less.

And under Florida’s sharp blue skies it’s gotten just a bit harder to feel safe in the landscape of perfectly manicured public spaces after the state passed its Stand Your Ground law. What comfort does this law ensure? This is the law that invites individuals to employ deadly force and use “stand your ground” as a defense when they believe themselves to have been under threat, no matter how minor or disputed the altercation. The law certainly has not brought comfort to the wife and daughter of the father who was murdered in a movie theater after tossing a container of “deadly” popcorn in the face of a bully who chided him for texting a baby sitter before the movie had begun. There is no comfort, too, for the family of Jordan Davis who was shot and killed and whose only “threat” was that he refused to turn down the music in his car in a parking lot. There will never again be comfort under the sun for the mother and father of Trayvon Martin, whose only “threat” was that he was walking home in the dark wearing a hoodie after buying Skittles and soda and then was unlucky enough to be in the wrong place at the wrong time and encountered a stranger threateningly following him.

The contrast up here in the colder climes could not be more dramatic. Although many of my Upstate New York neighbors despise the new SAFE Act, I couldn’t be more grateful and proud of the passage of this commonsense law shortly following the tragic events at the Sandy Hook Elementary School. The law bans the sale of semi-automatic rifles, regulates the sale of ammunition, bans Internet ammunition sales, establishes instate criminal background checks at the time of gun sales or transfers, and involves mental-health professionals in the identification of patients who pose a potential threat to themselves or others.

So let others escape to the fantasy of a more comfortable life under perpetual heat and blazing sun. I’ll endure the cold and feel safer for it.

The post Guns in the sun vs. safety in the snow appeared first on Occasional Planet.

Recently I met a guy named Otto Leuschel.  Otto’s got a fascinating story to tell about his journey from vice-president of the northeastern division of Whole Foods to becoming “your local grocer on Main Street.” Otto is just one of many small-business owners who are betting that enough of us are fed up with the big-box era that we’ll choose to forgo the mind-numbing experience of football-field–sized selling floors and take our dollars and pennies, and spend them in support of our local shops.

Four years ago, Otto Leuschel landed in tiny Germantown (population less than 2,000), a down-on-its-heels, trying-to-pull-itself-back-up village about two hours north of New York City. Since then, Otto’s been putting in fifty-hour work weeks and draining his savings, betting that his down-home grocery store, Otto’s Market, and Germantown Variety, his new variety store just across the street, will fit the bill for people who are tired of navigating the endless aisles of the big boxes to find a jar of mayonnaise, a spool of thread, or a ball of twine.

Otto’s business model is old, yet new. It embraces local producers and quality, competitively priced, everyday goods made in the U.S.A. Otto’s your man if you want to meet the quintessential salesperson who exudes confidence in his brand.  He believes that our communities will be better places when they’re bustling with the vibrancy and personal connections that are the by-product of small, owner-operated shops.

Still, as a no-nonsense, bottom-line kind of guy, Leuschel concedes that the doubters, the naysayers, and, of course, the corporate bigwigs are trying their best to convince us that the little guy (metaphorically speaking, because Otto is a big guy) long ago lost the battle.  Before buying into the self-serving gloom and doom and assigning owner-operated shops a plot in the land of nostalgia, Otto recommends we take a hard look at a bit of history—specifically, the story of corporate giant Sears, Roebuck & Co.—and then decide for ourselves if today’s big-box giants are unstoppable.

 For almost a century, Sears, Roebuck seemed untouchable

Is Otto right?  Does the present replicate the past?  It certainly seems so. Sears, Roebuck was, after all, the granddaddy of the mail orders and big boxes. Sears was the Walmart and Amazon of its time rolled into one. In 1888, when founder Richard Warren Sears came up with the idea of delivering merchandise directly to people’s homes and printed and distributed his first catalog, retail warfare erupted almost immediately.

After all, at the time Sears’ mail-order pricing undercut the pricing of rural shopkeepers. (Sound familiar?) Not surprisingly, local shopkeepers were outraged. The outrage was so intense that rural newspapers joined the fray and refused to carry Sears’ ads. And that wasn’t the end of it. Shop owners even enlisted children and handed out free movie passes, and sometimes a ten-cent bribe, for every Sears catalog they turned in. Some communities went even further and staged bonfires that sent reams of sewing-machine and bicycle ads up in smoke.

You see, the Ottos of those days and the communities they served understood that Sears, Roebuck was a threat, not only to their individual livelihoods, but also to traditional community bonds.

And where is Sears today?  The story hasn’t ended happily. In the last year alone, the once-dominant retail giant has shuttered 172 stores.

Big boxes have diminished our sense of community

What about our sense of community today? For those of us who live outside the largest urban centers, the big-box model has removed the search for our daily necessities from the centers of our communities to the perimeters.  The social consequences have been devastating. When we drive to the magnet Walmart or Target or Lowe’s, we forfeit the daily interactions with our neighbors that used to be the norm.  For generations, personal relationships and community identity were forged, as individuals pushed open the doors of small shops and encountered their neighbors inside.

Those kinds of community connections were built on the accumulation of small familiarities. The face behind the counter was on a first-name basis with every customer and their dog. He/she knew what kind of milk the regulars drank, what newspapers they read, their favorite ice cream flavors.  Shop owners knew what kinds of gifts their customers bought for special occasions. Neighbors understood just enough about each other’s beliefs and political persuasions that they instinctively honed in on which gossipy tidbit or news item they could safely talk about, or which to avoid at all costs. Local concerns and important community decisions were shared and hashed out ad nauseam while waiting for the butcher to wrap a cut of meat.

The assumption is that those days and those relationships are a thing of the past, and that the way we pursue the purchase of our day-to-day necessities has been channeled, now and forever, into the depersonalized, data-tracked shopping universe.

 The numbers tell one story, but our desires tell another

It’s true that by looking solely at the numbers, you’d have to conclude that the  neighborhood shop is becoming as extinct as nightly sit-down dinners or week nights without homework.  After all, employees of a single family—yes, that would be the Waltons—unlock the automated doors of more than 4,600 retail outlets. The Walton empire alone employs more than 1.4 million people in towns and cities across the U.S.

In a recent New York Times article, Walmart spokesperson Brooke Buchanan proudly underscored her employer’s market dominance when she declared that every month, more than 60 percent of Americans shop at Walmart locations. That’s a big chunk of us out there, searching for the lowest prices on everything we need, and lots we don’t.

On the other hand, if you take a close look at the small towns and villages of New York’s Hudson Valley—the place I call home—you’ll find a very different narrative. Stubborn, individualistic entrepreneurs like Otto Leuschel have become the primary drivers of economic revitalization in historic towns and villages that hold pride of place across the northeastern landscape. It seems these intrepid businesspeople—and those who support them and seek out the charm and interpersonal relationships their businesses foster—just didn’t get the memo.  And if they did, they’ve chosen to tear it up and ignore it in their pursuit of a retro business model and a model of community identity that’s worked pretty darned well for generations.

So, if you want to see firsthand how the match-up between corporate big boxes and the small entrepreneur is playing out, seek out the owner-operated shops in small towns and villages in your neck of the woods, or come to mine or Otto Leuschel’s. Experience firsthand what your grandparents took for granted, and then decide what kind of community you’d prefer to live in. Then take the next step, and put your money where your desire is.

The post Otto’s Market, Germantown NY: Down-home grocery in a big-box world appeared first on Occasional Planet.