Codger’s column: Just another year

Let’s call it a year, said Codger.

He was finally cooked by the hottest one in recorded history. Enough already. There may be more than two weeks left in 2023, but Codger isn’t counting on a surprise happy ending worth the wait. Not these days when the world beyond the ferries seems shrouded in darkness and despair, the air thick with threats, domestic and foreign.

Please turn the calendar!

Codger is trying to remember and store the good times of this year, especially the so-called “glimmers,” those ephemeral slivers, the opposite of fearful triggers, that offer the momentary feeling that life is O.K., everything is going to work out.

There was, for example, that exemplar of muscle and principle, high school teacher and coach Peter Miedema, hanging tough with his banning of cell phones in his humanities classes. He was demanding that attention be paid just when, maybe more than ever, Codger thinks, all of us need to know what happened once so we won’t let it happen again.

Also, in the proud annals of Shelter Island’s intellectual warriors, was the saga of Terry Lucas, whose relentless campaign to remind the town of the library’s role as community cultural center won the referendum for a multi-million-dollar expansion.

Those were positive triumphs with national, even international implications. Yet, Codger thinks, the most hopefully glimmery of all was very local — a brand-new high school soccer team born of a request to the school board by a student (Harrison Weslek) on behalf of a group of potential players, many Latino. They recruited a coach (teacher Chris Conrardy) and gained the support of another teacher (Jimbo Theinert), the athletic director (Todd Gulluscio) and the superintendent (Brian Doelger).

That team effort resulted in the school’s first school soccer team in more than 30 years. The team led its league with a 5-3-1 record. Goal!

Then there were glimmers that Codger took more personally.

Thanksgiving was great, 10 members of Codger and Crone’s family with them at the table, some staying for more than a week. Lots of love and laughter, despite a recent death and a breast cancer diagnosis. Maybe because of them.

There was the repeated lesson of being grateful. After an anxious round of tests, it turned out that Cur II only has chronic leukemia. Celebration because it wasn’t the more lethal acute disease. You take what you can get, says Codger.

There was a mostly civilized election, despite its closeness. Perhaps for the first time in this century, Codger believes, there is the promise of a new era of cooperation and common ground. Under the calming direction of Supervisor Amber Brach-Williams, Codger’s three main classes of the Island — Range Rover, Subaru and Ford pick-up — might just drive together.

While Amber does not have an overwhelming mandate, she does have a large reservoir of good will, which could be more important. Codger thinks 2024 may well be Amber’s to stake out her vision of the future and show more progress in affordable housing, and in water use and quality.

That’s a lot of pressure, but as Billie Jean King has said, “Pressure is a privilege. It only comes to those who earn it.”

And Amber has earned it, says Codger, with years of service and unfailing cordiality.

On the other hand, Codger has been skeptical of Amber, primarily because of her perceived docility as deputy supervisor in the recent administrations of the passive Gary Gerth and the aggressive Gerry Siller. Codger upset her and others by characterizing her as a “handmaiden.”

One of Amber’s daughters found the word “misogynistic.” Codger now thinks the word was too harsh.

Crone thinks that Amber’s post-election remarks “contain a breath of fresh air.” Codger agrees. Amicable and peaceable are positive traits and bode well. Amber told Codger that she strives to avoid confrontation and that she often worked behind the public scenes at the Town Board. As supervisor, however, she will feel free to make her opinions known. And she has them, she says.

Codger hopes so. He thinks this is a critical time for the Island, not to mention the country and the planet. This body politic is the second-best place to start changing the world. (The first, of course, says Codger, is your own body and soul.) Codger and everyone else know about the complexity of the Island’s issues and the added burdens of its snipers and disruptors, lately even bringing alleged racism to the table.

So, let’s call it a year, repeats Codger, and start right now giving a new team slack and support, a common ground to stand on, helping Amber rise to her challenges and make use of the privilege of her pressure.

Codger even thinks that would be a mighty fine new year’s resolution.