Guest Blog

Journal Entry, Thursday, February 20, 2025

My friend Suellen O'Malley, resident of Red Bank, NJ, shared this poetic reflection with me on Thursday, February 20th, 2025. She said: “Stare into the whiplash on a day like this and find resilience waiting for you.” I’ll add that we both find solace in friendships and yoga, which we often attend together.

Journal Entry, February 20, 2025, by Suellen O’Malley

Today there was softness in the early morning sky and more stars and planets than I have ever seen before dawn break. But they hid behind a scrim of clouds that only diluted their brilliance, not their luminescence. And in the southwest sky, the waning half-moon kept gentle watch.

The sky felt tender all day, bathed in a bowl of skim milk, the pale sun casting formless shadows. New ice on the Navesink was too soft for ice boaters and skaters. And in the evening, comforting snow began to fall silently all over Red Bank.

And today, I.C.E. came to Catherine Street, armed with hard warrants and its harder hearts. And then there was little comfort on the West Side.