On March 7th, I was privileged to be the guest speaker at the JP Spata Southampton Town Democratic Club breakfast, to give a talk about my book, The Resistance and Me. The Club holds breakfasts several times a year and I was the speaker for the March event, held at Buckley’s Inn Between in Hampton Bays. My son videotaped the speech for me and we are only now getting it online. One week after this event, COVID took over all of our lives as New York shut down. While we are no longer in lockdown, the life we all live now with masks and social distancing seems completely alien from the social contact we had that day. It is eerie that this was the last time we met in person and probably will be the last time for a while. Book talks since have been recorded on Zoom not on a camera sitting atop a tripod.
But while looking at us seated next to each other seems strange, what also shines through in the video is the warmth of the relationships gathered together that day. It was a special event for me, not only because it was the first book talk, but because I was joined by my family, fellow activists from East End Action Network and fellow SHDems committee members. Since so many of them are interviewed in the book, it was like a reunion. Andrea Klausner, second vice chair of the SHDems and one of the major sources in my book, introduced me with the words, “Hello, my name is Andi Klausner, otherwise known as Chapter 7.”
So while it is almost jarring to see someone at a podium and not in a Zoom box, it is also reassuring to remind ourselves that once upon a time we lived a life of in-person gatherings and someday, we will return to that life again.
For the full-length recording of my SHDem Club Book Talk, click here.
SHDEMS member Barbara Weber-Floyd is an experienced journalist and the author of The Resistance and Me: An Insider’s Account of the Two-Year Mission to Stop the Trump Agenda and Take Back the House. A unique work of history, it chronicles the rise of the anti-Trump Resistance by introducing the reader to the amazing women of the SHDEMS and the grassroots who powered this movement in our district. Barbara continues to cover how politics and the issues of the day impact our district through her blog, ![]()
www.theresistanceandme.com. She is also working on a second book about the women of the Resistance and how, despite the constraints of the pandemic, they helped elect Joe Biden and Kamala Harris in the 2020 presidential election.
