As we pack away our Halloween decor and costumes, I can’t help but feel nostalgic. My parents’ first date was on Halloween. My father was a shy introvert who elicited a friend’s help to gather the courage to ask my mother to a costume contest. He handmade their costumes and the prize-winning photo has sat on the bookcase in my childhood home since before I was born. I stare at it now as a Councilwoman in the town I was born and raised. They’ll never get to see that. Now that they’ve passed on, I sift through the costumes my father made for me and my brothers. Fairy wings, tails, capes...
Every year we dress our children to match their dreams and highest hopes. As I am putting away pumpkins, my hand brushes the overalls that my mother zipped me into so many years ago. I was dressed as Christa McAuliffe — the astronaut chosen to be the first civilian and first teacher in space, and one of the first few American women astronauts selected for space flight. My mother looked me in the eyes and told me that I could be anything if I put my mind to it. We tuck our future generations into bed and we tell them to dream big. We tell them to reach for the stars.
According to available records, I am the youngest person to be elected to Monroe Town Council and certainly the youngest woman. Some treat my elected position as though it were a costume, rather than the result of hard work, determination, and a commitment to inspire the next generation of young women reaching for the stars. These few individuals have undermined the integrity of our system — and even the law — to take back the ground that the public helped me gain.
I often imagine that my future daughter will ask me about this time in my life, about what I was doing in 2024. I will look her in the eyes and tell her that I sat beside individuals who tried to take the ground from beneath us. I will tell her how they tried to move the earth to take what I had earned — illegal prohibitions on public lands, public knowledge, and acting as though the skies were reserved for them only because I was “other.” I will tell her that I did everything I could to keep the skies open for us. I will tell her about the people who helped me shine brighter — making it impossible for them to diminish our light.
As you pack away your memories of Halloween this year and turn your eyes to the polls, I ask that you cast your ballot for the elected officials who looked me in the eye and told me to reach for the stars, even when it was the darkest. I ask you to do this on behalf of my future daughter, so that I may look her in the eyes.
As my mother’s daughter, I ask that you vote in these crucial races to ensure the hopes of our future generations. I proudly endorse Pat Ryan for Congress and Chris Eachus for the 99th New York State Assembly District because I know they will keep the stars within reach.
Maureen Richardson, Councilmember
Town of Monroe