Another Zoom webinar down the tubes. I lost track of how many times my connection dropped before I gave up. Probably no more than half a dozen, but once is too many times. It is beyond frustrating; it is absolutely maddening. I have been brought to the point of tears, cussing and cursing my cell phone service (or lack thereof) and its 3-gigs-per-month hotspot (or lack thereof).
I admit I can’t stomach reading my Delegate’s reports from Richmond in his newspaper articles, the Wright Report and His Opinion, so I don’t recall him reporting on the progress of getting affordable broadband to his constituents across his rural district. He is more concerned with stopping the Democrats at every turn. Gee, I guess that must mean funding and actually building broadband infrastructure, too.
As though running for office isn’t hard enough — and during a pandemic — researching and connecting with people online is just that much more difficult. But my Delegate doesn’t care, because he has no social media presence. He can’t even use email. I’ve emailed him to either support or oppose bills and I haven’t received a reply. Not even an automatic canned reply “thank you for contacting me”.
Our students and our businesses in rural Virginia need affordable broadband to learn and to thrive. Our rural economy is sluggish because, for one, we do not have 100% access to affordable broadband. Even cell phone service is unreliable across our rural communities. I’m sure that inequitable funding of our rural schools and lack of affordable broadband were factors in seven of the eight counties in HD61 and the new HD50 making the list of 50 least educated counties in Virginia. See What is the least educated county in Virginia? [Note: two counties remain in both districts, making only one county that did not make this list of 50.]
Students and other community members who want to connect to their public library’s WiFi at their convenience may also find it difficult. Take my town library, for instance. They are open Mon, Tue, Thu, Fri from 9 am to 5 pm and on Sat from 9 am to noon. That is when their WiFi is available. They have it on a timer to be available during those hours only. Their attitude is f you if you want to sit outside, parked at the curb or across the street in the community parking lot, and use the taxpayer-funded WiFi, we’re not going to let you.
Please DONATE to my campaign at ActBlue to help me unseat my 23-year Delegate so I can work to bring about real solutions to our communities’ problems.
Trudy Berry for Delegate Facebook Twitter
for VA HD50
