INTERVIEW BY PILAR DUVIVIER
Photographed by Pilar Duvivier
ALEXANDRIA WOJCIK (she/they), DEPUTY MAYOR OF THE VILLAGE OF NEW PALTZ, NEW YORK
On a Woman She Admires… I have a hard time finding other queer leaders in elected office who are openly queer. I have yet to send an email and get a reply back from another elected official or person in a position of power of any kind, or an activist group or anything where there’s she/they pronouns in their signature. I know I’m not alone, but it feels pretty lonely, I must say. And that’s why I turn to, she doesn’t identify as queer, but one of my best friends on Earth is my biggest inspiration. Amanda Sistenstein, the woman behind Food Not Bombs for so many years, and the Pocket Gardens and New Paltz De Facto Community Projects. I admire her so much and I continue to turn to her for council all the time. [And] She’s just so good at holding space for my queerness and being my fellow femme in another leadership role. She’s like the leader of the anarchists in some ways, and I’m in this other leadership position and we get to work together still, and I think that’s really cool. I just admire her work so much; her work ethic and always thinking about the basics and how to get the basics to the people. Because that’s the foundation, like how do we make sure no one goes hungry today? How do we make sure no one is without a roof over their heads today? Let’s get that stuff covered, and then we can have a discussion about how to solve the affordable housing crisis. I just admire that so much.
“The foundation of climate justice is continuing to be stewards of the Earth”
On Climate Justice… Who’s on the front lines of the destruction of climate change? People who rent and don’t have the ability to sell their home and move to higher ground. Who’s basements are flooding and the mold is growing in and houses are literally slipping away? It’s renters, it’s not homeowners with resources who are being subjected to this. And workers, of course. We’re seeing more and more a hundred and something degree days in June in New York in the mountains. Who is going to be most adversely affected by that? The workers in our community, like the people who work in the Department of Public Works. You can’t just be like “Oh, a water main broke, we’ll just save it for a nicer day”. No! They have to go out there and fix it, even if it’s a hundred and ten degrees. And first responders also! It’s a hundred billion degrees out and there’s an accident on the road, you still have to be out there in the blistering heat. That’s not what humans are supposed to be dealing with. And then on the other end of things, more floods, more storms, in the winter more ice, just more unpredictable weather. It’s so scary for first responders and for our workers who keep our community going.