Friday, July 24, 2020

COVID-19 | Too Many Problems | Save Our Stages | Arts Industries Called Out | Stop Kangaroo Cleats

Kangaroo at San Diego Safari Park (Taken 6.28.2020)

Thursday was kind of a throwaway day for me. After a great Wednesday and a night in the speakeasy with Darren, I just needed a day of nothing. I didn't watch any news or briefings or do much of anything besides a trip to Costco. We love going right before closing, it's nice and empty right around 7:45 through closing and we had no problem getting everything we needed so that we won't need to do any shopping this weekend at all. I'm looking forward to this weekend with the Casbah's live show with Scary Pierre (I'll be watching from home like everyone else,) maybe a trip to the Zoo to see the new ring-tailed lemur twins, and fixing up  the backyard with some projects and setting up our new outdoor furniture. Still, I did some reading and writing, so all of that is after the jump. 

First some thoughts. The news cycle is so ever-changing and infuriating and 'if it bleeds, it leads' and all that stuff, but OMG. I feel guilt on one hand and on the other, I'm just one person reaching however many people and if I'm spending all of this time amplifying one thing, there are 100 or 1,000 things I'm not. And I'm not ignoring them, I assure you. But the Feds abusing protesters in Portland, the continued separation of parents and babies and families seeking asylum and getting locked up in ICE facilities, the massive pandemic explosion of COVID-19 in prisons and jails, the tear gas and "rubber bullets" here, the unlawful arrests there, the dipsicle in the White House profiting off of all our suffering with his sudden change of heart that "wearing a mask is patriotic," the siege on cities, the white nationalism explosion, the scariness of the future of the Supreme Court (and all District Courts, too), the exploitation of vulnerable and, shall we say, 'prone to conspiracy' people, the opioid epidemic rages on, women still fighting sexism and the patriarchy, and will our kids ever be safe in schools again?, and we still have horrific climate change issues amplified by the pandemic and all of our single use plastics and wipes and trash, and on top of that, the dumb thing of my kid's soccer team wanting to have a post-practice beach party, and I'm still not technically supposed to visit my vulnerable parents. 
It is all maddening. 
I do my best to cover the news and pick the things that I think are relevant and important in this particular moment, but ALL of these things matter. I'm not ignoring them. It's possible I'm feeling the weight of all of them simultaneously. We all are experiencing them in many of the same ways and also many different in the ways of financial insecurity and anxiety. I know I can't tell someone with no money or assistance to live life the best they can with what they've got while they scramble to find food for their children. All I can say is that I feel all of this, I'm experiencing it the best I can, and I hope that there is some faith in the future, and voting, and action, and you can sign all the petitions and call all of your representatives and peer pressure your asshole friends to wear a goddamn mask so we can at least get through this one thing to start to deal with all of the other ones. 


Posted by Rosemary Bystrak at Friday, July 24, 2020
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