Who goes there? Please leave comments so (An Aries Knows)!
Just a few things I’ve seen here and there over the past couple of weeks or so and thought I’d share.
I don’t have kids, but I have this bizarre notion that parents aren’t willing to offer their children as part of that .02%. Not once, since she was appointed, has Betsy Devos ever let me down in my initial belief that she would be education’s worst nightmare. I never thought she’d advocate murdering children, though.
My friend Steve C posted this on Facebook, and I don’t know who originated this tiny summary, but hey, 2020, we see you.
Dear Diary 2020 Edition,
In ❄️ January, 🔥 Australia caught on fire. I don’t even know if that fire was put out, because we straight up almost went to war with Iran 🇮🇷 . We might actually still be almost at war with them 🤔. I don’t know, because 👩 Jen Aniston and 👨🏻 Brad Pitt spoke to one another at an awards 🏆 show and everyone flipped the crap out 😲, but then there was this thing happening in 🦇 🇨🇳 China, then 👑 Prince Harry and Megan ✌🏼 peaced out of the Royal family, and there was the whole impeachment trial 👩⚖️ , and then corona virus 🦠 showed up in the US ✔️“officially,” but then 🏀 Kobe died 😭and UK 🇬🇧 peaced out of the European Union.
In February, 🌽 Iowa crapped 💩 itself with the caucus results and the president was acquitted and the 👩🏼💼Speaker of the House took ten. whole. years. to rip up a speech, but then The👨🔬 🌎WHO decided to give this virus a name COVID-19, which confused 🤔some really important people 👔 in charge of, like, our lives, into thinking there were 18 other versions before it, but then Harvey Weinstein was found guilty👨🏻⚖️, and 🇺🇸 Americans started asking if Corona beer 🍺 was safe to drink🤦🏻♀️, and everyone on Facebook became a doctor 👨⚕️ who just knew the 🤒flu like killed way more people than COVID 1 through 18.
In March, stuff hit the fan👿. Warren dropped out of the presidential race and Sanders was like Bernie or bust 💥, but then Italy 🇮🇹 shut its whole country down 🚷, and then COVID Not 1 through 18 officially become what everyone already realized, a 😱pandemic and then a nationwide state of emergency 🆘 was declared in the US 🇺🇸 , but it didn’t really change anything, so everyone was confused or thought it was still just a flu 💁🏻♀️, but then COVID Not 18 was like y’all not taking me seriously? 💡 I’m gonna infect the one celebrity everyone loves and totally infected Tom Hanks 👨🏻, get y’all to close all of the schools so y’all can 🙏🏼 appreciate teachers 👩🏫 for once (because you can’t teach them anything other than how to use a touch screen 🤦🏻♀️) close down all of salons so you can’t get your 💇♂️ hair or your nails done 💅, everyone had to work from home and attend Zoom meetings in their underwear. The 📉 DOW took a crap 💩 on itself, and most of us still don’t understand why the stock market is so important or even a thing 🤔 (I still don’t), We were then all introduced to 🐅 Tiger King and the ONE thing we can all agree on this year, 👍🏼Carol totally killed her husband ⚰️ ….. whacked him! And then Netflix was like you’re welcome, and we all realized there was no way we were washing our hands enough in the first place because all of our hands are now dry and gross and we’re all searching for lotion now. Oh and during all this there was an earthquake with multiple after shocks.
In 🌧 April, Bernie finally busted✌🏼 himself out of the presidential race 🏃 , but then NYC 🗽became the set of The Walking Dead 💀 and we learned that no one has face masks 😷, ventilators, or toilet paper, or THE FREAKING SWIFFER WET JET LIQUID, and by now our 🦁 outgrowth is showing, so there’s a shortage on 📦 box hair dye and all of our hairdressers are like, 😱 NO DON’T DO IT!!! But, then Kim Jong-Un died, but then he came back to life … or did he? Who knows, because then the Pentagon released 🎥 videos of UFOs and nobody cared, and we were like man, it’s only April….
In 💐 May, the biblical end times kicked off, historical locust swarms, we learned of murder hornets 🐝 and realized that 2020 was the start of the Hunger Games 🙈 however people forgot to let us know. people legit started to protest lockdown measures with 🔫 AR-15s, 🏀⚾️ Sports events were cancelled everywhere. But then people all over America finally reached a breaking point with race issues and violence. There were 🗣protests in every city 🌃 ,which was confusing to some of us because people were definitely gathering in 👫crowds of more than 🖐🏼🤚🏼10 and for sure closer than 6 feet away ⬅️➡️from each other. Those people must have forgotten about the 😖pandemic called COVID Not One Through 18. Media 📺 🗞 struggled with how to 🤬focus on two important things at once, people in general struggle to focus on more than one important thing. A dead whale 🐋 was found in the middle of the Amazon rain forest 🌳 after monkeys 🐒 stole COVID 1 Through 19 from a lab 🔬 and ran off with them, and either in May or April (no one is keeping track of time now) that a giant asteroid ☄️ narrowly missed the Earth🌍.
In ☀️ June, science and common sense just got thrown 🤾🏼 straight out the window and somehow 😷 wearing masks became a 🏛political thing, but then everyone sort of remembered there was a pandemic, but then decided that not wearing a mask was somehow a ✝️God given right (still haven’t found that part in the bible or even in the constitution). then 👨🔬scientists announced they found a mysterious undiscovered mass at the center of the earth, and everyone was like 🙅🏽♂️🙅🏻♀️🚧DON’T YOU DARE TOUCH IT, but then everyone took a pause to realize that people actually believed Gone With The Wind 💨 was like non-fiction, but then it was also announced that there is a strange 🛰radio signal coming from somewhere in the universe 🌌 that repeats itself every so many days 🗓 , and everyone was like 👽 DON’T YOU DARE ATTEMPT TO COMMUNICATE WITH IT‼️ 🚫 But then America reopened 🙌🏼from the shut down that actually wasn’t even a shut down, and so far, things have gone spectacularly …. not that great 👎🏼. All of the Karens came out at once, and people started tearing down 🔨 statues. Everyone is on Facebook arguing 🤼♀️ that masks kill because no one knows how breathing works 👃🏼, but then Florida 🏖 was like hold my beer 🍺 and let me show you how we’re number one 🥇 in all things, including new Not Corona Beer Coronavirus. Trump 👱🏻♂️decides now is a good time to ask the Supreme Court 🏛 to shut down ❌Obama Care because what better time to do so than in the middle of a pandemic 💁🏻♀️, but then we learned there was a massive dust cloud ☁️ coming straight at us 📍from the Sahara Desert 🐫 , which is totally normal, but this is 2020, so the 👻 ghost mummy thing is most likely in that dust cloud. We then 📚 learned of meth-gators 🐊, and I’m like that is so not on my flipping 2020 Bingo card 😡 can we use it as the free space?? 🤷🏻 Then we learned that the Congo’s worst ever Ebola 🚨 outbreak is over 😓, and we were all like, there was an Ebola outbreak that was the worst ever? 👀 ……. And don’t forget we just discovered FLYING SNAKES! 🐍, seriously! FLYING SNAKES!!!!
So here comes July…. at this point we are over it , just tell us what’s next …. 👽 Aliens? 🔱Zeus? ☄️ Asteroids? Artificial Intelligence becomes self aware? Can it just be something cool 😎 or fun for once? Maybe even a good laugh, like hahaha 😂 April Fools! We all actually wouldn’t mind that joke at this point!
In order to avoid saying all the things I want to say about public figures who are complete assholes, or what we value in our society, or why math and science are not THAT FUCKING HARD, I shall present to you this coloring book that, if 2015 me had known about 2020, I would have bought five years ago. Right now it’s listed on Amazon at $914.95. NOT a typo, and that’s one thing that made me laugh today, anyway.
Be safe. Stay home when you can; mask when you can’t. As someone I respect reminded people a couple of weeks ago, “YOU ARE NECESSARY.”
American intel officials have concluded that a Russian military intel unit secretly offered bounties to Taliban-linked militants for killing coalition forces in Afghanistan — including targeting American troops. — The New York Times
The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal matched the story.
“The intelligence finding was briefed to President Trump, and the White House’s National Security Council discussed the problem at an interagency meeting in late March, the officials said.” — New York Times
In late March.
In late May, in discussions with Putin, Trump attempted to invite Russia back into the G-7 (the G-8 before Russia’s expulsion due to Putin annexing the Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula). G-7 allies reminded the U.S. that Russia is an outlaw nation and should not be readmitted to G-7 (U.S., Canada, France, Germany, Britain, Italy, and Japan).
“Coalition forces” with bounties on their heads mean U.S. troops and other allied troops, including Britain’s.
Since March, 20 U.S. troops have been killed; there is an ongoing investigation as to whether bounties were paid for our dead troops.
Russia denies.
No response from the White House at the time I’m posting this. Trump is golfing today.
Me, in 2018. Me, today.
Side note: More than 127,000 COVID-19 deaths in the U.S. currently reported.
How much of the U.S. population refuses to put this over their noses and mouths:
But they’re all right with this over their eyes:
Talking to Marika the other night and I told her about something that happened long ago. I have a cowbell that came from a night of jamming at my boyfriend’s house with him, Riley, and others.
“Good memory,” she said.
It is a good memory. Today I pulled out the cowbell for a silly iPhone photo on Instagram (cows were involved), but then I shot this photo with my D3400.
The cowbell, my drumsticks, my tambourine. A lot of fun there (and no, I don’t play the drums) and definitely good memories.
I think about music a lot. I think of all the families I know who put their kids in weekend and after-school classes to learn everything: martial arts, dance, gymnastics, tennis, languages, piano, voice, painting…
I speak now in defense of public schools, because I am passionate about keeping education free and available to all. I was once a public school student. I come from a family of teachers. I was educated to teach in public schools. I think one of the worse trends in education was to begin teaching toward standardized tests and focus on academics only (and trust me, I FERVENTLY WISH TODAY’S SCHOOL SCIENCE CLASSES WERE ANYWHERE NEAR AS GOOD AS THEY USED TO BE). In some school systems, they are. But not all.
Cutting the arts… Not every family can afford to feed their kids, much less pay for private lessons to develop their skills and interests. Even the poorest schools still have sports, and athletics have been a way into acceptance and out of poverty for some kids. But not all kids are interested in sports or good at sports.
I know what music, theater, art, and dance meant to many of my friends. Our schools need these activities that give children and teens a place to grow and develop. To find their hidden talents. To be part of something and be good at something. These things make better children, better schools, better adults, better citizens. I believe this to the bottom of my soul.
People talk about how the Internet offers children everything. Maybe. Maybe it can be more than a diversion or passive entertainment. But that’s only if you have access to it on your timeframe and not just during school and library hours.
Funny, those same people also say kids these days just seem so mean. I love teenagers; I always have. Even when they aren’t related to me. I’ve seen what makes a mean teenager–an eighth grader with a bad attitude is a challenge like no other. But I’ve seen how many teenagers were drawn away from a system that can make them mean by providing them access to the arts and an opportunity to develop a sense of their own self-worth.
The arts are for all kids. In school. Not just affluent kids. Outside school.
I began last year trying to get a better handle on racism in this country. I’ve grappled with it my entire life. When I cried on election night in 2008, it was because I thought, At last. Real change. We are moving forward from our painful history.
Then for the next eight years I saw racism, bigotry, and prejudice articulated and escalated in ways I could never have dreamed. For me personally, the most hurtful part was when I heard it from people I’d respected and loved. The most uncomfortable part was when I spoke up and knew my words were dismissed or I heard the coded words and arguments that are the mantras of bigots.
That hurt is nothing like the hurt of being on the receiving end of racism. The discomfort is nothing compared to the discomfort of living while black, knowing each day will bring some reminder of racism, bigotry, and prejudice.
Below is taken from a Twitter account and was posted in 2019. I’ve gone back in time so you can know it’s not in reaction to this year, this date, this crisis.
“The beauty of anti-racism is that you don’t have to pretend to be free of racism to be an anti-racist. Anti-racism is the commitment to fight racism wherever you find it, including in yourself. And it’s the only way forward.” — Ijeoma Oluo, author
I’ve long wanted to write a post about the difference between racism and prejudice. This is not that post. This is me attempting to convey that now is not the time for debate. Now is not the time for political posturing and denials. Now is not the time for rebuttals of “whataboutism” and “reverse racism” and “all lives matter.” Now is not the time to ask your colleagues and friends and neighbors or complete strangers who are black or brown or African American or people of color to explain to you or exonerate you or educate you. There is a wealth of information on the internet and in your library and bookstore where you can get your education.
When people are tired and hurt and angry and scared and, yes, even conflicted, don’t ask them to take on your baggage, too. Don’t tell them why they’re wrong. How they’re doing it wrong.
If you want to use your voice, don’t direct it to those who already know because they live it. Join with those who stand next to them. Join with those who speak up for them where speaking up won’t be comfortable. Help feed. Help clean up. Help take care of a child or an elderly family member. Give somebody a ride. For that matter, give somebody a wave, a nod, a smile.
ETA: You can also donate. Find an organization that helps and give any amount. It will be appreciated.
If you can’t help and you can’t speak and you can’t stand, there’s one thing you can do. Listen. Just listen. For once, you don’t have to be louder, more right, more clever, more informed.
Just listen.
Went to the post office which was empty until we began the process of using the machine to get postage for several outgoing packages. At that point, at least six other people came in (it’s Sunday; the post office is closed; most were dropping stamped mail and packages).
Out of all those people, only one (other than Tom and I) was wearing a mask. My anxiety level went higher with each arrival.
Seeing photos of all the restaurants open for Mother’s Day, teeming with people keeping zero distance between lines and tables (one near Denver said it was their biggest Mother’s Day ever), just dumbfounds me. Happy Mother’s Day, Mom! I’m giving you COVID-19 this year!
Do they have to actually know healthcare workers who can tell them the truth to believe this is real and dangerous? Even without knowing anyone sick or dead, why are only some of us willing to protect ourselves and other people using two of the simplest yet effective methods: give people space and wear a mask.
I don’t get it.
I keep trying to explain this to people. Maybe someone else can do it better than I am. This is why we are quarantined except for grocery store, pharmacy, and doctor appointments. This is why we aren’t seeing friends or having friends over to the Hall. Please read.
A Twitter thread from Bess Kalb:
My dad is an ICU doctor treating COVID-19 patients. In the past WEEK he has set more “I’ve never seen a heart rate/RBC count/etc. like this” records than in his decades-long career. What this virus does to the body is like “sticking your finger in an electric socket.”
Stay home.
He had a patient who needed 8 blood transfusions in a morning even though he wasn’t bleeding. The coronavirus was just eating his red blood cells faster than his bone marrow could make them. It’s fucking mystifying and brutal.
EIGHT. Eight blood transfusions.
If you are lucky enough to make it off a ventilator (the equivalent exertion required for that is running a marathon without training), you will likely get put on dialysis and a feeding tube next. It’s a nightmare. It’s hell. It’s what you’re risking on your beach day.
Young, healthy people are dying from a COVID-19 effect called a “cytokine storm.” Basically, you make it off a ventilator (maybe!), you get your appetite back a little, you think you’re turning a corner, and then your immune system rips through your lung tissue and you drown.
The other common way young people are falling off the face of the earth from this are the random strokes it causes. Talking one minute, stroking out the next, and then the nurses have to go through the cell phone to find “Dad” because “Mom” usually insists on coming.
There have been a few “Papa Bear”s or “Daddy-O”s in the cell phones who have tried to come in to hold the bodies.
They can’t, of course. You die alone from COVID. And you will be buried alone. Stay home.
Send this thread to any idiot fucker who posts an Instagram at the beach or a crowded park. Tell them my dad says see you later.
Also have an advanced directive because a lot of fiancés and parents are being put in UNCOMFORTABLE situations deciding. Truly, before you head to the crowded beach or nail salon or bowling alley, decide if you’re a chest compressions guy or feeding tube vegetable queen.
Healthcare workers: Share your stories (without identifiable details obviously) from the front lines. People are GALAVANTING out and about. Explain to them what they’re facing. Or worse, what they’re doing to a loved one.
Aside from practicing social distancing, which is MORE than enough, here’s how you can help frontline workers in the fight against this pandemic:
As everything is contracting, Direct Relief is expanding coronavirus response through intensified analysis, increased coordination, and expanded provision of medical essentials.
And here’s how you can donate directly to frontline workers in the overwhelmed New York City hospital system, the epicenter of the outbreak in this country:
Donate to NYC Health + Hospitals Staff Caring for COVID-19 Patients
During the coronavirus crisis, we are accepting donations to help our doctors, nurses, and other health care workers providing care to all New Yorkers. NYC Health and Hospitals
My dad wants you to know he made really good polenta tonight.
I woke up to a lot of Trump people saying this isn’t true. I wish you were right! Here’s Sanjay Gupta going over the case of an otherwise healthy baseball player in his 30s who was feeling fine then rapidly declined and died in his bed of COVID:
We won’t know the body count for a long time because so many young people are dying at home and not being entered into an official tally. You feel fine, you get a little cough, MAYBE you go to the doctor, you get sent home (“you’re young!”), you recover, you take a turn, goodbye.
Even if it doesn’t happen to you and you’re just a carrier, since you’re spreading it, it could happen to a buddy, or to a stranger who walks by you, or someone who brushes up against something you touched. This is a once in a lifetime emergency and your boredom can be lethal.
What people treating COVID patients know is that pictures of the packed beach means some people in that crowd are going to get pulled choking off a ventilator in about two weeks and either live or die and they could have avoided that by just taking a walk.
On March 15, 2020, a mass shooting occurred in Springfield, Missouri. After firing indiscriminately from his vehicle at passersby, the 31-year-old perpetrator shot and killed four people at a convenience store before fatally turning his weapon on himself. The victims inside the store were identified as 57-year-old employee Troy Rapp, 46-year-old waste management contractor Shannon Perkins, and 22-year-old customer Matthew Hicks-Morris. A police officer killed outside the store was 32-year-old Christopher Walsh. Employee Jayne Gilson was shot five times but survived. Police officer Josiah Overton suffered non-life-threatening injuries.
The perpetrator’s weapons included a 7.62×39mm SKS semi-automatic rifle and a 9×19mm Glock semi-automatic pistol. In a search of the perpetrator’s residence, police recovered accessories, including ammunition and magazines, for the SKS rifle and Glock pistol used in the attack.
So like many others with an internet connection, I’ve been trying to keep up with the news and updates on COVID-19. I remind you right here: I’ve lived through a pandemic and lost friends to a virus that was abysmally mishandled by the administration under whose watch it first struck, by agencies that were supposed to inform and protect the public, that was politicized and whose sufferers were marginalized, cruelly treated, mocked… I could go on, but to what point, really.
Recent history. I posted as I always do on World AIDS Day (December 1) to recognize those living with HIV and lost to AIDS, among them people I still love because love outlasts death. I also posted on Instagram, and my post was noted by an account called theaidsmemorial, who asked if they could use my photos and if I’d share a little information about my friends. Of course I said yes to all, and I also began following their account.
It has been emotionally brutal. Reading people’s stories and seeing their photos of the lost ones has taken me back to the hardest time in my life. I read every single post and usually end up crying. Time has not softened these losses or the hurt survivors still feel at how often family, society, medicine, government, church failed to comfort, support, respect, and care for people with AIDS. Don’t get me wrong. I saw and experienced powerful stories of compassion and love, as well. I remember every healthcare worker, agency representative, family member, and friend who sustained my loved ones and me through those years. I remember every celebrity and political figure and public figure who rose to their absolute best as advocates and supporters. But most of all, I remember the ill and the dying having to find their OWN way to fight for their lives, to form movements, to wage war against apathy, cruelty, and inaction even as they fell. ACT UP, FIGHT AIDS! and SILENCE = DEATH were not slogans. They were battle cries.
These days, I read and study and follow each day’s news and wonder, Did we learn nothing?
I understand the complexity and many-sidedness of a public health crisis, but I’m offering fair warning to those who know me. Do NOT try to engage me in any conversation in which you defend the indefensible. A lie is lie. A failure is a failure. Incompetence and bigotry can hide behind whatever facade they wish to, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t there. I will call out hypocrisy, dishonesty, indifference, and inhumanity as I see it, and I don’t give one solid fuck where your politics reside. I know where my conscience resides.