On my mind. July 3, 2020

On my mind. July 3, 2020

Cumming, GA.

Stacey Abrams, Barak Obama and Dave Chapelle.

I keep finding excellent podcasts to listen to while I am running and yesterday was no exception. I listened to Marc Maron’s WTF podcast interview with Stacey Abrams (http://www.wtfpod.com/podcast/episode-1130-stacey-abrams). Stacey is the former Georgia House Minority Leader and the first African American female gubernatorial candidate from a major party ever. After hearing this, I am unquestionably hoping for the Biden-Abrams ticket. Four years of Joe followed by eight with Stacey would be a good start to undoing the damage trump’s incompetence and neglect have done.

The interview also includes an excerpt from Marc’s 2015 interview with President Barack Obama (http://www.wtfpod.com/podcast/episodes/episode_613_-_president_barack_obama?rq=barack%20obama). I remember listening to the interview when it was first released. It also made me long for the days a few short years back when we had a president who could string together thoughts and ideas into a coherent discussion.

I mentioned a Dave Chapelle clip on George Floyd a couple of weeks ago. I watched his “Age of Spin” Netflix special list night. I’ve never watched him a whole lot, but now I want to get my hands on everything he’s ever done. His mix of comedy and social commentary is pure brilliance. He has two Netflix specials on right now. In “Deep in the Hear of Texas: Live at Austin City Limits” he tells the story of a couple of guys throwing snowballs at him and his sister. In Ohio, throwing a snowball is a misdemeanor. But since they called him a n***** when they did it, it’s a felony assault. So it’s good we finally got a Hate Crimes Bill.

Without Ambiguity. Black Lives Matter

Evening thoughts. June 29, 2020

Letter from a Birmingham Jail, Seth Godin and the 2020 legislative session.

Black Lives Matter.

During my Sunday run I found an audio performance of Martin Luther King’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” on Seth Godin’s Akimbo podcast. After listening to it I decided to pull a few excerpts into my latest blog. I won’t attempt to annotate Dr. King’s words other than to say that, like passages from James Baldwin and Langston Hughes I’ve shared recently, some of these words could have been written last week. Reading more Black authors is one of the best things I’ve done this year. Below are my selected excerpts. The hardest thing was trimming the list down. The full performance is here: https://soundcloud.com/williejackson/dr-martin-luther-kings-letter-from-birmingham-jail

·       I am in Birmingham because injustice is here.

·       Birmingham is probably the most thoroughly segregated city in the United States. Its ugly record of police brutality is known in every section of this country. Its unjust treatment of Negroes in the courts is a notorious reality.

·       You deplore the demonstrations that are presently taking place in Birmingham. But I am sorry that your statement did not express a similar concern for the conditions that brought the demonstrations into being.

·       Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and establish such creative tension that a community that has consistently refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue.

·       History is the long and tragic story of the fact that privileged groups seldom give up their privileges voluntarily.

·       There comes a time when the cup of endurance runs over and men are no longer willing to be plunged into an abyss of injustice where they experience the bleakness of corroding despair.

·       I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro's great stumbling block in the stride toward freedom is not the…Ku Klux Klanner but the white moderate who is more devoted to order than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice;

·       We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the vitriolic words and actions of the bad people but for the appalling silence of the good people

·       In your statement you asserted that our actions, even though peaceful, must be condemned because they precipitate violence. But can this assertion be logically made? Isn't this like condemning the robbed man because his possession of money precipitated the evil act of robbery?...Isn't this like condemning Jesus because His unique God-consciousness and never-ceasing devotion to His will precipitated the evil act of crucifixion

·       Was not Jesus an extremist in love? -- "Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, pray for them that despitefully use you." Was not Amos an extremist for justice? -- "Let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream."

·       So the question is not whether we will be extremist, but what kind of extremists we will be. Will we be extremists for hate, or will we be extremists for love? Will we be extremists for the preservation of injustice, or will we be extremists for the cause of justice?

And a long passage on the church…

·       I have been disappointed with the white church and its leadership…all too many others have been more cautious than courageous and have remained silent behind the anesthetizing security of stained-glass windows.

·       In the midst of blatant injustices inflicted upon the Negro, I have watched white churches stand on the sidelines and merely mouth pious irrelevancies and sanctimonious trivialities. In the midst of a mighty struggle to rid our nation of racial and economic injustice, I have heard so many ministers say, "Those are social issues which the gospel has nothing to do with,"

·       The contemporary church is so often a weak, ineffectual voice with an uncertain sound. It is so often the arch supporter of the status quo.

 

Performed by: Winnie Kao, Mike "Ambassador" Bruny, Doc Waller, Darius Gant, Garfield Hylton, Jermaine Maree, Shaun King, Pamela Slim, DeRay McKesson, Dr. Ivor Horn, Charlie Gilkey, Neal Ludevig, Charles Davis, Soledad O'Brien, Greg Hartle, Kimberly Nadia Scott, Lisa Nicole Bell, Paul Drayton, Codie Elaine, André Blackman, John Montgomery II, Daniel Jarvis, James Lopez, Donna Queza, Marc Aarons, Stella Santana, Alex Chavez, Spencer Pitman, Ankit Shah, Cliff Worley, Keylor Leigh, Stephanie Hasham, Willie Jackson, Don Pottinger, Rachel Rodgers, Dr. Angelica Perez-Litwin, Akilah Hughes, Diana Alvear, Danielle Jenene Powell, Emmanuel Azih.

Read the whole thing here. http://web.cn.edu/kwheeler/documents/letter_birmingham_jail.pdf

 

The 2020 Legislative Session

A weak Hate Crimes bill passed, overwhelmingly, but without the support of any of the Forsyth County delegation. I’ve mentioned my call with Todd Jones and Greg Dolezal a couple of weeks ago. Their rationale for voting against the bill? It should follow Title 7 of the Civil Rights Act (translation, don’t include LGBTQ, who, thankfully, after the recent SCOTUS decision are now covered under the Civil Rights Act). Also, you shouldn’t value one life over another in sentencing (translation, All Lives Matter). These guys all have to go.

 

More from Seth. Seth Godin says more in a daily 100 or so word blog than others say in pages of prose. From a recent blog (https://seths.blog/2020/06/without-ambiguity-black-lives-matter/):

Without Ambiguity…Black Lives Matter.

The systemic, cruel and depersonalizing history of Black subjugation in my country has and continues to be a crime against humanity. It’s based on a desire to maintain power and false assumptions about how the world works and how it can work. It’s been amplified by systems that were often put in place with mal-intent, or sometimes simply because they felt expedient. It’s painful to look at and far more painful to be part of or to admit that exists in the things that we build.

 

From the Cape Up podcast. Jonathan Capehart of the Washington Post, interviewing Robin DiAngelo, author of White Fragility:  “And I would just ask, what happened to us that we don't have an emotional reaction to (George Floyd) being murdered in front of our eyes? But we have a emotional reaction of some people taking some food out of a shop or breaking a window?” Full podcast. https://www.washingtonpost.com/podcasts/cape-up/the-author-of-white-fragility-doesnt-think-most-white-people-care-about-racial-injustice/

 

 

 

 

 

Evening thoughts. June 16, 2020

Evening thoughts. June 16, 2020

Cumming, GA

Rashard Brooks, the budget and Dave Chappelle

Thinking about Rashard Brooks and three of the times I got pulled over by the police. First time was in college. I was not driving, but I was in a car full of drunks. One of our number was getting sick and we had to pull over so he did not puke all over us. While we were pulled over a Clarke County Deputy pulled up behind us and came up to the car. I am sure it reeked. He checked on us and sent us on our way (note, one of my regular readers, long-time friend and Facebook friend was with me in that car 30+ years ago). Time 2. Still in college, coming back from Atlanta. I had one beer to drink at the event and by that time it was at least a couple of hours later. I got a breathalyzer out of that. I was way under the legal limit and he sent me on my way.

Time 3…about a year ago. I’d been driving all day. It was about 2 am, I had dropped Claire off at her dorm and was about a mile from my house. I was pulled over by a sheriff’s deputy. He asked if I knew why he pulled me over. I had no idea. Turns out I ran the red light coming off 400. I had no recollection of it. I am sure I fell asleep. In one day I had driven from Cumming to Dahlonega to Statesboro attended a funeral drove back to Cumming to Dahlonega and back to Cumming. The last two hours were fueled by Diet Mountain Dew and Milky Ways. The deputy checked my license and plates and let me drive the rest of the way home. Only about a mile at that point.

All this to say, at none of those stops was my car ever inspected, was I ever frisked, cuffed, etc. It’s really not even in my imagination that that would happen, even though it very easily could have. That is some SERIOUS White Privilege.

Which brings me back to Mr. Brooks. He falls asleep in a parking lot and then he’s dead. Let the man walk home. Better yet, offer to take him home. Even better…just knock on the guy’s window and check on him. Why does this call for police response and an arrest? This is why policing needs to be completely overhauled. Seems an arrest should be a last resort, not a first.

The budget. I was discussing this with some friends this week. The issue is not that there isn’t enough. The issue is how we choose to spend it. At the federal level we spend it on wars and weapons and tax cut and don’t have enough for healthcare and education. At the state level we can spend a billion dollars on sports stadiums and cut taxes, but we can’t pay our teachers or expand Medicaid. In my town our kids go to school in trailers but we get a snazzy new $100 million jail. A dollar is a dollar, it’s how we choose to spend it. Personally, I’d prefers schools, education and healthcare to bombs, fighter jets, wars, stadium, jails and tax cuts.

Last, this Dave Chappelle clip is raw. It’s from his new Netflix special 8:46. He goes off on George Floyd’s murder about 4 minutes in, starting with the 35 seconds of the Northridge Earthquake in 1994. “the wrath of God…it’s not for a single cop, it’s for all of it, fucking all of it…this is the streets talking for themselves” https://youtu.be/3tR6mKcBbT4

 

Louie Giglio needs to go to the church of Dave Chappelle and Killer Mike.

Morning thoughts. June 14, 2020

Cumming, GA

 In 2020 it seems almost quaint to refer to the headline in today’s paper, but here they are, from the Atlanta Journal Constitution (AJC).  “Shooting Angers City; Police Chief Steps Down” and “Killing Rocks an Already Outraged Community”. The story starts with a man falling asleep in a parking lot and ends with him dead. Seems there were many chances to de-escalate the situation before that occurs.

 There is so much happening right now, I can’t hope to hit it all.

 Also from the AJC. “Pressure builds for a Georgia hate-crimes law” (https://www.ajc.com/news/state--regional-govt--politics/the-follow-pressure-builds-for-georgia-hate-crimes-law/OY413zDmqzKBXusWwoB8fJ/). The legislature is back in session on Monday. Several top legislators have stated passing a hate crimes bill is a top agenda item. Two Thursdays ago I spent nearly an hour on the phone with my local state rep and senator, much of it with them trying to explain why they were not supporting the current hate crimes bill. While I disagreed with them at the time, now I have to say I agree, but not for the same reason. Georgia must pass a Hate Crimes Bill, but HB 426 (passed, without my local rep’s vote) and SB 166 (in committee) are shit. It would be among the weakest hate crimes laws in the country. As I read them, all they do is slightly increase the minimum penalties for various infractions that have a hate crime component. That’s not what we need. We have the time and if we have the will power and focus we can do much better. Read the bills, here (http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20192020/184241.pdf) and here (http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20192020/182492.pdf).

 At one point in the discussion Todd and Greg tried to explain that it was not right that hate crimes bills valued some lives more than others by increasing penalties for certain victims. In their imagined scenario, I am running with a black friend, a Jewish friend and a gay friend (we never walk in to a bar). We are all shot, but the shooter gets a longer sentence for shooting my friends vs. me. For the record, if that were to happen, I’d be a-ok with it. And while you’re at it, please politicize the shit out of it to help get guns off the street.

 Last thing on this. The house and senate bills both include sexual orientation and the senate bill includes gender identity. These need to be covered explicitly in any bill that is passed. Again, the legislature goes back in session tomorrow (June 15). Keep an eye on these bills.

 Back to cops and police brutality. Not sure how I feel about the whole “defund police” movement. We have to have some sort of law enforcement. I do think we need to significantly shift funds toward community engagement, education, mental health, etc, and away from policing in it’s current state, criminalization and incarceration. Let’s start by de-militarizing the police. I am reading The New Jim Crow right now. In 1998 the Cato Institute reported 1.2 million pieces of military hardware, include planes, helicopters, grenade launchers and M-16 rifles were delivered to local law enforcement agencies. That’s unacceptable for a civilian  police force. And police should not be outgunned by criminals. We need massive gun law reform to keep them safe.

 I heard an interview with a white preacher today. He told his congregation that he would not talk about racism and racial reconciliation. He said the problem is sin. Ok. And The Beatles said all we need is love. Both are true, but I think God expects more precision and action in our diagnosis and solution.

And…more and more of our faith leaders are speaking out, and I love it. The North Georgia Conference of the United Methodist Church posted “A Call to Repentance and Pledge from The Bishop and Cabinet” on Tuesday (June 9). It says, among other things…

“Through the ages, race has been used to divide and conquer. This country, for much of its history, identified those who are White as enslaver, and therefore superior, and those who are Black as enslaved persons, and therefore inferior. This construct has permeated our culture, our politics, our workplaces, our neighborhoods, our educational systems, our financial systems, our churches, and sadly, our very souls.

Injustice is also alive and well in the life of our Church. Racism permeates our system

We will refuse to allow the Church to dismiss abolishing racism and racist policies as “too political” in order to avoid taking action. We call upon the Church to better balance personal piety and social holiness.  The Early Methodists invested their blood, sweat, and tears in a relentless movement to abolish slavery in the British Empire. We, their spiritual descendants, act squarely in the Methodist tradition by working relentlessly to dismantle and eradicate the insidious evils in our culture born of the enslavement they so detested.

They discuss Ahmaud Arberry, George Floyd and Breonna Taylor by name. It’s a bold, brave statement. My church is far from perfect. There are internal struggles with recognizing our LGBTQ brothers and sisters and they are not mentioned in the statement. But this is a strong start. It’s worth reading the full post. https://www.ngumc.org/newsdetail/statement-and-pledge-14020488

 Finally, a scripture that’s been on my mind. Luke 16:19-31. The story of the rich man and Lazarus. Briefly, Jesus tells the story of an unnamed rich man and Lazarus, a poor and sick beggar who laid at the rich man’s gate begging for crumbs. Lazarus goes to heaven, the rich man goes to hell. The story never mentions the rich man helping or even seeing Lazarus. I’d take it one step further. The rich man chose not to see Lazarus. And when the rich man wanted to see his brothers, to warn them, Abraham knew they would choose not to hear. For a long time, many of us have been saying we did not know, see, hear. We don’t have that excuse anymore. As Will Smith said, “racism is not getting worse, it’s getting filmed”. If we don’t see-hear-act now, it’s because we choose not to. That did not end well for the rich man and his brothers.

 Amen.

Evening thoughts. May 31, 2020

Evening thoughts. May 31, 2020

Cumming, Georgia 2020

 

Right after yesterday’s post I learned that the daughter of one of my African America neighbors was stopped by two other neighbors. They cut her off while she was practicing riding a motorcycle in the neighborhood. Given that they were white, in Forsyth County, in a pickup, and felt they had the right to pull over a young, black female doing nothing at all wrong, I’d say there was a better than 50/50 chance there was a gun in one of the two cars involved in pulling her over. America. In 20fucking20.

 

Continuing my listening to James Baldwin, Notes of a Native Son during my running. Baldwin describes the shooting of an unarmed black soldier by a white NYPD cop in a Harlem hotel lobby in 1943 and the ensuing riot. He describes the looting of stores as “inefficient” and that they the rioters had to smash something…”even if it was themselves.” That scene is playing out now, minus the cell phone video. How can we imaging that same despair and rage is not present nearly 80 years later. If James Baldwin is not on my son’s American lit reading list next year, I’m going to try and get it there.

 

O, let America be America again—
The land that never has been yet—
And yet must be—the land where every man is free.
The land that's mine—the poor man's, Indian's, Negro's, ME—
Who made America,
Whose sweat and blood, whose faith and pain,
Whose hand at the foundry, whose plow in the rain,
Must bring back our mighty dream again. – Let America Be America Again. Langston Hughes

 

Seems trivial to mention it, but I had my first 100 mile running month of the year in May and I’ll cross 400 miles for the year tomorrow.

On my mind this morning – May 30, 2020

Sad and not surprised by the riots in Atlanta last night. I’m filled with rage and I don’t face racism every day. I don’t see people who look like me murdered on camera on a regular basis. I feel like America is so broken right now and I don’t know what to do or where to start.

Killer Mike. For a guy who did not want to be there and had nothing to say it was 8 minutes of brilliant testimony. “Plot, Plan, Strategize, Organize and Mobilize.” It should be required viewing.  https://youtu.be/JxHWVJYXkeU

I wonder sometimes how my black friends function. How they can sit in a meeting with me talking about some inconsequential work issue and not want scream at me or rip my head off. This who system and country is so messed up right now. And it's gotten worse day by day over the last 3 years.

Which leads me to my next bullet. It’s absolutely political. From the racist occupying the White House to his enablers through every level of government down to local reps who vote against hate crimes bills and voting rights and for loosening gun laws that arm and enable Ahmaud Arbery’s killers. And don’t give me any of the “both sides suck” bullshit. We have a decision to make in November. It’s like picking from two pizzas. One may have olives and mushrooms you don’t like and not have the pepperoni you want, but the other has a giant turd in the middle of it. This should not be a hard choice. Unless you just love the turd. Vote. Them. All. Out.

Running. I’ve been a runner for over 30 years. Right after Jenny and I got married we lived in a new neighborhood and I would always check out the new houses, sometimes looking for a door that was not locked so I could see what they looked like. I thought maybe the builder might come up and be mad sometime but even that never happened. It never dawned on me that a neighbor would come up to me with a gun. It’s just not part of my reality.

Also running. I just finished listening to The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin. Some of what he describes from the 50’s and 60’s seems to have barely changed. “God gave Noah the rainbow sign, no more water but fire next time.”

Police. I got pulled over by my local sheriff’s deputy last year at 2 am. I ran a red light two miles from my house after I’d been driving all day and was just exhausted. He asked me if I had been drinking (I had not). He never asked me to take a breathalyzer or field sobriety test, he never asked me to get out of my car. He ran my license and tag, told me to be careful and sent me home. Not even a warning. How do I square that with the experience so many of our black friends and neighbors have?

Speaking out, followed by action.

I am grateful for all the eloquent words written in response to Ahmaud Arbery’s death. It is important for people to speak out. Our faith leaders’ voices, and the moral weight they carry have been especially impactful to me, particularly those words spoken from remote pulpits this morning. It is important for all of us to speak out. And words must be followed by action. A quote from Elie Wiesel is stuck in my mind: “We must take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented... Wherever men and women are persecuted because of their race, religion, or political views, that place must - at that moment - become the center of the universe."

Ahmaud Arbery was murdered because he was black. Of that there is no doubt. Racism is a persistent stain that we may never completely wash from our national fabric. Changing hearts and minds is hard. But as in so many other instances, our laws and our legislators embolden, enable, empower our worst instincts and make Ahmaud’s killers not just ugly, ignorant racists, but also deadly racists with the law on their side. Action in the form of votes is required to change this.

Case in point: A trifecta of Georgia laws, Open Carry, Citizen’s Arrest and Stand Your Ground, that allow people to walk around armed, take the law into their own hands and apply deadly force even though they don’t have to. A jury will have to decide whether any of these laws apply in this case, but it’s impossible to imagine Ahmaud’s killers didn’t have these in mind when they left their house with a .357 and a shotgun, chased him down and initiated a confrontation.

None of these laws will change with our current crop of state legislators. Todd Jones, my local state house representative voted for campus carry (to put more guns in more places) and against the Georgia Hate Crimes bill, as did Sheri Gilligan, our other Forsyth country state representative. Georgia is of only five states with no hate crimes statute. Todd also supported cutting back early voting in some counties, limiting citizens’ access to the polls. And after repeatedly and personally promising action after the Parkland shootings in 2018, he did exactly nothing. 

Greg Dolezal, my state senator, hasn’t been around long enough to do as much bad shit, but he did sponsor a bill in this year’s session to bring more guns into churches and tighten up the definition of “brandish” a firearm so I can pull a gun on you, I just can’t point it at you.

All of this is personal experience or can be found in the legislative record. I’ve had coffee 1 on 1 with both Todd and Greg. Nice guys, and while they might give lip service to some of these issues, I am convinced they will do nothing other than possibly make it worse.

We need new legislators who will work to change our laws for the better, not perpetually make them worse. Tomorrow, May 11, 2020 is the last day to register to vote in our primary elections. You can register to vote here > https://registertovote.sos.ga.gov/GAOLVR/welcome.do#no-back-button. You can request an absentee ballot here > https://georgia.gov/vote-absentee-ballot . Yeah, it’s a bit of a pain, but if you want change you have to actively engage in the process.

Seven year ago I wrote a blog (https://faithpoliticsstatsandrandomstuff.blogspot.com/2013/11/the-sad-death-of-ronald-westbrook.html) about a retired Air Force officer and Alzheimer’s patient who was murdered by a neighbor who then, like now, decided to grab his gun and take the law into his own hands. He shot Ronald A. Westbrook, Lt. Col. USAF, (Ret.) when Mr. Westbrook did not follow commands. Where have we heard that before? And Mr. Westbrook's killer faced no charges.

I’m sending my absentee ballot in today. I did not plan this at the time, but the last stamps I ordered from the US Post Office feature John Lennon and Marvin Gaye. I bought them because I like their music. Lennon was 40, Marvin Gaye was 44. As I put the stamps on my ballot, I can’t help but think that these are two more people we lost way too early due to gun violence. 

The saying that it’s insanity to do the same thing and expect different results has become a cliché, but it’s a cliché because it’s true. And it’s insanity to keep the same legislators and expect better laws. It’s time to change these laws and do to that we have to change our legislators. Vote.

Free (audio) Books

Pre-COVID I set goals for the year around running (1,000 miles) and reading (5,000 pages, not including audio books.)

I almost always have a book going on my phone or on CD in my car, but I've never invested in an Audible subscription. $12.99 a month for one book that I am not sure I'll love seems like too much of a commitment, especially with other options available. So here's my 100% free 2020 audio book reading list, so far:

• Education of an Idealist. Samantha Power. Obama's UN Ambassador. Tells her story of growing up in Ireland, moving to the US at age 8 (about the time I was moving to Ireland from the US), serving as a war correspondent in Bosnia and finally being appointed UN ambassador. She covers the humanitarian disaster in Syria and her struggles with US policy in depth. From the Forsyth County Public Library. 
• Measure What Matters. John Doerr. Management book on OKRs (Objective and Key Results). We are adopting this at work. Lots of great case studies from Intel, Google, Gates Foundation and others. From our company e-learning platform, Percipio. The IOS app is so-so. 
• Sapiens. From the library, wanted like it, but just couldn't. 
• Finish. Jon Acuff. Short treatise on finishing goals. Acuff is an entertaining writer. He was one of our general session speakers at our customer conference last year. Very entertaining narrator of his own work. From the library.
• The Obstacle is the Way. Ryan Holiday. Holiday is a modern stoicism guru. Makes you rethink challenges that get in the way. “The impediment to action advances action. What stands in the way becomes the way.” -Marcus Aurelius. I'll definitely read more of Holiday's stuff. From YouTube. You can get lots of fully narrated audio books on YouTube. 
• 1984. Orwell. A classic, now more than ever. Don't get me started on Minitrue. If you haven't read it, you should. This is my 4th or 5th time, I think. YouTube. This one actually has the text page by page so you can read along. The app is pretty good as long as you have data access. I use the free version of YouTube. 

While the library branches are closed right now, most have digital audio services. I just browsed mine and checked out Fight Club (Chuck Palahniuk) Never read it or saw the movie. 

So, if you are looking to read more, there are plenty of free resources for audio books out there. Enjoy, and please share if you have some good ones I've missed. Stay safe and healthy. 

First Coronavirus Blog

I was talking with a friend yesterday. His office is effectively closing. All staff who can work from home, must work from home, even if they prefer to come in. We all need to take this approach. If you have the ability to work from home (your company allows it, you can do your job, you have the right technology in place) you should. We owe it to all the folks who don’t have that same flexibility: first responders, medical workers, check out people at the grocery store, food service workers and on and on. And don’t forget about the farmers. My dad reminded me of them today. There’s a time to sow and a time to reap and the crops don’t care what else is going on. Hunkering down is the only way to blunt the spread of the virus and if we can we must. 

The Washington Post has a great visualization showing the impact of social distancing on blunting

the spread of the virus.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2020/world/corona-simulator/?itid=hp_hp-top-table-main_virus-simulator520pm%3Ahomepage%2Fstory-ans

Most schools, colleges and universities are moving to online instruction. While online instruction is great, it has the potential to leave kids who are already behind due to lack of access to technology even further behind. And for many kids school is where they get two meals a day. The local schools in my area are working to get meals to kids, but the local food banks are straining under the pressure. Help if you can. 

I’ve been wondering. Is this what Climate Change will look like, with years and decades compressed down to days, weeks and months? Maybe we decide to listen to the science going forward. 

What will you do with all that time? I get 5 hours a week back from not commuting alone. Since I will spend much time video conferencing I have to look presentable, but only  from the neck up, so time saved there too. We can come out of this better than we went in. We can invest time with our families, learn, read, write, think, run and on and on and on. Or we can “Fritter and waste the hours in an offhand way.”

Speaking of writing, write stuff down. Start a blog or journal. I told my son today that people will be talking about this for a hundred years and more beyond. Keep up with what’s happening and what you are thinking about. I can see blogs and journals becoming a record of this time the same way diaries and letters home from the front were in the past. 

All we can absolutely control is how we respond as each hour and day passes. A great message from yesterday’s Daily Stoic. https://dailystoic.com/remember-you-dont-control-what-happens-you-control-how-you-respond/. Side note, this is a great daily email. 

Be kind and stay calm. Even (especially) when others aren’t. You can’t know what they are dealing with, fears, anxieties, family issues etc. If you’ve got your shit together at that moment, keep it together and hope that you receive that same grace when the time comes you need it. 

Stay in touch. Leverage all the tech or just pick up the phone.

Read the local paper. The Atlanta Journal Constitution provides excellent local coverage. I expect your local paper does too. And a good review of the daily newspaper can help prevent the urge to obsess over the news all day long. See above.