Monday Reads: ‘And the people stayed home’

Jessica Boehman, Illustrated Print, Bedtime Stories, Girl with kid, bear, fox 

Good Day Sky Dancers!

I’d like to introduce you to something shared with me by an old friend of our longstanding blog/Hillary community shared on her Facebook page.  It’s amazing how long we’ve endured the last 12 years with so many of us still quite close and I still get so much from each and every one of you.

“And the people stayed home. And read books, and listened, and rested, and exercised, and made art, and played games, and learned new ways of being, and were still. And listened more deeply. Some meditated, some prayed, some danced. Some met their shadows. And the people began to think differently.
“And the people healed. And, in the absence of people living in ignorant, dangerous, mindless, and heartless ways, the earth began to heal.
“And when the danger passed, and the people joined together again, they grieved their losses, and made new choices, and dreamed new images, and created new ways to live and heal the earth fully, as they had been healed.”

~Kitty O’Meara 

Kitty O’Meara’s poem and message have gone viral.  You can see why when you read even excerpts from it.  Writer’s Digest introduces the author to us here at this link with the title “Kitty O’Meara: Finding Joy and Community in a Pandemic”

What do you hope readers will get out of your book?

The inspiration to take time with their lives and choose ways to use their gifts that will allow them to feel the joy and healing power of creating goodness, beauty, kindness, and community in the world. And I hope that the book will underscore for readers that we have been given one planet to tend and love and that our well-being is dependent upon hers.

And h/t to BB we have some advice from Anderson Cooper who knows what it’s like to lose a parent at a very young age.

So, I’m supposed to do a face to face lecture with an Executive EMBA class on December 12th and I’m looking at this and wondering why they want to see me the first day of class.  I had planned to zoom all my lectures.  This graphic is pretty daunting and I wonder what it will look a month from now when I face that task.

And there’s good and bad news about another Vaccine–this time from Moderna--that seems to be quite effective.  It’s not going to come quick enough for this uptick.  It’s also going to have a hell of a time  being distributed.  And most importantly, it’s still technically not tested over a long period of time which means we have no idea how long it lasts. It’s also in need of a few more control groups like children.

“Lore finds the Star” from “Lore and the Little Star”. Jessica Boehman

But, as some one who used to do a lot of consulting with small business to improve their product I know a lot about supply chain management and these vaccines look like a nightmare compared to the kinds of things I’ve worked with.

This is from Kris Alexander writing at the Daily Beast:  “I Was a Military COVID Planner. The Vaccine Rollout Is Going to Be a Nightmare.”

Given this isolation and lack of resources, the vaccines themselves present a logistical challenge alone that borders on the impossible for rural America. The Pfizer vaccine, now the leading contender, will require ultra-cold storage of at least -94 degrees Fahrenheit and two rounds of shots. Another leading vaccine candidate from Moderna also requires cold storage, albeit not to the same extent, according to the company. Typically, hospitals and large clinics have this capability. Small towns lacking even the most basic health clinics do not.

To deploy the Pfizer vaccine or any other one, health planners will have to figure out a way to deliver it to rural areas while maintaining its required temperature long enough to ensure that the population receives both doses. This scene will be repeated all across small-town America. This presents a big risk: An uncoordinated federal roll out of vaccines requiring ultra-cold storage could leave state and local governments competing for resources much like they were competing for PPE earlier in the pandemic.

Trump has indicated that the military will be the savior here, but the military has its limits. At NORTHCOM, we knew that we could surge military medical and logistical resources to hotspots, but we couldn’t blanket the country with them. Plus, Trump’s firing of Defense Secretary Mark Esper and ongoing purge at the Pentagon could delay and disrupt whatever plans the Department of Defense is developing.

And there is another potential limiting factor here. When a vaccine becomes widely available, the military may be strained taking care of its own and deploying the vaccine to troops and their families around the globe. So despite the promises of Dr. Anthony Fauci, the literal Cavalry may not be coming, at least not as quickly as we might like.

And then there’s more shenanigans even though the Trumpist Regime is beginning to come to terms with its end.

But, for right now let’s recognize what it means to be safe at home for those of us that have that luxury.  We should also remember that much of the financial help for the first wave is disappearing.  

President-elect Joe Biden is set to take office in January. But with both the House and the Senate back at work now, Washington has time to take up a problem that can’t wait until next year, with the expiration of assistance programs created with the CARES Act in March.

The extension of unemployment benefits and the weekly $300 bonus payment are set to expire by Dec. 31 unless Congress can agree on another stimulus bill that could include a second economic stimulus check for $1,200.

“The November Before You Came,” colored pencil, pencil, gauche, and water soluble graphite. Piece by Jessica Boehman.

So, I guess my thought for the day is that we’re going to all be hunkering down again which is necessary because so many states and people did not do it earlier.  But just as we all start trying to face the inevitable the person were supposed to be able to forget sends his troops out to harass his ordained enemies.  “Top Trump coronavirus adviser tells Michigan to “rise up” against new restrictions”.

Dr. Scott Atlas, a close adviser to President Trump on the coronavirus pandemic, encouraged Michigan residents to “rise up” after Governor Gretchen Whitmer announced more stringent restrictions on schools and businesses to mitigate a surge in coronavirus cases.

In response to a tweet outlining the new order from Whitmer, a Democrat, Atlas tweeted Sunday “the only way this stops is if people rise up. You get what you accept.”

So, I’m in acceptance mode.  I just got a replacement yoga mat–fancier and more cushioned but still quite purple–to replace the one some one borrowed and never returned last year at the beginning of the first shut down.  I am now on Medicare.  I have a Silver Sneakers fitness program which includes Zoom Yoga and I intend to use it.

I’m planting more perennial herbs and some bulbs so that spring will be a bit cheerier.  I’m  hoping my Dr kids get the vaccine soon.  They likely need it more than any one even though they do no work directly with COVID patients.  I’m hoping my youngest can donate convalescent plasma when her symptoms end and that her best friend who is a Covid ICU nurse gets the vaccine and doesn’t wear out.  At least they’re in states with sane governors and cities with good mayors, like me.  For that, I am grateful.

I am also grateful for you my sweet community of 12 plus years.  If we’re going to stay home, we have each other and here to share.  I’m trying to take Anderson Cooper’s advice as well as that of Jessica Boehman.

What’s on your reading and blogging list today?

Climbing up on Solsbury Hill
I could see the city light
Wind was blowing, time stood still
Eagle flew out of the night
He was something to observe
Came in close, I heard a voice
Standing stretching every nerve
Had to listen had no choice
I did not believe the information
(I) just had to trust imagination
My heart going boom boom boom
“Son,” he said “Grab your things,
I’ve come to take you home.”