April
7, 2020
Today’s
observation – For moments yesterday, it felt that maybe we were touching pieces
of a new normal with classes proceeding rather smoothly and students being
upbeat during the live sessions. So much still to learn and to get better at. Talking with students in a video meeting was
cool. One of our Chinese students tried
to make a dash for home and had to lay over for a week in Los Angeles. Luckily his family has a home there, so that
is where he will furlough. I snatched
the chance to meet with him to make up his missed class from yesterday’s travel
day. With this new school model, he
shouldn’t miss any classes, while in this travel limbo back to Beijing. We make
do. In the gorgeous afternoon before
dinner, a group of us played outside – social cohorting at its best – soccer,
cornhole, just sitting together in the April sunshine and chatting. A much-needed respite from all the cares of
the world. Our little global village strives to stay cleanly uninfected so we
can gather as family. Iowa hit one thousand cases today, our county is at sixty-six. Most of the state’s deaths have been in long
term care facilities. Dear, dear John Prine
died from Covid19 complications today.
Boris Johnson is in Intensive Care in London. Touchstone figures bubble
up out of the numbers. After dinner, as
the big pink moon was rising, a tornado siren blared, went quiet and then
commenced again. It took a few minutes
to suss out if it was a monthly test or a real warning. The skies were mostly clear, save for a distant
burst of flashes. With a look at the National Weather Service site, I saw the alert
for severe thunderstorms. A storm cell
was closing in fast from the northwest.
As it approached throwing lightning and hail, several more sirens went
off. The hail was enormous, many the
size of golf balls. We unplugged
electronics, closed windows and shades, hunkering down as we listened to the
fleet tempest blow over. Within fifteen
minutes, it was done. So much hoopla for
such a quickly passing danger. I think somebody
was operating on an emotional hair trigger. The night returned to a serene
quiet, lush with the warm moisture of the rain.
The round moon was shrouded in lightning bling and cloud veils. I
suppose a pink moon can dress up too.
Somewhere out there, prom season would be commencing if not for this
ornery virus. Maybe my entry today reads
dull with unremarkable reports and banalities.
And I am grateful to give space and voice to such mundane journaling once
in a while.
Today’s
idea – I do not like pseudo scientists! Is that even a thing? Well, in particular, to those that preach
pseudoscience while calling journalism – fake news. What set me off is a new age evangelist –
David Wilcock. A dear friend shared his latest
videos with me. “He very comprehensive
about explaining what the Corona Virus outbreak is really all about.” She said. His videos are long: two to five hours
each! I started watching the first one
of this series – “What’s really going on” and within the first five minutes he
sets me off, saying that he believes this virus is the creation of the DEEP
STATE, a consortium of evil men on the planet who are really ruling the
world. They made this virus and turned
it loose on the world. Like the 9/11
strike on New York. That was no simple
terrorist team with box cutters who would not be capable of pulling off such precise
strikes. The more I listened, the louder
my bullshit alarms sounded off. I wish I
could hear him out, give this narrative a fair listen, a benefit of the
doubt. Perhaps it could serve me like a
Hanged Man surrender – bring a new point of view. So far, the lack of more substantiation, some
kind of collaborative contributions from the scientific community, some empirical
evidence stands between my ability to consume another minute of his video
monologue, his preposterous claims and my current rants. I’ll own that this could be a short-sighted
personal failing, this inability to hear him out. I love good science fiction and have always
been a fan. But Science is best when it
keeps its nose out of politics and religion.
Let it keep us clear eyed, in wonder and in reverence of the miracles it
reveals. Let it not push personal or political
agendas and no fear mongering either.
And for now, Mr. Wilcock, I am not interested in joining your church, but I will try to hear you out.
Today’s
image – The storm really activated my Westie puppy. He raged around our living room frantically
barking, fraught by the unseen and loud forces outside. For him the sky was falling, and the air was
electric. And when it was done, he collapsed
in sleep. How truly "in the moment" he is. I heard a plane fly over and
thought what an exotic sound that has become.
We all try to imagine what’s next in store with the unfolding of this
frontier human epoch, revealing itself in unknowable ways. Even to hold the death of a friend in my
mind, begs questions about how his family will cope when they cannot gather and
grieve and make plans for his funeral or memorial service in the foreseeable future,
with unforeseeable consequences. It allows no closure to such important life
rends. Fits and starts are the pulse that we must dance with. Are we standing at
the precipice of something new? Birth has never been easy, the inevitable struggle
to deliver new life. What are we
birthing now? I hear the term fighting the virus, used a lot. But
what if the virus is really a midwife?
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