Corona Virus Diary
#8
Since there are so
few places to go it is more of a task to come up with new things to
say about the pandemic. I am glad that cooler heads prevail here in
our state capitals. South of me in Oregon where I do not vote, the
state republicans have proven to be more vainglorious than they are
leaders. It does seem obvious that they want to please POTUS so
rather than work cooperatively and maybe do some compromising they
ensure that votes cannot occur by boycotting the senate sessions.
They are the minority so they win less votes and therefore take their
marbles home. The governor however is strong and rational as is ours
here in Washington. Our state legislative bodies are also less
rancorous. That does not mean that we don't have extremists prodded
by their party. Apparently they are less numerous than in Oregon or
maybe our water is healthier.
The state that I
grew up in-Michigan, certainly has its share of whack jobs-this is
not new to that state. They show up armed and screaming along with
confederate flags and other right wing symbols in order to intimidate
the governor. That does not appear to be working as she has been
resolute in maintaining social controls that hopefully will end the
chaos of national quarantine.
Likewise in the
state I adopted for 36 years-Maryland, the governor is not seeking to
do any boneheaded lifting of the regulations with more evidence of
that being safe. What makes him unique is that he is a rare
republican who does not march to the song of the emperor and his new
clothes.
So as dreary as it
is, I am not going to be attending places and events simply because
the lack of leadership at the federal level desires us to do so.
I miss a couple of
things pretty dearly as a result of this quarantine. The first is
that libraries are closed. These are a source mostly of periodicals
for me. My own local library is a fairly new structure and so does
not have much historical character. It does have the New York Review
of Books, The Scientist, The New Yorker Magazine and other magazines
that I am not going to subscribe to. I typically spend several hours
over the course of a few days, reading such at the library.
The
Portland 9th
Avenue Library has about 3 times as many periodicals as the one near
me. It is also located in a beautiful, historical structure in the
near downtown area near Portland State University. I can sit there
for hours catching up on news. When I am done there are a slew of
restaurants to check out and that is my routine when I am there.
I am not the
baseball fan that I was in the 1970s but have annually got much
succor that accompanies the end of winter by the box scores to read
everyday and the chance to watch games. It is noticeably absent just
like much of the joys of the new spring.
I did start my porch
garden though more subdued than the previous two seasons. I'd rather
do a better job with a few select plants than hope for success with
abundance. Lets see how that works out.
I have been doing
way more cooking than my waistline prefers. Apparently so are many
others. I have seen articles about food shortages and have witnessed
them myself as our stores which for the most part have robust
supplies, also are curiously short on things I would not have guessed
they would be. My local store was all out of corn starch the other
day. Really? Corn starch? Maybe I'll organize a public protest.
