the tone deaf among us

I met up with a former colleague last week to go for a walk and sip iced coffee. We'd agreed to read a book together and discuss it. She chose Kevin Wilson's terribly funny novel, "Nothing to See Here."

I arrived early and the coffee shop was empty except for a customer, a slender guy in sweats, and two baristas. I stood on the marked X and waited to order. The guy got his coffee and lingered to chat with one of the baristas. 

Dude, c'mon, I thought. I get it, you're a regular, you're that guy. Now go.

"You know, this pandemic hasn't been all bad," he said.

(Insert Marge Simpson groan.)

He glanced at me. 

Panic. Did I groan aloud? I don't think so.

"I mean, you get to work from home and go to the coffee shop wearing whatever you want! Look at me!" He gestured at his sweats and flip flops.

Thankful for my mask, concealing my undoubtedly sour expression, I hesitated.

"Oh, not you," he said hastily. "You look great. But me. I'm so relaxed!"

More silence. I didn't feel like helping him undig the hole he was so efficiently constructing for himself. Finally, I gave him a thumb's up.

He picked up his drink and went out the open door. "Have a good one!"

The barista making my drink slid my iced Americano across the counter. She watched out the windows as the guy walked down the sidewalk. "I like that guy, he's a regular, but dude--read the room."

"I'm glad this has been such a positive experience for him," I said sarcastically.

She nodded. "I've had to be here working every fucking day. In clothes. So, yeah."

"Thank you for being here," I said. It felt inadequate. I'd tipped well, but it didn't seem like enough.

 

felix the (socialist) cat

Has Felix the Cat been a socialist all this time and I didn't realize? These are radicalizing times indeed. Landlords care little for our health and well being, work is not family, especially when the boss is more worried about productivity than humanity, the police don't prevent much crime and indeed often perpetrate it, our seemingly liberal mayors worry more about protecting property values than people, especially houseless people. 

We're all we got, we're all we need, I see on signs, at marches.

Ain't it the truth.

rip Shock G

Dang it, first we lost BMX, and now Shock G. 

I've loved the fun and funk of Digital Underground forever. You can't beat DG for danceable hip hop. Not to mention the videos! The Humpty. Doowatchyalike. Lil movies set at late 1980's dance parties. The style the swag, oh the iconic lines. Gettin' busy in a Burger King bathroom. Grab em in the biscuits.

Dang.

Rest in power.

sticker patrol

 

and now the scramble

As of Thursday, everyone sixteen and older is eligible for the covid-19 vaccine in my state. Now comes the scramble.

We're 14 months into pandemic life and finally. Finally! I want to take a deep breath, but not too deep, and not around anyone else. Because I had to get on a bus today and a guy got on and pulled down his mask and started yelling at the driver. We all froze. Put on your mask, I called. Put it on. He finally did, temporarily. I fled two stops later. We're so close. 

Many of my friends are fully vaccinated, which I'm happy about. Most of my family close by is not, not yet. We've been combing the various websites--covidwa.com, said the coffee shop owner. Here, says the state. I had wangled an appointment today, actually, for the J&J shot, through a friend of a friend, but now that it's on hold, I had to scramble again. 

Hopefully next week for shot #1. I'm nervous, but I'm ready. 

Now for my fam in Canada. They're struggling up there. We just have to hold one awhile longer.

who won?

 Decide for yourself: who won? 

Watch and decide

what I'm watching and reading as the pandemic pandemmmmms

Yep I'm still immersing myself in books and e-books and movies and TV shows.

Alyssa Cole's hilarious thriller and breakdown of gentrification in Brooklyn, "When No One is Watching."

Marcus Samuelsson's documentation of Black chefs and inspirational recipes, "The Rise."

Another funny and fast-paced Eloise Norton mystery, "City of Saviors," by Rachel Howzell Hall.  

Kevin Wilson's amazingly funny and poignant "Nothing to See Here." Reading this one with a neighborhood friend and I can't wait to discuss it! 

And this gem, RaMell Ross' Oscar-nominated "Hale County This Morning, This Evening." It's part art house film and part documentary of Black life in small town Alabama. I was mesmerized. Watch it on PBS.

leave attitude outside

This sign, to wear a mask and leave attitude outside, made me smile. 

And despair.

rachel knox posted on Twitter in March about her restaurant's challenge.

No minds are being changed, I know that.

This is the radicalization of a generation, I think. Will we have another version of the Roaring Twenties?

walk and talks

One of the few joys of pandemic life is the occasional walk and talks with friends.

A pal from the neighborhood met up with me the other evening; we walked for about an hour and a half, up and down side streets, crossing over to dodge no-maskers, playing a game of real life Mario Kart. We admired spring flowers, spotted a few bunny rabbits, a pair of ducks, and a cat hiding in some bushes.

And we caught up on the news and memes of the day.

The pandemic, of course. Vaccine availability. Line jumpers and whether it's okay to dine in (we decided not yet, since most restaurant and bar workers have only become eligible since March 31).

The Lil Nas X "Montero" video and his skill in trolling the haters. 

The Derek Chauvin trial (too upsetting, could not discuss).

What to make of the Greenberg/Gaetz situation in Florida.

Heather Cox Richardson's "How the South Won the Civil War" and do we all need remedial US history (yes). 

Friend gossip, of course.

Oh and the Ever Given/Suez Canal situation. The memes brought me a lot of laughs. I read an account by an Egyptian tugboat operator who felt like the world was laughing at Egypt. I wish I could tell them that we weren't, at least I don't think we were. We were laughing at a big ol' boat getting stuck and not being able to get unstuck. 

It's all of us. 

Good job to all who finally figured it out.

happy 4 3 2 1

Courtesy of one of my favorite shows of all time, Broad City.

keeping your distance

What have we learned in a year? 

Words matter. All the rhetoric about social distancing when what the scientists meant was physical distancing. Six feet apart (or three, if you're a governor trying to get little kids back in school).

And the upshot of a pandemic year is actual social distancing, too. Old friendships sloughed away like a layer of dead skin. The knowledge that we can only count on ourselves. A time of loneliness, introspection, growth, despair, and determination.

There's still a ways to go so I'm doing my best to hang on and hang in there. An acquaintance tested positive this week and I wanted to weep on their behalf. To make it this far! and no farther.

A business owner told me she was on the fence about getting vaccinated (gah!) but if it was good enough for Dolly Parton, then it was good enough for her (rah!). 

We will prevail, a different friend said to me, during some of the darkest times last year. Yes.