Living in coronavirusworld 28: Love your mother

4/19

"Love your mother"

I spend the morning on a quest to find a Sunday Times. Six days week I read it online but one day a week, I want an actual paper newspaper to sit down and spread out with while I drink my coffee. And I need the magazine to do the Sunday crossword puzzle. I make 4 trips to the corner deli where I usually buy my Times and it hasn't been  deliverd.  Truth be told, the Times performance record in Harlem is sketchy even in normal times. When I had a Sunday subscription, only about half the time or less d d I actually receive both sections of the Sunday  Times. So I subway up to 125th to look for a newsstand and when  I get there,  it’s shut down.  72nd street is next. On the train, an aggressive homeless person is getting  in people’s  faces asking for money. An action that is usually met with annoyance or disinterst in coronavirusworld strikes terror and/or rage. He leans towards me and I motion him away, emphatically. It's not a good market for panhandling.   I exit at 72nd and find the newsstand shut down. As I ponder my next move, I spy another one block south. So I buy my Times. Persistence pays off. 

I decide to bus home. Times under my arm, I cross the street and discover that Papaya King has closed. For several weeks they bravely soldiered on, this quirky  iconic New York emporium of hot dogs and "nature’s health potion”  and their Recession special.  Now even Papaya King has given up the struggle. 

This is the 25th anniversary of the Oklahoma City terrorist bombing. Committed by Gulf War veteran Timothy McVeigh and accomplices on the anniversary of the government attack on the Branch Davidians in Waco, Texas. I68 dead, 680 wounded. McVeigh, white, army vet, and anti-government militia supporter. Typical of the kind of people Trump likes to stir up. We don’t talk much about Oklahoma City because it doesn’t fit our terrorist narrative. 

In Upper West Side nursing homes, 20 dead at Amsterdam Houses and 21 at the Jewish Home.

Our family gathers on ZOOM, Micah joining  us from Berlin. We talk mainly about the virus and cooking. Dan sees us screwed for at least 4 more year if not more, because Biden is ,in his estimation, no better. Neoliberal economics tied to, beholden to big business. Surprisingly, the  usually cynical Nate patiently outlines the importance  of  getting Trump out, if only because  of Supreme (and) other court nominees and the damage they can do, for a generation. I bring up that Sanders has enough clout delegatewise to have a significant impact on the party platform. Micah, the furthest left in the family, actually sees hope in the fact that we are at an unprecedented moment. As many as 40 million unemployed in the US and a global economy in free fall. The isolated rich totally dependent on working people to keep them supplied with their basic needs. What if they just stop? Micah asks. We all know we are in for a logn haul. Who knows what’s on the other side? Even before the virus, even conservative economic analysts have said that the current level of income equity, the worst since the”golden age”of the 1920’s, is  unsustainable. Maybe as people rise up, something new can emerge Nate sees no evidence in his lifetime that this could happen. And Micah reminds him, nothing like this has happened in your lifetime.  I think either we find a new way of doing things or it will eventually collapse. Andrea points out that only Alexandria Ocasio  -Cortez has called out the stimulus plan for what it is, another money siphon to the already rich, 

Micah describes  how Germany is testing for antibodies, teams going out to test. The carefully staged reopening. Meanwhile, in the US, chaos reigns as every governor has to figure out for themselves what they will do. There are regional consortiums coming together . We are divided like nothing we’ve seen since the Civil War.  Micah has never been so glad for the sake of his family, to not live in the US. We live in essentially a failed state. If we make it through, it won’t be because of a carefully thought out strategic plan, but because of dumb luck, the persistence of thousand of courageous workers risking their lives and the grace of God.  It’s a sobering discussion, but good to be together. 

On the edge of Morningside Park , I see another memorial. Votive candles, ribbons, pictures…  

memorial

With people essentially banned from funerals, only one person allowed to go to cemeteries, these popular memorials are one way of expressing grief, I see a ribbon that says, “Love your mother..” I think of my mother, confined to her room at her assisted living facility. I think of mothers I know who have died in the last couple of weeks. Love  you mother. 

A mother is flying a kite with her child. I love the way it reaches up, seeking the sky.  I remember the day of 100 kites at the protests at Plaza Italia in Santiago, Chile last October.  We reach from where we are…

flying a kite

Our Sunday night Songwriters Open Mic  gathers hosted by CC Eve in Montreal. She too, lucky to be in an organized country. W ear our songs with one another. I’ve got a new version of my song, “Don’t roll that way” with coronavirus words added:

Don’t Roll that Way

We live in a country that separates parents from their kids

Puts children into cages and tries to keep it all hid

Even take rosary beads from detainees and send them on their way

All I can say is I don’t roll that way

The impeachment hoax was just a waste of time

You looked for quid pro quo and you never could find

If the President does it, it’s not illegal. You’re not the first to say

All I can say is I don’t roll that way..

I don’t roll the way

This is not what I believe

Not the way I was raised

I feel like its late an getting darker every day

All I can say is I don’t roll that way.

This Corona virus has us all inside

We can run, we can run but we sure as hell can’t hide

‘Hey everybody cine on out and play” I heard the President say.

AllI can say is, I don’t roll that way.

I don’t…….

Hey Governors, do what you want, s all okay

Every one for themselves, that’s the American way.

And I’m not responsible, I heard the President say

All I can say is I don’t roll  that way

I don’t……

Harlem gargoyle...sometimes it feels like that

We need to talk as much as we need to sing.  How long can we make it? When can we perform again to live audiences? Will any clubs survive? How will life be different? It’s good being with one another. Even though it’s hard to be cheerful. As artists, what can we do? We’re each trying to create  our own platforms for performance. Every act of creation, creativity, an act of resistance.