Living in coronavirusworld 54: Coyotes have been sited

5/15

In the garden

Some days it’s hard to get moving forward. There’s a lethargy, a haze. You drift aimlessly from website to website following rabbit trails until you fall down through  to Wonderland or pull yourself up and out.  I take an old box of old electronics gear that is taking up  space. I decide that anything I don’t know what it is, is going out.  In the future, if I need something, I’ll know what it is specifically, go  across the street to the hardware store and get it. 

As I near Morningside, further up the street along the Park's periphery, I see a large group of kids and a patrol car. I hear shouts and soon there are 2-3 more cars arriving..

Its a 84’ day. Like summer! The governor and mayor at odds over opening the beaches.  The governor says that if  you don’t open the  beaches, New York  City residents  will storm the nearby state beaches.. Keep em  at home, he says. 

W head south to Central Park for our usual loop around the Meer. The Conservatory Garden is beautiful always, the fountain finally turned on.

the fountain, at last

We both have friends who teach at the New School, the once upon a time school with a social vision, now very much like other schools concerned mainly with  market shares,  class quality, etc.  We talk about universities, now more and more extensions of major corporations. If campuses remain closed, all that’s left is a “brand.”  Our traditional seminaries, educating students for jobs that no longer exist, brings a whole set of  different set of questions.   A renegade raccoon is scavenging a garbage can as we walk by, far from its usual habitat as the city extends a post apocalyptic welcome to wildlife.

urban raccoon

Coyotes have been sited.  As we finish the loop, there’s that all too common siren sound and we see 4-5 police cars converging on a car that’s wandered into the park somehow and gotten stuck on the path.

As we get back to my place, yet another brace of police cars. They have framed our walk.  

I prepare to host the open mic. Just when I think everything is easy and ready to go, there are glitches again. People frustrated trying to get in the ZOOM room. Saying the line doesn't  work, when I  know it does. I feel like Trump talking  about tests when I  find myself saying, hey, anyone who wants in can get in.  We finally get everyone in and last week’s easy link to Facebook becomes complicated. I hate it when  you do everything right, then push the button and nothing happens. It’s still a good mic. Kazakhstan in the house  again, A couple joins us form the roof of their apartment building in Astoria with Chinese food, wine and candles. I long to join them. 

After the mic, I work on my blog for hours, Slowed down  by a balky computer. In this digital survival mode, technology connects and saves us. And drives us over the edge. 

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