Living in coronavirusworld 169: Like time out of joint

 

9/16

.....and still matter....

Pittsburgh

In recognition  of the opening of the NFL season, I wear a hat from my hometown Pittsburgh Steelers but the shirt I wear was a design created after the Tree of Life shooting in a Pittsburgh synagogue, killing 18, in 2018. ( I’m still somewhat annoyed that local congregation Romemu has used it as  part of their branding. Something about it to me  is just not appropriationable.)

Romemu sign

I like that all but one Steeler had  the name of Antwon Rose, Jr., a Pittsburgh  teenage victim of police shooting, on the backs of their helmets. But anything the NFL does related to justice without Colin Kaepernick  remains hollow. 

We are discussing a  New Yorker  article on Christianity’s White Supremacy Problem by Michael  Luo. We  remain curious as to the evangelicals’ continued support for Trump.  It seems to be about power. Facing the reality that whites will soon be in the minority in this country. That Charlottesville chant: “You will not replace us.”  The article begins by recounting how Fredrick Douglass thought his owner would act better after his conversion..  In fact, he became harder in his ways, feeling theologically justified.  We continue to love with that legacy.

Joel recalls the infamous obedience experiment where participants are commanded to inflict pain on a subject. How quickly most agree. 

Denial keeps white privilege in place.

We also speak of tribalism and identity....Again. We asked ourselves how important is our identity as being Christian?  As a way in, a way to, or a way through?

Steve P  divides people into mature and not mature as to their understanding of their place in the world, openness to others.

I remember a book a family friend recommended to me one time. A novel called “The Scheme of things.”  The premise is that there is the way things are (the ultimate truth, which we can never fully know) and the scheme of things, the framework we choose to organize our life, be it Christianity or Marxism or “the market” or…We all choose a "scheme." The problem comes when we mistake our chosen scheme for the way things are. 

Addiction (in the broadest sense) leads to calcification leads to idolatry. 

The Malik EL Shabazz African market is open again...

Market is open

My friends open another season of their Glooey Zoomy Show creating a community of artistic exploration (and even whimsy) in the midst of pandemic. Which, sadly, continues. 

9/17

Ralph Ellison, The Invisible Man

Yankee protest

My 5K today takes me though Harlem into the South Bronx. Along the way, I pass memorial to Ralph Ellison, author of the iconic novel Invisible Man.  I arrive at Yankee Stadium too late to see the protest from earlier in the day with neighbors demanding the Yankees pay a fair share, while so may small businesses that are codependent on the Yankees…bars, restaurants, apparel and memorabilia stores, etc .....are going bankrupt in the pandemic. 

Speaking of time....

I meet my friend Beppe at the Gate for my personal celebration of Halfway to St.Patrick’s day. That was the day everything shut down leaving bar windows in an eerie state of decorated suspended animation. The uncelebrated St.Patrick’s Day decorations stayed up for weeks, if not months, leaving a definite post-apocalyptic vibe. It has been six months. So I order my Jameson’s on the rocks and a Guinness.  We reflect on six months. Beppe talks abut the feeling of being unmoored. Of time feeling out of joint. Was it truly summer? The last six months like one long extended Covid season. Other than cooler air, what will be fall? One day flows into the next and it all kind of mushes together. It’s 8:30. Still around 70’ out. I am savoring the Guinness.