Living in Coronaviriusworld 226: Happy Hanukah

12/10

Mt.Zion Baptist Church Harlem

First day of Hannukah. Soon most of the day catching up with what I couldn’t get done yesterday. Meet my friend Rabbi Steve at the Double Dutch Coffee Shop. The weather has warmed up so we can sit outside. We get closer and closer to a transition in national leadership but the continued efforts of the President to overturn the results plus the continued support he receives from Republican elected officials gives one pause. Especially given the militant …and armed…support of his followers. Election officials in swing states have found themselves threatened. And millions of people will continue to believe the election was actually rigged somehow. Even the President’s superspreader Hanukah parties become opportunities to insist he is still the legitimate President. And we now begin to reap the Covid harvest sewn by all those who insisted on traveling and celebrating a “normal” Thanksgiving.  There does seem to be real hope, however that vaccine distribution is imminent. 

little plastic eating houses

more creative solutions

Little mini plastic  houses continue to sprout all over Harlem. It’s like someone got an exclusive contract for the neighborhood. Big enough for one table only. Others create their own winter shelters.It remains to be seen how this will all work out. 

As I walk, I see more and more businesses permanently shuttered. While congress remains deadlocked for a solution. I’m concerned because my neighborhood pub, Bean and Barley has bene coxed for three days. That can’t be good. 

I consider traveling to Brooklyn to perform outside…"we’ve got heaters!”…but the hour plus subway ride is more than I want. 

As the day comes to an end, I realize I have had completely ZOOMless day. A much needed break.

12/11

Another  day catching up. 

Chanukah shabbat

Late in the afternoon, I stop to meet friends at the Gate. RL, who has been homebound, is actually dancing...without his cane, as he is amazed to discover. My friends and I sit outside, enjoying the mild weather. So comfortable for December.  We spend sometime hanging out with friends indoors. Almost normal, says my friend, except for no one allowed  at the bar. All decorated up for Christmas. Last chance to enjoy the space before the indoor dining ban clams down again. Sigh.

Open Mic is slow to start due to uncooperative tech issues and that accursed spinning beach ball of death waiting for something to happen. The early part of our evening taken up with our friend Mark who died last week. Another Covid victim of societal negligence. Been trying to find where his music might be because it deserves to be heard. Despite his skills as writer and a singer, he’s left a small footprint on the platforms. Always close to making it. But not quite. I learn more and more about that all the time. How common that is.  How many good people right on the periphery. While we are singing our songs, the new breaks that the Supreme Court has summarily rejected what the President had called “the big one” that was going to set aside the lector results. 

This year we need those Hannukah lights shining through the darkness. W need to cleanse our temple and restore what has been most important to us. Our democracy, flawed as it is, needs restoration.

Monday comes the electoral college. A step at a time.