Living in coronavirusworld 59:...and what we need now

5/21

Hope (Spring Bank)

Since we’re on the edge of Memorial Day weekend, I share one of my Pirates' camo hats.

Pirates' camo

A few years ago, Major League Baseball started having teams wear camo  on Memorial weekend to honor the troops.  Problem is, that’s not what Memorial Day is about. It’s to remember those  who  died in  service, not those still alive.  I wore this hat to visit my mom one day and my Quaker cousin who was there got upset at my celebrating militarsim. It's a bit more complex. Back in Pittsburgh, I spoke at several United Mine Workers rallies. UMW folks wore camo to rallies. My youngest son identified camp with miners. He’d see someone in camo and say, dad is that miner? And then  there is the whole western Pennsylvania hunting thing.  Camo. Complicated. 

Today we’re talking about Planet of the Humans,  (https://west-parkpress.blogspot.com/search?q=planet+of+the+humans )actually a Jeff Gibbs film “presented” by Michael  Moore. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zk11vI-7czE) A  For starters, there’s lots of critique. It is not as good as a regular Michael Moore film. Why was he so big on this? Data 10 years old. Too simplistic. Not the right time for this movie, etc. It is hard to think about clean energy during this pandemic. We can only deal with so much depression at a time. Though fact is, it’s not unrelated. As we destroy our environment, natural defenses against viruses diminish. The film is also right in its evidence that capitalism has found a way to capitalize the environmental movement. That isn't an entirely bad thing in that it shows there has been some significant shift in how we understand the world. Green has become, well, green. And the bottom line point is earth cannot sustain growth as it is currently taking place. We must of course , be careful not to slip into the old Zero Population Growth mode with its intrinsic perspective favoring privilege. The fact is, as economic reality improves for populations, birth rates go down. Earth currently can produce enough food to feed its population, it’s a matter of distribution, not production. What’s necessary?

* Reduce consumption

* Change distribution

* Reduce income inequity

Reducing mindless unchecked consumption is first. 

At first we wonder if people will ever change short of catastrophe. But as we think about the shift in public values related to  smoking, in one generation.  People  and cultures can change. What the film is so right about is the sense of urgency.

As peoples' attention begins to shift towards “reopening,” we are clear that the reality is there is no going home. Where we’ll end up will be someplace new. What we loved about Wednesday morning, crowding 6 or more people into a 4 person booth, as warm and nourishing as what we ate, as enjoyable as it was uncomfortable, we may never be able to do that again. 

There is a sense that for better or worse, we’re moving  towards reopening. Bike shops are open.

Bikes for the park

More bars and restaurants every day.

Reopening

You can feel people straining. 

I put some serious time into cooking. It’s a casserole with sauerkraut, egg noodles and ground up kielbasa. Pittsburgh again, that middle Europe vibe. 

The day ends with my friends Hot Glue and the Guns' Gluey Zoomy show. I really admire what they are doing. When compared to Pee Wee Herman this morning, Joel agreed and affirmed that in Pee Wee's  own way, that show was  about changing the world. They are riffing on the best of children’s tv here, which always has adults as a conscious and intentional part of the audience. (Remedial  ed perhaps?) A place of safety is created, an affirmation that the world can be a place we can live in without fear. That our friends are special people with unique gifts and personalities. That kindness is a common trait and a natural part of our relationships. And as we come to experience this as reality, we will come to accept nothing less in the wider world. That’s what was going on with Kukla, Fran & Ollie. And Pee Wee’s Playhouse, at the edges. And the urban celebration of Sesame Street. And Mister Rogers Neighborhood at the very center of what life in community can look like, what an ideology of neighbor can look and feel like. No to mention an alternative image of what it means to be a man. Acceptance. Kindness. Cooperation. And imagination. HG&TG know this intuitively and are smart  enough not to say it  explicitly. It’s what we are going to  need on the  other side of  the virus. And what we need now to get there. 

Living in Coronavirusworld 38: This is not victory

4/30

Half mast in my neighborhood. But not the White House

I go to Wadleigh to pick up some food. Notice that the American flag in the school yard is at half mast to honor the dead.  But not in Washington, DC.  Not at the White House. The dead are an inconvenience for our President. His son in law and “senior advisor” Jared Kushner has announced “Victory.”  Jared, this is NOT a victory. There are UHaul trailers outside funeral  homes filled with rotting bodies. The death count rises. And Jared stands on the aircraft carrier with George W. Bush in his flight suit announcing “Mission Accomplished.” No, Jared, no victory.

I no longer want to hear the New Normal. It may be new, but this is NOT normal. And never should be. What we allowed to be normal put us in position for this to be a disaster. Tens of thousands of unnecessary deaths. No, this is not normal. An Op Ed in the Irish Times expresses, for the first time in history, pity for the US. Pity. No, Jared, no victory. 

Friends in Guatemala report new deportees from the US banned from entering their home towns. Houses being burned. My longtime  friend in Pittsburgh reports that one in five Pittsburgh residents are unemployed.  In the last five weeks, 1.65 million  have filed for unemployment benefits. He’s working round the clock to help them get their due.

I walk to Morningside Park.  As I sit meditating, I hear nearby, up the hill, a  solo saxophone player. Reminds me of  sitting in line waiting for tickets to Shakespeare  in the park.  (Not this summer..)The busker who for as long as I’ve lived here, plays his flute in the morning and sax in the afternoon while people wait for their free tickets. Occasionally going off into his random  social political rants. I sit in silence listening to these notes dance in the air.  

saxophone player on the hill

The Governor announces the subway will now be closed every night from 1 to 5 AM. 

Yesterday was the 50th anniversary of Earth Day.  As if there were not enough to worry about, Michael Moore released his new movie, the Planet of the Humans. (https://planetofthehumans.com/)    The bottom line is that the environmental movement has been essentially bought by capitalist corporations and most all of what we cheerfully believe to be renewable sustainable energy is at least as carbon consuming as coal, gas and oil. The much heralded biomass plants are devouring forests at a rate that cannot be replaced. Capitalism wins again. The point is, in Covid 19, Mother Nature has sent us a wake up call. Get your shit together, or it's over. My friend Steve Blane has recorded a cover of Neil Young’s After the Gold Rush, with a slight revision: Look at Mother Nature on the run in Two thousand Twenty…(https://soundcloud.com/steveblane)

It’s time for my first ZOOM concert, Lockdown Showcase #1.  Joined by my friends Joel and Carrie, of Hot Glue and the Gun (http://www.hotglueandthegun.com/) and my renaissanceman and lead guitar player Mike Handelman.(http://www.mikehandelman.com/) Together they make the musical magic for my Home (Away) Band. Tonight you might  say we’re Home (Home). At first I’m anxious, just like live shows, almost sure no one will show up. But as always, they do. Joel and Carrie do new songs responding to the virus. Mike plays a Russian folk song in a Django Reinhardt style and other pieces in the new laid back acoustic jazz genre he’s exploring these days. My whole set is responding to the virus, including some spoken word in Blowing the Wind…the answer my friends is not blowin' in the wind, the answer is in our own hands…and finish with my virus revised Don't roll that way. As the audience grew, my spirits raised.  I saw friend,s I sang some songs. By the time it was over, I felt as close to happy as possible. And I still miss singing harmony with friends. 

This is not a victory. And this is not normal.

Fahrenheit 11/9

9/28

A conversation with Michael Moore

Went to see Michael Moore's new movie, Fahrenheit 11/9....and who should appear but Michael Moore himself...

This movie is important. Michael seeks to understand what happened, why it happened, where we are now and what we might do.

As far as what, beyond the Russians and other attempts to subvert democracy, Moore chronicles well the responsibility of the Democrats for their own defeat. Including their own subversion of democracy in the nomination process and essentially ignoring serious class issues. Taking too much for granted.

Trump is seen not as a cause but a symptom of a system that is already far gone with rot and decay. The situation of Flint, Michigan, for example, happened long before Trump. The issues around its water are nothing short of criminal. And President Obama, whose arrival was viewed as their salvation, instead took photo op sips of the water essentially dismissing danger. And those who gave up and decided not to vote were enough to cost the Democrats Michigan. The subsequent use  of Flint as a staging ground for military training exercises....including bombing!...was almost surreal beyond belief.

We are also reminded that President Obama deported more immigrants than any previous administration, use drones to take people out and continued the decline of democracy.

The comparisons of the rise of fascism in late Weimar Germany and Trump era USA are chilling. Most chilling is the juxtaposition of the burning of the Reichstag and 9/11. While Moore is not arguing ( I think) that 9/11 was as the conspiracy folks call an "inside job," it was nevertheless exploited to expand unchecked government power (the Patriot Act) and start a new war in Iraq for no valid reason. That is seriously frightening.

We see the rise of openly racist armed angry  people and it's almost enough to cause one to give up. Thankfully there are signs of hope...
* The student activists from Parkland, Florida
* The campaign of Alexandria  Ocasio- Cortez  and other women.
* The campaign of military veteran and former Trump supporter Richard Ojeda in blue collar West Virginia.

It feels overwhelming right now. But, as Sharon Welch says, Cynicism is the prerogative of privilege. We cannot allow ourselves to fall into it.
Neither can we wait for a great man or any one on a white horse.  We need to remember the slogan of those now fighting for democracy in Nicaragua.....solo el pueblo salva el pueblo...only the people can save the people. And the time is now,

                                                ****

Michael stayed after for questions and answers. And we reminisced briefly about his visit to West Park during the Occupy Wall Street days. The struggle continues....