Life in the Age of Corona

A Daily Diary

Monday, June 1st, 2020

Changing

Despite spending 7 hours straight on the phone as of 7am today I think I changed four times.

Very fresh early in the morning today, so opted for dress, leggings & hoodie, halfway through calls ditched the leggings, then the hoodie. Just before lunch around 3 changed into pants and t-shirt as it felt a bit too cool for a dress, just find that too warm, so back to a dress for our walk around 3:30pm today. Ever since it has been pleasantly warm – so very weird weather today.

After my car battery died courtesy of COVID-19 the "Floh" claims it needs an engine oil change even though it had one 2.000 miles ago, so decided to drop by Paul’s and have him check what is going on. Turns out there just needed to be a post battery reset done. Seeing I was in the car already and all by myself, which is very rare these days as EM does not want to miss out on an opportunity to leave the house, I decided to drop by the dojo.

It was strange to get there and know no one else would come. Other than the beep of an alarm in the changing rooms, silence. Comforting to see the garlic is still living on the window sill, though its sprouts have withered. I have gotten there early in the past and been alone on the mat for a half hour or so, but always with ears pricked knowing someone would soon show up. Not so today. The air was a bit stuffy; two lonely vacuum cleaners were on the mat watched over by O’Sensei. It was a little sad, so I bowed a couple of times to the Shomin before practicing some Shikko. No idea how it looked, but it felt sort of right. Then I proceeded to do a length of small backward rolls left and a length of small backward rolls right, noting that they were about as bad as three months ago. The same with the small forward and standing backward rolls. Standing forward I dared to do all but four. They felt better than three months ago. So I left it at that. Might head over more often, depending on how the shoulders feel tomorrow. They were perfectly fine today. Very glad that there is a little muscle memory left.

News in the USA is bleak. There are protests all of the country caused by the death of several black citizens in recent weeks, with the death of George Floyd seemingly the final drop. People are understandably  police brutality and the inherent racism, which is the root of inequality across race in this countyr. When 84% of the white middle class were building wealth through acquiring property in hte first half of the nineteenth centuries, balck people had no access to mortgages for instance, which means they have had less opportunity to buidl wealth as property prices rose since.

It also reads as if the police are doing everything but deescalating the situation.  The New York Times reports: “Police in many cities have responded aggressively, with batons, tear gas and rubber bullets. In some instances, the aggression seems to have been unprovoked. In Minneapolis, as officers apparently fired paint canisters at people on their porches, one officer said, “Light them up.” Footage of such incidents has been shared widely online, and it has fed further complaints about police behavior.”

Not only is the police force using excessive force, but also attacking reporters and medical workers coming in aide of those hurt during the protests, which is further aggrevating the situation. Then there seem to be criminal elements using the protests to loot shops; smash cars and windows. Meanwhile the orange agent in the WH is sitting in the bunker sending tweets to egg on more conflict “Crossing State lines to incite violence is a FEDERAL CRIME! Liberal Governors and Mayors must get MUCH tougher or the Federal Government will step in and do what has to be done, and that includes using the unlimited power of our Military and many arrests. Thank you!“ and calling for “LAW&ORDER”.

Obviously, no social distancing going on during the protests and communities of color have already been hardest hit by the virus as there is a relation between poverty and deaths.

The official count is 6.24million confirmed cases globally, with 1.84million in the USA. So, the same ~20k increase every day we have seen over recent weeks. No sign of new infections declining, though now increases are moving from urban to rural.

The situation is deeply disconcerting.