Pandemic Diary Entry #18

St John's Wort growing in our backyard 

 

Monday, June 22 (Day 105):

Woke up with an aching jaw. Hasn't happened for a couple of weeks. Luckily, it went away after Tylenol and breakfast.  

Today is our anniversary! We've been married 35 years. 

Definitely the most unusual anniversary we've ever celebrated. In pre-pandemic times, we always went away for our anniversary, usually for three or four days. This year, of course, we're staying home. We "vacation" on our deck. And yes, I fully realize how fortunate we are to have this private little oasis.

Our best friends texted us in the morning and offered to bring take-out over for lunch. Of course, we said yes! It was a lot of fun. It was also a hot day, 93 F on our deck by 12:30, so we ended up eating inside. We set up our six-foot long rectangular kitchen table with two seats on each short end and the four of us talked and ate and laughed for about an hour. 

This was on my news feed today from the Washington Post. In case you can't access it, here are the first three paragraphs:

State and city leaders in the U.S. are responding to a surge in coronavirus cases and hospitalizations by implementing new rules, scaling back on reopening plans and issuing dire warnings about the future of public health and the economy.

In lieu of a Florida statewide mask rule, several city mayors in Miami-Dade County are implementing their own mask requirements. Texas authorities temporarily suspended the alcohol permits of 12 bars for violating protocols designed to stem the crisis, as Gov. Greg Abbott (R) said cases and hospitalizations there are increasing at an “unacceptable” rate. And in Utah, the state epidemiologist is warning that the state could be facing a “complete shutdown” if cases continue to rise.

Twenty-nine states and U.S. territories showed an increase in their seven-day average of new reported cases on Monday, with nine states reporting record average highs. In the states where cases are spiking the most, hospitalizations are also rising sharply. More than 2,290,000 cases and 118,000 deaths have been officially reported in the United States.

 
Tuesday, June 23 (Day 106):

Today, I returned the manuscript to my editor, with the last few small changes she asked me to make a little over a week ago. She wrote back a few hours later to say, "I think we have a final manuscript. Congratulations!"

This is THRILLING. 

If you're not a writer, you may not realize just how exciting this is. But if you're a writer, published or unpublished, you'll know how cool this is. Now they'll start to work on the cover, the design of the book, and even marketing! I have to turn in my acknowledgments and the dedication, and I have to fill out an extensive packet for the marketing department. This will keep me busy for at least a week!

__________________________

Also today, the Washington Post published some graphs showing the recent rise in virus cases in the US.   Why did so many states reopen before they'd reached their peak? This map is particularly frightening (if you go to the link, it's interactive, but even without that you can see how much the surge is affecting the South:

 

Wednesday, June 24 (Day 107): 

Today, I had to go to the eye doctor. This may not seem important, but I have hereditary glaucoma, diagnosed last October, and I'm supposed to get the pressure in my eyes checked every six months. The appointment was originally scheduled for April and got postponed until today because of the pandemic.

I was a bit nervous, and my husband (my driver) had to wait in the car as I went in with my mask on. They've installed plexiglass shields around the check-in desk and every staff member wore a mask (thank goodness!). One thing I discovered: it's actually hard to hear people when they're wearing a mask, especially if they're soft-spoken. I kept apologizing to the kind woman who checked me in because I couldn't hear the questions she was asking me. They want to know how you feel, if you've been exposed to anyone with COVID-19, and if you've been out of the country in the last three weeks. I feel fine and the other answers were no, so I was asked to wait in the large waiting room. They've removed most of the chairs and spaced the others at least six feet apart.

How odd, though, that the table next to me still held magazines! As if I'm going to touch a magazine someone else could have touched! This virus is really changing the way people think and act.

The good news is my glaucoma is under control and the doctor said my cataract can wait a year to be removed. It's not that bad yet.

The joys of growing old...

This article was in today's New York Times. Finally! Justice for Ahmaud Arbery, killed while jogging in Georgia on February 23rd.

Ahmaud Arbery, from CBS news, family handout

Leftovers for dinner. 

Started watching "Self  Made: Inspired by the Life of Madam C.J. Walker" on Netflix. It's compelling to watch, with excellent acting and superb writing . I've been a fan of Octavia Spencer since "The Help" in 2011 and "Hidden Figures" in 2016. She's fantastic in "Self Made"! Wish there were more than four episodes.

From Wikipedia and Netflix

Friday, June 26 (Day 109):

Remember Keisha N. Blain? I started following her on Twitter a couple of weeks ago. Looking through her Twitter feed, I found an article she wrote in Ms Magazine about books written by women, to understand the uprisings. She includes brief reviews of each book.

I'm almost finished All American Boys by Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely. Have you read it? I'm impressed by the way these two authors take you deep into each of the main characters' lives to the point where they seem like real high school kids. Published in 2015, the book also brings the issue of police brutality to the forefront. Read this, especially is you liked The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas. 

Today, I sent in my acknowledgments to my editor! Now I really have to get cracking on that marketing packet...

Keeping this post short. Stay healthy everyone!

COVID-19 World Stats as of June 26 (from WHO): 

Confirmed cases: 9,633,898

Confirmed deaths: 490,494

US Cases as of June 26 (from the CDC):

Confirmed cases: 2,414,870

Confirmed deaths: 124, 325

Have you seen "Self Made" on Netflix? And have you started venturing out beyond your home and the grocery store?

Pandemic Diary Entry #17

Found on Twitter

Good news! Breonna's Law passed last week! No-knock warrants are now illegal in Louisville, Kentucky. But there's still a long way to go. Breonna's murderers haven't yet been charged. #JusticeforBreonna would like you to sign the petition, demanding Louisville's mayor fires and arrests the officers responsible.  #SayHerName

And this law really should be passed all over the country!

Breonna Taylor from justiceforbreonna.org.

Tuesday, June 16 (Day 99):

Still educating myself about BIPOC and Black Lives Matter. And yes, I fully realize what a privilege it is to be doing this, instead of experiencing racial injustice firsthand! 

Here's a comprehensive list of anti-racist children's books from Publishers Weekly. I've read a few so far and have more on order. Can't wait to read Kekla Magoon's How It Went Down. You may remember Kekla from her Facebook post on my earlier pandemic diary entry.

Kekla Magoon from her website

In additon, the pandemic is still very much with us. Here's a quote I feel is important (from the Washington Post, June 16, 2020): 

“I understand how people must be very tired of this at this point,” Francis S. Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health told them. “But the virus doesn’t care that we’re tired. The virus is still out there.”

And it's still the first wave, people! It's not even a second wave yet. Many states, especially in the South and West, are experiencing surges in virus cases since reopening. Stay home if you can. And please continue to take precautions if you must go out. Masks are essential.

Wednesday, June 17 (Day 100):

Yes, we have been sheltering in place for 100 days! Did you ever imagine we'd still be doing this? It seems a lot of Americans think the pandemic is over. But it's not! Some states, like Florida, Texas, and Arizona, have surging numbers since reopening. And no, it's not because of increased testing. 

Was Day 100 any different than any other day? Mostly, not (for me anyway). Had a long phone chat with an older relative who called me. A lovely surprise.

Aside from that, I received an email from my editor at Holiday House, telling me she loves the latest revision (my responses to her line edits, which I sent her in late May) and saying it's a pleasure to work with an author who is flexible about revisions. That gave me a nice feeling!

Helped my husband with the Accidental Garden. This is mostly his project (started after our spruce tree blew down in that wind storm in late April).  No vegetables yet, but everything looks green and healthy. The tomato plants are thriving. 

But only two of our potato plants have grown. Don't know what happened to the other four. My husband hilled up the dirt, as you're supposed to when the plants are six to eight inches high. Glad he knows all this stuff! (Those yellow flowering shrubs in the background are, we believe, St. John's Wort. We didn't plant them. The previous owners did.)

And the peas are starting to climb the fencing, they way they should. 

As for my continuing education, today I read this chart from Vox.com about systemic racism. We white people have so much to learn! 

Thursday, June 18 (Day 101): 

Beautiful sunny day after an early morning rain. It's starting to feel really hot here in southeastern Pennyslvania.

Good news! The Supreme Court upheld DACA! We Need Diverse Books has a list of suggested reading. 

But then I read an alarming article about climate. According to the headline of an article from today's Guardian,  the "world has six months to avert climate crisis." Here are the first two paragraphs (italics mine):

The world has only six months in which to change the course of the climate crisis and prevent a post-lockdown rebound in greenhouse gas emissions that would overwhelm efforts to stave off climate catastrophe, one of the world’s foremost energy experts has warned.

“This year is the last time we have, if we are not to see a carbon rebound,” said Fatih Birol, executive director of the International Energy Agency.

The report goes on to say that wind and solar power should be the main focus, but we also need to build more energy-efficient buildings.

My photo from our Columbia River trip in May 2017
We saw hundreds of wind turbines in Oregon and Washington State!

Here's another article I found interesting today, one interviewing Dr. Anthony Fauci about the coronavirus. 

Friday, June 19 (Day 102):

Yes, today is Juneteenth. By now you should know what Juneteenth is, if you didn't already. I first learned about it years ago, when I worked at the bookstore. (Everything I know, I learned from children's books!) I hope that in the future, our children will learn about significant events like this in school!

JUNETEENTH  by Vaunda Micheaux Nelson and Drew Nelson,
illustrated by Mark Schroder (First Avenue Editions, 2006)

There are, of course, many newer books about Juneteenth, both for children and for adults. Here's a graphic from coloursofus.com: 

I subscribe to the Washington Post and their Friday newsletter "The Five-Minute Fix", usually written by Amber Phillips. But today, she handed it over to Eugene Scott, another writer for the Post.

"There's more fanfare than in years past for Juneteenth, more official recognition by businesses and state and local governments of the day as a holiday than ever before in its long history. That’s the case because it coincides with a national reckoning on race. " 

Scott had conversations with five scholars and activists, including Keisha Blain, history professor at the University of Pittsburgh, and president of the African American Intellectual History Society. I started following her on Twitter. 

Keisha Blain from her website

Blain has this to say in answer to Scott's question, "What is the media getting wrong?":

Blain: "Well, the media has gotten several things wrong. One, they keep calling the uprisings the George Floyd protests. What you’re saying is that people are protesting his death specifically and only. This did not begin with his death. What we can argue is that this particular incident is the straw that broke the camel’s back, but the danger in calling it the George Floyd protest is we minimize the problem and say all we have to do is address police violence and police brutality. But we fail to address the fundamental problem, and that is structural racism — which no one really wants to talk about. From my perspective, we’ll know when we‘re headed in the right direction when we’re no longer feeling comfortable. We have to break free from the comfort zone."

  Good point, Keisha Blain! Let's try to break free from our comfort zone.

For me, the highlight of today was a visit from our younger son, a few days before both Father's Day and our 35th anniversary (this coming Monday). He stayed and talked to us for over two hours. It was threatening rain so we sat on deck chairs inside our garage, more than six feet apart from him.  (Yes, there's room! We sold my car last year because since my second brain aneurysm rupture, I no longer drive. Saves money too!)

While he was here, our son checked out our garden and managed to take a photo of our newest visitor. I suspect this is an antheraea polyphemus, or Polyphemus moth. It's huge! We've lived here for over 28 years and I've never seen one of these before.

Saturday, June 20 (Day 103):

Read an opinion piece this morning from the Washington Post, written by a former Camden (NJ) police chief, J. Scott Thompson. The headline: "As Camden's police chief, I scrapped the police force and started over. It worked." Perhaps other cities might consider following this example. Camden was once considered the most dangerous city in the country. If you can't access the Post or don't want to read the entire article, here's an excerpt (italics mine):

So we started from scratch. We let every city police officer go and created a new department with new rules in 2013. By agreement with Camden County, the city ceased to fund its department and instead paid the county to police the city of Camden. We required all officers to apply as new hires (most officers from the old force got jobs, but not all) and committed to a new relationship between Camden’s police and its citizens, around 95 percent of whom are minorities.

The only thing that bothers me about this? The police chief is white, in a city where 95 percent of the citizens are NOT white! Do you find that odd?

According to today's Guardian article, Florida's Covid-19 surge shows their reopening plan is not working!

COVID-19 World Stats as of June 20 (from WHO):

Confirmed cases: 8,690,140

Confirmed deaths: 461,274

US COVID-19 Stats as of June 20 (from the CDC):

Confirmed cases: 2,215,618

Confirmed deaths: 119,055 

Currently reading: All American Boys by Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely (2015, Scholastic, for ages 14 and up). Two teens, one black and one white, deal with the aftermath of a mistaken shoplifting and a violent act by a cop. It seems as if it was written today, but it's five years old! Told in alternating viewpoints, this is a powerful story so far. 

What are you reading this week? Have you read any good articles you'd like to share? And do you do any gardening?