Back in the day, when a guy could get around without a mask, I would wander into The Knick, an east side establishment with a little style. I would sit at the bar and wander, too, into conversations.
One of them was with a couple who'd just been to Poland. Poland, too, is afflicted with intimations of autocracy, especially with its intolerance of gay people, but isn't a bad place to visit. Since I'm mainly (half) Polish in derivation, I'd been interested in how I might be accepted, should I get the energy to go there.
The couple gushed. They'd had a blast. The Polish people were great, they said, and they loved Americans. They visited a bunch of Polish cities on their tour, and they were ready to go back again.
They performed a nice gesture, too. They gave me the name and address of a really nice hotel in Warsaw. I took it and put in on my refrigerator. I wanted to be sure I remembered it.
But now it's useless. I can't go. The European Union has prohibited Americans from coming. Why? Because too many of my countrymen are too damn stupid or too damn stubborn to wear masks and reduce the coronavirus. The virus has now surged, again. It is about as active, and as present, as it was three months ago. I can't even go to Canada, for heaven's sake.
But three months ago, people in several states were upset because they hadn't had a haircut, hadn't seen their favorite sports teams, hadn't been able to take out their boats, because their governors had issued stay-at-home, or safe-at-home, orders. They believed their rights were somehow at risk, that governors were bound and determined to take them away.
Anyone with a brain knew how mindless this was, how risky, and how dangerous. Now Herman Cain, who went to the 45 Tulsa speech without a mask, is dead. The governor of Oklahoma, also there, of course, got sick. And Louie Gohmert, Mr. Defiance from Texas, now has the virus and blames it on a mask, as if that's what caused it. He's going to take hydroxychloroquine to cure it, too. Best of luck with that.
The denial is staggering. It continues. We won't tamp down the virus until it's tamped down. It's not like we don't know what to do; most of us do. But too many for reasons only they can make up won't comply.
So now Tony Evers, the governor of Wisconsin, under pressure from fellow Democrats, has issued wear-a-mask order for the whole state to try to stem a new surge in cases--not as bad as Texas or Florida, but certainly a concern. Of course the legislative Republicans will go to court to turn it back. They have to, now, because they managed, with a distorted state Supreme Court falling into line, to take away Evers' Safe-At-Home order, which was managing to manage the virus, at least at its outset. It already feels like a dinosaur.
Whether Wisconsinites actually follow the mask order is going to be a matter or selective enforcement, of course, and there may be stupid confrontations to that effect. But in this quirky state, that's to be expected. Let's get on with it. Let's find out whether the state Supreme Court will also turn this back. The court's makeup is about to change, so that is in question.
In the meantime, the nice note from the traveling couple remains on the refrigerator. Is it a reminder of a better time? Or a hope for one to return? We shall see.
Be well. Be careful. Wear a mask. With some luck, I'll see you down the road.
Mister Mark
Friday, July 31, 2020
Wednesday, July 29, 2020
30 Percent Wasted Food. That Will Catch Up With Us.
Sometimes you run into statistics that blow your mind. Here's one: The U.S. Department of Agriculture says that 30 percent of our food is wasted.
I saw it in the Sunday New York Times, which, as opposed to what 45 says, doesn't make things up. It was in an article about refrigerators on the street, packed with extra food that people don't need--not cream puffs and candy, either; fruits and vegetables. One guy tried that and stocked the frig full. In a day, half of it was gone.
Now that, of course, is New York. But that's not the only city in the country. People need food and many are going on subsistence diets if at all. Think nearer the border.
30 percent. How many homeless people could that feed? I'll bet all of them. How many people would eat better, get more vitamins, be healthier? A whole lot of them.
It means, too, that although some people have ways of organizing the distribution of excess food, like restaurants, much of it just becomes garbage. That staggers the mind, especially now that the virus has sidelined so many of us and the unemployment monies are running out and Congress hasn't yet decided whether to extend any of those payments to people who are still out of work.
Some members of Congress are counting on the schools opening soon, and want to run out the clock. But for all kinds of reasons, that's magical thinking. All it will take are a couple of virus cases within the school population, and the parents will, if they haven't already, withdraw their kids and stay home again. Then they won't work, get fired, and lose money.
That will deepen our recession into a depression. That will reflect upon the food supply chain. It will run low. We haven't seen much hoarding to this point: We will if that happens.
Beyond that, a lot of food that has already been produced will go uneaten. The waste will, at least for a while, compound itself. And, of course, there is no anticipation for this. The mentality is much like Betsy DuVos': You can't plan for something that hasn't happened yet.
Like hell you can't. That's what infrastructure's supposed to be about. But everybody's hoping that human nature will somehow change over the next month, will somehow convince parents to keep their kids in school despite the clear and convincing evidence that they'll get sick.
Not gonna happen. And parents can't pay for the child care they're going to need to keep on working. The economy, teetering on the backs of kids who haven't had to go to school, will now collapse.
August is just around the corner. People are going to get very, very nervous. They're going to want reassurances, and they just aren't there.
For reassurance of this lack of reassurance, just check the sports world. The Miami Marlins have 13 players down with the virus now, and the postponement of their games affects five other teams. And that's just one team: Others may be affected similarly. If so, the experiment to bring baseball back will come to screeching halt.
The Big Ten has said that it won't play any non-conference games, as if that alone would guard against the spread of the virus and somehow will be able to contain it better when they go play each other. The Ivy League, those Eastern elitists, have shut sports down completely this fall, in a rare and stunning bow to common sense.
Everybody's trying as hard as they can to either avoid the obvious or fight it. Some very deluded people think only liberals will get the virus and real Americans won't. I have no idea who or what they're listening to, but that's crazy.
Maybe the virus will kill craziness, too. Maybe, in the big karma of the universe, it has chosen to rip through us like a knife through hot butter to attack it. All this is even before a vaccine comes out, and all those issues will emerge, too.
Five months after this has hit the country, there are still 21 "red zone" states, which include Wisconsin, which are or on the cusp of having new spikes in cases. Nothing, in other words, has changed. Chicago is now demanding that anyone who stays within its borders from Wisconsin must quarantine in place for 14 days. I can't even see the Field Museum anymore.
I don't know much, but all that food has to get organized better. It has to get to people who need it. And they're going to need it now more than ever. We are not only not getting this under control, we are losing control of it. And the opening of schools can only accelerate that by the day.
Don't open the schools. Pay the unemployment. Commit to shutting down until this is brought under control. We still haven't done it. We still lack the leadership to do it. Waiting until, hopefully, 45 is gone is waiting another five months. We've seen what's happened in the first five months: will another five bring us close to the end of this pestilence?
I think you know the answer. We've been through a lot because of this lack of leadership. The toughest time's about to start. Get ready--ready to lose some weight, because beyond what we normally waste, we also waste food in the millions of tons.
Be well. Be careful. Wear a mask. With some luck, I'll see you down the road.
Mister Mark
I saw it in the Sunday New York Times, which, as opposed to what 45 says, doesn't make things up. It was in an article about refrigerators on the street, packed with extra food that people don't need--not cream puffs and candy, either; fruits and vegetables. One guy tried that and stocked the frig full. In a day, half of it was gone.
Now that, of course, is New York. But that's not the only city in the country. People need food and many are going on subsistence diets if at all. Think nearer the border.
30 percent. How many homeless people could that feed? I'll bet all of them. How many people would eat better, get more vitamins, be healthier? A whole lot of them.
It means, too, that although some people have ways of organizing the distribution of excess food, like restaurants, much of it just becomes garbage. That staggers the mind, especially now that the virus has sidelined so many of us and the unemployment monies are running out and Congress hasn't yet decided whether to extend any of those payments to people who are still out of work.
Some members of Congress are counting on the schools opening soon, and want to run out the clock. But for all kinds of reasons, that's magical thinking. All it will take are a couple of virus cases within the school population, and the parents will, if they haven't already, withdraw their kids and stay home again. Then they won't work, get fired, and lose money.
That will deepen our recession into a depression. That will reflect upon the food supply chain. It will run low. We haven't seen much hoarding to this point: We will if that happens.
Beyond that, a lot of food that has already been produced will go uneaten. The waste will, at least for a while, compound itself. And, of course, there is no anticipation for this. The mentality is much like Betsy DuVos': You can't plan for something that hasn't happened yet.
Like hell you can't. That's what infrastructure's supposed to be about. But everybody's hoping that human nature will somehow change over the next month, will somehow convince parents to keep their kids in school despite the clear and convincing evidence that they'll get sick.
Not gonna happen. And parents can't pay for the child care they're going to need to keep on working. The economy, teetering on the backs of kids who haven't had to go to school, will now collapse.
August is just around the corner. People are going to get very, very nervous. They're going to want reassurances, and they just aren't there.
For reassurance of this lack of reassurance, just check the sports world. The Miami Marlins have 13 players down with the virus now, and the postponement of their games affects five other teams. And that's just one team: Others may be affected similarly. If so, the experiment to bring baseball back will come to screeching halt.
The Big Ten has said that it won't play any non-conference games, as if that alone would guard against the spread of the virus and somehow will be able to contain it better when they go play each other. The Ivy League, those Eastern elitists, have shut sports down completely this fall, in a rare and stunning bow to common sense.
Everybody's trying as hard as they can to either avoid the obvious or fight it. Some very deluded people think only liberals will get the virus and real Americans won't. I have no idea who or what they're listening to, but that's crazy.
Maybe the virus will kill craziness, too. Maybe, in the big karma of the universe, it has chosen to rip through us like a knife through hot butter to attack it. All this is even before a vaccine comes out, and all those issues will emerge, too.
Five months after this has hit the country, there are still 21 "red zone" states, which include Wisconsin, which are or on the cusp of having new spikes in cases. Nothing, in other words, has changed. Chicago is now demanding that anyone who stays within its borders from Wisconsin must quarantine in place for 14 days. I can't even see the Field Museum anymore.
I don't know much, but all that food has to get organized better. It has to get to people who need it. And they're going to need it now more than ever. We are not only not getting this under control, we are losing control of it. And the opening of schools can only accelerate that by the day.
Don't open the schools. Pay the unemployment. Commit to shutting down until this is brought under control. We still haven't done it. We still lack the leadership to do it. Waiting until, hopefully, 45 is gone is waiting another five months. We've seen what's happened in the first five months: will another five bring us close to the end of this pestilence?
I think you know the answer. We've been through a lot because of this lack of leadership. The toughest time's about to start. Get ready--ready to lose some weight, because beyond what we normally waste, we also waste food in the millions of tons.
Be well. Be careful. Wear a mask. With some luck, I'll see you down the road.
Mister Mark
Friday, July 24, 2020
A Perfect Example of Leadership, Not
Political leadership can be tricky. But in the end, it comes down to recognizing what people need, and what they don't.
That's why 45's stunt of sending federal forces of some kind, with some authorization, into large cities as an indication of "law and order" won't work. It won't work because it isn't needed. It's overkill. It's going to make him look like a glutton, and a desperate one.
If any suburbs needed protection, those of Charlottesville, Virginia would have qualified in 2017, when neo-Nazis came and demonstrated their hate, brandishing weapons. Instead, he said there were very good people on both sides, as pandering as anyone could have been.
As you recall, a counterdemonstrator was killed by one of these knuckleheads who ran her over with his car. No regrets enamanated from 45, either.
So when he now vows to clean up whatever trouble there happens to be in Portland, OR, without being asked for, it of course takes the guardrails off of the Constitution, especially the Tenth Amendment, which allows states to govern themselves without interference--formerly a Republican watchword--and that part of the document normalized by assuming that federal forces will be called into action when requested, and not until then. So there's very little 'law' at work, and all kinds of 'order.'
45 is doing so to selected cities with selected Democratic mayors, so to prove to the public, especially those living in the immediate suburbs, that now they don't have anything to worry about, that only Republicans are strong enough to control our cities. Except for one thing: None of those suburbs have been threatened. There might have been demonstrations in some of them, sure, but there were demonstrations in all kinds of cities of all kinds of sizes all over the country in the wake of George Floyd's death.
Port Washington, Wisconsin, had a demonstration, but that isn't a suburb; it's 25 miles north of Milwaukee. Shawano, Wisconsin, too, which is about 40 miles west of Green Bay. There was even a demonstration in Hayward, Wisconsin, at least three hours from any kind of major metropolitan area. I may be wrong, but I didn't hear anything close to any violence or destruction happening in any of those places. Is the mayor a Republican or a Democrat? Asking for a friend. Does it matter? Asking for myself.
This effort to distort reality and make people bend toward believing it takes a very persuasive person. 45 is getting a little short on that nowadays. Now he wears a mask, and calls it "patriotic." Never mind calling it healthy: What about four months ago, when it would have done him some good? People can see through things like that. He doesn't seem to understand that his credibility, like those of other politicians, comes and goes. And it's been seeping away since the virus hit the fan.
Calling something patriotic doesn't make it so. Calling something a danger doesn't make it so. The latest toady to serve as his Chief of Staff, Mark Meadows, suggested that federal forces might come to Milwaukee. There haven't been demonstrations here in weeks now. What, exactly, will they be stopping? What, exactly, do I have to be afraid of?
Demonstrators came to my neighborhood, true. They marched, They made noise. They moved on. Nobody was hurt. No violence took place. Nothing got broken. Yes, there were broken windows and some looting elsewhere in town, but it ended as soon as it started: nothing extended, nothing lasted.
What they did was exercise their First Amendment rights, which were respected. That was an excellent example of what a free society does. But that scares 45 because the demonstrators questioned what the police do and why. That threatens his idea of "law and order" because, to him, the police are supposed to do whatever they want, never mind the rule of law and people's rights.
So he thinks he can scare people into changing their minds. And he'll scare them, all right. Scare them right to the polls in November, where hopefully, they will reject his crazy rantings and ravings.
Security doesn't come from a police state, which is what he'd prefer. Security comes from the people themselves, respecting each other. A nation that relies on the cops that much isn't strong. In fact, it's weak. It's dependent. It's tottering.
Nobody's saying we don't have issues, and at times a problem with too much violence; Chicago's murder problems are a good example. But bringing in Homeland Security agents to patrol and/or arrest perpetrators is nothing more than a display of force that cannot last. The House of Representatives, after all, is controlled by Democrats, at least one of whom, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, won't be bullied into caving into a wild-eyed president's cravings. After all, the Congress can cut off the funding for this nonsense. Don't be surprised if those conversations aren't already happening.
Security will be a card that 45 will play from here to the election. The Democrats must respond by defining what security really is. If they can do that, they will take the last strategy out of his hand and cruise to victory. If not, this thing could still be close. But with his abysmal performance on the virus, I wonder if enough of the public will scare quite so easily.
Be well. Be careful. Wear a mask. With some luck, I'll see you down the road.
Mister Mark
That's why 45's stunt of sending federal forces of some kind, with some authorization, into large cities as an indication of "law and order" won't work. It won't work because it isn't needed. It's overkill. It's going to make him look like a glutton, and a desperate one.
If any suburbs needed protection, those of Charlottesville, Virginia would have qualified in 2017, when neo-Nazis came and demonstrated their hate, brandishing weapons. Instead, he said there were very good people on both sides, as pandering as anyone could have been.
As you recall, a counterdemonstrator was killed by one of these knuckleheads who ran her over with his car. No regrets enamanated from 45, either.
So when he now vows to clean up whatever trouble there happens to be in Portland, OR, without being asked for, it of course takes the guardrails off of the Constitution, especially the Tenth Amendment, which allows states to govern themselves without interference--formerly a Republican watchword--and that part of the document normalized by assuming that federal forces will be called into action when requested, and not until then. So there's very little 'law' at work, and all kinds of 'order.'
45 is doing so to selected cities with selected Democratic mayors, so to prove to the public, especially those living in the immediate suburbs, that now they don't have anything to worry about, that only Republicans are strong enough to control our cities. Except for one thing: None of those suburbs have been threatened. There might have been demonstrations in some of them, sure, but there were demonstrations in all kinds of cities of all kinds of sizes all over the country in the wake of George Floyd's death.
Port Washington, Wisconsin, had a demonstration, but that isn't a suburb; it's 25 miles north of Milwaukee. Shawano, Wisconsin, too, which is about 40 miles west of Green Bay. There was even a demonstration in Hayward, Wisconsin, at least three hours from any kind of major metropolitan area. I may be wrong, but I didn't hear anything close to any violence or destruction happening in any of those places. Is the mayor a Republican or a Democrat? Asking for a friend. Does it matter? Asking for myself.
This effort to distort reality and make people bend toward believing it takes a very persuasive person. 45 is getting a little short on that nowadays. Now he wears a mask, and calls it "patriotic." Never mind calling it healthy: What about four months ago, when it would have done him some good? People can see through things like that. He doesn't seem to understand that his credibility, like those of other politicians, comes and goes. And it's been seeping away since the virus hit the fan.
Calling something patriotic doesn't make it so. Calling something a danger doesn't make it so. The latest toady to serve as his Chief of Staff, Mark Meadows, suggested that federal forces might come to Milwaukee. There haven't been demonstrations here in weeks now. What, exactly, will they be stopping? What, exactly, do I have to be afraid of?
Demonstrators came to my neighborhood, true. They marched, They made noise. They moved on. Nobody was hurt. No violence took place. Nothing got broken. Yes, there were broken windows and some looting elsewhere in town, but it ended as soon as it started: nothing extended, nothing lasted.
What they did was exercise their First Amendment rights, which were respected. That was an excellent example of what a free society does. But that scares 45 because the demonstrators questioned what the police do and why. That threatens his idea of "law and order" because, to him, the police are supposed to do whatever they want, never mind the rule of law and people's rights.
So he thinks he can scare people into changing their minds. And he'll scare them, all right. Scare them right to the polls in November, where hopefully, they will reject his crazy rantings and ravings.
Security doesn't come from a police state, which is what he'd prefer. Security comes from the people themselves, respecting each other. A nation that relies on the cops that much isn't strong. In fact, it's weak. It's dependent. It's tottering.
Nobody's saying we don't have issues, and at times a problem with too much violence; Chicago's murder problems are a good example. But bringing in Homeland Security agents to patrol and/or arrest perpetrators is nothing more than a display of force that cannot last. The House of Representatives, after all, is controlled by Democrats, at least one of whom, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, won't be bullied into caving into a wild-eyed president's cravings. After all, the Congress can cut off the funding for this nonsense. Don't be surprised if those conversations aren't already happening.
Security will be a card that 45 will play from here to the election. The Democrats must respond by defining what security really is. If they can do that, they will take the last strategy out of his hand and cruise to victory. If not, this thing could still be close. But with his abysmal performance on the virus, I wonder if enough of the public will scare quite so easily.
Be well. Be careful. Wear a mask. With some luck, I'll see you down the road.
Mister Mark
Wednesday, July 22, 2020
Sue Them. See What Happens. What's the Alternative?
The question isn't why the Florida Education Association has sued the State of Florida about having to make its teachers and support staffs go back to school. The question is why the other NEA state affiliates haven't done so, too.
Maybe the mechanics seem insurmountable. Maybe it's because it looks like they're going to lose and that politically, the deck looks stacked. Maybe they're waiting for the right moment, in which case, they'd better hurry the hell up because for some states, school's supposed to begin in something like three weeks.
Okay, maybe so. But to do nothing is wrong. To sit there and watch school staff re-report to their jobs under this pandemic risks their very lives. Their lives.
It's bad enough that assassins roam with personal sickness, wanting to commit suicide but first shooting up classrooms. That the school culture has had to absorb that horrible reality, practicing shutdowns just in case, is bad enough. Now, an additional, unseen enemy has emerged: a virus that some people claim won't bother them all that much, so not to worry.
But some kids are going to get sick. Some will spread it amongst others, including teachers, and bus drivers, and custodians, and cooks, and school secretaries, and administrators. It. Just. Takes. One.
The Florida Education Association has counterattacked against this madness. They want to know, in fact dare someone, to tell them whether the state is going to order them back to work or not. The only alternative is to strike. Or, enter the potential cauldron.
I don't think it's all that tough of a choice. Not long ago, thousands of teachers in states like Kentucky, West Virginia, Oklahoma and Arizona marched on their state capitols, demanding better financial support for what they do. They did it for the kids, they said, which gave them moral backing.
They can still do it for the kids, and for themselves. Who will replace them when they get sick? Would you be a substitute teacher under those conditions? A substitute bus driver? A substitute cook?
Who's living in this wishful wasteland? Let's go to court and find out. If they lose, the teachers should walk. Those should be the choices. Either way, the virus determines whether they go back to work, nobody and nothing else.
Here's another: When the r0 goes to less than 1.0, then go back to work. Then have school again. That's fine, since the science says that the virus will disappear with time when the numbers say that and people keep observing healthy practices at at least the same rate. Viruses rarely disappear completely, anyhow. But don't reopen until then. Until then, it will spread. And schools will be the Petri dishes.
Little kids are less likely to get infected? Okay, sure. But not entirely unlikely. Especially in conditions in which they'll be closer to more kids than they have since February. For the governor of Missouri to claim that if they get sick, they'll just go home and get better, assumes they can't spread it to their parents and/or older siblings. That's just plain dumb.
This is not just the flu. We know this. This is more infectious, and more deadly. 143, 000 already, and probably a quarter-million by October. The FEA will undoubtedly wear masks in court. I wonder if the State of Florida will.
Nevertheless, this strategy should be copied by every state affiliate: Sue them first. Make someone admit this is crazy. If you lose, have your strike vote. And live, or die, with the results.
Yes, they can do this. Yes, they should. They need to protect their people by striking, or dictating the terms by which they go back, with safety the highest priority. If they lose, okay then: They did what they could. The members got their monies worth: Now, it's up to them.
Several large districts are choosing to begin the school year virtually. Perhaps the country needs to do so as well. It's worth the try. The president doesn't care. The Secretary of Education doesn't care. It's time someone does.
This should be a no-brainer, ironically. The adults in charge have failed the country. This is one of the prices it must pay.
WEAC shouldn't wait to see how it goes for the FEA. Michigan EA shouldn't, either. Nor should Education Minnesota. Sue now if the state government isn't cooperative. Get it started. They can always withdraw.
Be well. Be careful. Wear a mask. With some luck, I'll see you down the road.
Mister Mark
Maybe the mechanics seem insurmountable. Maybe it's because it looks like they're going to lose and that politically, the deck looks stacked. Maybe they're waiting for the right moment, in which case, they'd better hurry the hell up because for some states, school's supposed to begin in something like three weeks.
Okay, maybe so. But to do nothing is wrong. To sit there and watch school staff re-report to their jobs under this pandemic risks their very lives. Their lives.
It's bad enough that assassins roam with personal sickness, wanting to commit suicide but first shooting up classrooms. That the school culture has had to absorb that horrible reality, practicing shutdowns just in case, is bad enough. Now, an additional, unseen enemy has emerged: a virus that some people claim won't bother them all that much, so not to worry.
But some kids are going to get sick. Some will spread it amongst others, including teachers, and bus drivers, and custodians, and cooks, and school secretaries, and administrators. It. Just. Takes. One.
The Florida Education Association has counterattacked against this madness. They want to know, in fact dare someone, to tell them whether the state is going to order them back to work or not. The only alternative is to strike. Or, enter the potential cauldron.
I don't think it's all that tough of a choice. Not long ago, thousands of teachers in states like Kentucky, West Virginia, Oklahoma and Arizona marched on their state capitols, demanding better financial support for what they do. They did it for the kids, they said, which gave them moral backing.
They can still do it for the kids, and for themselves. Who will replace them when they get sick? Would you be a substitute teacher under those conditions? A substitute bus driver? A substitute cook?
Who's living in this wishful wasteland? Let's go to court and find out. If they lose, the teachers should walk. Those should be the choices. Either way, the virus determines whether they go back to work, nobody and nothing else.
Here's another: When the r0 goes to less than 1.0, then go back to work. Then have school again. That's fine, since the science says that the virus will disappear with time when the numbers say that and people keep observing healthy practices at at least the same rate. Viruses rarely disappear completely, anyhow. But don't reopen until then. Until then, it will spread. And schools will be the Petri dishes.
Little kids are less likely to get infected? Okay, sure. But not entirely unlikely. Especially in conditions in which they'll be closer to more kids than they have since February. For the governor of Missouri to claim that if they get sick, they'll just go home and get better, assumes they can't spread it to their parents and/or older siblings. That's just plain dumb.
This is not just the flu. We know this. This is more infectious, and more deadly. 143, 000 already, and probably a quarter-million by October. The FEA will undoubtedly wear masks in court. I wonder if the State of Florida will.
Nevertheless, this strategy should be copied by every state affiliate: Sue them first. Make someone admit this is crazy. If you lose, have your strike vote. And live, or die, with the results.
Yes, they can do this. Yes, they should. They need to protect their people by striking, or dictating the terms by which they go back, with safety the highest priority. If they lose, okay then: They did what they could. The members got their monies worth: Now, it's up to them.
Several large districts are choosing to begin the school year virtually. Perhaps the country needs to do so as well. It's worth the try. The president doesn't care. The Secretary of Education doesn't care. It's time someone does.
This should be a no-brainer, ironically. The adults in charge have failed the country. This is one of the prices it must pay.
WEAC shouldn't wait to see how it goes for the FEA. Michigan EA shouldn't, either. Nor should Education Minnesota. Sue now if the state government isn't cooperative. Get it started. They can always withdraw.
Be well. Be careful. Wear a mask. With some luck, I'll see you down the road.
Mister Mark
Monday, July 20, 2020
"Hillbilly Elegy"--What It Is, What It Isn't
J.D. Vance wants you to know what the backwoods life is all about--the mindset, the culture, the hopelessness. He has done so in Hillbilly Elegy.
This book was an instant smash best-seller. It came out in the shadow of the 2016 campaign, explaining to a certain extent why the dirt-poor, self-hating but prideful (at the same time) residents of Appalachia turned to 45, regardless of his background.
To the best of my fathoming, they did it because he's as angry as they are at just about everything and they found it easy to play off of. He is dripping in self-pity, like they are. But don't tell him why he has to be angry and that he's way off base about things; he will lash out at you with a vengeance. Just like they do.
I got a taste of that when I lived in Arkansas. A whole bunch of those folks are the same way (though not all of them; some are terrific). They can get after each other and laugh at themselves easily and often, but if someone who isn't one of them tries to point out what they've been saying to each other, even if it's well-intentioned and friendly, you become an intolerable outsider and the folksy warmth turns icy very fast.
Much of Vance's childhood was deprived and even dangerous. His mother was emotionally unstable, and married five times. He spent a great deal of his time with his grandparents, Mamaw and Papaw, who of course lived just five houses away. He skipped school a lot. He had three last names. He had to lie to keep his mother out of jail.
Basically, he shows, you need four things to get out of the kind of life to which he could have easily adapted, which he came perilously close to having:
This book was an instant smash best-seller. It came out in the shadow of the 2016 campaign, explaining to a certain extent why the dirt-poor, self-hating but prideful (at the same time) residents of Appalachia turned to 45, regardless of his background.
To the best of my fathoming, they did it because he's as angry as they are at just about everything and they found it easy to play off of. He is dripping in self-pity, like they are. But don't tell him why he has to be angry and that he's way off base about things; he will lash out at you with a vengeance. Just like they do.
I got a taste of that when I lived in Arkansas. A whole bunch of those folks are the same way (though not all of them; some are terrific). They can get after each other and laugh at themselves easily and often, but if someone who isn't one of them tries to point out what they've been saying to each other, even if it's well-intentioned and friendly, you become an intolerable outsider and the folksy warmth turns icy very fast.
Much of Vance's childhood was deprived and even dangerous. His mother was emotionally unstable, and married five times. He spent a great deal of his time with his grandparents, Mamaw and Papaw, who of course lived just five houses away. He skipped school a lot. He had three last names. He had to lie to keep his mother out of jail.
Basically, he shows, you need four things to get out of the kind of life to which he could have easily adapted, which he came perilously close to having:
- Stability--It has to come from somewhere. It is the idea that there's something you can always count on that isn't harmful, that will bring you peace. For J.D., it was a sense of being home, which rested with his Mamaw. It arrived just about when he was going to start high school. He finally had a base from which to launch his dreams.
- Education--Still the bulwark of it all. Without it, there's little that can be done to develop the kinds of thinking skills that will allow a person to succeed. If we accept the concept that education is thinking practice, and that paying attention to it drives one's thinking abilities forward, never backward, doors begin to open. J.D. caught on to this when his Homelife began to become more stable, when he was able to concentrate on his schoolwork both inside and outside of school, since there gradually was less to think about outside of it. This was relative, because his family never became completely stable, but the reduction of issues allowed him to focus enough to get enough confidence to keep going, eventually to Ohio State and Yale Law.
- Sense of responsibility--Which usually comes with some kind of home stability. J.D.'s Mamaw wasn't exactly stable herself, but she did instill within him the kind of responsibility one learns to maintain a decent home atmosphere--chores, etc. Her language and manners were crude, but she respected education and what it could do for someone. With that reinforcement, J.D. had someone to report to and to whom he had to be accountable. Eventually, this would take hold. It also happened within the military training he received. Like a few kids I taught, messed up for one reason or another, the training he received served to straighten him out. He would have been drummed out if it hadn't.
- Sense of adventure--In the end, someone in the kind of culture J.D. began in has to risk stepping out of it, risk failure, risk embarrassment. He did so in a dangerous way: Going into the Marines. He was deployed to Afghanistan, the most perilous of places. But the lessons he learned about self-reliance stuck with him and gave him the confidence to seek college and beyond. Without that, he might have stayed within the hillbilly culture he was raised in.
As it was, he has never allowed himself the luxury of dismissing or completely discarding his background, which he now could easily do. He's a principal attorney in a business on the West Coast, married to a lawyer. He's acquired more money than he could ever have imagined, even without this best-selling memoir. But he still thinks of pajamas as elitist (No, they're not. My family had them, and we were never rich.), and selects Christmas presents for needy kids with a clear message in mind.
Cut off on the highway in California, and bringing him back to his old sense of manhood, he contemplated giving the offender a five-fingered piece of his mind at the next stoplight. But his wife held him back; naively, he never considered that the guy might have had a gun.
Cut off on the highway in California, and bringing him back to his old sense of manhood, he contemplated giving the offender a five-fingered piece of his mind at the next stoplight. But his wife held him back; naively, he never considered that the guy might have had a gun.
But the most telling paragraph comes in the book's Conclusion. He has spent most of the work explaining the mentality of the hillbilly, the way they have dealt with, sometimes, the tough breaks they've had and the lifestyle they've adapted. But he doesn't ignore what continues to sit there, the thing that his teachers, and teachers everywhere, try to instill in their pupils, whether they accept it or not, whether they utilize it to make something of themselves or not:
We don't need to live like the elites of California, New York, or Washington, D.C. We don't need to work a hundred hours a week at law firms and investment banks. We don't need to socialize at cocktail parties. We do need to create a space for the J.D.s....of the world to have a chance. I don't know what the answer is, precisely, but I know it starts when we stop blaming Obama or Bush or faceless companies and ask ourselves what we can do to make things better.
That's what 45 has taken away, though: A sense of personal responsibility. In both speech and action, he has blamed others for his misfortunes, and blamed someone else for the misfortunes of those who so slavishly follow him. He's taken that way, and with that, has stripped them of the need to step up and use what they have to get out of the fixes they're in.
He has done, in short, what Republicans love to do: Blame government for ruining their lives, when in fact they've caused nearly everything bad that's happened to them, admit it or not. It may be the bottom-line legacy of Reagan, who was fond of trashing government whenever he could, but we are there and we must now deal with those who are hooked to that kind of thinking.
We need to reclaim a balance, Vance seems to be saying. Government, especially in an enormous land as this, is constantly necessary, though some people resent it. Libertarianism only goes so far, even if it takes enormous depravity for those in Appalachia to admit it. We are seeing the lack of safety that the lack of governance has caused, now that the virus is threatening to run wild. If this doesn't bring us up short, I'm not sure anything will.
Be well. Be careful. Wear a mask. With some luck, I'll see you down the road.
Mister Mark
We need to reclaim a balance, Vance seems to be saying. Government, especially in an enormous land as this, is constantly necessary, though some people resent it. Libertarianism only goes so far, even if it takes enormous depravity for those in Appalachia to admit it. We are seeing the lack of safety that the lack of governance has caused, now that the virus is threatening to run wild. If this doesn't bring us up short, I'm not sure anything will.
Be well. Be careful. Wear a mask. With some luck, I'll see you down the road.
Mister Mark
Saturday, July 18, 2020
John Lewis, Quiet Superstar of Good Trouble
John Lewis left us last night and I feel like crying. Pancreatic cancer got him about eight months after doctors discovered it.
Nothing will improve what's already been said, but I met him and I would like to tell you about it. There are few people who really deserve the moniker of "icon," but he deserved it 100%.
When you get to a place like the NEA, get elected to the Board of Directors and then to the Executive Committee, you get chances to meet famous people. The NEA has always been at the forefront of the effort to maintain human and civil rights--indeed, it's what attracted me to it--and it gets invited to celebrations and reminders of the same.
The Congressional Black Caucus Dinner is one of them. I attended whenever I could. I was in awe of those people, they who overcame prejudice and racism. It was especially true of superstars like John Lewis, though he never acted like one. He was, and remained until his death, a humble man who knew he had become a vessel of the essence of justice.
John Lewis always entered the room quietly and slowly. He was in no hurry. He had seen and been through some of the more momentous events of the Civil Rights Movement. People gathered around him to pay him well-deserved homage, so a white guy like me often found it hard to get near him.
In a way, he seemed astonished by all the attention, and seemed like he kind of wanted to get it over with. But he projected an aura that was unmistakeable. This was the walking, talking Civil Rights Movement, right here, right in front of you. It was a moment to be savored.
I don't recall what I muttered. It was something of an attempt to summarize what I thought of him and what he had done. It was quick, which might surprise some of my friends. But I knew others wanted to say hello, too. He was the kind of person who makes you feel better to know he's in the world, who reminds you of the serendipity of fame and how small you really are, compared to what someone else has dared.
He was not a large man, not one to take up a lot of space until he spoke--which was rarely as time went on, but had a greater impact because he said it with that powerful voice. All of the protests, all of the progress, all of the angst and challenges that remain, all of it followed him around until he died.
Much has been made of getting his head split open at the Pettus Bridge in Selma in 1965, and well it should. But that was the second time his head had been split open. The first was with the Freedom Riders in 1961.
He had already taken that enormous risk to desegregate bus terminals throughout the South. Racists burned the bus in Anniston, Alabama. The Riders were forced out and beaten. Others, like him, nearly died.
But in a lesson for all of us, he got back up and kept working, kept leading. He saw that the battle for civil rights would never be completely over in his lifetime, all the more necessary to keep working. His disappointments must have been enormous, not the least of which must have been the election to the presidency of a clear and convincing racist this far along, this long after so much has already been accomplished.
But he also lived long enough to see the impact of Black Lives Matter, lived long enough to know that within 45's administration, Secretary of Defense Espy's conscience wouldn't leave him alone. He declared, by default, that the Confederate flag would not be allowed to fly on any of our military bases from now on, ever. He may be fired for that by a twisted man. If he is, I think he'll be glad.
He'll be glad because he decided to follow Lewis' lead: If you see something, say something, do something. Get yourself into "good trouble" for a good cause. He decided to move to the better side of history. So, too, did the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who told Congress the other day that the naming of military bases for Confederate generals needs a revamp.
The "lost cause," finally, may be actually lost. It may continue to live in some people's minds, but not officially. Statues are coming down. Minds are being adjusted. That it took that long is a testament only to the country's stubbornness to change that it has unfortunately displayed far too often.
But make no mistake: John Lewis took us this far. It's up to us to continue. It's up to us to turn this awful page, this desperation to preserve injustice and the wrong values. His cause, the cause, goes on: good trouble. This is a small comment of thanks to him, for his work, for his success, for his courage, for the beacon of real leadership.
Be well. Be careful. Wear a mask. With some luck, I'll see you down the road.
Mister Mark
Nothing will improve what's already been said, but I met him and I would like to tell you about it. There are few people who really deserve the moniker of "icon," but he deserved it 100%.
When you get to a place like the NEA, get elected to the Board of Directors and then to the Executive Committee, you get chances to meet famous people. The NEA has always been at the forefront of the effort to maintain human and civil rights--indeed, it's what attracted me to it--and it gets invited to celebrations and reminders of the same.
The Congressional Black Caucus Dinner is one of them. I attended whenever I could. I was in awe of those people, they who overcame prejudice and racism. It was especially true of superstars like John Lewis, though he never acted like one. He was, and remained until his death, a humble man who knew he had become a vessel of the essence of justice.
John Lewis always entered the room quietly and slowly. He was in no hurry. He had seen and been through some of the more momentous events of the Civil Rights Movement. People gathered around him to pay him well-deserved homage, so a white guy like me often found it hard to get near him.
In a way, he seemed astonished by all the attention, and seemed like he kind of wanted to get it over with. But he projected an aura that was unmistakeable. This was the walking, talking Civil Rights Movement, right here, right in front of you. It was a moment to be savored.
I don't recall what I muttered. It was something of an attempt to summarize what I thought of him and what he had done. It was quick, which might surprise some of my friends. But I knew others wanted to say hello, too. He was the kind of person who makes you feel better to know he's in the world, who reminds you of the serendipity of fame and how small you really are, compared to what someone else has dared.
He was not a large man, not one to take up a lot of space until he spoke--which was rarely as time went on, but had a greater impact because he said it with that powerful voice. All of the protests, all of the progress, all of the angst and challenges that remain, all of it followed him around until he died.
Much has been made of getting his head split open at the Pettus Bridge in Selma in 1965, and well it should. But that was the second time his head had been split open. The first was with the Freedom Riders in 1961.
He had already taken that enormous risk to desegregate bus terminals throughout the South. Racists burned the bus in Anniston, Alabama. The Riders were forced out and beaten. Others, like him, nearly died.
But in a lesson for all of us, he got back up and kept working, kept leading. He saw that the battle for civil rights would never be completely over in his lifetime, all the more necessary to keep working. His disappointments must have been enormous, not the least of which must have been the election to the presidency of a clear and convincing racist this far along, this long after so much has already been accomplished.
But he also lived long enough to see the impact of Black Lives Matter, lived long enough to know that within 45's administration, Secretary of Defense Espy's conscience wouldn't leave him alone. He declared, by default, that the Confederate flag would not be allowed to fly on any of our military bases from now on, ever. He may be fired for that by a twisted man. If he is, I think he'll be glad.
He'll be glad because he decided to follow Lewis' lead: If you see something, say something, do something. Get yourself into "good trouble" for a good cause. He decided to move to the better side of history. So, too, did the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who told Congress the other day that the naming of military bases for Confederate generals needs a revamp.
The "lost cause," finally, may be actually lost. It may continue to live in some people's minds, but not officially. Statues are coming down. Minds are being adjusted. That it took that long is a testament only to the country's stubbornness to change that it has unfortunately displayed far too often.
But make no mistake: John Lewis took us this far. It's up to us to continue. It's up to us to turn this awful page, this desperation to preserve injustice and the wrong values. His cause, the cause, goes on: good trouble. This is a small comment of thanks to him, for his work, for his success, for his courage, for the beacon of real leadership.
Be well. Be careful. Wear a mask. With some luck, I'll see you down the road.
Mister Mark
Wednesday, July 15, 2020
Dr. Fauci's Time Is Through. He Needs to Leave on His Own.
Sometimes things are hard to face. Knowing your time has passed is probably one of the worst of them.
It has hit that time for Dr. Anthony Fauci. The member of the White House coronavirus task force--or what's left of it--who has, by far, the most credibility, has earned that designation by being as honest as he can with anyone who asks him how things really are.
The news isn't good. It has rarely been. The country is going through another wave of infections, with states like Texas, Florida, Arizona and California now leading the way. Very few have managed to cut down on infections. Far more than half have increased them.
Fauci's trying to tell people that we haven't turned the corner. In fact, we've backed up and are going through the process again. Brazil might be doing that, too, but I don't see any other country doing it. But then, Brazil is being run by a person just as big a fool as 45.
45 knows that as long as Fauci stays on the task force, people will be waiting to hear from him. They'll be relying on Fauci's advice, not 45, which is pointless, directionless, and often harmful. 45 can't stand that. He'll make sure Fauci won't be heard very often.
Note that Fauci hasn't been fired. 45 can't do that right now. It would look too obvious. 45 will wait until Fauci gives up himself, or says the next single thing that he might use as evidence that he's not on the same page--though that wouldn't be a bad place to be. Otherwise, he'll be phased out.
Note that Fauci hasn't been fired. 45 can't do that right now. It would look too obvious. 45 will wait until Fauci gives up himself, or says the next single thing that he might use as evidence that he's not on the same page--though that wouldn't be a bad place to be. Otherwise, he'll be phased out.
Except Fauci's time has passed at the White House. It would be in his best interest--and, in fact, in ours--for him to step down and make his own pronouncements on his own terms, pushing back against the White House's doublespeak and distinct lack of leadership. Fauci's in a no-win situation. Better to go chin-up and blast 45 from beyond. Then he can say what he wants.
Fauci's credibility won't wane. In fact, it would improve when he ceased to be connected to an entity that will claim to know more than he does, but would want to distract us from the main problem, which is the distinct lack of resources for us to do testing and tracing, now five months after we've known that the virus would be widespread.
This is all about 45, as everything has to be. 45 will want to become the main source of information on the virus, except he'll act as if everything's being handled and the virus will soon be under control.
That's what he's been telling everyone since February. But it's all gone wrong. Saying it's all right does not make it all right. Florida would say that. Texas would say that. Arizona would say that. California would say that. So would at least 35 other states.
Fauci isn't the only person to have to stand up to 45 and tell the truth. The C.D.C. leader, Robert Redfield, had the temerity to say the other day that it wasn't changing its guidelines to re-start the schools in the face of the virus, to relax requirements to meet 45's demands that they re-open. That was obviously the wrong thing for the director to say. The C.D.C. has now been rerouted.
The HHS decision to put the information from hospitals--formerly received by the C.D.C.--into the hands of a federal contractor or the state first, even the National Guard, without evident transparency, gives 45 the option to share or not to share vital information. Of course, good news will be shared and bad news not. It's all about control with him, and the facade that all will eventually be well, since he will now have complete control of the information.
I have not read any connection between the two phenomena. But you'll excuse me if I note it. Everything 45 does and says is transactional or revenge toward someone who defies him. Leopards don't shake off their spots.
This stripping of the C.D.C. conduit won't do any of us much good. Its early mistakes were bad enough. Now we're not even sure why it exists, if hospitals aren't going to use it as a collecting center for information.
Maybe Redfield should resign, too, maybe together with Fauci. But then 45 will have more spots to fill with more toadies. Just another reason to get rid of him in November.
Be well. Be careful. Wear a mask outside. With some luck, I'll see you down the road.
Mister Mark
The HHS decision to put the information from hospitals--formerly received by the C.D.C.--into the hands of a federal contractor or the state first, even the National Guard, without evident transparency, gives 45 the option to share or not to share vital information. Of course, good news will be shared and bad news not. It's all about control with him, and the facade that all will eventually be well, since he will now have complete control of the information.
I have not read any connection between the two phenomena. But you'll excuse me if I note it. Everything 45 does and says is transactional or revenge toward someone who defies him. Leopards don't shake off their spots.
This stripping of the C.D.C. conduit won't do any of us much good. Its early mistakes were bad enough. Now we're not even sure why it exists, if hospitals aren't going to use it as a collecting center for information.
Maybe Redfield should resign, too, maybe together with Fauci. But then 45 will have more spots to fill with more toadies. Just another reason to get rid of him in November.
Be well. Be careful. Wear a mask outside. With some luck, I'll see you down the road.
Mister Mark
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