Life of Wry

Day #78 of the coronavirus stuff.. and Day #5 of George Floyd reaction.

Spent many an hour watching CNN reporters on the ground in protest-turned-riot-torn cities all over the country this day. As I watched all of that with half an eye, I was catching up on stories and analyses across the media spectrum. I’m weary and overwhelmed with grief. Part of me is heartened that the response is so widespread; it makes me feel hopeful that, in fact, there are a lot of people unwilling to accept the abject corruption and profound injustices that exist in every corner of American society.  It’s clear that while these protests initially formed as a response to the murder of George Floyd, the problems are far deeper, far more systemic than a single act — or even the recent spate — of police brutality. Seems like a flash point. We can hope.

But, man.. the pile-on of stuff is just numbing. It’s leaving analysts on TV in tears (like, all over the place). It’s the raw savagery of this week’s tragic events on top of a pandemic, on top of an economic collapse, on top of unprecedented unemployment and business closures, on top of a government & institutional shake up that I don’t even know how to evaluate (in a later post I’ll paste in Heather Cox Richardson’s list of global agreements our country has pulled out of). I’m scared..mostly because the facts of where we are are bad enough.. but we have a guy who’s got more power than he can handle and seems to be relishing–actually stoking–the unrest. He seems to have no interest whatsoever in calming a nation (laughable, he couldn’t anyway). I have long thought that disruption and chaos are what he’s after.. even though part of me doesn’t believe he is capable of orchestrating and carrying out a game plan, even if that plan is to blow it all up. He’s just too disordered and incompetent. Who knows though… he’s playing on a field none of us has a view of. I don’t believe anything anymore. Certainly don’t believe anymore that OUR government is there for OUR interests.

Once again… I have reams to stuff I’ve written in the past five days, but can’t seem to organize my thoughts into anything coherent right now. Just bleary and unsettled, overwhelmed and scared. I’ll keep trying though.

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But for now.. Our 100+ weather of the last few days dropped to the 70s today, with intermittent cloud cover.. which was nice. Made 44 calls to one of the nation’s most hotly-watched political districts, which always feels like a good day.  Had some nice hammock + Spotify time, and a nice walk + podcast… all excellent distractions… and took a few really pretty pictures, so the day wasn’t a total downer.  Have to keep seeing the beauty, you know?

And two others from about the same spot… and I Prisma-filtered one of them..