Sunday, August 30, 2020

Coronavirus: Los Angeles #19 : Reflections on Elections

As always: many of us get too many emails already, even before this pandemic.  So, if you would like these to stop, please feel free to say so.  (No reason needed; and you won’t be the first or second or third to do so.)

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Election night, 2000: 

I was driving home from work, about 6PM CA time, listening to the returns on NPR.  The announcer said it appeared that Gore had won Florida.  From what I had heard up to that time, that meant that Gore would most likely be the next president. I felt relief and optimistic.

I arrived home about 20 minutes later, and we turned on the returns, probably on PBS.  Shortly, they announced that their call of "Florida for Gore" was being rescinded; that it appeared much closer than before.  Thus began weeks of agonizing over the election results, the courts, the lawyers, and deploring our constitutional vestige called the Electoral College.  Aided by the US Supreme Court, W became the next president.

Fast forward 16 years. If the next anecdote sounds familiar, it's because I have told it before.  

Election night, 2016:  

Nadine and I invited two other couples to come down to our apartment to watch the election returns.  Of course, we all expected Hilary to win.  One of the men has done a lot of political work in the past, and was quite familiar with things election, including the Electoral College.  As the night wore on, and the returns looked less promising, at one point he announced: "Well, that's it.  Trump will be the next president." He understood before the rest of us, and before it was "called" on the TV station, that Trump had enough electoral college votes.  I was stunned.  We all were.  The impossible had happened.  

Recently, Rabbi Lebovitz was teaching about the miracles reportedly performed by the prophet Elisha.  He said one definition of a miracle might be when something very good, that was previously thought to be impossible, actually happens.  What do you call it when something very bad, that was previously thought to be impossible, actually happens?  An "unmiracle"? A trauma?

After the shock phase, before the inauguration, pundits consoled us that Trump's ignorance and narcissism would be "contained" by Republican wise men (and by his daughter Ivanka) and our country would survive.  I wanted to believe this, and to a certain extent bought it.

Election RunUp, 2020: 

Now, after these two recent elections where the “winner” did not get the most popular votes.  Now, after almost four years, we fully understand how traumatic this event was. Impossibly bad things can happen.  Polls can be misleading.  "Wise men" and family members have done little to contain Trump.  Sean Hannity has his ear.

And this.  Bad as Trump is, he is not the worst of it.  How could it be that so many Americans came to vote for an obvious con man, and many will do so again, knowing much better now what and who he is?  This is very discouraging to me.

I have no confidence about the integrity of the upcoming election, based also on the dirty tricks already happening: USPS services being downgraded, voting places being limited, Russian social media meddling, etc.

For most of you, I know I am preaching to the choir, but: Especially if you did not vote in the past, whatever your reasons were then.  Please register and vote. But especially if you are young, poor, or non-white; our politicians need to hear from you.  (Thought about including women in this list, but have read that voting participation is higher among women than among men in this country).

Thanks for reading.

Stay safe and masked up and sane.  The next two months may be worse than the last six months…or the last four years.

Coleman

and now, for a little humor on YouTube, “Vote Him Away":

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TkU1ob_lHCw



Monday, August 24, 2020

Coronavirus: LA #18

As always: many of us get too many emails already, even before this pandemic.  
So, if you would like these to stop, please feel free to say so.  (You won’t be the first or second or third to do so.)
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Los Angeles is experiencing a record heat wave.  The radio said it's the worst heat wave in the last 10 to 20 years.  Of course, we should expect it to be hot. After all, this is southern California in August, so what else but hot weather?  Still, this seems unusual.  But consistent from day to day...see the screenshot below from my iPhone on Tuesday, August 18.

The heat saps me of energy. Some days, I don't feel like doing anything at all.  One day recently, took two naps.  We try to take two walks a day, one early in the morning, and one late in the afternoon, when if we choose our route carefully, we can walk mostly in the shade of buildings.  The sycamore trees, of which there are many in Park La Brea, are struggling, many leaves already shriveled and falling to the ground

We have had our two room air conditioners on thru much of the daytime.  Since we only have three rooms (not counting baths), we are fairly well covered.  Still, the A/Cs are struggling to keep up (or should I say keep down).   The background hum of all the A/Cs in our building is continuous.  California has recently experienced rolling blackouts, due to lack of sufficient electric energy; per usual, authorities are pointing fingers at each other regarding who is to blame.  No blackouts yet where we live.

Thank goodness, our pool reopened about a month ago. (The gym reopened also, but was then closed down again two weeks later.  Even if the gym reopens, I won't be going anytime in the foreseeable future; it's an indoor space.)  I can walk "laps" in the lap pool, where the water is up to my armpits, and still keep my mask on.  Limited one person per each of the five lanes.  Water feels great.  I have been doing this exercise for about eight years now.  At first, it seemed boring and I was counting the laps until I could stop; but now it has become a meditative interlude in my day.

I recently have been going to the pool just before 3PM.  The pool is closed from 2 to 3 for cleaning.  So, just before 3, there is a small group waiting to get in.   Going at this time, I can be sure of getting a lane.  At other times of the day, all lanes may be in use, which means a wait, usually just a few minutes.

There is a regular group of  swimmers that show up after 3PM on many days.  One is M, an older lady who really likes men; says she adored her father.  The yenta of the pool, she schmoozes up everyone, but especially the guys, and sometimes dishes the dirt.  When I chatted with M in the next lane a few days ago (masks on), I realized that, aside from Nadine, she was the only other person I had actually spoken with that day.

A dragonfly is usually there every afternoon, flitting above the surface of the pool, mostly at the west end, which is somewhat in shadows after 3PM.  Recently, one was a beautiful reddish-orange irridescent color, circling and circling over the water. 

There are other species at the pool as well, specifically canines.  Saw my second one there days ago.  This is not surprising in LA. Dogs are everywhere: grocery store, restaurants, movies theaters (when they were open), offices, Nordstroms, Pete's Coffee, our (former) synagogue, etc.  

Saturday, at breakfast outside of Toast, a woman showed up with her great Dane, and proceeded to drag a large mattress out of her BMW and put it on the sidewalk, where the dog dutifully laid down while she ate.  All of this done while keeping 6 feet of separation between parties, temp checks before seating, and masks up when the server approaches.

Finally, with the heat, fireseason has come again to California.  This is now a regular annual event.  No current danger where Nadine and I live, in the city.  But many fierce fires in the state, with a big cluster up north where an unusual outbreak of lightning storms triggered many fires.  We have relatives and friends up there.  Some have had to pack up the car, and be prepared to leave home.  Others have had to evacuate, and now await to hear whether their home has survived.

That’s it for now.
Stay as safe and sane and cool as you can.

Coleman


LA 10-day weather forecast, August 18

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August 21 satellite photo of smoke plumes in No Calif, from our son Phil:

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Saturday, August 22, 2020

Coronavirus: LA #17:Final Cut

 As always: many of us get too many emails already, even before this pandemic.  

So, if you would like these to stop, please feel free to say so.  (You won’t be the first to do so.)
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First, apologies to my readers.  The edition #17 that I sent out on August 17 was my mistake.  My trigger index finger on the mouse hit “Send” instead of “Save”.
And thanks to those who pointed out some arithmetic issues, which I hope are corrected below.

My last email of this series was in the middle of June.  After that, I seemed to run out of energy and inspiration, and so just stopped.
Now I am back.  Can’t guarantee for how long.  But here goes.

In late June, Nadine and I decided to move. When we first discussed the possibility, I was very negative: “Do you know how HARD that will be?”
“Yes” she said, “it will be hard, but we’ll get thru it and it will be over”.
It was MUCH harder than either of us thought it would be.  The last time we moved, in 2012, I was 76.  Now I am 84, and found out I am not the same man as eight years ago.

Later, I was informed, by my LCSW wife and others, that “moving" ranks right up there with other major causes of trauma, including death of family member, divorce, physical painnatural disasters (think pandemic), and parental abandonment.  I can’t say our move ranked up with any of these, but it was difficult.  But  it’s over and we are back to our “normal” COVID life.

So, you might be asking, why did you guys do it?
Because of the slowdown in the economy, apartment rental rates in this part of LA have declined significantly.  But to get a lower rate, we had to opt out of our old lease, and move to another apartment in Park La Brea.
We are now enjoying a lower rent, and a much quieter environment, especially at night after dinner time, when it’s TV or bedtime for us.  Also, a different view; our old place was on the 3rd floor, at tree-top level.  Our new location is on the 12th floor, looking southwest.

But the move essentially wiped out about six weeks of any other activity in our lives.  
With no garage, by the day we moved, you could hardly find a space to sit down or walk around in our apartment, it was so full of packed boxes with most of our belongings.
Another feature of moving is that it forces you to go thru all your “stuff” and decide what to take with you, and what to get rid of.  This is both physically and psychologically taxing.  And many trips to the Goodwill donation center, after we found one in Hollywood that was open.  At least someone may benefit from our no-longer-wanted items.

One of the things on my chest of drawers is a round box where I put my loose change at the end of each day.  I had put all of the contents into a bag to take to the coin counter machine at CVS.  I estimate from prior experience that it was worth perhaps $30.  I put this bag into the trunk of my car, waiting for the day I would go to CVS for something else also.  But, I think it ended up going with one of the donation piles to Goodwill, so hopefully someone in need got a nice bonus when they opened the bag.  Change is definitely in short supply; went to GroundWorks this AM for coffees, and the 75 cents of change was all in dimes and nickels.

Stay safe, wear your mask, keep your distance….and your sanity (which may be harder to hold onto).

Coleman

Typically, Nadine will buy a bunch of flowers each week for our dining room table.  We noticed that last week’s bouquet lasted quite well, and is sucking up water like crazy.  The word “bouquet" triggered this old song in my old mind (Eddy Arnold, 1948). Hope you like it:
Isn’t it funny how these old melodies and words are still back in there somewhere, just waiting for the right trigger to pop up.