Monday, December 7, 2020

Coronavirus: Los Angeles #26

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

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Thursday, December 3:

Encouraged by our cousin Natalie, we watched Jake Tapper's 50-minute interview on CNN of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.  What a breath of fresh air to see two rather normal human beings who can talk and answer questions and laugh out loud, without a lot of blaming or pointing of fingers or maligning others.  The normality of it was almost startling after four years of Trump and his lap dog Pence, neither of whom ever laughed out loud that I recall.  America and the world still have many hurdles in front of us, but this felt like an hour of hope that America will soon have competent leaders moving in the right direction.

Friday, December 4:

Now that the first deliveries of COVID vaccines are approaching, much is appearing in the press about what groups will get what priority for the first batches that become available.  One group that I have not heard much about are prisoners (of which there are about 1.3 million) and prison staff.  I believe that these groups should be fairly high up on the list.  They live/work in crowded conditions that are known to have high transmission rates.  Prisoners have very limited abilities to alter their conditions in any meanful way; I can chose to stay home, or go out but with my mask on, or socialize not at all or somewhat.  But prisoners have little choice.  The AMA has come out in favor of putting the prison population high up on the list.  But the governor Polis of Colorado is quoted as saying: "There's no way it is going to go to prisoners before it goes to people who haven't committed any crime".

Saturday, December 5:

At Park La Brea, where Nadine and I have lived for the last 13 years, there is a community garden with about 40 plots.  As there are about 4,000 apartments in Park La Brea, that's about one plot per 100 apartments.  So, demand is high and the waiting time for tenants who want to join is about two years long.  As my contribution to this community activity, I administer the waiting list, and orient new members when a plot becomes available (a former plot holder leaves for whatever reason; often because they move out of Park La Brea.)

So today I went to the garden to initiate a new member, Simone.  Simone, born in Australia, has lived in Park La Brea for three years, and been on the waiting list since December 2018.  She is looking forward to growing veggies.  Part of the orientation includes giving me a check for member dues (a modest $6.00/month).  When I asked her to bring the check to our meeting, she said she would "go to the bank to get a check".

When we met, I asked Simone whether she had to go to the bank because she had run out of checks, or because she does not normally use checks.  She said it's the latter; she normally does not use checks at all, but a payment app like PayPal or Venmo (or in her case Zelle).  This is another one of those "technology generation divides"; Simone is approx two generations younger than I am.  Nadine and I still write about ten checks per month.

And speaking of the garden, when will our annual winter rains start?  My rule of thumb has always been that our SoCal rains start aboutThanksgiving and end about Passover/Easter.  I have cleared out all my summer plants, and am waiting for the first rain, to then plant my winter crops: cabbages, chard and potatoes.  But no rain so far, and none in the 10-day forecast on my iPhone. A friend with some inside knowledge from professional forecasters says it does not look good for this winter!

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