burn, baby, burn...

I am not an American person of color...I will not, and really cannot, claim to know your anger if you are reading this...I do know of religious hatred...and have been at the receiving end of antisemitism...but I can hide my Jewish identity behind my married last name that is most often thought of as Italian, instead of Russian origin...as I could hide behind my maiden name...one created by my father and uncle in their early adulthood...hoping to blend in like Hellman's mayonnaise into the white, Christian fifties...but I know from the history of my people...with every fiber of my being...that I can be a High Holy Day Jew...or daily observant...or one who walks away from it all...and it would not matter...as when my ancestors were lined up outside trains bound for crematoriums...2020...our country is burning...and crumbling under the weight of collective amnesia...here we are again...this time protestors are masked...crawling out of covid confinement...the anguish palpable...the situation flowing coast to coast...like lighter fluid...and I don't have any answers...I thought we had reached the bottom of the 2020 rabbit hole when I saw the food lines in Corona...and a mile away...this is not a rabbit hole...it's an abyss...a visual indictment of why our fellow Americans of color cannot escape the grip of institutionalized poverty and incarceration...but mostly it comes down to this...that every day when a black man walks the street...there's that invisible target on his back...it's a bullseye born of hatred and fear...passed down from generation to generation...Rest in Peace, George Floyd...

Broadway baby...

another night of restless sleep...and when I am blessed with deep sleep, I am also tormented with dreams...that I mostly cannot remember, but leave me tired and dragging all day...not that it really matters in New York...the Covid epicenter...but after another night of crazed dreaming, one thought did stay with me...how the three Broadway shows I had tickets for this year...one that I just barely got in two weeks before the "pause", one that now is pushed to the fall, and one, well, who knows these days...it's the titles...the subject matter that brilliantly mirror where we were...where we are...and where we might wind up..."Jagged Little Pill" this past March...now, weren't those news conferences...statistics...and unfortunately, for some, those phone calls painful to swallow?...and much as in the thematic content of that musical, this quarantine is somewhat a time of reevaluation and contemplation...maybe confront the demons or reconstruct the path...then there was "Company"...April, now October...or maybe not...isn't that the driving force behind much of the breakdown of social distancing?...we are not generally "built" to be solitary creatures...we want company...in person company...and much as in the musical's penultimate song, "Being Alive"...that is what we crave to feel...and finally, "The Music Man"...November, if I'm lucky...wouldn't so of the many weary and frightened welcome a Harold Hill and his promises of music and joy...only this time, maybe not a trombone, but a cure...a magic wand that renders that past few months a fading memory...but this is not a Broadway show...and pandemics don't wrap up neatly in a bow in 2 hours and 45 minutes...so remember as summer beckons, and brain fog sets in...remember to avoid those "Promises, Promises"...cause quick cures are often created in "La Cage Aux Folles"...avoid gatherings where "Anything Goes"...cause if you don't you'll just be another "American Idiot"...

Sunday in the park with masks...

or not...yesterday we ventured out to Eisenhower Park for a walk...parked the car, slapped on the masks and headed out...now, I know as we have been told at least a billion contradictory ways to deal with covid, you might think...more than 6 feet out for a walk...why the mask?...the neon sign flashed as we entered the park only minutes earlier..."wear a mask"...and here's why...do you really think after so many people have been cooped up for so long...especially after the atrocious weather in April...that we were the only ones with that idea?...and after observing the multitudes of people all over the park...do you think everyone could manage the 6 feet at all times?...or that the larger groups of people were from the same household?...all the people who were maskless...they didn't even have one with them to pop on if needed...and they didn't give a shit...you know who gives a shit?...those poor health care professionals who have been at the frontline since February...to add insult to injury, there were demonstrations throughout this country for the past several days demanding that their respective cities open up...in Commack as well...again, no masks, no social distancing...crying that they need their hair done...judging by the pictures...dye ain't gonna help...but you know what, I say fine...if you feel your personal freedom is greater than someone else's health then go ahead...but you forfeit treatment should you come down with covid...I say a database of those who feel that they cannot comply anymore...or that the media is making it all up...that it's just like flu...grab your fifty rolls of Charmin when you can't breathe...just don't expect a weary nurse to meet you at the ER door...