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Part 5: Two Months Later

Two months have passed. The Dumpster still hasn't conceded and is deliriously expected the Senate to throw out the results of the election on January 6th and crown him emperor like Napoleon. Will the Melanoma be crowned Empress? Will the American Bolsheviks drag him and her and all his family to a room and execute them? At least 1/3 of the American population would NOT have a problem with that. I, who mourned Tzar Nicolas and his family, who is the self-proclaimed pacifist, would be one of them...only feeling somewhat sorry for the Baron. He must be killed too, though, so he can't return someday and reclaim the throne supported by the 70+ million Americans who love that dysfunctional fambly.

Everyone was so relieved for 2020 to be done. They even did a comedy recap: 'Death To 2020', Samuel L. Jackson (narrator), Hugh Grant (clueless historian), Lisa Kudrow (blond WH talking head), Leslie Jones (psychologist), Joe Keery, Kumail Nanjiani, Tracey Ullman (the Queen) and more play archetypical characters that offer varying perspectives to the dumpster fire that the year was."

No one surprised that the Dumpster would call "Illegal" on the election results, despite no evidence. Narcissistically, it makes sense that he would want as much attention on him after his embarrassing loss as possible. In fact, it is said that he plans to leave the WH and go to ML for a Dumpster 2024 rally at 5 bucks a pop. He is already leaving with over 5 million collected for his re-election. That is the most encouraging information I've heard about the whole painful extraction of his fetid, festering evilness from our national family psyche, PTSS dealing with a crazy 'father of our country' for four years. There is still talk of a military coup if the Senate doesn't back up his insanity like it has been doing for four years...not an encouraging fact. I'm counting on the military knowing better...

Other than that, the clouds of doom seem to be parting. The bright ray of a vaccine is here and being administered to those on the front lines first. Of course, there is the pharmacist in Wisconsin who destroyed 500 doses of the vaccine because he didn't believe in it. I think he should be charged with attempted murder since there will probably be deaths to some of the 500 not getting that vaccine this week.

Wisconsin pharmacist

Though Ted Cruz will oppose the electoral college confirmation, there are some GOPs, whom the Dumpster calls "Rinos" who will not, saying it violates their 'oath of office' which of course it does. It just goes to show that "it ain't over until the fat lady sings" or in this case, is escorted from the White House onto Air Force 1 to Maro Lago. Below, another patriot, Cornyn, who refuses to sell out his country.

Part 6: Thoughts during a Time of Crisis

I stood yesterday near a grassy field watching my partner play with his dog. I then looked to a crow sitting in a tree and had the thought that each of us, the crow, the tree, me, the earth, the sun are examples of the Universe realizing itself. In every rock, plant, and creature on this plant, are designs of the Universe created to experience that particular object or being existing in itself. I stood on the ground, on the earth, looking at a crow, looking at its surroundings, on a tree, rooted in those surroundings ever since it was a sprout. The Universe experiences itself from a stationary position, rooted in the ground of the earth for years. It then experiences death and deterioration back into the earth. It will experience the earth for billions of years before the earth itself becomes a red dwarf and explodes. It has happened this way for billions of years. Will it happen until the Universe has experienced every single entity in itself? Is that why it's taking so long? There's just so much stuff out there to experience and be experienced.

As the quarantine continues, so do the restrictions. Now, masks are required in grocery stores and even out walking. Research has been done on how long the viral particles can float in the air. They could still be there hanging, long after the cougher has passed and you could feasibly run right into them. We hear there is much reclaiming that the earth is accomplishing, cleaner air and water, less noise pollution from airplanes. China is slowly returning back to normal, but the date of freedom here keeps getting pushed forward. First, Dumptr said all would be back to normal by Easter. He wants people back in the workforce. The busy little worker bees working for the weekend, often two or three jobs. It's blatantly clear now, as it was after Katrina, that the poor, minority groups are hit hardest during times of crisis and the rich continue to get richer. It's the capitalist way. With each of us hunkered down in our own space, mass protests are no longer possible. The freedom of assembly has been curtailed. Though we are losing money daily, the population is very much under control and protests are unheard of. There are even rumors that the upcoming election will be cancelled, playing right into the would-be dictator's schemes. In fact, there are those who believe he knew about the existence of the virus months before and chose not to act. He is known for instinctively turning a tide to his advantage. Some are seeing that they GOP is willing to sacrifice lives (they would have died anyway) to keep in power.

Today is Easter Sunday, and in the south, people are gathering in large groups to celebrate in churches. They can just as easily watch it broadcast at home, but cynics say that the church can not make money that way. Charlatans are still out there asking for money even as 13% (up from 3.6%) of the population is now unemployed. I will be unemployed as of August. The future has never been more uncertain.

The world sharing pretty much the same situation, same restrictions and fears, is a novel experience. Due to the novel virus being spread much further than ever before, almost every country is in shutdown. The workers usually ignored, grocery workers and garbage collectors, are not essential. Doctors and nurses and their staffs are on the front lines, dying at unprecedented rates as the material to keep them safe is in short supply, due to cuts in the medical systems. People living paycheck to paycheck are painfully realizing the ramifications of that habit. Multi-million dollar companies are similarly scrambling after just two weeks, asking the government for bailouts. The countries with female leaders are faring much better than the others. The US is taking one of the hardest hits due to its narcissistic leader and his band of oligarchs...rich, white capitalists. Now, more than ever in the past, is the time for this flawed system to collapse.

Just as after 911, there is so much potential for change, for good, for renewals and spring cleanings. As people do it in their homes in their free time, so should populaces do it in their countries...kicking out the greedy, corrupted bullies and instating a novel system more attuned to the people's needs. I am sending out energy that we will have the strength to accomplish this, not waver or be distracted from the course once the air has cleared and people feel they can safely venture out again. If ever there was a time for our spiritual helpers to assist, it is now. Such an opportunity, such a challenge, such time for change.

Part 7: Black Lives Matter Becomes a National Movement

It took the death of four innocent black people, (Ahmaud Arbery (Jogging is Deadly), George Floyd ( I Can't Breathe), Breonna Taylor (Shot in her Bed) and David McAtee Protecting His Property ) amid the lock-down of the Pandemic, making people more aware, bold and free to protest.

Soon, there were protests in 50 states, yes even North Dakota and Wyoming, as well as 18 countries. In England, protesters pulled down the statue of Edward Colston a philanthropist and also slave Trader from its park in Bristol and thrown it in the nearby river. Earlier in the week, the 10-story tall statue of Robert E Lee was removed from Richmond, Virginia, with his descendant, Robert W. Lee stating, "My ancestor is probably rolling in his grave...let him roll!"

The major colonial powers who dealt in slave-trade were Portugal, England, France, Spain, Denmark and Sweden...the major European powers. Our country was founded on stolen land and stolen people did most of the work to make sure it worked as it was set up to work. Even today's police force was set up to keep the people of color in line in the 1800s and hasn't changed much since. Change like this is hard to accomplish but long overdue! I have relatives, some still living, who are quaking in their boots about this overhauling of sacred white privilege. There is something about being conservative and racist, Republican and racist, uneducated and racist, untraveled and racist that is endemic is this country.

Then, after days of protests in Seattle, one in which Councilwoman Kashama Sawant got tear gassed along with the other protesters,

A lot of time has been spent on social media, being the Cyber Warrior, broadcasting my views and others with whom I agree.

There is a competing site now called Liker. We'll see how successful it is in providing some competition to the Zuckerfuckberg. Istagram was providing competition and so he bought the guy out. Such are the monopolies.

1. I was listening to Ziad Masri give his version of meditation and the paradigm shift.1) he purpose of meditation is to awaken you to your True Nature (you are not your name, personality, body or mind...you are the observer of these)

2. Your True Self is completely open to what is happening at the moment...nothing needs to change. There should be no resistance.

3. You can be in meditation every moment of the day...it's the conscious awareness of who you really are.

I have been in an extended state of joy for the past week or so. Could it be because of the shift going on? I am more aware of feeling, the pulsating of blood in the healing cut on my left thumb, the continual ringing in both ears, the sound of the traffic sloshing by on the wet street, the corner of the wooden coffee table pressing into my right foot. The taste of watermelon noodles that I made after seeing a post of them on the Recipes of North Dakota link, of coffee in the morning, pate and fruit...even cold water. You are the universe experiencing itself.

About a week later, after the July 4th abominations at the mountain of all statue and portrayal abominations, Mount Rushmore (where Dumpstr continued to sow seeds of sedition and mendacity amongst the seething sheeples, Kanye West throws in his headdress as a Republicon challenger to the Dumpster. Will this shit show ever cease? One of the recent cartoons is 43 white faces, 1 black face and the face of a clown representing the 45 presidents to date.

Part 8: Month 8, Countdown to the Election

Mid October.The craziest month yet in the Pandemic. The deaths continue. Countries like Spain and The Czech Republic, who opened up, close back down due to rising deaths. In this country, depending on red state, blue state, things are in various stages of lockdown. People wear masks in Seattle almost all the time. A few never do. We're better than most of the country, though. The POTUS and FLOTUS both got it and survived. "No big deal," was the take away from that. Now the POTUS wants to shove through a new ultra-conservative SCOTUS to replace RBG. She couldn't hold old. Someone said that it's as democracy depends on the struggle of an 87 year old woman (RBG) and a 78 year old man (Moscow Mitch). We have the young up and comers who should be in charge, Beto, Buttagieg, the AOC to name three, but the system has their hands tied as the 77 year old candidate (Biden) is the one the people feel safest with. Safety, which none of us have anymore, is still the trump card. That card may have to change its name after all this ordeal. FFS

Social Media is awash with lies and exaggerated claims. Both sides are guilty of not answering the questions put to them. The presidential debate was a fiasco, a Shit Show, a national embarrassment. This is how low we have fallen. The VP debate was somewhat better, but still annoying in the way the didn't answer questions and had to get out their talking points.

The New Normal drags on...gay men in their prime go 220 days without sex with another man. People cross the streets when they see you coming, especially if you are unmasked and they are masked. Mask is in everyone's vocabulary and thoughts. People continue to work from home and 21 story office towers like the one I worked in stand empty except for maintenance men. Traffic is back to its normal pace, but the once vibrant downtown is now a ghost center. The only places that seem normal are the shopping malls in the burbs and small towns. Europe fares better because the center is the center. Here, the center is just an option. That part is sad. Many parts are sad. The numbers hover around 220,000 dead. About 4 times as many. 12,000-61,000 is normal and it's usually not world wide. Worldwide deaths are now up to 1 million with over 38 million cases. Europe, North America and India have the biggest concentrations. Russia is a mystery. Africa has been spared this one. It's about time they get a break. Still way behind the Spanish flu, which claimed 50 million. Just a small tick in the present world population of 7.8 billion. 331 million in the US, so a mere 1 in every 1500 people has died... .0007% What's the big ruckus? Is it worth the shut downs? At this point, I think the shut down has had some advantages to people's priorities. On the other hand, it's taken a toll on employment and family dynamics. I feel most sorry for the teenagers and the single young people.

So, Biden wins with 290 electoral votes and the Dumpster calls fraud and illegalities, as he said he would. It doesn't help the daily stress levels at all. Worries of a coup and an end to Democracy loom. I don't do what i need to do to stay healthy, so my depression lingers long past when it should have regressed a bit.

Part 9: and then, January 6, 2021

I get it. You don Revolutionary apparel, dress up like trapper/warriors and imagine that you are patriots.

"There is one standard for white Americans, and another for Americans of color."

"The Capitol police were complicit."

"If these people had been black or other people of color, they would all be dead."

"Who has the right to protest?"

"Many people do not even feel free or as free to speak out as those folks who stormed the Capitol yesterday because they have seen what happens to them (At the George Floyd protests)"co

"America has historically seen coup after coup, be they political, economic..."

"Where do we go from here?"

I get it. You have seen that politicians are often liars (and not to be trusted) and as the rich get richer, the poor get poorer (economic inequity). Educated people 'talk over your head' and you think they are being superior and therefore should be held in contempt. The 'average guy' is not listened to and you are feeling left behind with all this talk of globalization, climate change (which you don't believe in), Artificial Intelligence and 'a new world order' (meaning countries cooperating and diversity of race, beliefs, culture embraced). You want to go back to a former, less complicated time when you feel America was 'great' and you felt heard and comfortable in your life in these here United States.

What you DON'T understand is that times have changed. This is no longer the 1700s, time for a Civil War, the wild, wild West, or even the fabulous 50's. That America was NOT great. There was more poverty, more illness, more inequality, more violence...the list goes on. You are mostly disenfranchised white males who are search for your perceived entitlement. "Where is my pot of gold?"

Fortunately for the general good, there has been progress and we have evolved as a species. You are fighting this progress (5G) AND evolution (diversity and equality) because you don't understand it, you feel threatened by it and ultimately, you don't want it. The universe is all about change and whether you like it or not, the world moves on, with or without you. You can be the evolving mammal or you can be the dinosaur. It IS that time.

You have said that 'nothing like this has happened here since 1776' but in fact "Yesterday, we witnessed an attempted coup by Trump's white nationalist supporters in broad daylight." You are misguided. You are not patriots. You are misguided (by the POTUS).

What happens now? Will the US turn a corner and start to deal with its seamy underbelly: institutional and endemic racism, economic and gender inequality?

A line has been crossed both by the mob and some senators and representatives.

A week later, the House voted once again to impeach his traitorous ass. This means he's the first president in history to be impeached twice, the first for conspiring with a foreign country against his own and the second for exciting sedition among his followers. (In some narcissistic highlight, this is yet another of the firsts ( hopefully the last that he can add to his nefarious legacy. I suspect that as long as he is in the headlines, for better or worse, his frail ego is somehow assuaged.

The right honorable dipshit from Ohio whined that the poor little POTUS never had a chance...that 15 minutes into his term he was already up for impeachment (re: witch hunt) and the evil Dems never let up and now there's only a week left, so let bygones be bygones. Let him off the hook...never mind the 'clear and present danger' he daily represents and that his finger has been slapped off the Twitter and Facebook buttons, but it still has itchy access to the nuclear option app.

Part 10: February 2021

The trial and investigation of the insurrection of December 6, as it is now called, has begun.

There is a mad rush to get the vaccinations. A 90 year old woman walked 6 miles in the snow so she could get hers so she could she her grandchildren, the youngest of whom has never seen her face without a mask on. Surprisingly, adorably, the baby can recognize if people are smiling from their eyes and smiles back.

Fran Goldman walked 6 miles round trip

We got our vaccines this month, two weeks apart, with no adverse reactions. There is a new stronger variant of the virus which started in South Africa and has now made its way to Seattle. There is some question whether the vaccine can keep up the ever virulent new strains.

500,000 people have now died in the US. It was 400,000 at the Inauguration, a month and five days ago. 100,000 a month was the peak and now it's starting to decline, for now. People are cautiously optimistic. We are taking the trip we had planned to take last March, but cancelled due to the onslaught of the Pandemic. We'll get on an airplane for the first time in about a year. Last year, at this time, we were in Todos Santos on the Baja Peninsula, even after news of the virus spreading was published. We look back now unbelieving that we took that risk.

In the past two weeks, I had two cafe visits marking a lightening up of the lock down. First, to Tougo, where I had a coffee outside in the sun while writing and drinking, the one thing I have missed the most. Then, a lunch in at Good Neighbor Cafe. I had eaten there once before in the Pandemic with Fanny, but we went on lock-down for the second time. Restaurants have set up little outdoor greenhouses for small parties to eat in, in the streets and on the sidewalks in front of their establishments. Some are itching to get back to some sense of normal, and others, like me, have embraced the New Normal and accepted what will not go back to normal and what might.

I still haven't talked to my brother, the COVID denier, who caught it and almost died of double pneumonia. His cancer has returned and he knows my politics and his ilk were part of the insurrection, so I am experiencing the family rifts, reminiscent of the first Civil War, where brother would fight brother across the Mason Dixon Line. The unruly mob, brandishing MK-150w, pepper spray and re-bar, (the 21st century version of pitchforks and torches) have claimed this their first victory over the evil empire and more are planned. The new government and FBI are cracking down, and now over 250 of the 800 (out of 10,000) who entered the Capitol building with intentions of murdering Nancy Pelosi and stringing up Mike Pence on a make-shift gallows outside have now been arrested.

Next month will be the one year anniversary of my new life as an online teacher, working from home...a New Normal I whole-heartedly embrace. It's so much better than my work life pre-COVID!

I get an appointment in the southern suburb of Renton to get my shot, and wisened from the Internet, Ricardo goes along to get on the wait list. My appointment was at 1 and he went back at 4:30 to get his. No after effects like some have had after the second shot 21 days later. It made us feel 'safer' to do the trip in March.

Part 11: March Comes in like a Lamb

"If March comes in like a lamb, it'll go out like a lion." In addition to St. Patrick's Day, the Spring Equinox and the Ides of March, that was a beloved quote from my mom that would pop out this time of year. We got our vaccine shots in late February and made our first trip to Sedona,, Arizona in March. We go future home hunting, not so much looking at houses as at what's there. Organic Food store, check. Coffee places, check. Good breakfast place, check. Reasonably priced housing, well, sorta. For what we're looking for, a small casita to act as a home base, with a mother-in-law for guests, would cost under 400,000. It does get cold and there can be snow, but the beauty of the place, the surrounding small towns and the proximity of a college town (Flagstaff) and an airport (Phoenix) make up for that.

Actualment, our first post-COVID, still in the Pandemic flight wasn't as bad as expected. What WAS worse than expected were the TSA lines, which I'd imagined would be a breeze. Seems by March 7th, fliers were back to their old habits. All the areas were packed, as was the plane. Most people kept their masks on, except the woman across the aisle from us who would only keep it over her mouth; she somehow needed her nose free. R called the FA and pointed this out, but after slipping it up till the FA left, she went back to her habit, chatting with the lady next to her nonstop to Phoenix. But for the masks, you wouldn't know there was anything out of the ordinary going on. People in Arizona were mostly respectful of the now federal mask wearing rule and we felt comfortable eating out. I myself left with the feeling that this is definitely a place that I could live in. In fact, I was imagining crawling out into the landscape when it's time to die.

It's been over a year since the world changed, everything stopped, and the Pandemic Lockdown began.

Endemic Pandemic

Part 1: Seattle as the Epicenter

How did it all start? First, it was STEP A, everyone from China, talking about it and one student bemoaning the fact that some people in Wuhan, China will eat anything. It seems eating a diseased bat started it, as contact with a monkey started AIDS. That group made it back and we had a fun time. The next two-week class was canceled because travel from China had been suspended. I skipped the next group to go to Mexico with Rene and Anne, and started the fourth group with a reduced group. After only one week, the UW decided to cancel in-person classes and that program ended. Now, there is the worry that I may not even have enough work to retire as I had planned. I started job hunting as soon as we heard the program will probably close the end of summer. Now, it’s the start of spring quarter, and we only have 20 new students (as opposed to a healthy 80). Moreover, these classes may have to be on-line, so I’ll have to learn a program called Zoom. All the signs are pointing to me getting out of this career and Rene is talking about getting out of the country. China and Iran took the biggest initial hits, then Italy closed down. Just today, 3/11/2020, Dumptr canceled all flights to and from Europe, except for England, who Brexited earlier this year. Also, today, the public schools followed the university’s precedent, and closed down, as did the Burke Museum. The governor has banned any meetings over 250 people. Any meetings over 13 are discouraged and on my way back from the gym, which is still open, the train was mostly empty, with the buses being just a little fuller. You see people in masks, bus drivers, students until the classes were cancelled, doctors and nurses, shoppers, passers by. It’s all disconcerting. People are over reacting, in my opinion…the North Dakotan whose bus driver always made it through when all the others cancelled.

Facebook and Instagram are double edged swords. First, it is and always has been a community of contact at a time when face to face contact has decreased steadily over the years. (Ironically, it’s been decreasing directly because of the technology that gave us Facebook in the first place!) I send a photo of a candle burning for all our brothers and sisters across the world to my Greek pagan witch friend Vas. I am at home after going to our favorite neighborhood coffee shop this morning with the dog (hoping to see its friend Pinky there), only to find out that they are closing, due to the uncertainty. There are those who say that what is happening now in Italy will happen here, too. It’s only a matter of time.

Speaking of FB, I’m chatting on line now with Alban, my brother-from-another-life teacher friend in France, where everything is still normal. We talked about how people are getting into being the characters in an epidemic horror film and acting accordingly. We both acknowledge the advantages of learning in the flesh, but also know people are lazy and always take the easy way out. Even as we communicated, President Macron issued the edict to close all schools and universities starting Monday. I look outside to the sunny March day and think similar days greeted the Spanish Flu and the Black Death. At least this one is not smelly.

Here’s the resume I have sent:

CAREER SUMMARY

My international experience began after undergraduate school with the Peace Corps in Morocco. My strengths of responsibility, patience and adaptability gained from being raised on a farm contributed to a successful and rewarding overseas experience. The professional aspect of my international experience began with teaching and studying in the Teaching English as a Second Language Program at CSU. As the Graduate Student Representative, in addition to teaching, being the liaison between the faculty and the students honed my leadership, organizational and diplomatic skills. From my first teaching job at Saint Martin’s College to my extensive career at the University of Washington, these skills developed greatly over the years.

Writing and editing, International relations, counseling, public relations, intercultural communication,

EMPLOYMENT

English Language Instructor, UW Campus and downtown ELP, material development, listening and speaking and grammar specialties 3/16/2005 to present

Compliance Specialist, (change to Professional Staff status from Extension Lecturer) effective March 2004

Admissions and Immigration Director, University of Washington International Outreach Programs, Seattle WA. Admissions and Immigration for all UW Educational Outreach International Programs. Primary Designated Student Official in the Immigration and Customs Enforcement SEVIS program. 1/2004 to present.

Director of Student Services, University of Washington Educational Outreach, Seattle, WA. Directing all international student services in the English Language program including acceptance, immigration advising, orientation (initial and on-going), information dissemination (weekly newsletter), sponsors, housing, language exchange and extracurricular activities. Teaching an English Language class is part of the administration positions. 9/2000 to 1/2004.

Acting Director, Downtown ESL Program, Directing ESL program with 80 students and nine faculty and staff. Payroll and expenditure authorization, supervising office staff and providing support for teachers and students. June 12-August 18, 2000.

International Student Advisor, ESL Programs, University of Washington Educational Outreach (UWEO), Seattle, WA. Immigration, academic and personal advising. Activities supervisor, conversation exchange program coordinator, extended orientation class development and instruction, weekly newsletter publisher. Taught extended orientation class in ESL Program, speaking and listening focus. Liaison with UWEO Business Office, sponsoring agencies and embassies, UW housing office, and home stay agencies. 3/87 to 9/2000.

PROFESSIONAL ORGANIZATIONS AND SERVICES

Peace Corps Volunteer, Taza, Morocco. High school instructor of English at Lycee Sidi Azzouz in Taza. Outreach to disabled children in a special summer project at a special school in Martil, Morocco. From 6/78-6/80.

Member NAFSA: Association of International Educators and the Association of Washington International Student Affairs (AWISA). Received Outstanding Service Award. Reached out especially to the LGBT international community by producing a video and presenting workshops and sessions yearly at national and regional TESOL and NAFSA conferences.

EDUCATION AND PROFESSIONAL TRAINING

Cetlalic Language Program, Cuernavaca, Mexico, Intensive Spanish study January 3-16, 2004.

International House, Madrid, Spain, Intensive Spanish Study and Study Abroad experience 99-00

NAFSA Professional Development Training May 1998

M.A. TESL/Linguistics, Colorado State University 1982

B.S. Psychology, Minor in French, University of North Dakota, 1977

a week, we had done some bonding and I was remembering the difference between the two girls with similar, to me, names.

Like the 1918 Spanish Flu, which took my grandmother Voeller and Catherine Thomas’ husband, starting the huge Voeller clan, the last dying before this next-100-year epidemic took hold. It centered in a nursing home in Kirkland, and has taken mostly the elderly. Some say it is cleaning out the dark, negative energy.

Part 2: Two Months in

It’s now been over two months since people were sent to their rooms to thinking long and hard about what they have done…to the

Mother, to Gaia. Yesterday was Mother’s Day and I posted photos both of my mother and Gaia in celebration of the day. I have picked up a variety pack of online friends…Roial Co (Philippine Reiki Master (I attuned him from 2 to 3 over the phone in an hour-long ceremony last weekend. He could be part of the soul family…other members being Kim, Aric, Bob, Bachir, Robert, Vivian, Paki, Roy, Cynthia, Alban for sure), Mahamed, Eryk (also for sure), Samuel and the latest…Randy. There could be up to 90 scattered across the planet at this time…like shatters of glass (Roi). I’m almost to the point where I can start writing in my books again.

The state was supposed to go into what is called “Stage 2” on June 1, five days from now, but people are still dying (up to 100,000 in the states, 300,000 worldwide) so now it’s mid-month. More monetary help is on the way. The veil is thinning. Strange events are starting to become common. I am meeting good people around the world on social media. We send money to Samuel after vetting him, but Kelvin Moore turns out to be a Yemeni hack. Oh well. My gardens, on the other hand, are glorious and giving me much pleasure. I have fresh flowers here at my little at home desk and downstairs on the kitchen counter. The ones at my office desk are from the top deck and the ones on the counter are from the east English garden. I am trying to attract elves and fairies to both gardens and have started playing my harp out there, with melodies that come to me from the plants’ exhalations. I installed a lady bug house at the base of the climbing vines and will sit out there when the weather gets better and it’s supposed to reach record heat this summer. Yikes. Along with world pandemic, murder hornets, ravaging storms and the 17 year cadydid cycle falling on 2020, a record heat wave and resulting fires are just par for the course.

Going out in public these days, at least here in the city, you would see that nearly everyone has a mask on. It’s a bit disconcerting looking at eyes above various colors of masks, the new item of outer wear. The cute barista wore a black one, the owner a bandanna, his wife, the chef, a more medical-looking surgical mask, the lady in front of me, a homemade jobby. Out in the boonies, there is a culture war between those who believe we need to wear masks to protect both ourselves and others and those who believe that it’s all a hoax and it’s a way for the government to muzzle us, limit our freedom. Both sides see the other as sheeple.

Part 3: Month 6

It’s now 70 days until November 3 and as Antonio from Spain said, “At the end of the day, it’s up to a few Floridians, a bunch of Ohioans and a handful of Michiganians to decide the future of mankind…” The DNC went better than anyone had expected, with great speeches from both Michelle and Barack Obama, the AOC, Kamala Harris and culminating with one by Biden, himself. This week, the shit show in a burning dumpster called teh RNC has started with hysterical screaming and drug-induced ramblings laying all blame the the Dems and predicting a daily reality of lawlessness, rioting and burning cities if Biden gets elected. Only 70 days until we decide whether to stay in this country, or like our ancestors, try our luck in a new one: Mexico, Spain or Portugal are the top runners right now. We plan to go south to check out Flagstaff and Sedona, Arizona this Christmas. Last Christmas, it was El Paso, Alpine and Marfa, Texas and Los Crucas, New Mexico.

I am on the break between summer and fall…noteably the longest one of the year, often five weeks. I usually go back to North Dakota during this time, but that’s not happening this year, probably never again. The last time I was there, I was suffering from depression and I had a feeling I would not be seeing it again. Best to leave it to my memories of happier days there when the people I grew up with were still alive.

This divide in the country, instigated by Russian bots and carried out by Puppet Dumpster, has been the last straw, the one to have broken the camel’s back that was my family connection. Foreseen by my late sister Lori, when she said (in response to whether it was now my job to keep the family together), “We are all adults now. If anyone decides to never see the others again, then that’s up to them, not you.” First, it was LaVonne who stopped texting or answering my texts. Then, Dennis stopped answering my phone calls and stopped calling as well. Rosie and Jamie are still cyber-stalking me on Facebook and Instagram (Rosie made an Instagram account as soon as I said I was leaving FB in disgust. She has never posted anything and has no photos in her folder…she just checks to see what I’m up to.) I stopped posting political craziness last week as it was becoming too much work to research what was fear-inducing truth and what was fear-inducing fiction. The tainted GOP is all about striking fear into the hearts of anyone who will listen to their rabid rantings.

Another week, another innocent black man shot by racist white police. Then, to add insult to injury, a trumped up 17 year old from Illinois goes across the border to shoot two protesters, walking by police to go home and then turn himself in the next day. (It comes out later that he shot the first victim in the back, and that his mom drove him to the protest, as if it were a soccer practice!) I had to break my political silence on FB, which I have just decided I will have to leave. I don’t know if I can deal with Liker, the current alternative, either. It’s the brainchild of some guy who saw where FB was going in 2012 and decided people needed an option. They need an option, all right. The option to opt out of social media, the new Dolls of the 2010s and now 20s.

I wake up early on 8/27/2020 and disable my Facebook account. I can’t quite go cold turkey and get rid of Messenger along with it, because there are some people on there I still want to support. This is the second time I have tried to do this. After 13 years (is that all? It seems half my life!), it’s a main social outlet that I am moving away from. Especially now, in the time of pandemics, it will be more isolating, but the vitriol and Hate being spewed forth is out of balance with what’s really out there…I hope. There were those who had to spew the venom that the skateboarder that was killed, a gentle, long-haired hippy soul, deserved to die. I can not relate nor be exposed to such unadulterated hate. Their minds have been poisoned by no other than the POTUS, (and the institutionalized racism/hate behind him) as well as hate speech on line. My family has succumbed to the Fear of the Other as well. So be it. It may mean leaving the country if this upcoming election is stolen like the last one was. I refuse to believe that a majority of people in this country have drunk the Kool-aid.

Reading “The Witches are Coming” by Lindy West is giving me more insight, a chance to laugh and even some hope.

“Our propensity for always, always, always choosing what is comfortable over what is right helped pave the road to this low and surreal moment in US history.”

Part 4: Month 7

From September 8 to 18, Seattle was socked in under a cloud of ash from the fires down south. I could feel the ashes of the bodies the those who died, as well as the chemicals of the burnt human structures. Breitenbush Hot Springs lay in ashes with only the main buildings saved. I could feel the heaviness in my lungs. Mishka could sense it and acted out by peeing outside the box. On the 14th, it finally rained some and we still have more days to endure. I got up from epic dreams of lost family (my mom, That Bitch Denis, DJ, my nieces who my mom prepared us for so they could come in and check us out sleeping) and went out into the acid rain to witness it. The craziness coming from the POTUS and media intensifies as it’s now 50 days till the election.

Then, when it seems to be darkest before the dawn, the triple threat of the GOPruients, COVID-19 and the death-ash from the west coast fires, we find on the evening of 9/18/20 that the Notorious RBG, Ruth Bader Ginsberg, justice of the SCOTUS, died at 87, after having fought numerous ailments, including cancer. That bitch, Moscow Mitch immediately states the Senate will vote on a replacement even before the body is cold, even though in 2016 he said that the people of the US should have a say in the next SCOTUS, therefore, the appointment should wait until the election of the new president…blocking Obama in this last year, from appointing one. This will enable the Dumpster in his last weeks to appoint another conservative, anti-abortionist.

It becomes harder to grasp what is actually going on..these times are so unprecedented in our life times, though to those of us for whom AIDS was an epidemic, this is our second time around fearing for our lives. We know it’s a long haul with many casualties before we come out on the other side, but whatever was normal no longer will be.

We go out for healthy burgers at Little Big Burger, where you can get a lettuce wrap in the place of a bun. We are both on edge and irritable and go to our separate corners after we eat in silence to grieve in our own way. Me typing here with all my altar lights on and a candle burning by the RBG candle, as the first fall rains sound outside, clearing the air for the first time in 10 days. The temptation to sell the house and leave the country is strong. The need to stay and fight on will probably prevail, but may not take the re-election of the anti-Christ, the embodiment of the Seven Deadly sins: pride, greed, lust, envy, gluttony, wrath and sloth,

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pnwriter · 4 years ago

Text

Endemic Pandemic

Part 1: Seattle as the Epicenter

How did it all start? First, it was STEP A, everyone from China, talking about it and one student bemoaning the fact that some people in Wuhan, China will eat anything. It seems eating a diseased bat started it, as contact with a monkey started AIDS. That group made it back and we had a fun time. The next two-week class was canceled because travel from China had been suspended. I skipped the next group to go to Mexico with Rene and Anne, and started the fourth group with a reduced group. After only one week, the UW decided to cancel in-person classes and that program ended. Now, there is the worry that I may not even have enough work to retire as I had planned. I started job hunting as soon as we heard the program will probably close the end of summer. Now, it's the start of spring quarter, and we only have 20 new students (as opposed to a healthy 80). Moreover, these classes may have to be on-line, so I'll have to learn a program called Zoom. All the signs are pointing to me getting out of this career and Rene is talking about getting out of the country. China and Iran took the biggest initial hits, then Italy closed down. Just today, 3/11/2020, Dumptr canceled all flights to and from Europe, except for England, who Brexited earlier this year. Also, today, the public schools followed the university's precedent, and closed down, as did the Burke Museum. The governor has banned any meetings over 250 people. Any meetings over 13 are discouraged and on my way back from the gym, which is still open, the train was mostly empty, with the buses being just a little fuller. You see people in masks, bus drivers, students until the classes were cancelled, doctors and nurses, shoppers, passers by. It's all disconcerting. People are over reacting, in my opinion...the North Dakotan whose bus driver always made it through when all the others cancelled.

Facebook and Instagram are double edged swords. First, it is and always has been a community of contact at a time when face to face contact has decreased steadily over the years. (Ironically, it's been decreasing directly because of the technology that gave us Facebook in the first place!) I send a photo of a candle burning for all our brothers and sisters across the world to my Greek pagan witch friend Vas. I am at home after going to our favorite neighborhood coffee shop this morning with the dog (hoping to see its friend Pinky there), only to find out that they are closing, due to the uncertainty. There are those who say that what is happening now in Italy will happen here, too. It's only a matter of time.

Speaking of FB, I'm chatting on line now with Alban, my brother-from-another-life teacher friend in France, where everything is still normal. We talked about how people are getting into being the characters in an epidemic horror film and acting accordingly. We both acknowledge the advantages of learning in the flesh, but also know people are lazy and always take the easy way out. Even as we communicated, President Macron issued the edict to close all schools and universities starting Monday. I look outside to the sunny March day and think similar days greeted the Spanish Flu and the Black Death. At least this one is not smelly.

Here's the resume I have sent:

CAREER SUMMARY

Writing and editing, International relations, counseling, public relations, intercultural communication,

EMPLOYMENT

English Language Instructor, UW Campus and downtown ELP, material development, listening and speaking and grammar specialties 3/16/2005 to present

Compliance Specialist, (change to Professional Staff status from Extension Lecturer) effective March 2004

PROFESSIONAL ORGANIZATIONS AND SERVICES

EDUCATION AND PROFESSIONAL TRAINING

Cetlalic Language Program, Cuernavaca, Mexico, Intensive Spanish study January 3-16, 2004.

International House, Madrid, Spain, Intensive Spanish Study and Study Abroad experience 99-00

NAFSA Professional Development Training May 1998

M.A. TESL/Linguistics, Colorado State University 1982

B.S. Psychology, Minor in French, University of North Dakota, 1977

a week, we had done some bonding and I was remembering the difference between the two girls with similar, to me, names.

Like the 1918 Spanish Flu, which took my grandmother Voeller and Catherine Thomas' husband, starting the huge Voeller clan, the last dying before this next-100-year epidemic took hold. It centered in a nursing home in Kirkland, and has taken mostly the elderly. Some say it is cleaning out the dark, negative energy.

Part 2: Two Months in

It's now been over two months since people were sent to their rooms to thinking long and hard about what they have done...to the

Mother, to Gaia. Yesterday was Mother's Day and I posted photos both of my mother and Gaia in celebration of the day. I have picked up a variety pack of online friends...Roial Co (Philippine Reiki Master (I attuned him from 2 to 3 over the phone in an hour-long ceremony last weekend. He could be part of the soul family...other members being Kim, Aric, Bob, Bachir, Robert, Vivian, Paki, Roy, Cynthia, Alban for sure), Mahamed, Eryk (also for sure), Samuel and the latest...Randy. There could be up to 90 scattered across the planet at this time...like shatters of glass (Roi). I'm almost to the point where I can start writing in my books again.

The state was supposed to go into what is called "Stage 2" on June 1, five days from now, but people are still dying (up to 100,000 in the states, 300,000 worldwide) so now it's mid-month. More monetary help is on the way. The veil is thinning. Strange events are starting to become common. I am meeting good people around the world on social media. We send money to Samuel after vetting him, but Kelvin Moore turns out to be a Yemeni hack. Oh well. My gardens, on the other hand, are glorious and giving me much pleasure. I have fresh flowers here at my little at home desk and downstairs on the kitchen counter. The ones at my office desk are from the top deck and the ones on the counter are from the east English garden. I am trying to attract elves and fairies to both gardens and have started playing my harp out there, with melodies that come to me from the plants' exhalations. I installed a lady bug house at the base of the climbing vines and will sit out there when the weather gets better and it's supposed to reach record heat this summer. Yikes. Along with world pandemic, murder hornets, ravaging storms and the 17 year cadydid cycle falling on 2020, a record heat wave and resulting fires are just par for the course.

Going out in public these days, at least here in the city, you would see that nearly everyone has a mask on. It's a bit disconcerting looking at eyes above various colors of masks, the new item of outer wear. The cute barista wore a black one, the owner a bandanna, his wife, the chef, a more medical-looking surgical mask, the lady in front of me, a homemade jobby. Out in the boonies, there is a culture war between those who believe we need to wear masks to protect both ourselves and others and those who believe that it's all a hoax and it's a way for the government to muzzle us, limit our freedom. Both sides see the other as sheeple.

Part 3: Month 6

It's now 70 days until November 3 and as Antonio from Spain said, "At the end of the day, it's up to a few Floridians, a bunch of Ohioans and a handful of Michiganians to decide the future of mankind..." The DNC went better than anyone had expected, with great speeches from both Michelle and Barack Obama, the AOC, Kamala Harris and culminating with one by Biden, himself. This week, the shit show in a burning dumpster called teh RNC has started with hysterical screaming and drug-induced ramblings laying all blame the the Dems and predicting a daily reality of lawlessness, rioting and burning cities if Biden gets elected. Only 70 days until we decide whether to stay in this country, or like our ancestors, try our luck in a new one: Mexico, Spain or Portugal are the top runners right now. We plan to go south to check out Flagstaff and Sedona, Arizona this Christmas. Last Christmas, it was El Paso, Alpine and Marfa, Texas and Los Crucas, New Mexico.

I am on the break between summer and fall...noteably the longest one of the year, often five weeks. I usually go back to North Dakota during this time, but that's not happening this year, probably never again. The last time I was there, I was suffering from depression and I had a feeling I would not be seeing it again. Best to leave it to my memories of happier days there when the people I grew up with were still alive.

This divide in the country, instigated by Russian bots and carried out by Puppet Dumpster, has been the last straw, the one to have broken the camel's back that was my family connection. Foreseen by my late sister Lori, when she said (in response to whether it was now my job to keep the family together), "We are all adults now. If anyone decides to never see the others again, then that's up to them, not you." First, it was LaVonne who stopped texting or answering my texts. Then, Dennis stopped answering my phone calls and stopped calling as well. Rosie and Jamie are still cyber-stalking me on Facebook and Instagram (Rosie made an Instagram account as soon as I said I was leaving FB in disgust. She has never posted anything and has no photos in her folder...she just checks to see what I'm up to.) I stopped posting political craziness last week as it was becoming too much work to research what was fear-inducing truth and what was fear-inducing fiction. The tainted GOP is all about striking fear into the hearts of anyone who will listen to their rabid rantings.

Another week, another innocent black man shot by racist white police. Then, to add insult to injury, a trumped up 17 year old from Illinois goes across the border to shoot two protesters, walking by police to go home and then turn himself in the next day. (It comes out later that he shot the first victim in the back, and that his mom drove him to the protest, as if it were a soccer practice!) I had to break my political silence on FB, which I have just decided I will have to leave. I don't know if I can deal with Liker, the current alternative, either. It's the brainchild of some guy who saw where FB was going in 2012 and decided people needed an option. They need an option, all right. The option to opt out of social media, the new Dolls of the 2010s and now 20s.

I wake up early on 8/27/2020 and disable my Facebook account. I can't quite go cold turkey and get rid of Messenger along with it, because there are some people on there I still want to support. This is the second time I have tried to do this. After 13 years (is that all? It seems half my life!), it's a main social outlet that I am moving away from. Especially now, in the time of pandemics, it will be more isolating, but the vitriol and Hate being spewed forth is out of balance with what's really out there...I hope. There were those who had to spew the venom that the skateboarder that was killed, a gentle, long-haired hippy soul, deserved to die. I can not relate nor be exposed to such unadulterated hate. Their minds have been poisoned by no other than the POTUS, (and the institutionalized racism/hate behind him) as well as hate speech on line. My family has succumbed to the Fear of the Other as well. So be it. It may mean leaving the country if this upcoming election is stolen like the last one was. I refuse to believe that a majority of people in this country have drunk the Kool-aid.

Reading "The Witches are Coming" by Lindy West is giving me more insight, a chance to laugh and even some hope.

"Our propensity for always, always, always choosing what is comfortable over what is right helped pave the road to this low and surreal moment in US history."

Part 4: Month 7

Then, when it seems to be darkest before the dawn, the triple threat of the GOPruients, COVID-19 and the death-ash from the west coast fires, we find on the evening of 9/18/20 that the Notorious RBG, Ruth Bader Ginsberg, justice of the SCOTUS, died at 87, after having fought numerous ailments, including cancer. That bitch, Moscow Mitch immediately states the Senate will vote on a replacement even before the body is cold, even though in 2016 he said that the people of the US should have a say in the next SCOTUS, therefore, the appointment should wait until the election of the new president...blocking Obama in this last year, from appointing one. This will enable the Dumpster in his last weeks to appoint another conservative, anti-abortionist.

It becomes harder to grasp what is actually going on..these times are so unprecedented in our life times, though to those of us for whom AIDS was an epidemic, this is our second time around fearing for our lives. We know it's a long haul with many casualties before we come out on the other side, but whatever was normal no longer will be.

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