Ang's Journal

A few days ago, Alan texted Annie & told her to lock up the house. His reason? He had seen a woman driving slowly past our house, looking down our driveway, then down our neighbor's driveway. Then he saw her doing the same thing on the street around the corner from our house.

"Did you ask her if she was lost?" I asked him.

"No. I think she was casing our house to steal something, maybe packages."

Annie was worried enough about it that she was locking the doors behind us for the whole weekend.

This morning, an unknown car drove down our driveway. Hobbes started barking, Annie was screaming my name.

It was an Amazon delivery driver working out of a private vehicle.

This shit is so toxic. That boat might be smuggling drugs! Kill everyone on it without confirming any facts! That oil tanker might be part of a terrorist smuggling network! Board it & take the oil! There might be some criminals amongst the millions of immigrants that enter our country! Seal the border!

Fear, fear, fear, fear - be afraid! Never stop being afraid! Only a STRONG MAN will be able to quell your fear!

Thank you, but no. I choose the way of the Prince of Peace.

music link

Who do I know who has either tested positive for COVID-19 or is presumed positive? Effrontery (aka Snuffleupajoyce, my long-time friend from Philadelphia, lives in rural PA), Doctor Dave (cousin's ex-boyfriend, lives in Jersey City, works in Manhattan), Marilyn D. (older woman, friend from AA here in Denver) & her husband Dick (who was hospitalized), Rob R. (friend from AA, visited daughter in NYC & got sick there), TMcD & his wife & their daughter (live in Brooklyn), Mer-Mer (lives here in Denver, presumed positive but couldn't get tested).

It's possible my younger brother had it WAY early, like late November. He spends all his free time skiing & the resorts worldwide have been giant international petri dishes, leading to outbreak hotspots. He had a hard, hacking cough that lasted for weeks, & in December he was diagnosed with walking pneumonia. Obviously at that time there was no testing for COVID-19, so we may never know for sure.

I've become increasingly dismayed at the scientific illiteracy - & especially the innumeracy - of the American public & many of our political leaders. People do not understand how dangerous this disease is. They do not understand what a fatality rate of 0.1% would mean if we were not trying to control the spread. But worse, they do not want to understand. Understanding just gets in the way of their rage, it seems. They want to go on thinking this is "just a flu", despite Every. Single. Infectious Disease Expert. specifically saying this is NOT like the flu at all.

I wonder if there will be any long-term effects of this pandemic. Perhaps settlement patterns will disperse somewhat - now that it has been demonstrated that teleworking can be done for many, many jobs, why pay high prices to live in the city? I wonder if people will start to prioritize genuine relationships with other people. I wonder if certain jobs - grocery workers, delivery workers, others who have generally been looked down upon - will be recognized & recompensed at levels appropriate to "essential workers". I wonder if states will continue to ignore the Federal government & work on public health initiatives on their own.

I wonder if the American electorate will hold the Republican President, governors, Senators, & House members responsible for this country's abysmally slow & uncoordinated response accountable on November 3rd. Like a Twitter wise-ass said, Maybe you can't cure stupid, & apparently you can't quarantine it either - but you can vote it out. Here's hoping.

Writing to you from Harahan, LA, just outside of NOLA. My hunch last week was right - I have been deployed to just outside New Orleans - I am working in St. John the Baptist Parish (in Louisiana, parish = county; it's a legislative designation, not a Catholic one). My hotel is right in New Orleans - in fact, I can see the infamous Convention Center from my window. It's a very strange place to be - most of the city does not have electricity (although our hotel does). There is a citywide curfew from 8 PM to 6 AM, although it gets ignored in the French Quarter. There are armed guards at the door of our hotel. The streets are littered with rubble & vegetative debris. Many traffic signals & signs are out of order, so driving in the city streets can be hair-raising (my first night here, I ended up going the wrong way down a one-way street - how fast can YOU do a three-point turn??). The water at our hotel is not drinkable, although we've been told it's OK for showering (the environmental scientist in me is a bit doubtful but the alternative is not showering, so I just wash quickly & try not to think about it). Cell phone coverage is spotty but generally available. The city stinks of garbage, but strangely, I haven't spotted a single rat. Maybe they flee sinking cities as well as ships.

I only arrived at this field office yesterday, & so far it's been a slow start. FEMA is a giant bureaucracy, & because of that, it tends to move .... well, ponderously. Hopefully I will have some work to do soon so I can start feeling like I'm helping this area to get on the road to recovery.

I'm trying to find a PCUSA church in the area but (at least around my hotel) they've all been abandoned. I'll keep looking. This Sunday, I might go to Mass (!!!) at St. Louis Cathedral - that's the only church I've heard of in NOLA that's open.

I've done a bit of driving around the area. This landscape is incredibly alien to me. It is completely & utterly flat. The only topographical relief is anthropogenic - either levees or roads. There is standing water everywhere - I'm not sure if that's unusual or not. Almost all construction practices have been modified to accommodate the water - cemetaries are full of above-ground tombs (groundwater is too shallow to dig graves); all state roads are required to be built seven feet above grade (to prevent flooding); levies & associated pumping stations are giant edifices....

... & despite all this, the river & the ocean are devouring the land. One parish located south of NOLA has lost half its land mass. Driving around & seeing the standing water everywhere, I realized that it's not gonna be California that falls into the sea first.

Edit: interdictor posted a photo of a burned van a while back. This is ~5 blocks from my hotel.

As happy as I am to be living with Stacy, I'm a little bit bummed about moving out of my apartment. Jenkintown rules, & I miss it already (which is why I'm going back up there tomorrow morning, I suppose). Claymont, Delaware is a noplace in comparison.

SIGHTS:
Grace Church (inside & out)
The far-off Philadelphia skyline, which I could see from my fire escape when the trees lost their leaves
The Post Office's flag, which I could see from my desk

SOUNDS:
Train whistles
Catholic church bells at noon & 6:00 PM every day, & Episcopal church bells at 10:00 AM on Sunday mornings
Occasional, elusive wisps of bagpipe music - coming from where? I never did find out.

SMELLS:
Garlic wafting out of Buca di Beppo (just typing that makes me hungry)
Incense at Aphrodite's Dove
Roses in Ray's garden

TOUCHES:
The extremely smooth hardwood floors in my 108-year old apartment
Cool, rounded pebbles in the Tacony Creek
The spines of the books in the Jenkintown Library

TASTES:
Pumpkin Ravioli at Phriends (all right, that's been gone awhile but still)
Cream of wheat pancakes from IHOP
The entire vegetarian menu at La Pergola