…I Woke Up At 2 AM CST; #quarantinelife

2 AM CST: I had to get out the bed and write something. My mind is racing. Right now, I cannot think of a title for this post. I am in limbo just like the world is in the present moment. For a mere second life was normal just a month ago and where I sit I am trying to figure out what really happened. Did the President that I did not vote for feel as if it was beneficial to only think about his bid for another move on the chess board for his own sake, or is this just a dream entitled: COVID-19. Trying to fathom if life will ever be the same again weighs heavy on my mind. Do I still have time to get married, is the letter I have been waiting on still on its way, will being a librarian and archivist now be recognized in the virtual world, are wearing masks in public the new norm? This is not a dream. Kobe Bryant’s death was not a dream. I am in reality and it stopped. I am in quarantine. The world is in quarantine mode.

Mr. President did you make the right move on the chess board? Over 40,000 people have died in the past month from a virus that was reported to the current administration at the end of 2019; capitalism will always win in America. I heard Dr. OZ say, “We will only lose a few thousand.” – Damn U, Damn that. Just a cough, a sneeze, a touch can end your life. Approaching this situation from a humanistic standpoint was the first option in my mind. What about the children? Reports came out this month that the COVID-19 is now taking over the African American population. And, who gives a damn about Black people? Can you sleep? Are you sleep? Do you believe what is happening? Seems kind of self-serving that the Governor of Texas on April 17th held a press conference announcing the opening of the Lone Star State; let’s be clear he does not have the data to back up his decision because not every Texan has been tested – including myself.

All, I continue to hear is that the economy needs to regain its vitality and lives are sacrificial unless you are 1% of the population. $1200.00 (The Donald, had to have his signature attached to it) – I will let that just sit right there and ten years from now just Google it. Stay 12 feet away from me – 6 feet is the popular notion at this point called social distancing. Tell me how the richest country in the world cannot afford to feed its own people? My eyes nearly jumped out of their sockets when I saw an image based in San Antonio, Texas where 10,000 people were in line for vittles at a food bank. Tell me why it took a virus for America to be shown its ugliness in broad daylight [AGAIN] when it comes to education, race, healthcare and the human condition?

News channels keep spinning the same rhetoric; the President is not truthful nor his administration and Republicans (-aka- Trump Supporters) now want to storm state capitol steps and demand their right to liberty, freedom, and justice. How does one sit and write commentary that makes sense of this mess that we are all in? I have been thinking about my will and if I have till the rest of this year to get the remainder what is on my writing list completed. All the while, in the back of my mind trying to keep steadfast in my faith and know that this too shall pass. It will pass, right?

In the meantime, I am developing a creative survival toolkit, hanging out at CLUB Quarantine, DJ Nice drops’em like it’s hot at any time of day. And, to think I have been ahead of the game all along…the audacity of me to have a computer in 1998, taught myself how to navigate the internet, built my first business, still in business, and now I am teaching folk what I taught myself. Ain’t nothing wrong with being upfront about your truth. I took a peek at the news and things are still the same. I wonder what Baldwin and Hansberry did during these times, because racism is a pandemic, slavery was a pandemic, and America is a pandemic in the making if we continue down this road that has been carved out for us by the Trump Administration. It’s almost 4:30 AM CST – My Time.

I dare you to give a damn about yourself in this new decade.

I dare U.

Credit Artwork, License: CC0 Public Domain, Linnaea Mallette “Abstract Squares Background”.