The bottom line, the human kind

[sovay]

So last night Governor Baker declared a state of emergency for Massachusetts and as of this morning COVID-19 has been officially declared a pandemic by the WHO and in the meantime as far as I can tell our federal government is hoping that keeping their fingers in their ears means they can't be held responsible for the bodies stacked against their door. God damn it, the Depression took out Herbert Hoover and he didn't personally dismantle the banks. He did endorse the so-called "Mexican Repatriation," of course, so this terrible, stupid remix of the twentieth century rolls on.

I have decided it's not irony that my very early doctor's appointment yesterday gave me useful information. My hearing is undamaged; it remains what the ENT described as "supersonic." My environmental allergies are effectively out of control and their management needs to be entirely rethought in collaboration with a competent allergist rather than multiple well-meaning practitioners in different departments. I am not making this post for advice; I have a plan and an appointment and am assuming for the present time that it will continue to be possible for me to see the doctors that I need to. I am just so happy that I saw a specialist about a problem and the answer was not a shrug but some practical steps. Also it was nice out and I managed some grocery shopping and in the evening spatch and I walked into Union Square and watched The Sunshine Boys (1975) when we got back. "Was that joke from our act?"–"Who knows?"

Courtesy of tikkunolamorgtfo: I had never heard of the Ashkenazi custom of the "black wedding," held in times of epidemic—cholera, typhus, influenza. The image of the wedding in the cemetery is a powerful one. I wonder if a little of it filtered into Tevye's dream. Or An-sky.

I feel like my resting mode right now is anger and that is not physically healthy for me. I should do something with a movie.

Comments

[asakiyume]

I'm finding that custom of the black wedding more moving than I expected to. My emotions are all out of whack with this pandemic. Or maybe, in fact, they're completely appropriate. Anyway. What a touching custom.

The healing angel's significant other is Jewish and came over the other day and made magnificent cookies--they told me the name but I forget what it was--for Purim. SO DELICIOUS. I have never had Jewish things in my life any closer than internet friendships, so this was quite a treat.

Very, very glad to hear you're going to be in the hands of an allergist who can maybe give you something other than ineffective stopgap measures. Meanwhile, take as good care of yourself as you can--you are the one and only you I know.

[sovay]

Anyway. What a touching custom.

I like that it requires the support of the living as well as the witness of the dead—the ritual is not sufficient unless the couple are also set up with a home.

The healing angel's significant other is Jewish and came over the other day and made magnificent cookies--they told me the name but I forget what it was--for Purim.

If they were three-cornered and full of jam, they were hamantashn! Or as my mother's family pronounces them, humentashn. That's really nice.

I have never had Jewish things in my life any closer than internet friendships, so this was quite a treat.

I didn't realize that. If the healing angel's person is part of your life, I imagine there will be more.

Meanwhile, take as good care of yourself as you can--you are the one and only you I know.

Thank you. I am trying very hard.

[asakiyume]

Yes! Those are what they are--the cookies.

And of course as soon as I said what I said about Jewish things, the spirit of my friend down the street, who is Jewish, popped into my mind and said Hey! How about me?? And my book group member who hosts a Hanukah party each year said Hey! And me?? So yeah, I do have people in my life who are Jewish, but no one who comes into my house and cooks delicious food! Until now.

[selkie]

Your Yiddish pronunciations are so strange. I think your mother just needs to stop telling people her folk are from... here.

[desireearmfeldt]

As I was scrolling your post into frame on my screen, I misread out of the corner of my eye, "Martian Repatriation." Another possible spec-fic premise... :)

[sovay]

"Martian Repatriation." Another possible spec-fic premise...

And I hope a much nicer one than Herbert Hoover!

[davidgillon]

Everything crossed for an allergist for a plan!

[sovay]

Everything crossed for an allergist for a plan!

Thank you!

[pameladean]

I'm so glad you have a plan, and hope a competent allergist will follow shortly.

When Minnesota does declare a state of emergency I will probably not like it at all, but right now I wish they would go ahead and do it while things are not completely underway.

P.

[sovay]

I'm so glad you have a plan, and hope a competent allergist will follow shortly.

Thank you. I trust the allergist I have an appointment with: she's the person who sorted out my shellfish non-allergies in 2017. I just can't see her sooner than in two weeks.

When Minnesota does declare a state of emergency I will probably not like it at all, but right now I wish they would go ahead and do it while things are not completely underway.

Yes. There are too many barn doors behind bolted horses right now.

[rosefox]

That's exactly how I'm feeling. If it's inevitable, do it now.

[lemon_badgeress]

new mexico is SOE now too. i’ve been angry for years. this may break me because if i bring this home to my father i will kill him.

may the allergy treatment plan WORK.

[sovay]

this may break me because if i bring this home to my father i will kill him.

*hugs*

My parents are worrying about me because of my health and I am worrying about them because of their age and health and I feel there is very little I can do to keep people safe in the face of so much institutional more than indifference and I hate it.

may the allergy treatment plan WORK.

Thank you!

[nineweaving]

I saw a cryptic allusion to black weddings earlier today, which I couldn't look it up at the time, so I'm grateful for your link. What an opera this would make! But another part of my brain is worried: a thousand people gathered in a graveyard in an epidemic? Does the opera end with a chorus of ghosts? Perhaps the couple are anti-scapegoats, the chosen survivors, passed over by the angel of death. Is consummation part of the magic? They may have been single for reasons of their own...

Nine

[sovay]

I saw a cryptic allusion to black weddings earlier today, which I couldn't look it up at the time, so I'm grateful for your link.

You're welcome! I am fascinated that it has just been hanging out in the cultural memory.

What an opera this would make! But another part of my brain is worried: a thousand people gathered in a graveyard in an epidemic? Does the opera end with a chorus of ghosts?

Of course; they're the ones being asked for help, after all.

Is consummation part of the magic?

I don't think so: the mitzvah is the celebration of the couple by the community. There's a description of the ceremony accompanying Mayer Kirshenblatt's The Black Wedding in the Cemetery, ca. 1892 (1996). "And sure enough, two, three days later, the epidemic subsided."

[nineweaving]

He lived in the hegdesh, a room where the burial society kept the implements for cleaning the dead...

Shiver. And she slept on top of the oven. A marriage of death and life.

I like that the mitzvah is the poor giving to the poorest.

Nine

[reconditarmonia]

Thank you for the link - that's my grandparents' town, so I've seen his art, but I don't think I'd seen (or remembered?) this picture.

[sovay]

Thank you for the link - that's my grandparents' town, so I've seen his art, but I don't think I'd seen (or remembered?) this picture.

You're welcome! (That's neat.)

[moon_custafer]

I remembered “The Black Wedding” as the title of a Singer story, but this seems to be an entirely different thing— the closest analogy I can think of off the top of my head is a ritual that I believe the Inuit sometimes tried in times of famine or disaster, in which the whole community held an orgy in a darkened, with obviously a fairly high, if randomized, chance of committing incest— both customs strike me as the spiritual equivalent of flying a flag upside down as a distress signal.

[sovay]

I remembered “The Black Wedding” as the title of a Singer story, but this seems to be an entirely different thing—

Yeah, no one marries a demon in a time of cholera, at least not in any of the cases I've read about.

both customs strike me as the spiritual equivalent of flying a flag upside down as a distress signal.

I'm not sure. The point of holding the wedding in the cemetery seems to be to summon the assistance of the dead, which doesn't strike me as the same kind of deliberate infringement of taboo (if the incest is an intended outcome of the disaster orgy). The living are still being married to the living, not the dead.

[edit] But also this.

[moon_custafer]

Sums it up rather nicely.

ETA -- I found the Winnipeg black wedding mentioned in the article: https://www.newspapers.com/image/?clipping_id=28341665&fcfToken=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJmcmVlLXZpZXctaWQiOjQ0MjA4MjMzLCJpYXQiOjE1ODQwMjM5MTksImV4cCI6MTU4NDExMDMxOX0.AxxphCXSXGiFoRDyubSV-f1QMoYFHGMD8tFr5PYk_BI

further ETA -- WTF, the link's broken AND I get the "page not found" message even when I go back through my browser tab history?!

Spooky.

[a_reasonable_man]

A black wedding would be a good subject for a story or poem.

I am glad to learn that your hearing is "supersonic." It does not surprise me. You take better care of your hearing than anyone I know.

[sovay]

A black wedding would be a good subject for a story or poem.

I find it haunting.

I am glad to learn that your hearing is "supersonic." It does not surprise me. You take better care of your hearing than anyone I know.

Thank you. It may be tautological: I take care of my hearing because it's sensitive!

[gwynnega]

I'm glad you have a competent allergist and supersonic hearing. (The audiologist I saw last year said I had the hearing of a teenager, which surprised me, what with all the loud music I've subjected my ears to over the years.)

My resting mode right now is fear, which I don't think is any healthier than anger.

[sovay]

I'm glad you have a competent allergist and supersonic hearing.

Thank you. The audiogram was very reassuring.

(The audiologist I saw last year said I had the hearing of a teenager, which surprised me, what with all the loud music I've subjected my ears to over the years.)

The hearing of a sturdy teenager! That's really nice.

My resting mode right now is fear, which I don't think is any healthier than anger.

*hugs*

They're both crap for the cortisol levels.

[starlady]

In the midst of all the chaos, it's been a definite comfort to me that the allergy shots I started in October 2018 are definitely working at last. I hope you will also be able to experience similar relief of symptoms sooner rather than later.

[sovay]

In the midst of all the chaos, it's been a definite comfort to me that the allergy shots I started in October 2018 are definitely working at last.

That's awesome. I appreciate any form of good news and I am glad this is yours.

I hope you will also be able to experience similar relief of symptoms sooner rather than later.

Thank you!

[rosefox]

A good allergist is a joy forever. I hope yours makes a significant positive difference to you.

[sovay]

A good allergist is a joy forever. I hope yours makes a significant positive difference to you.

Thank you! She was very good the last time I saw her.

[cyphomandra]

I hope your allergies are tameable and your local politicians sensible. Ours have been cautious and also (so far!) we’ve been lucky, but I’m concerned for friends elsewhere (including you!)

[sovay]

I hope your allergies are tameable and your local politicians sensible.

Thank you. Our local politicians canceled the Saint Patrick's Day Parade and are in the process of rescheduling the Boston Marathon and our even more local politicians have closed the schools and public buildings. There's just so much that could be done at the federal level and what's being done is the opposite. The power's there.

Ours have been cautious and also (so far!) we’ve been lucky, but I’m concerned for friends elsewhere (including you!)

May we all be lucky!

[selkie]

We are, I regret to venture, fucked. Fucked like a tidy row of ducks.

[sovay]

We are, I regret to venture, fucked. Fucked like a tidy row of ducks.

I am going to do whatever I can to be part of the communal effort of keeping people safe for as long as it makes a difference. I am not resigned to being Philadelphia 1918.

[selkie]

I mean, yes, same, I’m not an asshole.

I just think we’re alone out here. That doesn’t mean anyone gets to sit down and give up about it.

[sovay]

I mean, yes, same, I’m not an asshole.

I know you're not an asshole. You do tahara. If we're alone, we have to take care of each other.

[selkie]

*hugs*
I talked to folks and said if the elderly feel like they need to drop out, I will tag in. Meanwhile, I have the same seasonal sinus infection I get when the trees tree about things every year, and people are giving me plague stares.

[sovay]

Meanwhile, I have the same seasonal sinus infection I get when the trees tree about things every year, and people are giving me plague stares.

*hugs*

It is manifestly unfair of pandemic season to overlap flu season and pollen season. I am taking ironic comfort from my sneezes.