I take another picture, the world is waiting

[sovay]

Massachusetts is reopening and I have gone back to the glassy feeling of not quite being in the same reality as the people who are saying the words. "Tough times never last, tough people do." Well, good for the tough people. Shame about the rest of us. I don't expect a second spike of infections in the fall, I expect one by July at the latest. But I'm glad houses of worship are considered essential businesses in Massachusetts. I'm sure that ancestor of mine from the Puritan migration would be thrilled.

Comments

[redbird]

I'm staying home until the end of the month, because there's a slight chance I have covid-19, and then I will see what Somerville advises. (Belmont, where I live now, has said almost nothing, and my doctor and hairdresser are both in Somerville.)

[sovay]

I'm staying home until the end of the month, because there's a slight chance I have covid-19, and then I will see what Somerville advises.

If you have COVID-19, may it be a mild and boring case. I'll come back with new data if I need to, but the last I saw, Somerville is staying in a state of emergency.

[redbird]

Thank you.

That announcement is dated Friday; they also said they would look at what the state government announced on the 18th and then make decisions based on what made sense in Somerville.

[sovay]

That announcement is dated Friday; they also said they would look at what the state government announced on the 18th and then make decisions based on what made sense in Somerville.

Yes; I went to see if it had been updated since the state announcement and it's still the most recent information. I don't expect the bit about the cancellation of all City-sponsored/sanctioned public events to change, barring a medical miracle. I would certainly feel weird about attending the Fluff Festival.

[redbird]

Certainly: there's no way something like HONK could be done safely this year.

[dewline]

We are not as disposable as the "tough people" insist we ought to become. We never have been.

[sovay]

We are not as disposable as the "tough people" insist we ought to become. We never have been.

I assume the lieutenant governor meant it to be encouraging, not eugenicist, but it's not language that helps. You would have thought in a pandemic people would have noticed that you can't chin-up-try-hard your way out of dying.

[dewline]

Some people in high places do their best to pay attention to these things and have been shaping their language accordingly. For such people and their efforts, I am grateful.

For the others, I am less willing to forgive right now. I certainly won't forget.

[julian]

Yah, I mean, I think it's a reasonable list of openings *if we were doing better than we are at infections,* but as it is, nope.

Sigh.

[sovay]

Yah, I mean, I think it's a reasonable list of openings *if we were doing better than we are at infections,* but as it is, nope.

Apparently we went ahead with four out of six of the state metrics "in progress" rather than showing a "positive trend." And by "we" I mean "the governor's office, because even I know that 'greenlight' is a verb for a reason."

[batdina]

I still have a backyard. I mean, it's not much, but it's an outside. So far as I know, we're still staying strict, though some stuff is easing around here just not masks. We've been a relatively speaking low hit county so the board of supes is feeling like loosening things.

That said, Gov Newsom, who has been smart, seems to be eating stupid pills these days so ...

[sovay]

That said, Gov Newsom, who has been smart, seems to be eating stupid pills these days so ...

I was used to Governor Baker on a diet of stupid pills, but then he made a whole bunch of decisions in March and April that gave me hope! Now I am both disappointed and worried. The combination sandwich nobody asked for.

I am glad you have a back yard. Stay safe in it.

[choco_frosh]

But I'm glad houses of worship are considered essential businesses in Massachusetts.
Agreed; though the Diocese of Mass. is currently leaving in-person services suspended until July. On the one hand, this is sucky and terrible (and somewhat questionable from a theological standpoint); on the other hand, it has to be admitted that in-person church services combine piles of likely transmission vectors (inc. singing.)
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In modest defense of the governor, I think staying shut-down all summer would lead to mass disobedience, economic collapse,* or both. So we have to start reopening at some point.

I really don't get the hairdresser thing, though.

* Yes, I know, unless the federal or Commonwealth government paid people lots of money to stay home; but I can't see that getting through the legislature.

[sovay]

the Diocese of Mass. is currently leaving in-person services suspended until July. On the one hand, this is sucky and terrible (and somewhat questionable from a theological standpoint); on the other hand, it has to be admitted that in-person church services combine piles of likely transmission vectors (inc. singing.)

I sympathize on the suckiness; I haven't been inside a shul in decades (exception made last spring for selkie's bat mitzvah) and I'm feeling weird about no longer having access to the possibility. I think the diocese's decision is sensible and protective. I hope by July will be safe enough. What makes the current circumstances theologically questionable?

Yes, I know, unless the federal or Commonwealth government paid people lots of money to stay home; but I can't see that getting through the legislature.

I know, I just wish it would! The federal government is a lost cause, but I feel like the state government might have pulled it off and should at least have tried. I understand an economy cannot be juggled indefinitely, and we are already witnessing the closure of beloved businesses and I don't want to see more, but I really don't want to go through cycle after cycle of blooms and shutdowns in search of an ideal minimum of acceptable losses.

[gwynnega]

I'm sorry. Hair salons and barbershops reopening in a week seems especially ill-advised.

[sovay]

I'm sorry. Hair salons and barbershops reopening in a week seems especially ill-advised.

Thank you. Yes. A week is half an incubation period.

[sovay]

For the others, I am less willing to forgive right now. I certainly won't forget.

Since publishing, the article has been edited to remove that quote. It's still in the transcript.

[sholio]

*sends you good thoughts and hugs*

[julian]

I note, after going away and taking a walk and observing two families of goslings, I do think of you as tough; just not the sort of tough whatsisface meant.

[sovay]

*sends you good thoughts and hugs*

*hugs*

Thank you. This is just the wrong time for this plan.

[sovay]

I note, after going away and taking a walk and observing two families of goslings, I do think of you as tough; just not the sort of tough whatsisface meant.

Thank you. I think that's true. I can survive a lot of things, emotionally and logistically, and I have. I just can't survive being dead. And unless allergies really turn out to be a magic bullet, my odds with this virus still suck.

[dramaticirony]

Curtatone confirmed this evening that Somerville will be taking things more slowly, so at least there's that.

I understand they mean a lot to many people, but it's really hard to see how, in terms of risk, houses of worship shouldn't be at the back of the line, with movie theaters.

[the_future_modernes]

I expect an explosion in June. And for all that Americans claim the Aztec were grotesque with their human sacrifices, here they have been since before the founding of the country, sacrificing human after human by the millions for fucking money. This country insists on disappointing and enraging me.

[sovay]

Curtatone confirmed this evening that Somerville will be taking things more slowly, so at least there's that.

Ah! Good. Thank you for pointing me to look. I'm glad to hear it.

I understand they mean a lot to many people, but it's really hard to see how, in terms of risk, houses of worship shouldn't be at the back of the line, with movie theaters.

Movie theaters even feel less risky to me: they can be undersold and widely spaced and they don't contain singing. (I'm still not clamoring to get into one.)

[sovay]

This country insists on disappointing and enraging me.

It is a disappointing and enraging time and I think it is more honest to bend someone backward over a slab and cut out their heart for the sun: at least there's no pretense.

[kenjari]

Yeah, it's not a stupid plan by any means - even the hair salon opening comes with a lot of requirements for safety. I just wish the state had waited a couple more weeks at least before starting on any of it. I'd feel a lot better if more of those metrics were in the green.

[sovay]

I'd feel a lot better if more of those metrics were in the green.

Yes. What is the point in boasting of being guided by data if you are going to ignore it when convenient?

The lone and level sands stretch far away

[vass]

"Tough times never last, tough people do." Well, good for the tough people. Shame about the rest of us.

Shame on the speaker.

It's also untrue. "Tough times never last" is a statement that's only necessarily true in the long run. And in the long run everyone dies, tough or not.

Re: The lone and level sands stretch far away

[sovay]

Shame on the speaker.

It was a bit jarring. As mentioned to dewline, it has since been edited out of the article, which does not remove it from the record or my memory. (I had no particular feelings about our lieutenant governor before now, but now I do.)

"Tough times never last" is a statement that's only necessarily true in the long run. And in the long run everyone dies, tough or not.

Both of these things are true.

Well quoted.

[a_reasonable_man]

The provision regarding places of worship reminded me of a story John Kenneth Galbraith liked to tell, about his work in the Office of Price Administration during the Second World War. When the OPA first issued regulations mandating gas rationing, it exempted "essential personnel": doctors, police, and mailmen. A couple of days later, they got a memo from President Roosevelt himself: "What blithering idiot decided clergy aren't essential personnel?" So they exempted clergy.

[sovay]

A couple of days later, they got a memo from President Roosevelt himself: "What blithering idiot decided clergy aren't essential personnel?" So they exempted clergy.

I never heard that story. Thank you!

(I feel like I am most familiar with the OPA in their fictionalized form of the BPR in Rex Stout's The Silent Speaker (1946), which is probably unfair. I mean, they do come off as the good guys, especially against the National Association of Manufacturers.)

[lokifan]

"Tough times never last, tough people do." Well, good for the tough people. Shame about the rest of us.

Quite.