Texans, Stay the Hell Home This 4th of July

As Molly Ivins famously said,"I dearly love the state of Texas, but I consider that a harmless perversion on my part and discuss it only with consenting adults."

I am a seventh-generation Texan and do love it. And as the 4th of July edges closer, I am both scared and mad for my state. I'm scad.

Today - Tuesday - it was reported that we hit a new record - almost 7000 new cases in one day.

And Saturday is July 4th.

Something I've heard, and bless my heart I have probably said myself several weeks ago, is "...and this feels safe."

No, no, my friends. There is no "feels safe." This is not something on which we can rely on our instincts. We have to rely on science.

Stay home unless you are required by your job or have another required reason.
Get curbside groceries or delivery.
Wear a mask.
And in the name of Molly and all that is holy, please do not gather with friends and family for an Independence Day barbecue.

Think ahead. July 4th. Plan your groceries. Plan to watch the fireworks on tv. Watch Hamilton. Or 1776. Or any of those other patriotic (and probably problematic) movies.

Make giant ice cream Sundaes with fresh peaches, or hot fudge sauce and sprinkles.
Eat potato salad that you don't have to worry about it, because it's been in your fridge the whole time.
Drink lemonade or Redneck Margaritas if you imbibe.

Listen to the 1812 Overture and insist on narrating what's happening in the song to your bored-looking children, with great animation.

Play Stars and Stripes forever to your annoyed-looking neighbors (20 feet away). Keep the beat by banging on your trash can.

Curl up with a pitcher of something cold, some Fritos and bean dip, and read Howard Zinn's
A People's History of the United States to learn all the things about our history we never learned in school.

There will come another time when we will return to figuring out how to make this all more sustainable, how to expand our bubbles, and take calculated risks.

But right now, for Texas, the calculations are in.

Stay the hell home.

Comments

Me and My Collar

You may run into me on a Friday, in my neighborhood, so it's time I let you know what you might see. When I was doing my required unit of Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE), my supervisor suggested that any of us who came from traditions where a clerical collar was an option, take one "collar week," to see how we were treated, as opposed to wearing regular professional clothes. After a couple of days, I joked to the Catholic priest, "How do you manage the power?" In regular clothes, I would walk into a patient's room, and it would take about 5 or so minutes of introductions and pleasantries before we could really get down to talking about their feelings, their fears, the deep stuff. With most people, as soon as that clerical collar walked in the room, with me attached, they began pouring out all the heavy stuff they were carrying. I was riding the bus back and forth every day, and though not quite so dramatic, the collar effect was alive there, to...

While to That Rock I'm Clinging

Pete Seeger died. I hadn't cried all day, even though I had thought about this day before it happened; dreaded it coming, because it would mean that death really did come to all of us, even those of us as good, as filled with Spirit and meaning, as willing to live out our values day by day, as the one we called "Uncle Pete." I won't go into all his virtues. You can google that. I will say that the hagiography you see right now about Pete Seeger is far closer to the truth than most sentimental postmortems. A Facebook friend, Karen McCarthy, posted a video -- And I broke. I never met Pete, unlike some of my peers. But his were the first songs I heard. I still have the LP, Birds, Beasts, Bugs and Fishes. Abiyoyo, Abiyoyo ... Perhaps he was my first minister. His were the songs played in my house, and my parents lifted him up as a hero. For fighting for justice. For the Hudson River. For adhering to his values during the McCarthy hearings, and then agai...

Hey, Vampire Slayer -- Who's Your "Watcher"?

I was watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer* one day, like you do, and I thought, "Wow. I wish I had a Watcher." According to the Buffy Wiki , a Watcher is: a member of the Watchers Council, devoted to tracking and combating malevolent supernatural entities (and particularly vampires), primarily by locating individuals with the talents required to fight such beings and win. More specifically, Watchers were assigned to train and guide Slayers, girls that were part of a succession of mystically powered young women who were destined to face the forces of darkness. And then, quick as a vampire turns to dust when stabbed with a wooden stake, I realized, "Ohmygosh, I TOTALLY have a Watcher." My Watcher is named Ken, and he's an expert in Bowen Systems Theory, and he coaches me, teaching me about the vampires I encounter, and drilling me in how to slay them. No, the Vampires aren't people around me! Far from it. The Vampires are my own responses to anxiety...

Boots and Blessings

Search This Blog