Thursday, April 23, 2020

Spring in the Time of the VIrus

DUKES FANS
SPRING IN THE TIME OF THE VIRUS 3
  It has been almost two months since the first death from COVID-19 in Washington State. And as the death toll across the nation has steadily climbed, we have become a very different country almost overnight. Millions of people have lost their jobs, and many of those that held onto their jobs had to learn to work from home and over the internet instead of person to person. Millions of us have gone suddenly from food security to food insecurity. Statewide shelters in place started have appeared across most of the country, with numerous governors closing down non-essential businesses, schools, and more in an effort to slow the spread of the virus. Most people are semi-quarantined in their homes, and most families have to be “families” together in ways they could not have imagined a few weeks before. And if we have parents, aunts, grandparents, etc. in senior group living situations, we are even more worried and concerned. And so many of us have been directly and/or indirectly affected by this virus, with friends and/or family getting it, and some dying from it. We are in a world that seems to resemble more of an end of the world science fiction movie than it does modern civilization. For many of us, the joys of spring seem rather distant.

 But in the midst of all of this there are sometimes quiet and sometimes large examples of humans doing the things  that humans often do in times of great trouble: adapting, helping, sacrificing, and working together. Thousands of volunteers have been in parking lots and warehouses giving out food to the millions who need help feeding themselves and their families. Some doctors have been out on the streets and in neighborhood churches providing virus tests. Neighbors have been going shopping for other neighbors and walking dogs. Retired health care workers have been pitching in to help out. People have donated laptops to schools to distribute to students who need them. Folks have been making phone calls and writing e-mails and texting and ZOOMING and staying in touch with folks with whom they have not been in touch with for a while. People are leading drives to collect personal protective care for nurses and doctors in hospitals without enough. Engineering students are 3-D printing face shields for nurses. People are making masks for neighbors and friends. And there is more; much, much more. In so many ways this pandemic has called out to our better selves, and in so many ways our better selves have shown up. 

And that has enabled us to work with and for each other. We, like the earth in spring, can renew, transform and grow. And in so doing we can hold ourselves in the light and “go beyond to do and be better.” And it is possible to make doing these things last beyond this pandemic; to make them become more regular parts of all of our lives. We have that power. And that possibility is as real as the virus and as real as the spring. We have the power of spring within us; we can bloom.

 Be safe, be careful, and be and do well.

SOME WAYS TO HELP
If you are looking for ways to help out during the virus, (and I know a lot of you are already helping) here are some suggestions of places to donate and/or to volunteer

Food
MANNA: manna.volunteerhub.com.
Links to local Food Banks:

Homelessness: Project Home   https://www.projecthome.org/covid-19-support

 To report domestic violence:  www.thehotline.org 

COVID-19 TESTS 

NEWS ON DUKES GIGS
Sunday May 3-Chestnut Hill Garden Fest
Saturday, May 9 Concert in the Park; Drexel Lodge; Newtown PA

THESE HAVE BEEN CANCELED DUE TO COVID 19 PRECAUTIONS; STAY TUNED FOR MORE INFORMATION AS THESE MAY BE RE-SCHEDULED
THE TWO JOHNS' HAPPENINGS:
    Delta and Piedmont acoustic guitarist Johnny Never, who gigs regularly with John Colgan-Davis of the Dukes, has started a Kickstarter Fundraiser to fund the final production part of his CD, Blue Delta. The CD features John C-D on several cuts. For more info go to http://kck.st/33YmXu3