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
Philabundance https://www.philabundance.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
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