Friday Open Thread ~ New Year's Day edition ~ 2020 in the rearview mirror

[video:https://youtu.be/wPnhaGWBnys]

In the spring of 2020 in New York City, touch is dangerous. When I arrive to work as an emergency-room physician, I immediately don my N95 mask, a face shield, a gown, and nitrile gloves. My coworkers, all similarly dressed, are difficult to recognize. Even friends become anonymous.

I pass through three sets of doors into the zone of contamination, where negative air pressure prevents any airborne virus from escaping. My first patient is forty-five years old with multiple medical problems, including cerebral palsy, which has caused some cognitive delays and spastic quadriplegia. Normally, when I enter a patient’s bay, I look at their face for a clue as to how sick they feel. Now, with faces covered, I look first to the wall-mounted monitors: How fast is the patient’s heart beating? What is their breathing rate? How high is the oxygen level in their blood?

Pamela says reading about the protests on her phone wasn’t enough. She had to see it for herself, to feel it. She picked a time when the crowds would be thin. She just wanted to be there for a moment, to witness. She describes peaceful protesters kneeling, chanting, demanding recognition and an end to systemic racism and police aggression. Police officers formed lines facing the protesters.

“Just standing there,” she says, “all tough because they had batons and guns.” She noted how detached they seemed. “They weren’t listening. They didn’t care. So I stood up and yelled. I had to. ‘Kneel with us. Don’t you understand what’s going on here now? What’s going on in our country?’ But they wouldn’t kneel, and it made me so angry. I must have yelled some more. I don’t remember what I said.”

She tells me one of them shouted, “Get her! Put her down!” and three others came at her with batons. Her breathing becomes rapid and choppy as she tells me this, and fresh tears run down her cheeks and drip off her chin. “They pushed me down so hard, three of them. And pinned me down.” She shakes her head, and her lips tremble. “It’s not right. I’m supposed to have freedom of speech. They are supposed to protect that, not throw it to the ground.”

The Practice Of Touch
BY TIMOTHY GALLAGHER

[video:https://youtu.be/aDXsa9h2cN8]

“It’s a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road,
and if you don’t keep your feet, there’s no knowing where you might be swept off to.”
—J.R.R. Tolkien

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reflections

[video:https://youtu.be/nV72YrB1454]

thanks for the OT philly

turn the page

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Raggedy Ann's picture

2020, the year of transition. How lucky we all are to bear witness to the beginning of the great shift.

2021 ~ be grateful, be the love that you are, make community happen, unite.

Enjoy the day! Pleasantry

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"The “jumpers” reminded us that one day we will all face only one choice and that is how we will die, not how we will live." Chris Hedges on 9/11

@Raggedy Ann

The changes you see sound hopeful.

[video:https://youtu.be/2Z2RzVhw4rE]

make your peace with everyone

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Raggedy Ann's picture

@QMS ,
I have so much hope for what’s coming! Drinks

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"The “jumpers” reminded us that one day we will all face only one choice and that is how we will die, not how we will live." Chris Hedges on 9/11

lotlizard's picture

As a PDF. First published in 1941; public domain in Canada.

http://www.samizdat.qc.ca/arts/lit/PDFs/ScrewtapeLetters_CSL.pdf

Mahalo nui loa to all our c99 site’s diligent and conscientious maintainers, posters, and commenters, me ka Hau‘oli Makahiki Hou — together with best wishes for a Happy New Year!

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enhydra lutris's picture

over. We flip a switch and go from being beat up to being upbeat? Ah well, FWIW, "New Beginnings" is Hexagram 63, broken, solid, broken, solid, broken, solid, repetitive and rhythmic. So is upbeat about the messge of the tempo anyway? I mean, this gets my blood moving -

be well and have a good one

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That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

vtcc73's picture

Best version yet, IMHO, of Auld Lang Syne from their first holiday album Body of the Moon. Be sure to click "SHOW MORE" under the credits for a very good history of the song.

Those who aren't familiar with Choral Stars might want to look into some of their other offerings on YouTube. The director/arranger Desmond Early has put together incredibly talented voices for some time. I most like the 2014-16 chorus and the few years afterward. Those years saw several very talented Irish tenors and sopranos in the small chorus. They usually perform a variety of traditional Irish and Scottish folk and more that has been rearranged to take advantage of the current talent. I can listen to them every day. The strength of their program is that alumni return to the group after graduation. Glenn Murphy, Mark Waters, and Emily Doyle are seen quite often as solos or back in the chorus like in their early undergrad years. Desmond Early uses the undergrads for solos mostly to spotlight new talent but also features his past stars every now and then. For instance, this version of Auld Lang Syne's solo is Kiri O'Neill but the song was sung on their 2015 album Invisible Stars by alto Abby Molloy who is frequently seen in the group. It's an interesting group if you like this kind of music.

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"Ah, but I was so much older then, I'm younger than that now..."

enhydra lutris's picture

@vtcc73

dirge; da kine church de temps perdue, eh wot?

be well and have a good ojne

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That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

Lookout's picture

I think the next couple of months will be rough. Try to help each other.

Wishing us all the best as we start the new year!

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

@Lookout
my root stock Wink
HNY!

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Bad news: the a/c company is closed for the holiday. Temperatures tonight will be just above freezing.
Good news: The house didn't catch fire, nobody is dead.
I suppose my basic belief is that as long as there is life, there is hope.
Have a wonderful day. That is a possibility!

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"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981

@on the cusp

can you build a bonfire outside?
better than standing in a cold house
I keep a small kerosene heater for
those times.

Better luck

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@QMS I have a small space heater, and a friend is giving me a larger one.
The repairman is on his way.

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"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981

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"Without the right to offend, freedom of speech does not exist." Taslima Nasrin

magiamma's picture

@Fishtroller 02
Happy Birthday. The first time I turned seventy I was sixty-nine. I was completely freaked out until I realized It was not my seventieth year. When I turn seventy it was no biggy. Onward. Have a good one.

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Stop Climate Change Silence - Start the Conversation

Hot Air Website, Twitter, Facebook

@magiamma

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"Without the right to offend, freedom of speech does not exist." Taslima Nasrin

vtcc73's picture

@Fishtroller 02 I'm only 25 days behind you. How bad can it be? I mean, there's only one way to not get any older.

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"Ah, but I was so much older then, I'm younger than that now..."

@vtcc73

when I was 69! Imagine that!

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"Without the right to offend, freedom of speech does not exist." Taslima Nasrin

snoopydawg's picture

@Fishtroller 02

I hope you can get out and do something fun and memorable for it. Even just a walk if it is nice enough out can do wonders.

let us look on the bright side of turning 70 now. With everything turning to ick on top of ick I am happy to be as old as I am, but not sure if I should want to be older because of how fast things are changing and the wheels are coming off. Next up they are coming for us old folks after they're done with the middle and working class. Sorry you guys hate that word, but us old people doesn't fit for me.

I will eat a brownie in honor of your day. Nah don't thank me. It is the least I can do...

Hope it's a great one.

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Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.

@snoopydawg

I ate some chocolate too.... and washed it down with some Glenns Creek bourbon.

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"Without the right to offend, freedom of speech does not exist." Taslima Nasrin

travelerxxx's picture

@Fishtroller 02

Slightly belated Happy Birthday to you Fishtroller!

Was also my Grandmother's birthday. She'd have been 115 on New Years Day.

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@travelerxxx

Thanks for the sentiments.

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"Without the right to offend, freedom of speech does not exist." Taslima Nasrin

70,000 and still rolling..
Congratulations!

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@QMS

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"Without the right to offend, freedom of speech does not exist." Taslima Nasrin

Put our heads together

Reflected in their eyes..

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janis b's picture

Sun Magazine is always satisfying to read and look at for insight and imagination.

All the best for you and everyone.

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