I Have A Mouth, and I Want to Scream
If there’s one thing that I’ve been trying to do in the last three weeks of self-isolation, it’s doing almost anything to distract myself from the nightmare timeline that we’re living in. While everything has been chaos in the United States since at least 2010 (probably as early as 2000), the alternate timeline in which all reason has been purged from U.S. society began in earnest in 2016 and has reached astronomical proportions of absolute batshittery since the emergence of COVID-19 as a major threat to our way of life. Everything from the administration refusing to take it seriously, failing over and over again to get the ball rolling on creating more supply to meet medical demand, the absolutely mind-boggling audacity of the admin telling state governors they shouldn’t get aid because they weren’t nice enough to the Orange Mussolini, to states outright declaring the need for inter-state collaboration because the fed refuses to do its job, and on and on and on. It’s honestly impossible to keep up with the absolute shitshow that is this administration and its response to the pandemic.
Joy to End Your Evening
I have nothing really to say today. It’s been a long day… So instead of trying to say something interesting about teaching or research or pandemics or nerd stuff, here’s a music video that continues to bring me absolute joy. I hope it brings you joy, too!
Thoughts on Living in Small Towns (Or, Life in Forgotten America)
One of the interesting things about watching the news and politicians in the United States is the way they eventually talk about “small town America.” In a lot of ways, “small town America” is part of American mythology: a story about America that this nation tells its citizens to make us feel connected to something that most people have no connection to. Beyond that myth, though, “small town America” is ignored; few people really know what it’s like to live there or understand the struggles folks in rural and small town communities face. Sure, we talk about it as nation every so often, but I’m not convinced that much of what goes on in national conversations has much applicability to everyday life in America. I basically view our national talk about “small town America” the same way I view the same talk about “military families”: it’s mostly lip service designed to convince others that our politicians really care about these issues. But if you live in a small town in America, it’s pretty obvious that national policy (and, often, state policy) hasn’t done much to protect those small communities from corporate greed and abuse, the destruction of small business, the erosion of community arts and culture, or general decline (in population, in income, etc.).
Quickly Ending the Evening with a Picture of a View
The new semester at Bemidji State University started just two weeks ago, and it opened with a brand new view of the lake. Yup. I got a new office! It’s a lot larger than the last one, and I get to look at this every single day: