Tag Archives: Coronavirus

Certainty in Uncertain Times

Posted on by

These are uncertain times. During upheaval, decision-making can be affected. Formerly easy choices become more difficult: for some, paralysis sets in. Of course, if the height of choice difficulty for you is deciding what over-priced, foodie establishment to eat at, you are in luck—you won’t have to contend with that dilemma today (or for the near future).

Doubts about what may happen tomorrow can lead to hearkening back to the familiar—those places where we’ve found answers or solace in the past. Insecurity causes dissonance and discomfort. Fear in turn forces us back to places of familiarity.

The internet can be a source of trusted information. It’s also a breeding ground for the dubious and even fallacious.

I’ve been a blogger since 2003. Over that period, I developed go-to sites. These were written by fellow blogging travelers I developed trust in. When lost without answers, I could go back to them by default. I also incorporated ideas and ideologies from them.

Many of these sites are now shuttered. If still online, it’s been months (or even years) since they’ve been updated with a new post. Disappointing for sure, I simply moved on. Meanwhile, I’ve stayed with it, even following the floor of my life opening-up. I’ve shared with readers from a place that at times felt like freefall. Persisting in the face of dissonance, upheaval, and even tragedy is what resilience looks like, especially if you fancy yourself a writer. Continue reading →

Coronavirus and spaceships

Posted on by

I started this song back at the tail-end of 2019. I had two verses that kind of captured some of what I was feeling heading into the holidays, which always suck without Mark.

Not sure where the spaceship theme came from other than sometimes, I wish I could get into a spaceship and find another planet to live on.

Jump in a spaceship and fly away

Then, the song sat there.

I initially developed the chord progression and riff after working on Neil Young’s “Cinnamon Girl,” which is played in Double Drop D tuning. The tuning lends itself to some stuff I’d been listening to from a guy that had been based in Boston and now for some reason I think he may live in Maine, Cole Kinsler. He records as Space Mountain and I bought his “Togetherness” cassette that came out in 2019. Perhaps if he ever heard my stuff like this one, he’d demur.

Verse three came to me yesterday when I started playing the song again. It seemed like a better way to deal with my angst about all that’s been going on re: the Coronavirus.

It has no chorus.

Spaceship Blues

Verse I

Life it sucks and then you die
Storm clouds in a darkened sky
Fucking morons are all around
All I wanna’ do is leave this town and roam

Verse II

Idiots tell you just to smile
Don’t have a clue, ain’t walked one mile
In land that’s filled with shit
Jump in a spaceship and be done with it and fly

Verse III

Coronavirus its shut us down
Like sheep we’re led around
Trust the experts they’re rarely right
Load up that spacecraft with supplies and leave today

© EverysongYeah  2019

Triggered

Posted on by

A week ago, the world seemed fine (or normal) for most people. The day here in Southern Maine was warm for early March. The winter of 2019-20 hadn’t been a particularly harsh one, as Maine winters go. There was a sense common in northern regions that signal spring and that place-based “rebirth” that many of us hearken to and anticipate during the dark days December and January.

For people living on the other side of grief and loss, the past three years have been a journey of darkness, sadness, and pain. But to remain here in this life, there must come a time when you get back to “living life.

For me, having lost a son in January, 2017, so much of the past three years have been lived inside-out. By that I mean, grief for me turned me inward. I lost my usual gregariousness and the ability to feel joy. I didn’t want to be around people. I was becoming a misanthrope.

Late last summer, after conversations with my better half, the mother of my son, we made a decision for me to leave the house where I’ve been barely existing as a freelancer and take a job outside. Not some evening tutoring gig or part-time sub teacher stint, either. No, applying for and being hired by a firm that provides healthcare to Mainers and patients just across the border in New Hampshire.

This new role placed me in a new contact center just shy of being open for a year. The woman who interviewed me and subsequently hired me was the sister of someone I graduated from high school with. Continue reading →

Wash Your Hands and Hope for the Best

Posted on by

Fear is a powerful emotion. The threat of harm, pain, or even death is a motivator like few others.

Those in power know how to stoke fear. So does the media. That doesn’t mean that fear has no purpose, or that fear isn’t valid.

To live in our time of technological ascendancy, the temptation to believe that all things can be fixed with just a little more tech is a default temptation. “It can’t happen here,” or “now,” or “we’ve evolved beyond that” are all common refrains that technology has empowered.

The facemask as daily wear.

On New Year’s Eve Day, we first learned about several flu-like cases in Wuhan, the capital city in the nation’s Hubei province. The city has a population of 11 million. People were being quarantined and Chinese authorities were trying to parse the source of the outbreak.

One week later, investigations ruled out that this was bird flu, a type of seasonal flu outbreak, or even SARS and MERS. The number of suspected cases had grown to 60 people, with seven Chinese citizens in critical condition. Health officials hadn’t confirmed human-to-human transmission. Continue reading →